This summer, two weeks of Jesuit missions in Marseille and Ardèche brought together young people and Jesuits. Here's a look back at this first edition of fraternal and missionary life.

 Mission has always been part of the DNA of the Society of Jesus. That's what we wanted to experience with young people this summer. It was also a way of responding to the Pope's invitation to be a missionary "Church on the move".

In Marseille, each day was organised as follows: in the morning, a time dedicated to the group, to prayer, to spiritual formation through short talks, and theological formation through the reading of Joy of the Gospel; in the afternoon, an abundance of different activities in the city, in groups of two or three. The mission as we have lived it has thus assumed several balances: deepening our relationship with Christ through prayer and intellectual formation, while at the same time committing ourselves concretely on the ground to service and encounters; articulating the service of charity (meeting and serving the poorest, isolated people, people in rehabilitation, the elderly, street people...) and the service of faith (through church visits, animating the shrine, meetings, short sermons...). The evening of adoration on 14 July in the church of Saint-Ferréol, which preceded the fireworks display on the Old Port, was one of the most memorable moments.

In Lalouvesc, in the Ardèche, we tried to live this same experience, with the special feature of a three-day begging pilgrimage: we set off in small groups to beg for food and shelter. This pilgrimage allowed us to live a certain deprivation and to experience the generosity already at work in the hearts of the people we met. The week also provided an opportunity for a happy collaboration with the Cenacle sisters, who were in Lalouvesc to celebrate Saint Thérèse Couderc.

From these two periods of mission, I remember the great joy of working together as companions of Jesus, from different generations and different countries, and of sharing this fraternity in mission with young people, all filled with a great desire to follow Christ. Finally, these two weeks allowed us to return, in the heart of summer, to a form of ideal of the mission, nourishing us to continue our commitments during the year: a simple fraternity, a sobriety of life, the discovery of a place with what it brings unexpected...