More than one of the five Tertians enrolled in the Nicholas Kluiters European Tertianship Programme had to hear that question from friendly companions. Thankfully, the common response was a big smile. Eziokwu, Artur, Shigi, Matthew and Krystian met in Cairo last September for the launching of the 2024-2025 class. They compose the fourth cohort of tertians to join this programme. As soon as we gathered in Cairo, the situation deteriorated in Lebanon very quickly. It was wise to run the programme in Egypt. We had one month. This is what the tourist visas allow. Of course, we could ask for an extension, but it wasn’t needed. Artur went to Dublin, then to Armenia where he worked with the Missionaries of Charity (MC). Shigi did his experiment with the MC in Sri Lanka. Krystian was in Athens, helping with the Polish Parish, and joined the MC as well. Matthew and Eziokwu went back to Nigeria, the former to work in the Kukah Center in Abuja, and the latter to resume his work as Socius. We had online classes twice a week. Now we gather again in Cairo. As I write these lines, Matthew is flying over the Sahara. We will start the Long Retreat on Sunday 9 February in the evening, together with the Novices of the PRO Province, in the Coptic Catholic Monastery of the Annunciation. We will finish on March 12. Eziokwu could not join us, because of inescapable commitments. He travelled to Lebanon in January to do his Long Retreat with me, before I left to Egypt. After the retreat, we will have some days of rest, then each will go to a new destination (unless otherwise decided with me) to proceed with the study of the Institute while making community with companions in different places. The plan is to meet again end of May, in Egypt, for the conclusion of this year’s programme. Events have dictated this course. But the generosity of the tertians has made that course very fruitful. It was not what I had chosen for them, but it was what God has chosen for us all. So, what kind of tertianship is that? One of the best kinds, I’m sure! Dany Younes Tertian instructor

The JCEP Tertianship, normally based in Bikfaya, Lebanon, began this year in Egypt. Due to the security situation in Lebanon, the programme is adapted both in terms of location and format. Five participants - from Poland, Nigeria and Tanzania - began their "School of the Heart" on 16 September 2024 at the Collège de la Sainte Famille in Cairo, under the direction of Dany Younes SJ. The first face-to-face session will last a month. The second will be the 30-day retreat in February and the concluding one in June. We hope that the latter two will take place in Lebanon as planned, if the situation in that country allows it. In the meantime, the Tertians will have their apostolic experiments and online meetings and workshops in different countries.  Meet the Tertians  I'm called Eziokwubundu Amadi. You may call me Eziokwu if you have no patience to pronounce the long name. I'm a Nigerian. Since my priestly ordination in 2020, I have worked mostly in the Jesuit novitiate as the Assistant Novice Master. Currently, I'm serving as the Socius of the Jesuit province of Africa North-West (ANW).       My name is Krystian Mółka SJ, I am from South Polish Province (PME). I joined the Society of Jesus in 2007, and for the last four years I was a vocation promoter.         My name is Artur Wyzina (PMA) from Poland. I was ordained in 2013. I studied in Krakow, Warsaw and Rome. For the last eight years I have worked at the Jesuit School Complex in Gdynia.        My name is Evarist Shigi. I am from the Eastern Africa Province (AOR). I joined the Society in 2006 and have been serving in the province treasure office for the past few years.        My name is Matthew Ma. I joined the North West Africa Province of the Society of Jesus in 2001. I am Nigerian and have just graduated from Saint Louis University in Missouri, USA.    

György Hiba spent eight months in Lebanon as the last stop of his formation as a Jesuit. In the meantime, he also visited Armenia and Georgia. He spoke about his experiences at the evening held on June 12 in Budapest. György Hiba SJ spent his third probation - the school of the heart - in Lebanon from September 2023 to May of this year, which is called Tertianship. He dedicated this period to Nicolas Kluiters. The Dutch Jesuit - who came to Lebanon in the 1970s - was kidnapped and killed by Muslim extremists in 1985. Tertianship takes place at the end of the Jesuit formation, through which Jesuits must grow into the apostolic body of the Society. In other words, the focus of this period is apostolate, but at least as important is reconciliation, which helps to get from one person to another. During the tertianship, the spiritual training takes place under the guidance of a tertianship master. At such times, Jesuits are thrown out of his usual patterns and confronts himself: he prepares for his Jesuit vocation in a foreign environment, with previously unknown companions. György SJ Hiba participated in the probation with thirteen fellow Jesuits from different countries. As he said, they quickly got over the differences due to their nationality. They helped and supported each other. During the tertianship, problems that seemed to have been resolved resurfaced. György Hiba then spoke a few words about Lebanon. In the Lebanese flag, white is a symbol of peace, while red is a reminder of the blood of the martyrs. In the middle of the flag is the cedar, of which we can see a lot in the country, some specimens can live up to a thousand years. There is no social welfare system in the country. György Hiba met Elias in Beirut, who with his companion visits the elderly, rich and poor alike. One day he also accompanied Elias, blessing the extremely open and kind people. The windows of an elderly aunt's apartment were broken in the 2020 explosion, causing serious wounds, the consequences of which she is still suffering. Beirut, which used to be a bustling, rich city, has no tourists these days. György Hiba visited the Jesuit monastery here and in Bikfaiya. Lebanon's popular saint Saint Charbel, whose tomb was also visited in Annaya. György Hiba told us that the pilgrims came and went during the Mass, some of them put the altar cross on their heads. After the terrorist attack on Israel, Lebanon was also targeted because the airport is under the control of Hezbollah. This is also why György Hiba had to go to Armenia with the Missionaries of Charity (Sisters of Mother Teresa). Finally, after a detour in Rome - where he helped the local sisters - he managed to get to Armenia, closer to Spitak. The sisters came here after a severe earthquake, they wanted to help physically and mentally injured people. Recently, refugees from Karabakh came to the small houses built here. György Hiba held religious classes and catechesis here, even for children. Later, he also served in Yerevan, where the sisters work with orphans who were abandoned by their parents because they were born with a disability. Together with volunteers, the nurses care for them: they give them love and human dignity. György Hiba said: the experience of this period was that the distinction (to know what comes from God and what does not ) - which is perhaps already clear to the soul - must also appear in thinking. The Jesuit priest also reached Georgia. A handful of Catholic minorities live there, and the attitude of Russian-influenced Orthodoxy is not ecumenical, to put it mildly. At the end of the Tertianship, already back in Lebanon, he had to think about everything he had experienced, he had to reflect on his Jesuit status. György Hiba emphasized that he realized that he should not dwell on the tasks of the coming period, but should recognize what brings him closer to Jesus Christ. In one of the presented images, we see a statue of the Virgin Mary sitting calmly. "Here we encounter a rarely depicted scene: Mary is waiting for her Son. We, Christians, must realize that it is waiting for us too." György Hiba also emphasized that all our thoughts should start from the cross of Christ, as we see in the Armenian depictions. On these, the cross is more like a tree, from whose branches sprout the buds of spiritual life.    Photos: Merényi Zita Baranyai Béla/Magyar Kurír

The third batch of tertians in Bikfaya have just graduated their school of the heart. Theirs has been a very particular class. It is true of every class, and of each tertian. But armed conflicts leading to displacements and disruptions are not a common tertianship experiment. I am so grateful that all participants kept safe and well, and even drew no little spiritual profit from the difficult situation in which they found themselves. As I listened to them sharing the fruit of the review of the year, I was all the more convinced that tertianship is what tertians give to each other. To be sure, only God gives what God gives: spiritual freedom and consolation, inner awareness and reconciliation, the calling by one’s name and the gift of one’s vocation. The unique way in which one’s own journey becomes part of the spiritual journey of the Society of Jesus across her history, the unique way by which each one is “put with the Son”, “under the banner of the Cross”, “serving the mission of Christ”, collaborating with Him in his grand undertaking of helping souls reconcile with their Creator, is what tertianship aims at bringing to one’s awareness, shaping in the Jesuit the heart of an Apostle. For this to happen, you need a safe space. My spiritual father once said to me that religious superiors expect abnegation from their brothers without first loving them; no one can go through authentic abnegation if they are not aware that they are loved. No one can integrate into the Body of the Society of Jesus if they do not feel they are loved, and this is where community life is key. What tertians can give to each other is a space of hospitality and security, governed by a covenant whereby “you shall be safe in my deeds, in my speech and even in my thoughts… I will defend you against my own thoughts”. The quality of community life that the tertians allow among themselves is both an indicator of, and a condition for the quality of their tertianship. The Jesuits reach tertianship with “bumps and bruises”, many of them originate in their early background, but so many are caused by the poor quality of community life they had during their Jesuit years. The healing they experience during their time in tertianship – and tertianship is about time! – relies oftentimes on the way they build community among themselves and with their formators. One aspect of integral ecology is the safeguarding of the communication environment. Unhealthy communication will lead to violence, hot or cold. The care we give to the space of communication is a fundamental dimension of the love that binds us in Christ and among us. Spiritual conversation is the art of seeking and finding the good spirit within our conversation and clinging to that spirit. What tertians can give each other is spiritual conversation. When we were discussing the best course to take, after the eruption of violence in and around Gaza, we were able to move beyond frustration and accusation towards welcoming the different ways in which the one spirit was moving each of us according to his own spiritual challenge. The result was that our dispersion did not weaken our bond, it rather strengthened it. The welcoming attitude allows yet another healing process. So many of us carry the burden of an unnamed disappointment, a pernicious sadness, that comes from a representation of spiritual life as being in a state of detachment, or freedom, or commitment, or what have you! If I learned something from Gregory of Nyssa, it is that perfection is not a state, rather an orientation. Perfection as a state would be mere idolatry. Idols persecute us. They produce guilt and sadness in us. Because I regret being merely who I am, I cannot properly find God. When tertianship is conceived as an opportunity to finally address the pending decision to live according to the standards of a holy life, then tertianship will only add to my disappointment. The reconciliation process requires an “authorization”: I am allowed to be who I am, a human being in process, son of God in the making. This authorization is what God gives; it’s the community that mediates it. Tertians give each other the occasion of unmasking the idols that drain our affectivity, because they move in the opposite direction: where idols provoke persecution, the brothers offer forgiveness. I read somewhere that the desert fathers used to consider the novitiate to have ended when the young monk has discovered the devil. It is a dramatic way to say that the monk can go on his own when he has identified the place of his own spiritual struggle. There, no novice master, no instructor, no mentor can do the work in his stead. He will benefit from the counsel of his companions, but the greatest thing he can offer the community, the Church, indeed the world, is to take on his own struggle, learning in the process how to fight well. This is what the former tertians can give us now that their novitiate has finally come to an end. Taking final vows in the Society of Jesus is becoming responsible for the whole apostolic body that we form. Should the Society of Jesus come to be extinguished in some place, or some time, the professed member can reignite her, because he has the Jesuit “DNA”. The Society of Jesus will be what the tertians will be. They offer us the Society that God has given us. Dany Younes Bikfaya, May 13, 2024

The European tertianship in Bikfaya is 28km north of Beirut in the mountains at 900 metres with a panoramic view of the Mediterranean. Built in 1833, it was the first house in Lebanon of the restored Society.  Over the summer months, renovation was carried out to prepare for the thirteen tertians due to arrive last September: Philippines (3) India (2) Canada (2) and one from the U.S. Myanmar, Poland, Hungary, France and Germany. Because of the large numbers, Dany Younès the instructor, decided that the weekly group sharing would take place in three small groups. These groups served for liturgy and kitchen duties. An inspired decision! From the outset, all was not plain sailing: one had his visa refused and another was not allowed board his flight because the airline staff could not decipher the Arabic on his Lebanese document! Finally, we were all aboard, but as a dispersed community. A week after the 7th October attack on Israel, we had to re-assess the situation as day after day different  governments told their citizens to leave while commercial flights were still  available and as we heard reports of militants travelling into Lebanon from Iraq and Syria to join forces with Hezbollah.  Thrown into uncertainty, how were we to embrace this new reality? Fr Dalibor Renic asked us to “save the programme” if at all possible. Political uncertainty not being conducive  to the retreat, the decision was taken to postpone it. After much talking among the group, Dany brought us all together to listen quietly to how each felt prompted to do in the tense and evolving situation. It was a sacred moment as we listened in silence as each one shared honestly what he felt drawn to do or indeed needed to do.  So the experiments were brought forward, information was shared on possible places and decisions were made after speaking speaking with Dany and Charlie.  Four opted to stay in Lebanon while the others chose experiments in Rome, Dublin, Kampala, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Wales. And shortly two will travel to Armenia after a strong plea from the Missionaries of Charity. As work on the personal autobiographies had only just begun, the work load of the experiment had to be limited to allow for time to reflect and write.   For the past five weeks we have met weekly on zoom with the whole group as well as meeting in the small groups. Now on the cusp of Advent, we have to discern our way forward. Do we return to Bikfaya or not? Do we seek to do the retreat outside Lebanon in a country where all could obtain visas? And if so, for how long?  Having heard the views of the group, we will each be seeking to guided by the Lord as we make our written input into the decision that will finally be taken by the instructors having consulted with the President of the European Provincials and Fr General’s delegate for formation.    As Dany said before we dispersed: embracing the reality in which we find ourselves with all its uncertainties, but also unexpected blessings, is our way of seeking and finding God this tertianship. 

Thirteen tertians joined the 2023-2024 programme, coming from the Philippines (3), Myanmar, India (2), Poland, Hungary, Germany, France, Canada (2) and the US. Mark from the Philippines has not yet gotten his visa. His arrival is delayed. On Sunday, September 24, the programme was inaugurated by Irmo, Noel, Mar Tay, Vikram, Harry, Krzysztof, Gyuri, Helmut, Pierre, Ted, Michael and George, together with Charlie and I as instructors. Building the community with us is Salah, from Lebanon, who gave a talk on the society and the state of Lebanon. Nader, from Egypt, and currently serving as Socius of the Provincial, is also a member of the team of formators as a spiritual director. As usual, we started with a common reading of Fr Kolvenbach’s Directives on Tertianship, in order to name the aims and means of our programme. We will start soon the reading of Ignatius’ autobiography while each tertian gives time for writing his own autobiography. Tertianship is what tertians give to each other, in terms of welcome into a safe space of companionship, that allows one to be touched in the depth of one’s affectivity, and discover anew the relation that binds the Lord to each of his companions. The context of Lebanon leads us straight into the theme of Reconciliation which is the focus of this programme. What is at stake in every conflict? What role does spiritual discernment hold in the elaboration of conflicts? The figure of Nicholas Kluiters, Dutch Jesuit who was assassinated during the Lebanese civil war, will inspire us to understand how the Society finds her place in the dynamics of every conflict, and how each companion finds his own place in the context of the mission entrusted to him. In the meantime, building the community of tertianship is the common concern of all of us. Through the shared responsibility of the 200-year-old house that we live in, and the generous desire to make the eight months of community a joyful experience, the community in Bikfaya is taking shape in a very consoling way.