The formation of young Jesuits is an important investment in the future of the Society of Jesus in Europe.  Since 1986, each year, European Jesuits in Formation (EJIF), one of the Eurogroups of JCEP, brings together Jesuits in formation from different European Provinces and Regions for a time of prayer, formation, apostolic service and fraternity. More than simply a meeting, EJIF offers a space where Jesuits from across Europe can grow together in their vocation, encounter different apostolic and cultural realities, and strengthen the bonds that will sustain their future collaboration in mission. For the Jesuit Conference of European Provincials (JCEP), EJIF is significant precisely because it helps nurture a sense of a shared European Jesuit mission from the earliest stages of formation. By bringing together Jesuits from across the Conference, it creates opportunities to discover the richness of the different Provinces while also recognising what unites them as companions in the Lord. The programme combines apostolic experience, formation and communal prayer, with fraternity at its heart. The following article offers a personal testimonial from Mikhael Ahmad SJ of the British Province, who was part of the EJIF 2026 Coordination Committee, reflecting on the experience in Cluj-Napoca and on what this year’s gathering meant for those who took part. This year’s EJIF (European Jesuits in Formation) meeting took place in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, from 25 July to 9 August. We were warmly and generously welcomed by the Jesuit community, who hosted us at their Spirituality Centre and opened not only their home but also something of the life and mission of the Church in Cluj to us. The Jesuit community serves the wider Catholic community in a variety of ways, and we were deeply touched by the sense of fraternity that surrounded their ministry. Their relationships with those they serve were a beautiful witness to the Church not simply as an institution, but as a family: a community in which people are welcomed, accompanied and cared for. EJIF is built around a number of important elements: apostolic service, formation around a common theme, communal prayer, and the opportunity to know one another more deeply as Jesuits in formation and as representatives of our different Provinces throughout Europe. Yet beneath these different elements is something even more important: the desire to become, in Ignatius’ language, companions in the Lord. From the very beginning of the planning for EJIF 2026, the Coordination Committee, Miklós Forián-Szabó SJ, Ante Arambašić SJ and myself, felt that we should build upon some of the hopes and desires that had emerged from the previous meeting. As we prayed and discerned together, we gradually became aware of a theme that felt both important and, in some ways, risky: our vow of chastity and, more broadly, our affective lives as religious. Religious life asks much of us in terms of our relationships, our freedom and the way in which we give ourselves to others. We wanted to create a space in which we could look honestly at this dimension of our lives, not simply as something to be managed, but as something through which God can help us to grow and flourish. As we continued to pray, one word became increasingly important for us: freedom. We began to understand our vow of chastity not primarily in terms of restriction, but as an invitation to a deeper freedom, a freedom for love, for service and for generous self-giving. There was both an ad intra and an ad extra dimension to this. Ad intra, we wanted to explore how healthy affectivity and greater freedom can help us to flourish in our relationships with God, with our companions and within community. Ad extra, we wanted to ask how this same freedom might enable us to become increasingly available to the people and world around us: more ready to respond to the needs of others, more humble in our service, and more open to the magis. One of our greatest challenges during the planning was finding a concrete way to connect this theme with apostolic service. We did not want affectivity to remain simply an intellectual or theoretical subject. We wanted our delegates to encounter it both through formation and through lived experience. Looking back, we were continually struck by how providentially the pieces came together. In Cluj, the Piarists were preparing their own week-long youth gathering, the Piarist Youth Movement (PYM), bringing together young people from across Europe for a week of prayer, pilgrimage, workshops, sharing and community. Alongside the main programme, some of the young people were being formed as group leaders so that they could accompany and serve the other participants. The motto of their week was “We grow together.” It was difficult to imagine a more natural way for our own EJIF theme to become concrete. Our first week was therefore spent collaborating with the Piarists and accompanying these young leaders. EJIF delegates offered one-to-one sessions in which the leaders could reflect on their experience of the week and become more attentive to where God was present and active in it. During the pilgrimage to Turda, the delegates also offered spiritual input and opportunities for reflection. We extended this accompaniment to the Piarists, teachers and others involved in organising the event, offering discussion groups and opportunities to encounter something of Ignatian spirituality. For the delegates, this service required a great deal of flexibility. Plans changed, groups changed and the needs of the young people shifted from day to day. In other words, the week demanded precisely the kind of interior freedom that we had been praying about during our preparation. We needed to let go of our own expectations and remain available to what was actually happening in front of us. The fruits were striking. It was deeply consoling to see friendships grow between the Jesuits and the young people, and between the Jesuits and the Piarist organisers. As the week unfolded, we could see the delegates becoming increasingly attentive to the wellbeing of those they were accompanying. Their concern was not simply that the programme should run well, but that the young people themselves should flourish. For us as the Coordination Committee, this was one of the clearest confirmations of the discernment that had led us to this theme. One moment that has stayed with me, and which was echoed by several of the other delegates, was the way in which the presence of the young people became a sign of hope for all of us. We saw it in the way they looked after one another, encouraged those who were struggling and supported those who were still learning. No one seemed to be left on the margins; rather, people were encouraged to participate and to discover that they had something to contribute. During our sharing sessions, I was particularly struck by the fraternal bonds between the young people. Those who felt more hesitant or intimidated about speaking were encouraged and gently held by their companions. In their care for one another, we caught a glimpse of something profoundly Gospel-like: a compassionate and counter-cultural way of loving that places the dignity and flourishing of the other before the self. In a week in which we had been reflecting on freedom for love and service, their witness became an unexpected gift to us. We had come to accompany them, yet in many ways they also accompanied us. We too had our own work of accompaniment. Each member of the Coordination Committee had responsibility for accompanying some of the young people involved in the practical running of the PYM, including communications, logistics, music and liturgy. At the same time, we were responsible for listening to the delegates, receiving their feedback and remaining open to adapting the programme when necessary. In that sense, organising EJIF itself became another experience of Ignatian freedom: having a plan, but holding it lightly enough to allow God to work through the reality before us. For me personally, one of the unexpected graces of being part of the Coordination Committee was discovering how much freedom is also required in leadership. It is one thing to make a plan; it is another to remain sufficiently free to listen when the experience of the group asks something different of you. Learning to hold the programme firmly enough to provide direction, yet lightly enough to allow it to change, became a small but important lesson in discernment. The second week turned more explicitly towards formation. We were very grateful to Brendan Callaghan SJ, who led us in an affectivity workshop. These days gave us the opportunity to approach our affective lives from both a practical and intellectual perspective, examining our relationships, our vulnerabilities and the ways in which we seek to live religious life healthily and freely. We were challenged by the material, by the case studies and by our conversations with one another. Perhaps most importantly, we were given permission to speak honestly about a subject that can sometimes be difficult to name. This was ultimately what we had hoped EJIF could provide: a space in which important questions could be approached with honesty, fraternity and prayer. Alongside all of this, the simpler elements of EJIF remained just as important. We gathered each day for Mass and communal prayer, and we made space for sharing together about how the programme was unfolding. Our Province presentations were another particularly rich part of the meeting. We came from different countries, cultures and backgrounds, with very different journeys and vocation stories, yet there was something profoundly consoling in recognising the common thread that united us: we had each, in our own way, heard a call from God to follow Christ in the Society of Jesus. These moments of fraternity are not simply an optional extra to EJIF. They are part of its very heart. For a short time, we live, pray, work and learn together. We become a small community in ourselves, discovering again the truth that Jesuit mission is sustained not only by what we do, but by the relationships through which we do it. The feast of St Ignatius was perhaps the clearest expression of this. Friends and members of the Jesuit community came together at the Spirituality Centre to celebrate, and we were deeply touched by the warmth and generosity of the occasion. Once again, we were reminded of the Church as family and community. We were not simply visitors passing through Cluj; for a brief time, we became part of something larger than ourselves. Our time in Cluj also gave us an opportunity to discover more about the richness of the local Church. In particular, our visit to the Greek Catholic community and cathedral was a real gift. To encounter something of the history of the Greek Catholic Church in Romania, and to be welcomed so warmly, broadened our understanding of the place in which we were privileged to spend these weeks. As I look back on EJIF 2026, I am struck most of all by the sense of God’s providence throughout the whole experience. In the early stages of planning, we knew that we were taking a risk by choosing to focus so directly on affectivity and chastity. Yet again and again, we experienced the consolation of seeing the pieces come together: the theme, the service, the Piarist collaboration, the formation and the life of the group itself. For me, perhaps this is one of the most enduring fruits of EJIF 2026: the discovery that freedom in religious life is not freedom from responsibility or from relationship, but freedom for love. It is the freedom to be available to God, to our companions and to those we are sent to serve. And perhaps this is what it means to become more deeply companions in the Lord: to grow together, to serve together, and to become increasingly free to love. In the Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius reminds us that we are created to “praise, reverence, and serve God” (Spiritual Exercises, 23). Our experience in Cluj seemed to give this a very concrete expression. We began EJIF asking what greater freedom might look like in our religious lives. We ended it having experienced something of that freedom together: freedom to accompany, freedom to serve, freedom to be vulnerable with one another, and freedom to allow God to lead us somewhere we might not have chosen for ourselves.

On January 2-6, the Coordination Committee of EJIF (European Jesuits in Formation) gathered in Brussels in order to plan the Summer event of EJIF, which will take place in Cluj Napoca, Romania. EJIF is one of the oldest groups of the JCEP – the first EJIF group met as early as 1989 – and it is a key instrument to help Jesuits in formation develop bonds among themselves and a truly international and European identity, a key feature of Ignatian spirituality. We asked the coordination team to write a few notes.  It was on the 20th of August at Le Châtelard in Lyon that EJIF 2025 came to a conclusion. This reunion of Jesuits in formation from across Europe, as well as a delegate from Egypt, had begun in Marseille under the theme “Companions called to serve together.” Fourteen delegates gathered each day to pray, share, cook, and serve alongside different communities in the city. The reunion then moved to Le Châtelard, a spirituality centre of the EOF Province of the Society of Jesus. There, the group entered more deeply into a contemplative and prayerful space shaped by the Spiritual Exercises. As is tradition with EJIF, the meeting concluded with the election of new delegates to the Coordination Committee (CoCo) for the following year’s reunion. Those appointed were Miklós Forián-Szabó SJ (HUN), Ante Arambašić SJ (CRO), and Mikhael Ahmad SJ (BRI). With Miklós serving as Chairman. An important milestone in the preparation of each EJIF reunion is a meeting with the Conference of European Jesuit Provincials (JCEP) team, comprised of Dalibor Renić SJ (President), Gonzalo Villagrán SJ (Socius and Treasurer), and János Lukács SJ (Conference Formation Delegate). The Coordination Committee arrived in Brussels on the 2nd of January. In the months leading up to this meeting, the team met regularly online to pray, share, reflect on feedback from the previous EJIF, and discern where God might be leading the group with regard to the theme and location of the 2026 reunion. This process also involved more practical research into our own provinces and others, noticing what stood out and what resonated most with each member. After four months of distilling these reflections, we arrived in Brussels carrying the fruits of our shared discernment. Meeting with the JCEP team offered invaluable perspective and guidance as we sought clarity around our final decisions. Throughout our visit, moments of prayer and further discernment helped us to refine and confirm the direction to which we felt called. Throughout this process, it was helpful to keep in mind that EJIF is not only a meeting of delegates, but also a formative experience for each participant, including the members of the Coordination Committee. Holding this alongside our discernment, we recognised a unique opportunity to integrate a deeper reflection on the vow of chastity, explicitly linked to mission. Inspired by Ignatius’s constant search for the greater service of God, we were drawn to the deeply Ignatian intuition of magis — not as doing more, but as seeking what leads to greater freedom, the more universal good, and a form of service that truly places the other at the centre. From this perspective, affective freedom and discerning accompaniment emerged naturally as key dimensions of the theme for the coming year. In light of these reflections, it was discerned that the next EJIF reunion will take place in Romania, in Cluj-Napoca this summer.  Of course, an equally important element of the Brussels meeting was simply being together. This was the first time since the previous EJIF that the newly appointed CoCo members were able to meet in person, both with one another and with the conference team. Alongside our meetings, we had the opportunity to visit the Brussels City Museum, the Cathedral of St Gudula, and the European Parliament building, as well as to share a memorable meal with the JCEP team. Our time in Brussels coincided with several days of snow, which lent a particular character to the visit — turning walks through the city and nearby parks into an unexpectedly joyful part of our time together. More than the places we visited, however, it was the experience of fraternity, companionship, and shared discernment that stood out most clearly, grounding our preparations in a spirit of joy that we carry forward as we continue our work toward EJIF.   EJIF Coordination Committee 2026 Miklós, Ante & Mikhael January 2026  The European Jesuits in Formation (EJIF) is a network that brings together Jesuits in formation from across Europe, offering a space for encounter, shared discernment, and mutual support at a formative stage of Jesuit life. Rooted in the Ignatian tradition, EJIF seeks to foster a sense of companionship and collaboration beyond provincial boundaries, helping young Jesuits grow in availability for mission within the universal Society of Jesus. Closely connected to the Jesuit Conference of European Provincials (JCEP), EJIF plays an important role in strengthening inter-provincial relationships, listening to the realities of formation across Europe, and nurturing future collaboration in mission. Through its annual reunions and ongoing coordination, EJIF serves as both a formative experience for its participants and a meaningful point of dialogue with JCEP on the life and mission of the Society in Europe.

 The last EJIF(European Jesuits in Formation) meeting took place in Marseille (Centre Notre Dame de Roucas) and Lyon (Le Chatelard) from August 1st to August 20th. The encounter consisted firstly in an experience of service and living together in Marseille until August 10th and then in the 8 days retreat that the group made together in Le Chatelard Spiritual Center (Lyon). We share here a witness by Gabrielius Zaveckas SJ, member of the EJIF Coordination Committee.   As faithful Christians, we are accustomed to praying. Yet sometimes, we pray without fully believing that our petitions will be answered. How beautiful it is, then, to witness how God surprises us with His generosity and grace! When planning the EJIF 2025 meeting—even before knowing its location—Luis, Paul, and I (the Coordination Committee, or CoCo) recognized one thing clearly: we wanted the next EJIF gathering to be an opportunity to serve others ad extra and, through this service, to strengthen and preserve our bond as companions. This desire arose from our own experience: the best relationships are forged not only through discussion but also by working side by side toward a concrete, even small, positive change. This intuition was later confirmed in prayer, as we shared our insights and discovered the Holy Spirit had led us to the same conclusion. The theme “Companions Called to Serve Together” was then born—capturing both God’s call for us and our hope for what we would experience with all EJIF 2025 participants. During the first part of the meeting (about ten days), our “workdays” were organized into four groups:  Preparing a spiritual input for volunteers at the Basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde—the pearl of Marseille—so they could encounter God.  Delivering the input prepared the previous day.  Assisting the Missionaries of Charity (the Sisters of Mother Teresa) in their soup kitchen for the poor and homeless.  Cooking lunch and welcoming the other groups back after their morning of service. Additionally, on two Sunday mornings, we helped at “Caffè St. Ferréol,” a Jesuit sanctuary that provides breakfast for those in need. By rotating these responsibilities, each participant was able to “taste” the different forms of service. This experience echoed the first nine companions in Venice, who came from different countries and who also divided themselves into groups to serve the city, with one group staying behind to prepare food for the rest (Autobiography, 93–95). We were amazed at how God allowed us to relive that same spirit. Delegates repeatedly shared how serving together led to deeper fraternal conversations and stronger bonds. Our lifestyle was simple: we lacked excess but had everything we truly needed. Though tired, no one complained, because our work had meaning, it made us feel useful, and it drew us closer to one another. In short, God was present, teaching us that our mission depends not on nationality but on a shared spirit; that serving both within and beyond the Society of Jesus strengthens community life; and that the harmony among us itself becomes a witness to others Afternoons and evenings gave us time to grow closer as companions from 14 different Provinces, many meeting for the first time. One particularly nourishing moment was the Province and Personal Presentations. Listening to vocation stories, I often caught myself thinking: “Yes, his words could just as well describe my own vocation.” We also deeply appreciated the times of sharing in small groups and as a whole, where we discovered ourselves not only as co-workers but as brothers in Christ—sharing not just physical bread, but also our spiritual lives, gathered around the Table of the Eucharist. After the rich first part of EJIF in Marseille, we moved to the Retreat House in Châtelard, near Lyon. For some, it was their first experience of Spiritual Exercises focused explicitly on a particular theme—this time, the Universal Apostolic Preferences. Many of us longed for silence; others sought a chance to step back and deepen what we had lived during the past week and the whole year. The fruits of the Retreat are best left unspoken, entrusted to God and to the small groups in which we shared them. Let these fruits transform our lives, increasing our capacity to love God, our neighbor, and ourselves. In the end, what guided us during the first part of EJIF must guide us always: “Love consists more in deeds than in words” (Spiritual Exercises, 230). Gabrielius Zaveckas, member of EJIF CoCo 2025

Last European Jesuits in Formation (EJIF) meeting took place in Denmark. After one week of focusing on the topic of collaboration in Copenhagen and another week of Annual Retreat in Maribo, Luis Busto de Moner (ESP), Paul Rousselot (EOF) and Gabrielius Zaveckas (ECE) were appointed as the members of the next Coordination Committee (CoCo), having Luis as the chairman. Therefore, following the tradition, three scholastics came to Brussels to organize EJIF 2025 with Fathers Dalibor Renić SJ, President of the Jesuit Conference of European Provincials (JCEP), and Herminio Rico, Socius and Treasurer, as well as János Lukács, Formation Delegate of the Conference, who joined the discussions online. Before seeing each other in Brussels, the Coordination Committee had several online meetings to recognize the common vision of what topics would be possible, what place would be suitable, and which accents would be important for EJIF 2025. The discussions in the Belgian capital brought fruit: as the Jesuit formation ought to prepare the members of our Order to serve the others and as working with those closest ones to ourselves are the other fellow Jesuits, the topic was chosen accordingly: Companions called to serve together.  The meeting will take place in Marseille, from August 1st to 20th. This year, every Province will be invited to appoint one scholastic as a delegate. After “crystallizing” the topic, the place and the date, the distribution of further tasks between the three young companions became possible. Finally, the encounter itself, the time of Christmas and the opportunity to visit Brussels, city of many European institutions, were good reasons take a long walk through the mixture of traditional and modern architecture, to visit the cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, the Grand Square and the City Hall… and of course, to discover some Belgian specialties. CoCo of EJIF 2025Luis, Paul and GabrieliusJanuary 2025

At the end of EJIF 2024 in Denmark, we are grateful for everything that happened in these two weeks. It was, for all the delegates, a time of grace, getting to know a new social and ecclesial reality, as well as to know the presence of the Society of Jesus in the danish context. But for all of us, the great gift of this meeting was the opportunity to work, pray and be together between young jesuits of all around europe. The first part of the meeting took place in Copenhagen. While we spent the nights in a hostel in the city center, during the day we met in the Jesuit community, where we were warmly welcomed by Fr. Wojciech Nowak and Fr. Daniel Noorgard. The president of JCEP, Dalibor Renić, accompanied the group during the first days of the meeting. These first days were marked by three meetings. Daniel explained the reality of the Church and the Society of Jesus in the Danish context (including a guided tour of the city). Then it was time to meet the pastor of the Lutheran Church in Denmark, Rikke Jull. The focus of this meeting was, on the one hand, to get to know the Danish Lutheran Church and, on the other, to understand how collaboration between the two Churches takes place - with a special focus on the importance of Ignatian spirituality. Finally, we met the young adults from CAYAC (Catholic Association of Young Adults in Copenhagen), with whom we were able to informally share dinner. Throughout these days, there were also many moments to spend time, pray and share with each other.  For the second part, we went to Maribo, where we made our Spiritual Exercises, guided by Fr. Roman Groszewski (PMA), with the help of Fr. János Lukács (HUN) and Fr. Andrea Bonavita (EUM). The retreat took place at Sankt Birgitta Kloster, a brigidine monastery. In the days following the retreat, there was a day of relaxation - riding a cayac around the lake of Maribo or visiting the local museum - and a day to evaluate the meeting, electing the new CoCo (Coordination Committee).  Not just the preparation but also the EJIF (one of the oldest and maybe most successful networks in the JCEP) as a whole is a beautiful experience of the International Society, allowing the collaboration between jesuits of different Provinces and cultures. Being a rather secularized culture, where it wasn't easy to find the normal conditions for an encounter of this kind, we were a little reticent, while trusting that the Lord would provide everything that was needed. And so we jokingly said that “it's all part of the experience”. The truth is that this phrase took on a spiritual tone when we realized that we were always very well received and that the meeting went very well - and that this positive surprise was also “part of the experience”. As we had Saint Bridget of Sweden as our patron saint, we say one last time: Saint Bridget, pray for us!   EJIF CoCO Joseph Ashraf SJ, Jakub Majchrzak SJ, Vasco Lucas Pires SJ

At the end of the annual meeting of European Jesuits in Formation (EJIF), the delegates choose three members to be part of the Coordinating Committee (CoCo), that prepares the meeting of the following year. For 2024, the members of the CoCo are: Jakub Majchrzak, PMA, doing his regency in Poland, accompanying university students in Spiritual Exercises; Joseph Ashraf, PRO, who is in his third year of philosophy, in Lebanon; and Vasco Lucas Pires, POR, who also studies philosophy, but in Rome. All three entered the Society of Jesus in 2019. Between January 1st and January 5th, the CoCo met in Brussels, with Fr. Dalibor Renić and Fr. Hermínio Rico, to prepare gathering of 2024, in Denmark. Unfortunately, Joseph was not able to fly to Belgium, being present online. Being this also a time of formation, this year’s EJIF will try to make us discover God that reveals Himself in all realities and that calls us to contemplate His Incarnation and to collaborate with Him in His mission of reconciliation. As suggested by last year’s delegates, we want to go to some frontier. We will explore the idea of collaboration in Christ’s mission in the secularized world, having as starting point the reality of Denmark. Not just the EJIF (one of the oldest and maybe most successful networks in the JCEP), but also the whole preparation is a beautiful experience of the International Society, allowing the collaboration between Jesuits of different Provinces and cultures. EJIF CoCO Jakub, Joseph and Vasco