From 7 to 11 September the enlarged Council of Father General will get together for one of its three annual meetings. Because of Covid restrictions, the meeting will take place online with time for individual prayer, regional small group sessions and plenary meetings. Participants come from as far apart as Manila, New Delhi, Nairobi, Chicago, Washington DC, Brussels, Lima and of course Rome. This time the special theme is “The Jesuit Vocation today: Its meaning, its living and its promotion”.

“Our Jesuit vocation is to follow Christ poor and humble even to the most difficult frontiers of our world and with a personal and ever growing love of Jesus”says Father Sosa. “We are blessed that so many people in our formation today are men who are totally committed to this way of life - men of intelligence, wisdom and depth. This meeting will help me listen to what the Spirit is saying, discern how all of us in the Society can live this vocation more deeply and promote it in all its richness and depth”.

In a text released prior to the meeting, Fr Sosa especially notes the importance of prayer for vocations:

“To pray for vocations is a substantive part of the style of life-mission of those of us who follow the call of the Lord in the Society of Jesus. Taking as a starting point that vocation is a gift of God that we are invited to beg with insistence, the first question that comes to me is whether we ask for this gift, whether we pray enough, and insistently enough, for vocations to the Society.

... All the members of the apostolic body can contribute to this task of praying insistently for vocations. This dimension cannot be foregone, and we are invited to use all the means necessary to accomplish it in the best way possible. Any plan of vocational promotion must include specific means to assure prayer for vocations by the whole apostolic body”.

A feature of this meeting is the presence of four special guests. One is a married woman, Ms. Nicoletta Purpura from Sicily. She is the Head of Centro Arrupe there and the mother of two children. Another guest is James Edema SJ. He is a Jesuit Brother working as head of Guidance and Counselling in Dodoma High School in Tanzania. The third is Shekhar Manickam SJ who is Assistancy Secretary for South Asia based at the Jesuit Curia and a former Novice Master. Finally, we have Sr Merle Salazar FDNSC who brings the perspective of women religious.

All of us at the Curia ask your prayers for the success of this meeting.

The entire text of Fr Sosa will be available on Monday, 7 September.