Heaven’s Heart… in “Father General’s Corridor”
In 2021, Fr. Arturo Sosa invited the Jesuit artist Arturo Araujo to create a series of artworks to bring to life the corridor that runs alongside his office. Conversations between the Superior General and the artist led to the proposal of a graphic representation that freely evokes the Society’s Universal Apostolic Preferences. These works represent in a dynamic and integrated way, the commitments of the Society, in a single concept.
Fr. Arturo Araujo teaches art at Seattle University (USA), a Jesuit institution. To collaborate with him in this project, he involved five talented students from his department: Alex Campanella-Dosé, Henry Geary, Bridgette Huhtala, Pia Jondonovan and Chloe Rollens. Over several months, they discussed the challenges of language that speak of spiritual realities to a universal audience. The team, together with Father General, chose Heaven’s Heart as the title of this artwork series, because of the movements of the Spirit that one can feel which is at the heart of all the apostolic work of the Society of Jesus. The artist says, “The Preferences help us Jesuits and our collaborators to be united in the same spirit that guides us in the Ignatian desire of God’s greater glory for our time”.
Over
the next few weeks, our website will gradually present the 10 artworks of this
series.
Father General with Fr. Arturo Araujo.
Father General’s presentation
The paintings in “Father General’s Corridor” in Rome are windows open to the world. They not only reflect the suffering and injustices that wound our contemporary world, but they also invite us to enter into a more fundamental experience – sometimes stronger and sometimes more discreet – the one that opens us to hope.
The images overlap, as in the reality of the vibrant world in which we live. Each of them is incomplete but, at the same time, each participates in a whole, in a message. God is there, present, at the center of life; he allows himself to be perceived and thus enables us to “see all things new”.
Observing these paintings daily is for me a call to commitment and mission, but above all a call to constantly change my gaze to discover in them the promises of a reconciled world that is enriched by its diversity.
Related Posts:
The Jesuit Pilgrimage app has an exciting news for our Vietnamese users as we proudly announce the release of the app in Vietnamese, encouraging the users to have a spiritual journey in the footsteps of St Ignatius...
On 4 April, Fr Arturo Sosa, Superior General, announced the appointment of Fr Pedro Rodrigues, 55 years old, as the new Provincial of the Goa Province in India. He will assume office on 22 April, Feast of Mary, Mother of the Society of Jesus...
The recent gathering of the International Association of Jesuit Universities (IAJU) Board members at the General Curia marked a pivotal moment in the ongoing deliberations on the promotion of Jesuit Identity and Mission of Jesuit higher education...
Almost six months of war in Gaza, and the guns have not fallen silent. We, the members of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), like so many other Catholics, Christians, men and women of all faiths and non-believers, refuse to be silent. Our voices continue to be lifted up...
Lent is a time for prayer, reflection and discipline for Catholics the world over. Leading up to Holy Week, we are publishing personal reflections from Jesuits across the globe, in different ministries of the mission. Our last reflection comes from...
