It was more than 476 years ago that St. Ignatius of Loyola asked these famous questions: What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What ought I to do for Christ? As I reflect on my dreams and vision for the Society of Jesus, similar questions pop up in my mind: What was the Society of Jesus like? How is the Society of Jesus at present? How the Society of Jesus ought to be? Obviously, my effort in the following paragraphs would be to articulate the type of Society that I envision for the future.

First of all, I envision a Society in which mediocrity and complacency have no place. It was no accident that the theme of the recently concluded General Congregation 36 was ‘Rowing into the Deep.’ Was it not an invitation for every Jesuit, especially the younger Jesuits like us, to rediscover the Magis in our life? I hope that the young generation of Jesuits takes the words of St. Ignatius, that every Jesuit should have the capabilities to become the General of the Society, as a challenge. St. Ignatius despite his age was able to study with students much younger to him because he knew it would bring glory to God. We, who are young and have all the facilities to excel in any field that we choose can be far beyond the ordinary, be it academic life or spiritual life. And so, I see a future Society that is cleansed of the viruses of mediocrity and complacency.

Connected to the above is my desire to see a Society that is full of members who are deeply united with Jesus in prayer. I believe that the root of the lack of enthusiasm in our life lies in the shallowness of our spiritual life. Before anything else, we must be men of the Spiritual Exercises. When I did the Spiritual Exercises in the novitiate, it transformed me. I want to carry that deep union I felt then with me every day of life. Only a life of prayer will help me in this. And so, that is my second dream for the Society of Jesus. I would like to see all the Jesuits, especially the scholastics in formation, nurture the depth in their spiritual life in the next twenty years.

I believe that the root of the lack of enthusiasm in our life lies in the shallowness of our spiritual life. Before anything else, we must be men of the Spiritual Exercises.

Similarly, I believe that the feeling of oneness like the first companions, the feeling that all are Jesuits under the same banner of the cross, needs to be anchored in each Jesuit. The attachments to ‘my province and my country’ should not stand in the way of our availability for any mission. The shuffling of scholastics to different provinces itself is a great move towards the realization of this aim. Fr. Jerome Nadal’s term, ‘the world is our home,’ was practiced by the missionaries who came to our land. The same spirit of ‘ready to be sent anywhere’ should be instilled inwe world as my parish”. And so, this is my third dream for my Society: during our formation, the Society may give us more and more opportunities that will form us into men who have a deep sense of belongingness to the universal society.

Moreover, I dream of a Society that reaches out to the youth, especially to the Christian youth. I know that we run a lot of schools and colleges; however, the way I see it, there is hardly any particular ministry for the youth. A full-fledged ministry by forming new organizations like JIOFY [Jesuit International Organization for Youth] should be established in every province and region. The young people are the pillars of the church. When the knowledge about the church is not imparted to the youngsters in a creative and attractive way, how can we expect them to join religious life?

We are known for the frontier missions, for responding to the signs of the time. No doubt, there are Jesuits conducting some programmes for the youth from time to time but I hope I am not wrong in saying that very often we leave the formation of our Catholic youth in the hands of other congregations. I feel it is time that we enter into the lives of the youth in our schools, parishes and schools like our forefathers did. We have a great instrument of change with us, the Spiritual Exercises. I hope that we use music, songs and drama to impart the experience of the Spiritual Experiences to the youth under our care.

The fifth dream I have for the Society of Jesus is connected to a common statement that I hear very often from the Jesuits who are involved in various ministries: ‘in such and such a place there are not enough Jesuits’. I believe the solution to this problem lies in the involvement of the lay people more and more into leadership positions in our ministry places. We must identify lay people who know the situation at the grass root level, who are spiritual and capable and train them in our values. Doesn’t our selfish desire to hold on to the positions such as the post of principals or professors of schools and colleges make us stagnant? I hope that we will have a Society where the members in leadership positions trust the capabilities of the lay people and entrust them with responsibilities.

Finally, I dream of a Society that makes use of mass media more effectively. I feel that in this age of Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, we are lagging behind in using the tools of media for evangelization. After all our Jesuit term ‘En todo Amar y Servir’ means ‘in everything to love and serve’ in the way the people will benefit. Even vocation promotion can be done through social networking sites. In this regard, the wisdom that St. Ignatius gave us is very relevant: we must go through their door and come out through our door. Pope Francis is showing us the way by interacting with young people by taking selfies, etc. People can be drawn towards God through things that are attractive to them. Living in a world of advanced sophisticated gadgets, it is necessary for us Jesuits to use these tools to draw people to God.

When the above dreams are realized, I believe that our Society will be truly capable of achieving its aim in this world: to set the world on fire with God’s love.

Note: Every year the South Asian Assistancy conducts competitions in essay and short story among the six Juniorates across the Assistancy. Following is the first-prize winning essay this year.