Editor’s note: This homily was preached by the author at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Jerusalem on July 31, 2025.
On this, the yearly feast of St. Ignatius, I thought it might be good to do a bit of stocktaking. Before this diverse assembly, made up of our friends, our collaborators, our brothers and sisters in the Church of Jerusalem, visitors and perhaps some passers-by, I would like to propose a review of whom we, the Jesuits of the Holy Land, are called to be, based on the readings of this evening.
“Choose life” (Dt 30:19). In these dark times, surrounded by death and destruction in Gaza, the West Bank, inside Israel and throughout the Middle East, we hear the command in the first reading, “Choose life.” What are the ways we can do this in a world that seems to have gone mad? Living through a war that is documented blow by blow, tens of thousands of people wiped out, neighborhoods obliterated, millions driven from their homes, so many starving, abandoned, wounded…what are the ways that we can choose life? We must choose life and translate that choice into concrete ways to walk against the tide, refusing to sanction the daily choice of death. On this feast day, I sense that we Jesuits are challenged to find new ways to live according to this command.
When I looked around for a definition of who we are supposed to be, I was inspired by the U.S. Jesuits’ website: The Jesuits are “a Roman Catholic order of priests and brothers founded half a millennium ago by the soldier-turned-mystic Ignatius Loyola. In the vision of our founder, we seek to “find God in all things.” We dedicate ourselves to the “greater glory of God” and the good of all humanity. In our varied ministries, we care for the whole person: body, mind, and soul. And especially in our education ministries, we seek to nurture “men and women for others.” We also aim to be “contemplatives in action,” people who bring this spirituality into the wide world. That includes our work on behalf of (equality), justice, peace, and dialogue.”
If you find yourself here today, then you might be invited to help us as we discern and carry out our mission in this land today. What does it mean to choose life as a Jesuit in the Holy Land, in Palestine/Israel today? Ignatius came to Jerusalem just over five hundred years ago. The Franciscans helped him discern that he was not called to be there. It was only hundreds of years later, after another few failed attempts to establish a presence there, that the Jesuits returned, beginning to build this house exactly a century ago, in 1925. Its principal mission was and remains Biblical formation, serving the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. We as Jesuits are engaged in other ways too to serve the people of this land. At present, we give retreats, offer spiritual accompaniment, teach in seminaries and universities, work in ecumenism and adult education, help in parishes, engage in work with migrants and promote equality, justice and peace in this conflicted land. In all of this, are we choosing life, day by day? Are we serving the peoples of this land to help them reject death and choose life?
“Whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). The second reading for the feast today presents one of the main challenges of our Christian lives: to do everything for the glory of God. The Jesuits have adopted this as their motto: “for the greater glory of God.” This is no easy task. It involves discerning clearly our motivations in doing whatever we do. Are we doing it for our own glory, as individuals or even as a community, or are we doing whatever we are doing for the glory of God? And how can we tell the difference? The great gift that Saint Ignatius offered to the Church is the Spiritual Exercises, well known to many of us. At their core is the discernment that is necessary to distinguish between acting for one’s own glory and acting for the glory of God. Discernment seeks to find the voice of God speaking to us in the ordinary and practical details of our lives. By trying always to listen to the Spirit, freed from their own desires and ideas, Jesuits wish to find where the Spirit of God is leading and respond with humility and joy.
A few weeks ago, our Father General Arturo Sosa, S.J. addressed the Assembly of the International Association of Jesuit Universities in Bogota, Colombia. He said, “Discernment develops the capacity to perceive where God is at work in the global and local situation in order to choose what better leads to the glory of God, which is nothing other than the fullness of human life.” One of our tasks is to cultivate that sensitivity that leads to the wisdom of discernment—the capacity to view the world and historical events through the eyes of God. In these troubled times, we as Jesuits must find the energy, the strength and the resources to engage continually in a discernment that allows us to work for the greater glory of God, serving the Church and the people of this land.
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Lk. 9:23). Finally, in the Gospel reading for the feast today, Jesus, our Lord and Master for whom we are named, says, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Lk. 9:23). This feast is a celebration of our founder, a time to affirm that we seek to follow Ignatius’s particular way of denying ourselves and taking up our cross to follow Jesus. Exactly one hundred years ago, the Jesuits began work on building this house. Today, we seek to renew our commitment before you, friends, collaborators, brothers and sisters in the Church of Jerusalem. In our poverty and weakness, our reduced numbers and our advancing ages, we ask for the grace to continue serving in the Holy Land, in Palestine/Israel.
Jesus did not offer us a trouble-free life. He told us to take up our cross each day. The cross is certainly palpable here, in this land. It is even heavier and harder to carry since Oct. 7, 2023. What does it mean to be a Jesuit in the Holy Land as Gaza is reduced to dust, its people bombed and starved? What does it mean to be a Jesuit in the Holy Land as the West Bank is subject to increased military brutality and settler violence? What does it mean to be a Jesuit in the Holy Land, as Israeli society is convulsed, torn apart by internal discord? As we seek to answer these questions, our only hope lies in following Jesus, listening to his voice and attempting to discern how we can collaborate with you all here present, with the Church of the Holy Land and all people of good will, in the mission of reconciliation and the struggle for equality, justice and peace.
