Rencontre provinciale de Taanayel 2024 – Appelés sous l’étendard du Christ
Environ 85 jésuites de la Province du Proche-Orient et du Maghreb, qui comprend l’Algérie, l’Égypte, l’Irak, la Jordanie, le Liban, le Maroc, la Syrie, la Terre Sainte et la Turquie, se sont réunis dans la Bekaa libanaise, au monastère de Taanayel, pour réécouter les appels et les défis de leurs pays. C’est au cœur de la spiritualité ignatienne de voir la réalité qui nous entoure, de bien écouter ses besoins, de la mettre dans notre prière, de discerner l’appel du Seigneur, de choisir et de décider ce qu’il faut faire selon “Sa volonté”.
Taanayel 2024 Provincial Meeting – Called under the Banner of Christ
Approximately 85 Jesuits from the Near East and Maghreb Province, which includes Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, the Holy Land and Turkey, gathered in the Lebanese Bekaa in the monastery of Taanayel to listen again to the calls and the challenges of their countries. It is at the heart of Ignatian spirituality to see the reality around us, to listen well to its needs, to put this in our prayer, to discern the call of the Lord, to choose and decide what to do according to “His will”.
اللقاء الإقليميّ تعنايل ٢٠٢٤ – مدعوّون تحت راية المسيح
إجتمع ما يُقارب ٨٥ يسوعيّ من إقليم الشرق الأدنى والمغرب العربيّ الّذي يضمّ: الجزائر ومصر والعراق والأردنّ ولبنان والمغرب وسوريا والأراضي المقدّسة وتركيا، في البقاع اللبنانيّ بدير تعنايل، ليُصغو من جديد إلى نداءات بلدانهم وتحدّياتها التي تمرّ بها. فمن صُلب الروحانيّة الإغناطيّة هي أن نرى الواقع من حولنا، ونسمع جيّدًا إلى احتياجاته، لنضع ذلك في صلاتنا، ونُميّز دعوة الربّ، فنختار ونُقرّر ما يتوجّب علينا فعله.
I want to thank the members of the Province for their warm welcome to me since I arrived in the Province. I am humbled by your patience as I struggle to learn Arabic and learn how to live and serve in Syrian society and culture.
In early 2018 I began working with JRS a remote part of South Sudan. I returned to Ireland in early 2021. Given my mother’s advanced years, I was discerning with my Provincial that I might stay in Ireland for my next mission. On a Friday in April we were close to a decision on an assignment in Ireland. Over the weekend, JRS International Office contacted my Provincial and by Tuesday I was heading to Prov PRO and to JRS Syria! Such is the God of surprises.
I have been surprised by many things in my first months in Syria. Most of all I am surprised by how many smiling faces I see and how much laughter I have hear each day. It seems to me that Syrians easily find joy in many ordinary things and draw strength in the warmth of relationships of family and friends. Of course behind all the smiles and laughter is a fountain of tears that has shed many times and has volumes of tears yet to flow. They are a people crushed by not broken.
Friends and family members often ask me ‘what is the difference between Syria and Africa?’ Of course I always answer that it is impossible to compare and contrast human suffering across contexts. However as I reflect on the question and as I listen more to the stories of people I meet here, I am struck by how much people here have lost. Perhaps it is this dimension of ‘loss’ that strikes me again and again as pervasive and perhaps this gives a particular colour to the suffering that is common in Syria. Closely linked to this sense of loss, or perhaps a part of the loss, is the loss of belief in a future and the dreams of life. I have been struck by the amount of times I hear people say; ‘things are worse now than they ever have been’ and the struggle for daily basics has intensified during the year gone by. As hope is scare and people continue to leave or want to leave the country, it is all the more important that JRS stand with people in the pitiful present and whisper hope.
I have always been struck by the a line in Gaudium et Spes; ‘…{t}he future of humanity rests with people who are capable of providing the generations to come with reasons for living and for hope. (- Paragraph 37). This line has never had the strength of resonance than it has for me these days. It is not surprising then that the central mission of JRS and indeed all Jesuit ministry in Syria is one of kindling hope.
JRS seeks to offer hope, healing and capacity for dreams, to over 1,500 children attending our education support programmes in our community centres in Aleppo, Homs and Damascus. A wide range of peace building activities and programmes to promote social cohesion is another plank of the way JRS seeks to accompany and promote hope. Offering free health care with dignity remains a key service of JRS in Syria.
More than what we offer is the way we seek to serve, and I am so grateful to see a heritage of interreligious working in the JRS team. The team is packed with people motivated by compassion and the desire for honest effort. I think this witness of Christian and Muslins working together in the service of the most in need, is the most important way we say that the ‘peace’ the ‘Shalom’ given to us in the Incarnation is possible Syria. The present struggle and crisis is not the final word. Nshalla!
Fr Tony O’Riordan SJ
Rencontre provinciale de Taanayel 2024 – Appelés sous l’étendard du Christ
Environ 85 jésuites de la Province du Proche-Orient et du Maghreb, qui comprend l’Algérie, l’Égypte, l’Irak, la Jordanie, le Liban, le Maroc, la Syrie, la Terre Sainte et la Turquie, se sont réunis dans la Bekaa libanaise, au monastère de Taanayel, pour réécouter les appels et les défis de leurs pays. C’est au cœur de la spiritualité ignatienne de voir la réalité qui nous entoure, de bien écouter ses besoins, de la mettre dans notre prière, de discerner l’appel du Seigneur, de choisir et de décider ce qu’il faut faire selon “Sa volonté”.
Taanayel 2024 Provincial Meeting – Called under the Banner of Christ
Approximately 85 Jesuits from the Near East and Maghreb Province, which includes Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, the Holy Land and Turkey, gathered in the Lebanese Bekaa in the monastery of Taanayel to listen again to the calls and the challenges of their countries. It is at the heart of Ignatian spirituality to see the reality around us, to listen well to its needs, to put this in our prayer, to discern the call of the Lord, to choose and decide what to do according to “His will”.
اللقاء الإقليميّ تعنايل ٢٠٢٤ – مدعوّون تحت راية المسيح
إجتمع ما يُقارب ٨٥ يسوعيّ من إقليم الشرق الأدنى والمغرب العربيّ الّذي يضمّ: الجزائر ومصر والعراق والأردنّ ولبنان والمغرب وسوريا والأراضي المقدّسة وتركيا، في البقاع اللبنانيّ بدير تعنايل، ليُصغو من جديد إلى نداءات بلدانهم وتحدّياتها التي تمرّ بها. فمن صُلب الروحانيّة الإغناطيّة هي أن نرى الواقع من حولنا، ونسمع جيّدًا إلى احتياجاته، لنضع ذلك في صلاتنا، ونُميّز دعوة الربّ، فنختار ونُقرّر ما يتوجّب علينا فعله.
“Développer et formuler l’ “être spirituel
J’enseigne à l’IER (Institut d’Education Religieuses) à Sakakini, Le Caire, aux étudiants de la deuxième année, la matière des « Sacrements ». Les locaux actuels de l’Institut, fondé en 1994 [quoique les tous débuts aient eu lieu au début des années 1970 dans d’autres lieux], se trouvent au quartier de Sakakini (à 3 Km de notre Collège jésuite de Faggalah), dans l’enceinte de l’église latine des Pères Comboniens.
Un Troisième An aux sources du Nil
J’arrivais à cette étape de ma vie avec un sentiment de gratitude et de confiance profonde envers le Seigneur. Je rendais grâce à Dieu pour ces 53 années de vie (depuis 1971), ces 27 années de vie religieuse (depuis 1997) et ces 12 années de sacerdoce. Comme le dit le psalmiste : « Que de merveilles le Seigneur fit pour nous ! Nous étions comblés de joie ! » (Ps 125, 3).
Formation des formateurs 2024
Pendant quatre jours, du 9 au 12 juillet 2024, nous nous sommes retrouvés, Jad Jabbour et moi, à Malte pour participer à une session de formation organisée pour les formateurs dans la Compagnie. Nous étions une bonne douzaine de jésuites en provenance de provinces d’Europe et de Proche Orient. Le thème de cette année « Towards a Healthy Jesuit Life » a attiré moins de personnes que celui de l’année dernière qui portait sur « Affectivity and Sexuality » !!!