Ryan Birjoo: JRS Makes me Proud to Be a Jesuit

I am a first-year regent (UMI province) and arrived to Lebanon last August. My time has been divided between studying Arabic and working with the Jesuit Refugee Service. I have also enjoyed being present to the experience of the oriental churches through attendance at liturgies and living the rhythm of the Byzantine and Maronite calendars.
With JRS, I work in the communications department and have been able to learn about the different kinds of services that we provide throughout the region. We are present in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq. While the specificity of what we do varies with locale (services include mental health support, direct aid, and education), we are more known for the way that we do things. In all of our activities, we aim to provide a spirit of accompaniment. Rather than a hierarchical model of “us and them”, we truly believe that those that we serve provide the possibility of an encounter that is so rich in humanity that it reorients to the divine.
A theme of my life as a Jesuit so far has been paying attention to the communities that gather around human suffering and I have genuinely been moved by my coworkers at JRS. They treat those that we serve with dignity and compassion. We also come from a variety of religious and ethnic backgrounds and, in a region where these identities are often manipulated to be a source of division, we aim to provide hope by witnessing that cooperation is possible. The majority of my colleagues are also lay people, and I feel very privileged of learning from and collaborating with them as a religious.
JRS makes me proud to be a Jesuit. When I think about the themes from GCs 32-36, especially our commitment to work with those on the margins, I marvel at how JRS reflects our apostolic priorities. It is an apostolate that calls for the breadth of skill sets that we acquire throughout our intellectual formation, and the spiritual depth that we receive from our Ignatian heritage. To be doing this work for regency, especially in a country that has seen so much tragedy in the last year, has been a constant challenge to train my sight to see grace at work in the midst of rubble. I acknowledge that living here has not been an easy experience. Yet, I’ve been able find hope in seeing the excitement and pride of families seeing their children excel in school. I’ve found inspiration in witnessing Lebanese help Syrians in the midst of a climate of fear and mistrust. And I’ve also been consoled with the privilege of working other Jesuits including Shane Liesegang and Fr. Dan Corrou. I have also been hospitably welcomed by my community in St. Ignace. Fr. Ronney has also been generous in inviting the community for excursions to nature, and I have deeply appreciated seeing Lebanon through these experiences!
I’m a little short on details, but in the wake of the paschal season, I truly believe that God is at work in Christ’s ongoing passion and that we participate in this mysterious work of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:19) through our attentiveness to those in need.