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Celebrating the spirit of these founders of the Society of Jesus:

Francisco de Jassu y Javier– born 7 April, 1506 at Javier in Navarre

Pierre Favre — born 13, April 1506 in Villaret in Savoie

Ignatius Loyola– died 31 July, 1556 at Rome

When Father General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach announced the jubilee, he said: “The anniversary invites us to examine and intensify our fidelity to the call of the Lord that they were the first to discern and that they followed in such a creative fashion that it continues to challenge us, their companions of the third millennium. We remember especially some aspects of the original spirituality that moved these three companions of Jesus and that continue to challenge the apostolic body of the Society today.”

In these first three Jesuits, we recall that the Society of Jesus began in companionship. In each of them we see personal symbols of essential aspects of the “original spirituality” of the Society.

As Jesuits and lay partners, therefore, we wish to celebrate this jubilee year by contemplating the foundational experience of their companionship. We also desire to appropriate the unique gifts of each for our challenging time and Philippine context. In these difficult and uncertain times of national crisis, we wish to receive the spiritual resources we need to endure and to respond to our situation with creativity and hope.