Pope Francis asks Jesuits to keep Jesus at the center of their apostolate

Pope Francis today emphasized to educators in Jesuit schools the importance of keeping Jesus at the center of their apostolic work just as Saint Ignatius and the first members of the Order did.

During an audience this morning with members of the International Commission of the Educational Apostolate of the Society of Jesus, the Holy Father recalled the evangelizing potential that Saint Ignatius and the first members saw in schools.

“Without a doubt, Jesuit schools allowed the message of the Gospel to continue to be heard among new generations, accompanied by the academic and intellectual rigor that characterizes them.” For this reason, the Holy Father stressed that the “center has been and must continue to be Jesus.”

According to the Pontiff, it was about learning from a young age “to discover God present in others, especially in the poor and the marginalized.”

“That is true education, accompanying young people to discover the construction of the common good in service to others and in academic rigor,” he said.

In this sense, the Pontiff stressed that it is necessary to “change the mentality” of young people and for them to have an education that does not seek personal success, but “the true fullness of life.”

“We need to move from the culture of ‘I’ to the culture of ‘we’, in which quality education is defined by its humanizing results and not by economic results,” he warned. This, for Pope Francis, means “putting the person at the center of the process.”

The Holy Father proposed the example of the Jesuit priest Father Arrupe, who “was very clear that the person for others is, par excellence, Jesus, the true man with and for others.”

“As you well know, the best way to educate is by example, modeling in ourselves what we want in our students. This is how Jesus educated his disciples. This is how we are called to educate in our schools. Therefore, everything they can do is important so that educators in our schools understand this call existentially.”

Likewise, he urged that teachers have training and support “that also helps them discover their potential and their deep calling to accompany others.”

“Putting the person at the center means de-centering ourselves to perceive others, especially those who are on the margins of our societies, and who not only need our help, but have a lot to teach us and contribute to us. “We all win when we welcome the poorest and most unprotected among us.”

Furthermore, he reiterated that “without a true relationship between educators and the Lord, nothing else is possible.”

Finally, he pointed out that “education is a long-term task, with patience, where the results are sometimes not clear; Even Jesus at the beginning did not have good results with the disciples, but he was patient, and he continues to be patient with us to teach us that educating is waiting, persevering and insisting with love.