This year, 2023, as we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Fr. Pedro Arrupe’s famous exhortation “Men and Women for Others” we are delighted to share article #9 of the series Beloved Don Pedro “Man For Others”.

This series of articles written by Fr. Hedwig Lewis SJ, a great Jesuit writer of Gujarat Province in India, covers anecdotes from Fr. Arrupe’s life, his writings, lived experiences, and spiritual thoughts.

All educators in our global community are invited to learn and reflect on who Fr. Pedro Arrupe was and his legacy to Jesuit education!

You are all welcome to share your reflections and comments in the comment section located at the bottom of each article.

We wish you an enjoyable journey getting to know Fr. Pedro Arrupe and the roots of his famous exhortation “Men and Women for Others”.

Here is article #9 “ARRUPEAN PANORAMA”.

ARRUPEAN PANORAMA

Through the Master’s eyes

The famous portrait artist José Maria Falgas was asked to do a sketch of the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Fr Pedro Arrupe. The General, however, given his busy schedule, could not make enough time for a sitting. So Falgas, instead, sat through Arrupe’s conferences in order to complete the task. Taking a good look at the finished product, Falgas remarked contentedly: “I have painted the true face of a man whose features show a life spent in total self-giving service; his eyes display the expression of inner searching.”

Arrupe’s eyes mirrored his soul. They reflected his innermost convictions and commitment: to pattern his life after his ideal – Jesus Christ, so as to ‘see’ persons and the whole of reality through the eyes of Christ. This is evident in his inspirational prayer “To Jesus Christ Our Model”:

“…Although I am not able to mean it as literally as St John, I would like to be able to proclaim, at least through the faith and wisdom that you give me, what I have heard, what I have seen with my eyes, what I have contemplated and touched with my hands concerning the Word of Life; the Life manifested itself, and I have seen it and give witness, although not with bodily eyes, certainly through the eyes of faith. Above all, give me above all sensus Christi.”

Toward the end of his active career, he was asked by his ‘biographer’ Fr Jean-Claude Dietsch SJ: “Who is Jesus Christ for you?” Fr Arrupe’s response was:

“That same question was asked of me, unexpectedly, during an interview which I gave on Italian television… The question took me by surprise, and I answered it in a completely spontaneous way: ‘For me Jesus Christ is everything’. And today I am giving you the same answer with still more strength and clarity, ‘For me Jesus Christ is everything’. He was and he is my ideal from the moment of my entrance into the Society. He was and he continues to be my way; he was and he still is my strength. I don’t think it is necessary to explain much what that means. Take Jesus from my life and everything would collapse – like a human body from which someone removed the skeleton, heart, and head.”

Arrupe’s prayer was that his way of proceeding and perceiving would be totally Christlike:

“Teach me your way of looking at people: how you looked at Peter to call him to follow you, or glanced at him after his denial; how you penetrated the heart of the rich young man, and the hearts of the disciples or how you looked full of goodness at the crowds who pressed all around you and how you looked with indignation towards the hard of heart…”

Arrupe looked with compassion on the planet that needed healing.

Ignatian vision

Arrupe’s love for and imitation of Christ were solidly founded on the Spiritual Exercises. His attitudes and initiatives, too, were in keeping with the Ignatian Magis. Apart from the biographical and physical similarities with St Ignatius, there were also some matching mystical experiences.

For St Ignatius, the ‘sublime illumination’ at the River Cardoner in Manresa [1522] was the highpoint of his life: “the eyes of his understanding were opened and though he saw no vision he understood and perceived many things”. Five centuries later, one finds overtones of the Cardoner experience of Ignatius in the prayer of Fr Arrupe “to see everything with new eyes”: “Give me the clarity of understanding,” he pleaded, “that you gave Ignatius”.

St Ignatius’ spiritual pilgrimage reached a climax in the vision he had in the chapel at La Storta in the outskirts of Rome; he experienced God calling him to be a companion of Jesus carrying his cross.

“The vision at La Storta links the mysticism of Ignatius to the essential charism of this Society. It became the touchstone of the Society’s renewal as an apostolic order focused on mission and praxis. Likewise, it unfolds as a spirituality of service with a particular sensitivity for suffering. These are the characteristics that Arrupe helped recover…” Kevin F. Burke, SJ

Mystical out-look

The German theologian Johann Baptist Metz, commenting on the spirituality of the “Beatitudes” of  Jesus, writes: “In the end Jesus did not teach an ascending mysticism of closed eyes, but rather a God-mysticism with an increased readiness for perceiving, a mysticism of open eyes, which sees more and not less. It is a mysticism that especially makes visible all invisible and inconvenient suffering, and – convenient or not – pays attention to it and takes responsibility for it, for the sake of a God who is a friend to human beings” [“Passion for God”, p 163].

In his Introduction to “Pedro Arrupe: Essential Writings”, Kevin F. Burke, SJ applied Metz’s notion to Arrupe:

“[The mysticism of open eyes] is a mysticism that makes visible all invisible and inconvenient suffering, a mysticism that pays attention and takes responsibility, engaging this broken world in order to find there its God. It is a mysticism of dangerous memory – Auschwitz for Metz, Hiroshima for Arrupe, the memoria passionis, mortis et resurrectionis Jesu Christi for all Christians – in which the mystical and the political are radically engaged and correlated. Arrupe shows us that historical reality itself opens our eyes to the One who transcends that reality. He acknowledges that it was reality that opened his eyes. For example, while celebrating mass early on the first morning after the atomic bomb destroyed Hiroshima, he turned to face a mangled, bleeding, uncomprehending congregation of survivors: “I saw before my eyes many wounded, suffering terribly”. Some years later, after celebrating mass amidst the appalling poverty of a Latin American slum, a “big fellow, whose fearful looks could have inspired terror,” invited Arrupe to his home in order to express his thanks by sharing with the Jesuit General the only thing he had: a great view of the setting sun. “Señor,” [the man said] “see how beautiful it is!” In both instances Arrupe saw reality and he saw through reality. He saw both the suffering and the beauty. He saw the tragic depths of our mortal poverty and the transcendent depths of our immortal destiny. He lived and prayed with opened and open eyes. This is his gift to us”.

Dimming sight

The day following his resignation as General [September 1983] Fr Arrupe celebrated Mass at the historical chapel at La Storta. He called his  homily his Nunc Dimittis, recalling the prayer of the old man Simeon when he received the child Jesus in the temple: “Now, Master, dismiss your servant in peace… for my eyes have seen your salvation”. Arrupe’s homily, which was read out for him, concluded with the following words:

“I have always had a great devotion to the experience of Ignatius at La Storta, and that I am immensely consoled at finding myself in this hallowed place to give thanks to God on arriving at journey’s end… How often in these eighteen years I have had proof of God’s faithfulness to his promise: ‘I will be favourable to you in Rome’. A profound experience of the loving protection of divine providence has been my strength in bearing the burden of my responsibilities and facing the challenges of our day. True, I have had my difficulties, both big and small. But never has God failed to stand by me. And now more than ever I find myself in the hands of this God who has taken hold of me.”

Conclusion

May the sanctified spirit of Pedro Arrupe goad us on to constantly renew our vision and mission, so that with eyes wide open, we may venture into the unknown, hand and hand with God, under the banner of the Cross and the resounding call of the Ignatian Magis, to bring healing to our broken world.   Hedwig Lewis, SJ

A Gift To Christ’s Mission

Don Pedro was among those men who do not need words to communicate; his mere presence proclaimed a message of a man sent by the Lord to help the Society renew itself in the spirit of the Vatican Council. It is not enough to say that Fr Arrupe guided the Society through the turmoil following the Council. He did his utmost to throw the Jesuits into the midst of the whirlwind, fostering experimentation and insertion, exposure and change. He wanted the Society to be forged into an apostolic instrument by the all-renewing spirit – with all the trials and errors, criticisms and misunderstandings that this renewal implied.

This mission was humanly speaking impossible. Fr Arrupe brought with him extraordinary gifts of the Spirit: the gift of being deeply rooted in the founding inspiration of Ignatius, the gift to be imbued with the prayerful spirit of discernment taught by the Spiritual Exercises, the gift of trusting always and everywhere his fellow Jesuits to be real contemplatives in apostolic action, and the gift of an incredible optimism to inaugurate a new style of religious life, rooted in Christ’s love, in order to save a world of unbelief and injustice.

Some called his optimism ingenuous, and his challenge to renew imprudent and naïve. However, to see him was to understand that here was a man sent by the Lord to be in a very difficult time a Servant of Christ’s Mission.     Peter-Hans Kolvenbach SJ, 2 January 1996