Throughout this document we have taken a reflective journey together. We have recognized as best as we can, some signs of the times to influence and challenge our specific educational contexts. In keeping with the Ignatian Tradition of always seeking and finding God in all things, we are now challenged not to settle on the proverbial single note which may at one time give us a beautiful sound but does not constitute music. Rather we are challenged to keep an ongoing reflective process so that we continue to make new music and find other notes that resonate with our ever-changing contexts, experiences and times.
The Global Identifiers of Jesuit Schools should also invite us to reflect on our identity and our contribution to the world of education. Our schools are clearly and solidly anchored in the vision and spirituality of St. Ignatius; therefore, our call is to an ongoing exercise of discernment to understand this identity not as a fixed entity but always as a call to the creative fidelity of our founders.
Thus, it is our humble suggestion that this document becomes a tool to be used, not once or twice, but over and over in Jesuit Schools so that the same questions asked on different days and in different times may provide better answers that make our schools ever more relevant to the world in which they are situated. In this sense the schools allow themselves to be shaped by the needs of the world while at the same time endeavoring to shape that world to better discover the presence and work of God in our midst.
Like the Spiritual Exercises, this document is not meant for reading once or twice over. Instead, it is hoped to become a living text that will change also over time, according to the feedback and discernment that it initiates. In this sense, it should guide dynamic and deep conversations in our schools and other institutions that are members of our educational networks; conversations that will gradually be incorporated within the text.
November 5, 2019, on the Feast of All Saints and Blessed of the Society of Jesus.
