This May and July saw the heavenly birthday of two Jesuits who were born in Europe, but embraced Japan as their second home. On the 20th of May 2020 the Spanish Adolfo Nicolás, former superior general of the Society of Jesus, passed away in Tokyo, shortly followed by his Hungarian master and professor, Péter Nemeshegyi on the 13th of June in Budapest at the age of 97.
There was a peace treaty after World War I that deprived Hungary of most of its territories and population, and annexed them to Romania, the adjoining Slavic states and Austria. And here is the leader of the province of the Hungarian Jesuits, P. Elemér Vízi S. J., whose family history, like an ocean in a drop, comprises the peculiar past of this European region. On the 100th anniversary of the peace treaty signed in Trianon, we asked him how he experienced the dismemberment of his nation, and how God may be found in all things.
A month ago Hungarian Jesuits and their friends were full of hope about organizing this year’s Saint Ignatian youth festival, Magis Europe 2020, despite the current global pandemic. Although their enthusiasm is the same, and the situation seems to start getting better slowly, the central team of Magis 2020, in accordance with the experiment leaders of the meeting, decided to cancel – or rather, postpone – the event.
Hungarian Jesuits have been offering a full-scale range of online Eucharist since the outbreak of coronavirus epidemic. When elaborating our broadcast plan, we focused on the various age groups, and developed our approach according to their special needs. Besides, there are other initiatives as well, including spiritual direction and support via internet, guidance for praying at home and online interviews with Jesuits
As summer is approaching, there are more and more details revealed about this year’s Ignatian youth festival held in Hungary, Austria, Romania, and Slovakia. In January, we sent reports about the launch of the event’s website (magis.jesuits.eu) and that the registration process has begun; February saw the revealing of the various experiments the gathering will offer; and now the latest news is the opening of the application from 1 March to 15 May.
We ask your help to support a group of 10 young Christians from Syria, to partake in spiritual programs and recreational activities in Europe this summer. To draw from Christian spiritual wellsprings, experience religious community and solidarity, build new connections, get some rest and refreshment. They will affect their home communities when they return to daily life and service with renewed strength and hope.
Are you between 18 and 35 years of age? Would you spend a week in August, 2020, among youths, Jesuits and their friends from various countries? Are you ready to try yourself in practical experiments? Are you into pilgrimage, the spirituality of Saint Ignatius and charity, or arts and ecology? If your answers are yes, there is nothing else to do then to check out the details of Magis Europe 2020, held in Hungary.
What are two months in a person’s life? What is less than two months’ time if you wish to become familiar with a culture so marvelously rich as the Indian? In two months, one can merely gather impressions about a country, nothing more than that. However, one can meet and befriend new people – and that is something, something wonderful!
