The Way 65/3 (July 2026) Ignatian Mission

AT A CRUCIAL MOMENT in his life, St Ignatius Loyola was living with his companions just outside Venice. The house had no windows and no doors, and they slept on the straw that lay on the floor. They used to go out to beg for alms, but only raised enough to eat a little toast each day. He says of himself and his companions that, ‘in this way they spent forty days, not attending to anything but prayers’ (Autobiography, n.94).
After this time of austerity came an intensive burst of apostolic activity, during which they preached in the city with great energy. Their poverty must have given them a fragile trust that God was already at work in the places where they would go, and that the fruits of their mission would be God’s and not their own. This enabled them to move outward into a joyful encounter with those they served. Shortly afterwards, St Ignatius would receive confirmation that he had been ‘placed with the Son’ at La Storta, and discover a new direction as he and his companions headed for Rome.
This issue of The Way shares its theme with the St Beuno’s Conference for Spiritual Directors, which was held in North Wales from 6 to 9 March 2026: Ignatian Mission: A Joy which Is Shared. The joyful mission of St Ignatius and the first Jesuits is now shared with many different partners, who have realised together the vision of the Second Vatican Council of a Church whose members ‘in their diversity all bear witness to the wonderful unity in the Body of Christ’

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