The Ignatian - December 2016 Vol 26 December 2017 Vol 28 | Page 5

Above right: Fr General Arturo Sosa SJ
the General asks of us an “audacity”, how could a school with a
motto such as ours be half-hearted and hold back?
With us, beginnings always beckon. But in our tradition,
beginnings are always discerned. The way of the world is often to
simply follow a fad. To be modish and move with the push and
sway of popular opinion. Ignatian discernment, rather, sifts the
various movements of the mind and heart to separate the value-
laden from the dross. Arrupe was right of course – if all that the
comfortable past had going for it was comfort, then we are well-
rid of any such snug torpor. Ignatius and those early educators
were eclectic. They borrowed the discerned best, then they honed
it for mission. Today, the best of that five-century tradition is
preserved, but with a contemporary cutting edge, meeting the
needs of our young men, in these new times.
As for myself, this is my last Ignatian contribution. Perhaps T S
Eliot sums up well a personal end and a beginning in his
Four Quartets:
“. . . To make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from.”
So thanks – and blessings for the way ahead.
FR ROSS JONES, SJ
R EC T O R
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