Apostolic planning oriented by the new Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAP) will start next fall for the Jesuits of Canada and their works. In the meantime, it is important, says Fr. General, to begin to assimilate and appropriate them, to pay attention to what affects us and enter into a state of disposition.
In order to prepare for this essential step, namely planning, but also to nourish a long-term discernment, we reshare each of the tools included in Praying With the Preferences.
The purpose of these short guides created by the Jesuit Curia in Rome is to help us enter more deeply into the journey of renewal offered by the new UAPs.
Each guide offers brief selections taken from Fr. General’s letter on the UAPs. These excerpts are meant to be read contemplatively and pondered in conjunction with companion texts from Scripture and our recent congregations. After each excerpt, questions are provided as aids for personal prayer and communal spiritual conversation. The hope is that these guides can inspire individuals and groups to listen to the Spirit in their local context; to begin to imagine how they might respond in their own unique way as they embody the preferences in their lives and communities.
The first capsule is an invitation to take a real interest in the Universal Apostolic Preferences in order to understand what they can add to our reflection. They invite us to discern our “inner dispositions regarding the UAPs” to “find the best way to collaborate in the Lord’s mission.” The PDF is available here.
“Receiving the preferences means that we initiate their implementation immediately by changing any styles of life or work that hinder the renewal of the persons, communities, and works committed to mission.” The second capsule thus enables us to discern the type of conversion that the UAPs are calling us to and to understand the strongest resistances that we might feel. The PDF is available here.
