My dear friends,
This issue, dated July-September 2024, is something to celebrate and thank God for, as INI completes three years of service. We are happy to note that this online magazine is accessed by readers in about 70 countries.
We bring you this issue of INI on 15 August, when we celebrate joyfully the humble handmaid’s triumphal entry into heaven as well as the Independence that India won from the colonial rule of the British. As John Froz reminds us in his article, this festival of freedom should remind us that we can never take for granted the freedoms we enjoy now.
Peter Francis, who has spent decades in higher education and has a rich experience of working in several Jesuit institutions, offers a new, different perspective on the New Education Policy (NEP), brought in by the BJP-led central government in 2022. While many Jesuits are wary of it, Peter points out that it has several elements that align with our own Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (IPP). Should his view make us review our assessment of NEP?
This issue carries two excellent articles – one written by Errol Fernandes and the other by Prabath Sanjeeva Fernando – on two well-known meditations in Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises. Errol’s article tells us that the contemplation to obtain love is, in fact, the contemplation to become aware of the love our God of love offers us day in and day out in various ways. Sanjay’s article reminds us that we don’t decide to work for the Eternal King or the Enemy just once in our lives. Every single day we need to choose the standard (flag) under which we want to fight and for whom. In the perennial internal battle within us between the good wolf and the bad wolf, if you want the good wolf to win, you need to feed it every day.
Parthasarathy, the youth ministry co-ordinator of the Chennai province, describes in his article, how he entered this ministry and how he gradually understood what exactly the youth look for in someone who aspires to guide them.
Enjoy reading and, if you like the articles, share them with your friends by sending them the link to INI.
– M.A. Joe Antony, SJ