My dear friends,
We are happy to send you the latest issue of INI, dated January-March 2026, on a day the world celebrates love and friendship.
You would have noticed that, for quite some time, the four issues of INI are sent on days of celebration: Jan-March issue on 14 February, Valentine’s Day, April-June issue on 01 May, May Day, July-Sept issue on 15 August, feast of the Assumption of our Blessed Mother and India’s Independence Day, and the last issue of the year, dated Oct-Dec, on 14 November, Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday that is celebrated here in India as Children’s Day.
What does this issue of INI bring you? There are two excellent articles on what our world desperately needs today – peace and reconciliation. M.K. George, SJ, in his article on building peace in a world that seems to be falling apart because of conflict, talks of the universal longing and hope for peace. “Yet, at every moment, this hope is challenged by ongoing wars, skyrocketing military expenditures, denial of justice and freedom, disrespect for the rule of law, and rampant violations of human rights.”
He calls upon individuals and groups to take the initiative in pursuing peace and to add our voices to those of movements across the globe that work for peace. Citing Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s poem, he invites us “to be ridiculously courageous in love.”
Donald Miranda, SJ, in his article on our mission of reconciliation, points out that the mission to reconcile is actually the mission of Jesus, who came to reconcile the world with God. It was on the cross that he effected the final reconciliation. Donald goes on to describe the Three-fold Reconciliation that General Congregation 35 called all the Jesuits to.
In view of World Happiness Day celebrated on 20 March, Jose Parapully, SDB, a noted psychologist and writer, probes if priests and Religious can really be happy. He describes what can help in their celibate lives to find happiness and what can prevent them from finding the object of eternal human quest.
In the Valentine Day Special, Sanil Mayilkunnel, SJ, who has a doctorate in clinical psychology, offers you something that you can refer to whenever you have to deal with a youth who has fallen in love. His article is in the form of a letter written to a girl who has just told him she has fallen in love. The priest-psychologist tells her, “Attraction and tenderness are not problems to be fixed. They are gifts. Love is a movement of the whole person, and it deserves to be honoured. At the same time, love asks for wisdom.”
What is unusual in this issue is the Short Story. Joe Durairaj, a former Jesuit who has never stopped working for and with Jesuit colleges, comes up with a story which points out that God does not choose whom we humans tend to choose. Look at whom the Prophet Samuel chooses to be the king of Israel. Look at the type of men whom Jesus chooses as his apostles. God has his own criteria for choosing people to continue his work here on earth. Thank God he chose us despite our flaws and failures!
So enjoy reading this issue of INI. Feel free to forward it to all your friends.
– M.A. Joe Antony, SJ
Editor