How We Do Our Part | The Lived Mission of SCU
In the fifth chapter of his recently released landmark encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV boldly proclaims that “we can all do our part.” He goes on to say “a subtle temptation may emerge, namely the thought that the problems are too big and we are too small, and that our choices, therefore, cannot make a difference…. Yet, no one is without responsibility. We all have our own areas for action, and it is precisely there — and nowhere else — that we must choose” how to act.
Our work in the Ignatian Center – and in our entire project of Jesuit education at Santa Clara University – is about coming to know this complex world in which we live, and dynamised by the hope that comes from God who loves each of us so personally, to discern how we are called to draw on our gifts and talents for loving solidarity and service with all members of our shared human family. This is the special gift of Ignatian discernment, which invites us all into a reflective, contemplative stance and ultimately helps us find the beautiful, unique ways that each of us can contribute to this project so much bigger than any one of us.
As Pope Leo says, “[t]he civilization of love will not arise from a single or spectacular gesture, but from the sum total of small and steadfast acts of fidelity that serve as a bulwark against dehumanization…. [W]e, each in our own way, can cooperate in building the civilization of love.”
As we near graduation, this issue of our newsletter is dedicated to the reflections of many of the fifty-two seniors who have participated as leaders and fellows in our Ignatian Center programs over their undergraduate careers. Each has, in their own way, cooperated in the building of a civilization of love. Working in local communities with Thriving Neighbors and our Arrupe Fellowships, in global immersion experiences and Alpha Sigma Nu as leaders of their peers, and in their engaged research and coursework across a panoply of disciplines, they are a source of inspiration and hope for us all.
