Dear Friends,

I’m drawn lately to the awakening of spring in the world around us; those of us who live in the upper Midwest can make this an obsession in late winter. The weather parallels the Lenten season as we approach the shock and then the wonder of Easter—first in the darkest of moments of Good Friday, and then the almost blinding grace of Easter morning.

Lent will come to an end, but as people of Easter we won’t wait for an invitation to renew ourselves in faith and service. I have the privilege of reading this magazine ahead of its printing and take great consolation in the ways our people live out their faith. Ignatian spirituality is constantly engaging the world in new and innovative ways.

Mr. Ryan Birjoo, SJ, and Fr. Garrett Gundlach, SJ, (page 16) are using their Ignatian formation to navigate barriers of language and culture in their assignments in Beirut, Lebanon.

We see engagement in the faith not only overseas, but nearby as well. Catholic “expats” from Kenya, Mexico and Poland (page 8) are finding solidarity and comfort here in Midwestern faith communities.

The dynamic nature of our charism is also evident in the province in the work of an Ohio couple. Jesuit-educated themselves, and now Jesuit educators, they led a group of high school seniors (page 20) on an Ignatian pilgrimage through Spain, France and Italy last summer.

Our spirituality is alive from the Curia in Rome to museums at Jesuit universities across the Midwest, where visual art installations (page 12) invite visitors to see the world with new eyes. Speaking of the arts, Mr. Josef Rodriguez, SJ, shares his musical talents as he explores the recurrence of the Sacred Heart, all the while teaching philosophy as a regent at Creighton University.

Our Jesuit experience calls us to engage the world in the same ways as the people in these pages. I hope that—like me—you are encouraged and motivated by their stories to live out your own faith in service to others.

In Christ,