On September 2, 2025, the novices admitted this year to the Society of Jesus from both Polish Provinces arrived in Gdynia. One of this year’s novices, Viacheslav Perun, due to the war remained in his country – and thus in Chernivtsi the Jesuits opened a novitiate. This is another work in this city located in Northern Bukovina, alongside the Parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the “Space of Hope” Center, which we run here. The opening of the novitiate and the first day of Viacheslav’s religious life were inaugurated with Holy Mass in the “Space of Hope” chapel, presided over by Fr. Provincial Jarosław Paszyński SJ.
At the beginning of the Mass, the relics of our saints were installed: St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis Xavier, St. Andrew Bobola, and the patron of novices – St. Stanislaus Kostka. These relics were placed in a reliquary, which from now on (next to the relics of St. Joseph Bilczewski) is kept in the retreat chapel.
The Provincial based his homily on the first reading from the First Letter to the Thessalonians. Human life is a pilgrimage toward the goal, which is Christ. He emphasized that one of the fundamental features of a Jesuit vocation is being on the road. This being on the road is a process during which God transforms us, just as He did with Ignatius. Also important is identity and remembering that we are children of the light, which is an integral part of our Christian identity. In novitiate formation, it is essential to constantly deepen the relationship with Christ, as well as to know oneself in the light of the Word of God.
It is important to get to know our way of proceeding, our history, and the documents of the Society. In this regard, the Spiritual Exercises, which are the record of St. Ignatius’s spiritual journey, play a fundamental role.
At the end of the Mass, the Master of Novices, Fr. Jerzy Brzóska SJ, handed the novice the text of the Autobiography – the story of St. Ignatius of Loyola as told by him to Fr. Luís Gonçalves da Câmara, one of his close collaborators.
AMDG
Norbert Frejek SJ
