Photo courtesy Jesuit Midwest: Pedro Arrupe, SJ, with Mother Teresa
By Francis Gonsalves, SJ
When asked: “Doesn’t it give you great joy to see the fruits of your spiritual endeavours?” a guru replied: “How much joy does it give a tool to see what the hand has done?” Pedro Arrupe (1907-1991) — who led the Jesuits from 1965 to 1983 — always considered himself an instrument in God’s hand. Today, Jesuits worldwide remember this great guru whose beatification is being prayed for.
Pedro—Spanish, for ‘Peter’ — began his career as a medical student. However, on a pilgrimage to Mother Mary’s shrine at Lourdes, France, he saw a cripple miraculously healed. He quit medical school and joined the Jesuits. Eventually, earning a doctorate in medical ethics, he was sent to Japan as a missionary and soon became the novice-master.
Referring to ‘hands’, Arrupe believed: (a) His life as safe in God’s hands; (b) His hands as God’s tools for healing, and, (c) That all can work hand-in-hand to help the poor and heal a bruised earth.
August 1945, Pedro experienced being safe in God’s hands during the atomic blast at Hiroshima. He made the novitiate a makeshift hospital and healed hundreds using his skills as a medico. He said: “Our house, half destroyed, was overflowing with the wounded, lying on the floor, suffering terribly, twisted with pain.”
Arrupe believed that God was with him even in life’s darkest moments. He was accused of being an American spy and imprisoned in Japan. He continued helping prisoners, fortified by fasting, prayer and his daily Eucharist, celebrated with a piece of bread given to him as prisoner. His leadership qualities were recognized in 1965 when the Jesuits elected him as their numero-uno: Superior General!
The mid-1960s were turbulent years for Catholics all over the world. The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) was revolutionary in its aggiornamento — opening out the Church to new ventures like dialogue with other religions and secular sciences, while specifically serving the ‘poor’. Many conservatives — including some Jesuits — resisted renewal and change. Governing with a firm, yet fatherly hand, Arrupe insisted that Jesuits follow the mandates of Vatican Council II.
In the 1975 trailblazing 32nd General Congregation under Arrupe’s leadership, the Jesuits adopted a faith-cum-justice decree, stating: “Our faith in Jesus Christ and our mission to proclaim the gospel demand of us a commitment to promote justice and enter into solidarity with the voiceless and the powerless.” This led to bold Jesuit initiatives — working hand-in-hand with all people to serve refugees, migrants, bonded labourers, Adivasis, Dalits and other voiceless victims.
In his popular book ‘A Planet to Heal’ Arrupe appealed for special care of mother earth, who nourishes us. Sadly, a stroke in 1981 rendered him half-paralyzed and almost mute. He wrote: “More than ever I find myself in the hands of God. This is what I have wanted all my life from my youth. But now there is a difference; the initiative is entirely with God. It is indeed a profound spiritual experience to know and feel myself so totally in God’s hands.”
February 5, 1991, Arrupe surrendered his life into God’s hands. Today, he reminds us: You are God’s hand! May God use you and me to help and to heal—ever for God’s greater glory!
Fr. Francis Gonsalves is a Gujarat Jesuit, former Principal of Vidyajyoti College, Delhi, and currently Dean of Theology at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune. He is also the Executive Secretary of the CCBI Commission for Theology and Doctrine. He has authored many books and articles and is a columnist with The Asian Age and The Deccan Chronicle national dailies.