Chosen by God: Pedro Arrupe's Retreat Notes 1965 (review)

On May 22, 1965 Pedro Arrupe, then aged 57, was elected the twenty-eighth Superior General of the Society of Jesus—the first Basque to hold that position since Ignatius of Loyola. He had spent the previous twenty seven years working in Japan, among other things, as novice master (experiencing, from a suburb, the devastation wrought by the U.S. atom bombing of Hiroshima), translator of works of Spanish mysticism into Japanese, and finally as provincial. After being elected, he plunged into a flurry of activity, including overseeing the General Congregation that had elected him; but, since that Congregation decided that it was more appropriate to bring its deliberations to a close after the conclusion of the final session of the Second Vatican Council, it adjourned (from July 15, 1965 to September 8, 1966). This gave Arrupe time to get settled in at Rome, and he began this time by reflecting on the responsibilities that had suddenly fallen upon him. With this end in view he spent nine days on retreat in the eternal city, from August 2 to Wednesday, August 11. This text, available in Spanish since 2002, transcribes the notes he took while on retreat. They provide a remarkable window into the soul of the man who would be the driving force behind a dramatic change in course of the Society of Jesus and its many institutions, a change that continues to be felt to this day. It also documents his own appropriation of Ignatian spirituality (on which he wrote a number of insightful essays over the subsequent years), as well as the way it provided a lens through which he took on the task of leading the Society of Jesus through one of its most tumultuous periods.

That said, the text is not composed of extended reflections or meditative writing. Rather, it presents brief notes jotted down, reminders of graces received, and, especially toward the end of the retreat, ideas on how to organize the Society of Jesus in the light of the charge to combat atheism, given it by Paul VI in his opening allocution to the General Congregation. An extended excursus on the missions seems to be preliminary notes for an intervention he would make later at the Second Vatican Council on the missions a few months later (59). As one would expect, the prose is informal and often shifts among the diverse languages in which Arrupe was fluent. The text does a good job of preserving this informality while, in the notes, giving the reader what he or she needs to follow the stream of thought. There are two lengthy introductory essays, making up about 50 of the 132 pages. The first, by Joseph Munitz, S.J., the translator, provides context for the retreat notes and suggests some interpretive schemes. The second, by Ignacio Iglesias, S.J., is less a commentary on the notes themselves, and more of a personal reflection on Arrupe's personality and spirituality as a whole, focusing on his time as General. The essay proves its value to the extent that it provides a frame for placing the mosaic pieces provided by the retreat notes themselves.

Arrupe clearly followed Ignatius's rule that the Spiritual Exercises should be adapted to the dispositions, talents and needs of the one making them. Indeed, he spent the first three days with the Principle and Foundation at the outset of the Exercises, and then moved (skipping over the First Week meditations on sin) to the Meditation on the Two Standards and then The Call of the King. So, nothing explicit from the Second Week contemplations on the life of Christ or the Third and Fourth Weeks, with their contemplations on cross and resurrection. This selectivity makes sense once one realizes that he was attempting to work through the mission that Paul VI had given the Society of Jesus...