Ignatian Week Celebrations

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
For the greater glory of God

The month of July brings with it the underlying sense of celebration. The management, staff and students of St Joseph’s Boys’ High School celebrate the Ignatian way of life, the ideals of the ‘soldier saint’ and the tenets laid down by the society of Jesus, under whose aegis the school itself reaches for greater heights of glory, fame and standards of excellence!

The ten-day festivities were interrupted by the first unit test. However, a formal assembly for the school was held on 23 July 2022. During the assembly, the focus was on the Ignatian Principles of Magis, Cura Personalis, Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam and Finding God in all things. Fr Sunil Fernandes, Principal of SJBHS, advised the students to adopt the principle of ‘Discernment’ as well, to decipher the deeds of the good spirit rather than be pulled towards the attractions of the modern world.

On 27 July 2022, the Pre-Primary section of the school had their special assembly to teach the young ones the meaning of the Ignatian principles and to enable them to understand the necessity of celebrating the life of the patron of their school. The very first assembly of its kind for the young Josephites was not only educative but also exciting as the teachers had lined up a fancy dress competition for them. The students dressed as St Ignatius were certainly charming and brought home the doctrines of the saint in a very innovative manner.

Competitions were held for every class from the Pre-Primary to the ISC sections. The excitement was palpable as the intra class competitions were suitable, original and age appropriate.

The Holy Mass for the Catholic students of the school on 29 July was in the form of a grand concelebration with Fr Maxim Dias SJ as the main celebrant while all the stakeholders of SJBHS were invited to the festal Mass on 31 July 2022. The school chapel which hosted the Holy Eucharist was decorated in all its floral glory.

Not to be left out of the special celebrations, the staff had a separate programme on Friday 29 July with Fr Oswald Mascarenhas SJ as the guest speaker. The ‘management guru’, as he is known as, drew the attention of the staff towards the central idea of Jesuit spirituality i.e ‘to seek and find God in all things’, whether at school, at home or in society. The short but profound programme ended with a fellowship meal. The staff, too, had a couple of competitions which included a quiz on the life of the ‘pilgrim saint’, his ideals and his work.

The creative story writing competition had to portray one of the Ignatian principles.

The month of July 2022 did come to an end but the array of events held during the Ignatian week showed how the school is administered on the Ignatian principles and the vision of the founding father of the Jesuits is being manifested at SJBHS, in letter and in spirit.