“Finding God in all things” — Alec shares his vocation story

While discerning a vocation with the Society of Jesus, Alec Hufford spent several summers and his final semester of college serving with the Hebrew Speaking Catholic Church in Jerusalem, accompanying young people of the migrant community and living in a house of prayer in the Saint James Vicariate, with Fr. David Neuhaus S.J. as his spiritual director.

Raised in a Reform Jewish family in New York, Alec came to Christian faith during his first year of college, was baptized as a sophomore, and entered the Catholic Church during junior year after experiencing the 19th annotation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.

Alec intends to enter the Society of Jesus as a novice in the USA East Province on August 15, 2020. Sharing about his experiences serving the migrant community and discerning with the Jesuits in the Holy Land, Alec writes:

Pilgrims with Iñigo in the Holy Land — a guide

Jerusalem plays a central role in Ignatius’ life and imagination. It was his desired destination, which he visited on pilgrimage in September 1523. When his hope to stay there was shattered by the command of the Franciscan superior, Jerusalem remained the destination of his dreams, and the dream of his first companions, as expressed at the vows of Montmartre. Only when reality, once more, stopped them from going there, did they go to Rome — their second option — and place themselves at the disposal of the Pope.

What experience did Iñigo have of Jerusalem and the Holy Land? What places would he have visited?

Feast of Saint Ignatius in the time of Corona

Each year, on July 31, the Feast of Saint Ignatius brings crowds of priests, men and women religious and friends of the Jesuit community to the Pontifical Biblical Institute for a celebration of the Eucharist and a sumptuous meal. This year, sadly, the celebration was greatly restricted.