I spent the better part of last week in New Orleans. The city’s Jesuit university — Loyola University New Orleans — was playing host to the 2025 JASPA 5-Year Institute. Don’t let the name confuse you: This was the first institute in 10 years; you’ll recall 2020 was a less-than-ideal year for in-person meetings.
What does JASPA stand for? The Jesuit Association for Student Personnel Administrators. These are the folks on Jesuit campuses who, in many ways, are most intimately responsible for accompanying students through the formative years of higher education. Folks in residence life, housing, discipline, wellness, athletics, career planning — anything that falls under the broad umbrella of “student affairs.”
This gathering in New Orleans was a time for these professionals to be together, learn together and be inspired to go back to their campuses and embody our shared Jesuit mission.
One of the highlights, at least for me — decidedly an outsider in this group of student affairs professionals — was the keynote conversation among four of our Jesuit college and university presidents: Tania Tetlow of Fordham University, Vincent Rougeau of the College of the Holy Cross, Salvador Aceves of Regis University, and Xavier Cole of the hometown Loyola University New Orleans.
The panel was given a question from those gathered in the auditorium about the reality of burnout in higher education. Why stay when the work only gets harder? And, more poignantly, how had these four individuals on stage managed to stay in Jesuit higher education for so long?
The panel reflected on the role and value of the Ignatian tradition in sustaining them in their ongoing work and vocation. Dr. Cole offered this brief bit of insight: “I can’t do the work without these tools,” he said, referring to the principles of Ignatian spirituality. “I can’t do the work without this mission.”
What was his advice to folks who may rightly feel overwhelmed by the work? Align why you stay to these tools, to this mission.
Now you may be saying, “This is all well and good for student affairs professionals working in Jesuit higher education. But that’s not me. Why does any of this matter?”
Here’s the thing: I don’t work in Jesuit higher ed either. And yet, this statement — this invitation and challenge — has been rattling around in my head for a week.
I can’t do the work without these tools, without this mission.
These words are for each of us, whether we work in a Jesuit apostolate or not. These words are for those of us who have been formed by the Ignatian tradition, who have gone out into the world to be “contemplatives in action.” These words are an anchor for each and every vocation, for those who are in “ministry” and those who find themselves in so-called “secular” settings. Yes, these words are for those in higher education; but they’re for the rest of us, too.
At least, these words can be for us — if we grapple with what they require. If we rise to the occasion to which they call.
Because Ignatian spirituality is meant to be a lived spirituality, the principles and tools are meant to integrate into each of our unique contexts. They are meant to sustain us in the intimate, nitty-gritty work of accompanying other people: from undergraduate students to colleagues to our own children. We’re all on this journey to God together.
So, what do we do? Spend some time this week reflecting on how the tools of the Ignatian tradition and mission sustain you in your work — whatever it may be. Do you find concepts like cura personalis or magis particularly animating? Or maybe you’re moved by a tradition that doggedly pursues finding God in all things.
Whatever it is, name it; bring it into your prayer. Let God speak to you about how this facet of our global tradition can and will uniquely enliven you in the vocation God continues to unfold through your life.
