MAGIS 2023: creating a hope-filled future

Whenever we think of a MAGIS, we dream of the joy of celebrating it together. The announcement of Pope Francis in Panama in 2019 filled the Portuguese with joy. When we learned that the next World Youth Day would be in Portugal, we immediately began to dream of the Pope coming to our country. In particular, the Jesuits and the Ignatian Family in Portugal began to dream about MAGIS 2023.

It was through prayer and sharing that a name was found: MAGIS 2023: creating a hope-filled future. Inspired by the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus for the decade 2019-2029, we commit ourselves to accompany young people in creating a hope-filled future.

Young people are the protagonists of today. It is the age of great questions and great desires. It is the age of the search for God and the meaning of life. They are the ones who can make their voices heard in the struggle for justice. But they are also the most likely victims of poverty and exclusion caused by contemporary inequalities. They are the hope for an increasingly ecological and sustainable future and the inheritors of the way we treat our Common Home.

The magis of St. Ignatius is a gift for the Church and for the whole world, it is the search for God’s will for each of his sons and daughters in the most intimate part of each person. Today, all over the world, the Ignatian language is able to provoke encounters, to unite people, to set in motion all those who desire a community where they can live their faith.

We hope that MAGIS 2023 will be an experience that will deepen the motivation and strengthen the commitment of young people to the world. From July 22 to 31, 2023, the Ignatian Center of Lumiar in Lisbon will be transformed into the great MAGIS village. A school, a university center, a guest house, a parish, the JRS, several Ignatian works and the Provincial Curia. All at the service of more than two thousand young people between 18 and 35 years of age, Jesuits and religious of Ignatian spirituality from more than 100 countries who will gather to celebrate this great event.

We hope that at the end of these ten days, their eyes will be able to see and their hearts will be ready to create, as a new generation, a future filled with hope. This determination will set the direction for the days ahead: World Youth Day will have millions of young people who, inspired by Mary, cannot stand still but, having risen, set out in haste to wherever peace, justice and joy do not yet exist. A pilgrim from Lebanon who has participated in several MAGIS says that her “favorite part of every MAGIS is meeting people from all over the world”. It is true that we live in times of constant movement, of long-distance encounters made possible by networks. But we miss that contact, the spontaneity of a look, of a laugh, of sharing.

The third Apostolic Preference makes us enter into the dynamics of hope and dream. We are challenged to continue the dream of Ignatius, to create this story together. A story that has a great future, a hope-filled future.

More info here