The Ateneo Religious Organizations (ARO) invited Fr. Ogie Cabayao, S.J., Fr. Patrick Riordan, S.J., and Fr. Mike Pineda, S.J. to talk about their lives as a Jesuit in Ateneo during the annual Knights with Iggy.

With the theme “Finding the Iggy in You: A Call for Inner Transformation Towards Greater Mission”, the overnight event aimed to help the students to find their inner Iggy, and meeting the Jesuits was one way to do so.

Fr. Riordan shared how he had the desire to build connections between people during his job at a pub when he was in his youth.

“Couples would be in there, and they’d be sitting, having a drink, but not talking to one another. And it was sad… and I would say to myself, ‘why won’t these people talk to one another?’… And then the idea occurred to me, maybe it would be a better way for me to spend life building bridges between people,” he said.

He also stressed the need to build bridges between people.

“And you realize the need for bridging because of the injustice, because of the pain and the separation and these [terrible] stuff going on by the students and the faculty,” Fr. Patrick said.

Fr. Pineda shared his experience with God’s love during a retreat.

“[I] didn’t expect that I would experience how much God loves me. Until now I’m amazed [of His love],” he said.

Fr. Cabayao shared his pursuit of joy as a Jesuit.

“I remember when I was a child, I was a happy child. But somehow along the way, I became unhappy, and it took a long time to find things that will actually make me happy. So much so that joy was very elusive for me.

“But later on, as I grew older in the Jesuit life, I began to realize that joy, for me, is being in a situation and not thinking of something else. Whether that be [in] lecturing, or giving a talk… Moments when I cannot think of anything else except what I’m doing are really sources of joy for me,” Fr. Ogie said.

ARO also prepared various activities for the students, such as the Talk: The Iggy in You, Race With Iggy, Spiritual Conversation, Praise and Worship, and mass.

Lemuel Manalo shared his advocacy for the environment during the Talk: The Iggy in You.

Fr. Daniel McNamara, S.J. presided the dawn mass the following day.

ARO organized the annual event to commemorate the solemnity of St.Ignatius of Loyola.