JCAM 2021 29 Annual Review FORMATION WITHIN JCAM “ASANTE” – THANK YOU Bryan P. Galligan, SJ - JCAM Bryan Galligan, SJ (right) with Sa'id, Lamu fisherman As our conversation neared its end, Sa`id expressed his We Jesuits in formation are often told that we are part of a gratitude: “thank you, Bryan, for everything.” I have been universal Society. We may be from specific parts of the thanked and I have offered thanks many times before, but world—the northeast United States in my case—but we are there was something about what Sa`id said, or how he said it, called to work together in the pursuit of one global mission. that caught me off guard. We had just spent an hour or so That mission is about nothing less than the Kingdom of God, discussing a writing project that would bring more attention or, as one of our recent documents put it, “the Kingdom of to some of the human rights challenges in Lamu, Kenya, where justice, peace, and the integrity of creation.” One way for me to he lives and works. I felt like we were allies, working together participate in that mission has been to move to Nairobi and for the same goal, and it pained me to hear him relate some of place the few gifts I have at the service of communities like the needless suffering his community had experienced over Sa`id’s who are on the front lines of so many global crises, from the past months. At the same time, I didn’t feel like I was doing climate change to COVID-19. While this would be meaningful anything out of the ordinary. Until, that is, Sa`id said thank you. work regardless of my Jesuit identity, Sa`id reminded me that The depth and sincerity in that simple statement reminded me what I am doing is so much more than just “work.” Research, why I’m here. writing, and even a phone call, in the context of a universal mission, can all become acts of love.