I was born in 1979 in Eastern side of Romania, near Bacău, into a large, traditionally Catholic family. From a very young age, I always had a deep sense of waiting for something mysteriously great, which was about to reveal itself. My vocation to the Society of Jesus was born from the experience of the spiritual exercises, lived with the Jesuits from Romania in 2001. It was an experience of “falling in love,” in which the faith I had always been practicing received a different dialogical depth, less ritual and more existential. God speaks to my life and guides me, inflames my heart and inspires bold decisions, closing useless paths to his projects and opening others, new and promising ones. In the years that followed, I returned often and willingly to this source of the Exercises to discover how the Lord continued to direct me toward the form of life of St. Ignatius, whose charism, discreetly but firmly, attracted me into the secret of my heart.
After having worked for two years as a carpenter, in 2006 I conclude my university studies in Humanities and Theology in Iași and I join the novitiate in Genoa. The formation stages take me through different experiences that mark me deeply. After studying philosophy in Padua, I work for two years as a social worker with Rrom children and youth from orphanages in Satu Mare, Romania. Then I am sent to Madrid to deepen my theology and complete a Master’s degree in Ignatian spirituality. After my priestly ordination in Satu Mare in 2015, I dedicate myself to Bible study at the Gregorian University in Rome, also spending several months in Jerusalem.
My first mission as a trained Jesuit priest takes me back to Satu Mare, dedicated to parish and youth ministry in Romania. My life seemed directed toward pastoral ministry, when to my great surprise, I am sent to Genoa, to assist the novice master in the formation of novices. After the tertianship (period of synthesis of formation before the solemn vows), lived in the Dominican Republic and Cuba, I was appointed novice master.
I welcomed my new mission with many mixed feelings. Aware of my limitations and of the challenges inherent to the formation today in any field, I relied on the trust the Society placed in me. I am convinced that one cannot pass on to others nothing but what one has received. And I have received so much from the Society and in the Society. I feel the joy of giving what I have freely received and gradually find myself confirmed in this mission. Along with the challenges that are not lacking, the greatest joy I experience is to contemplate the infinite ways of God in the hearts of men, Who continues to console, inspire, guide and draw people to Himself and to His divine service!