Ignatius to See and See Again

Ignatian spirituality, too known as Jesuit spirituality, is a Catholic spirituality founded on the experiences of the 16th-century Castilian saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit guild. The principal idea of this form of spirituality comes from Ignatius's Spiritual Exercises, the aim of which is to help one "conquer oneself and to regulate one's life in such a manner that no conclusion is fabricated under the influence of whatsoever inordinate attachment." The Exercises are intended to give the person undertaking them a greater caste of liberty from his or her own likes and dislikes, so that their choices are based solely on what they discern God's will is for them.^[one] Even in the composition of the exercises by Ignatius early in his career, one might find the apostolic thrust of his spirituality in his contemplation on "The Call of the Earthly Male monarch"^{[2] : 91ff} and in his concluding contemplation with its focus on finding God in all things.^{[3] [two] : 235}

Development [edit]

After recovering from a leg wound incurred during the Siege of Pamplona in 1521, Ignatius made a retreat with the Benedictines of Montserrat. They introduced him to the "Ejercitatoria de la vida espiritual" of Garcia de Cisneros, based in big role on the teachings of the Brothers of the Mutual Life, promoters of the "devotio moderna." From there, he spent ten months at Manresa, where he discovered The False of Christ of Thomas à Kempis.^[4] Parts of the Exercises were completed later while he was a educatee in Paris.

General principles [edit]

Ignatian spirituality has been described equally a spirituality of finding God's volition for better decision making.^[5] According to Hans Urs von Balthasar, "choice" is the center of the Exercises.^[vi] Their original objective was the question of the choice of a country of life.^[iv]

The Ignatian process of making good decisions acknowledges that decisions are frequently between two goods, agreement that the better good, or "the more" (lat. magis), is what nosotros instinctively want, and what God wants for us. "In all things, to love and to serve" (Castilian: en todo amar y servir) was a motto of St Ignatius, who wanted to "be like St. Francis and St. Dominic", though better.^{[7] : 24}

Aspects of Ignatian spirituality [edit]

Ignatian spirituality has the post-obit characteristics:^[4]

God's greater glory: St Ignatius of Loyola—"a human being who gave the first place of his life to God" said Bridegroom XVI—stressed that "Human is created to praise, reverence, and serve God Our Lord and past this means to relieve his soul." This is the "First Principle and Foundation" of the Exercises. Ignatius declares: "The goal of our life is to alive with God forever. God who loves us, gave us life. Our own response of love allows God'south life to flow into united states of america without limit.... Our only desire and our i selection should be this: I want and I choose what meliorate leads to the deepening of God's life in me."

Union with Jesus: Ignatius emphasized an ardent love for the Saviour. In his month-long Exercises, he devoted the last three weeks to the contemplation of Jesus: from infancy and public ministry, to his passion, and lastly his risen life. To accomplish empathy with Jesus and a closer following of him, Ignatius proposed a grade of contemplation that he called "application of the senses" to the scenes in the life of Jesus.^{[2] : 121ff} The Spiritual Exercises, in 104, sum this upward in a prayer that I may "love him more and follow him more closely." At that place is a considerable emphasis on the emotions in Ignatius' methods, and a call for one to be sensitive to emotional movements.^[8]

Self-awareness: Ignatius recommends the twice-daily examen (examination). This is a guided method of prayerfully reviewing the events of the day, to awaken one'due south inner sensitivity to one's own actions, desires, and spiritual state, through each moment reviewed. The goals are to see where God is challenging the person to change and to growth, where God is calling the person to deeper reflection (peculiarly apt when discerning if one has a Jesuit vocation in life), to where sinful or imperfect attitudes or bullheaded spots are found. The full general examen, often at the end of the day, is, every bit the name implies, a general review. The item examen, often in the heart of the 24-hour interval, focuses on a particular fault—identified by the person—to be worked upon in the course of some days or weeks. Since the 1970s in that location take been numerous in-depth studies and adaptations of the examen to gimmicky needs. This is explained below nether the title "Examen of Consciousness."^[9]

Spiritual direction: Meditation and contemplation, and for case the same examen, are all-time guided, Ignatius says, past an experienced person. Jesuits, and those following Ignatian spirituality, meet with their spiritual director (traditionally a priest, though in recent years many laypersons have undertaken this function) on a regular basis (weekly or monthly) to discuss the fruits of their prayer life and exist offered guidance. Ignatius sees the director equally someone who can rein in impulsiveness or excesses, goad the complacent, and keep people honest with themselves. But the director should not and then much explain but merely present the exercises, to non get in the way of God who "communicates himself with the well-disposed person."^{[2] : 2, 15} If the director is a priest, spiritual direction may or may not exist connected with the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Effective love: The founder of the Guild of Jesus emphasized effective love (love shown in deeds) over melancholia dearest (love based on feelings). He ordinarily concluded his nigh important messages with "I implore God to grant us all the grace to know His holy volition and to attain it perfectly." This love which leads united states to a perfect correspondence with God's will demands self-sacrifice—renunciation of personal feelings and preferences. This is expressed in Ignatius' prayer in the last exercise of his Spiritual Exercises, which remains popular among Jesuits: "Have Lord and receive, all my freedom."^[x]

Disengagement: Where Francis of Assisi's concept of poverty emphasized the spiritual benefits of simplicity and dependency, Ignatius emphasized disengagement, or "indifference." This figures prominently into what Ignatius called the "First Principle and Foundation" of the Exercises.^{[2] : 23} For Ignatius, whether one was rich or poor, healthy or sick, in an assignment one enjoyed or one didn't, was comfortable in a civilisation or not, etc., should exist a thing of spiritual indifference—a mod phrasing might put it equally serene credence. Hence, a Jesuit (or one post-obit Ignatian spirituality) placed in a comfy, wealthy neighborhood should continue to live the Gospel life without anxiety or possessiveness, and if plucked from that situation to be placed in a poor expanse and subjected to hardships should with a sense of spiritual joy accept that as well, looking only to do God'southward will.

Prayer and efforts at cocky-conquest: Ignatius's volume The Spiritual Exercises is a fruit of months of prayer.^{[vii] : 25} Prayer, In Ignatian spirituality, is fundamental since it was at the foundation of Jesus' life, but it does not manipulate from "helping oneself", a phrase oft used by Ignatius. Thus, he also speaks of mortification and of amendment.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart, the Eucharist, and Our Lady: The Society of Jesus has a human relationship with the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary in a commitment to spread the devotion to the Sacred Heart. Though the concept of devotion to Christ'south mercy, as symbolized in the epitome of the Sacred Heart, goes further back, its modern origins tin be traced to St. Marie Alacoque, a Visitation nun, whose spiritual manager was the Jesuit St. Claude de la Colombière. The Jesuits promoted this devotion to emphasize the pity and overwhelming dear of Christ for people, and to counteract the rigorism and spiritual cynicism of the Jansenists.

St. Ignatius counselled people to receive the Eucharistic bread more oft, and from the order's primeval days the Jesuits were promoters of "frequent communion". It was the custom for many Catholics at that fourth dimension to receive Holy Communion possibly in one case or twice a yr, out of what Catholic theologians considered an exaggerated respect for the sacrament. Ignatius and others advocated receiving the sacrament even weekly,^{[two] : 18} emphasizing Holy Communion not as reward but equally spiritual food. By the time of Pope Pius X (1903–1914), "frequent communion" had come to mean weekly, even daily reception.

Ignatius made his initial commitment to a new fashion of life past leaving his soldier's weapons (and symbolically, his old values) on an altar before an image of the Christ kid seated on the lap of Our Lady of Montserrat. Also, the Jesuits were long promoters of the Sodality of Our Lady, their primary organization for their students until the 1960s, which they used to encourage frequent attendance at Mass, reception of Communion, recitation of the Rosary, and attendance at retreats in the Ignatian tradition of the Spiritual Exercises. Since the Second Vatican Council, Marian Sodalities have been largely replaced by small Christian Life Community (CLC) cells which emphasize the service of justice thrust that grew in the Catholic church after Vatican 2. The CLC secretariat is at the Jesuit headquarters in Rome.^[11]

Zeal for souls: The purpose of the Order of Jesus, says the Summary of the Constitutions, is "not only to apply one's self to one's ain conservancy and to perfection with the help of divine grace, but to employ all one'southward force for the conservancy and perfection of 1's neighbour."

Finding God in All Things: The vision that Ignatius places at the showtime of the Exercises keeps sight of both the Creator and the creature, the Ane and the other swept along in the same movement of dearest. In information technology, God offers himself to humankind in an absolute way through the Son, and humankind responds in an absolute fashion past a full self-donation. There is no longer sacred or profane, natural or supernatural, mortification or prayer—considering it is one and the same Spirit who brings it about that the Christian will see and "honey God in all things—and all things in God."^[12] Hence, Jesuits have ever been agile in the graphic and dramatic arts, literature, and the sciences.^[13]

Examen of Consciousness: The Examen of Consciousness is a simple prayer directed toward developing a spiritual sensitivity to the special ways God approaches, invites, and calls. Ignatius recommends that the examen be done at to the lowest degree twice, and suggests five points of prayer:

• Recalling that one is in the presence of God
• Thanking God for all the blessings i has received
• Examining how 1 has lived the solar day
• Asking God for forgiveness
• Resolution and offering a prayer of hopeful recommitment

Information technology is of import, yet, that the person feels free to structure the Examen in a fashion that is personally virtually helpful. In that location is no right way to do information technology; nor is there a need to go through all of the five points each time. A person might, for instance, detect oneself spending the unabridged fourth dimension on only one or ii points. The bones rule is: Go wherever God draws you lot. And this touches upon an important point: the Examen of Consciousness is primarily a time of prayer; it is a "being with God." It focuses on i's consciousness of God, not necessarily one's conscience regarding sins and mistakes.^{[ix] [fourteen]}

Discernment: Discernment is rooted in the agreement that God is ever at piece of work in one's life, "inviting, directing, guiding, and cartoon" 1 "into the fullness of life." Its central action is reflection on the ordinary events of one'south life. It presupposes an ability to reflect, a habit of personal prayer, self-knowledge, noesis of one's deepest desires, and openness to God's direction and guidance. Discernment is a prayerful "pondering" or "mulling over" the choices a person wishes to consider. In discernment, the person'due south focus should be on a quiet attentiveness to God and sensing rather than thinking. The goal is to understand the choices in 1's heart, to encounter them, as it were, as God might see them. In one sense, at that place is no limit to how long one might wish to continue in this. Discernment is a repetitive procedure, yet as the person continues some choices should, of their ain accord, fall by the wayside while others should gain clarity and focus. It is a process that should move inexorably toward a decision.^[15]

Service and humility: Ignatius emphasized the agile expression of God's dearest in life and the need to be cocky-forgetful in humility. Part of Jesuit formation is the undertaking of service specifically to the poor and sick in the most apprehensive ways: Ignatius wanted Jesuits in preparation to serve part of their fourth dimension every bit novices and in tertianship as the equivalent of orderlies in hospitals, for example emptying bed pans and washing patients, to learn humility and loving service. Jesuit educational institutions oftentimes adopt mottoes and mission statements that include the idea of making students "men and women for others",^[xvi] and the like. Jesuit missions have mostly included medical clinics, schools, and agricultural development projects as means to serve the poor or needy while preaching the Gospel.

Some groups who find the Ignatian "way of proceeding" helpful include the Social club of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (RSCJ), the Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJ), the Loreto Sisters (IBVM), the Religious Sisters of Charity (RSC), the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, and the Christian Life Communities (CLC).^[17]

Spiritual Exercises [edit]

According to St Ignatius, the purpose of the Exercises is "to conquer oneself and to regulate 1's life in such a mode that no determination is made under the influence of whatever inordinate attachment."^[two] In other words, the Exercises are intended, in Ignatius' view, to give the exercitant (the person undertaking them) a greater degree of freedom from his or her own likes, dislikes, comforts, wants, needs, drives, appetites, and passions that they may choose based solely on what they discern God's volition is for them and their students. Peter Hans Kolvenbach, while Superior General of the Jesuits, said that the Exercises "try to unite ii apparently incompatible realities: exercises and spiritual." It invites to "unlimited generosity" in contemplating God, all the same going downwardly to the level of many details.^{[xviii] : ane}

Notes [edit]

1. ^ Busted Halo. Accessed ii November 2016.
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f chiliad} "Louis J. Puhl, S.J. Translation - The Spiritual Exercises". Ignatian Spirituality . Retrieved 9 March 2017.
3. ^ "Ignatian Spirituality - Finding God in All Things". www.loyolapress.com . Retrieved 2017-03-09 .
4. ^ ^{a b c} De La Boullaye, Pinard. Ignatian Spirituality.
5. ^ Manney, Jim. "An Ignatian Framework for Making a Decision", Ignation Spirituality, Loyala Press
6. ^ Löser S.J., Werner. "The Ignatian Exercises in the Work of Hans Urs von Balthasar", Hans Urs Von Balthasar: His Life and Piece of work, (David L. Schindler, ed.) Ignatius Printing, 1991, ISBN 9780898703788
7. ^ ^{a b} O'Malley, John W. The First Jesuits Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard, 1993. ISBN 978-0674303133.
8. ^ "23 | August | 2008 | Are You Aware?". Retrieved 2017-03-09 .
9. ^ ^{a b} "The Daily Examen - IgnatianSpirituality.com". Ignatian Spirituality . Retrieved 2017-03-09 .
10. ^ Maureen Ward (2013-04-16), Accept Lord Receive by John Foley Southward.J. , retrieved 2017-03-ten
11. ^ "CLC World Secretariat". www.cvx-clc.net . Retrieved 2017-03-09 .
12. ^ "God in All Things Video - IgnatianSpirituality.com". Ignatian Spirituality . Retrieved 2017-03-10 .
13. ^ O'Malley, John West.; et al. (1999). The Jesuits: Cultures, Sciences, and the Arts, 1540-1773 (PDF). Academy of Toronto.
14. ^ "Consciousness Examen by George Aschenbrenner, SJ - IgnatianSpirituality.com". Ignatian Spirituality . Retrieved 2017-03-09 .
15. ^ "Discernment of Spirits - IgnatianSpirituality.com". Ignatian Spirituality . Retrieved 2017-03-x .
16. ^ "Men for Others". onlineministries.creighton.edu . Retrieved 2017-03-09 .
17. ^ EWTN on Ignatian influence. Accessed 2 November 2016.
18. ^ Discourse given to the Rome Consultation, 16 February 2003.

Run into also [edit]

• Immanence

References [edit]

• O'Malley, John W. The Beginning Jesuits Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard, 1993

External links [edit]

• Youtube - Ignatian Spirituality - The Examen Prayer
• Youtube - Adolfo Nicolás: Secularization - 2008 - Belgium (in English)
• Youtube - 'A yr with the Jesuits' - Britain - 2008
• Youtube - J.U.S.T. program in Ballymun, Ireland - 2009 - from 'Nationwide', RTÉ
• Youtube - Slí Eile - JVC - Republic of ireland, 2010 ^: 24

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatian_spirituality

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