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THE WONDERFUL GIFT OF IGNATIAN SPIRITUALITY

by Pasquale T. Giordano, S.J.

1, God has created us in such a way that we have restless spirits and hungry hearts
that yearn for him.

2. The goal of Ignatian spirituality is a response of the heart, the transformation of

the deepest core of our being. God is an active God. He is ever at work in people’s
lives: inviting, directing, guiding, proposing, suggesting. Ignatian spirituality can be
described as an active attentiveness to God joined with a prompt responsiveness to
his leading.

3. The Principle and Foundation is a life vision. All creation is a gift, coming from
God and leading towards God. “Our only desire and our one choice should be this. I
want and I choose what better leads to God’s deepening his life in me.”

4. The First Week of the Spiritual Exercises focuses on our sin and God’s mercy. The
retreatant is asked to compare himself with the rebel angels, Adam and Eve, and
someone condemned to hell for one sin. Why has not God condemned me or all the
sins I have committed? Triple Colloquoy: affective pray before the Crucified Christ
suffering and dying for my sins: What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for
Christ? What will I do for Christ? When one goes deeply through this process, it is
already an experience of the Paschal Mystery: dying to self and rising to Christ. It is
a very liberating experience.

5. The Examen of Consciousness: 1) gratitude for God’s blessings; 2) self-awareness,

what did I learn about myself today; 3) a review of the day, being aware of the
positive and negative experiences; 4) expressing sorrow for one’s failures during the
day, and finally 5) looking forward to a new day tomorrow. Praying this every day
gives one the gift of discerning God’s Spirit and will in one’s life.

6. Before entering the Second Week , there is a meditation on Christ the King and
His Call. Christ our Lord invites us to be with him in promoting the Kingdom of
God, where God reigns, a Kingdom of Justice, Love and Peace. The meditation ends
with a powerful prayer which sets up the great challenges of the Second Week,
inviting those of great generosity to follow Christ completely: in poverty, in humility,
and in suffering to the points of sharing in the Cross.

7. The Second Week deals with the great Mysteries of the Life of Christ. By praying
these meditations, one gains a con-naturality with Christ, to be totally one with him.
Three great Ignatian Meditations: a) a Meditation on the Two Leaders, Two
Strategies: Both Satan and Jesus Christ are trying to get men and women to follow
them. Satan is attracting them by riches, honor, and pride. Jesus is attracting them
by poverty, self-emptying, and humility. Which leader are you following?
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b) The Three Types of Persons: The first type of person is “a lot of talk but no
action.” The second type is “to do everything but the one thing necessary.” The third
type of person is the one who says to God “to do your will in my desire.”
c) The Third Kind of Humility: One is united with Christ poor, humble, and
suffering. One does this not because one desires to suffer, but because one loves
Christ and is willing to be totally one with him to the point of the Cross. This is the
pinnacle of Ignatian Spirituality.

8. Rules for Discernment: “consolation” anything that leads me closer to God;

“desolation” anything that leads me away from God.

9. Rules for Making a Choice of a State or Way of Life: Three Times:

The first time is when one has a dramatic experience like St. Paul on the road to
Damascus. It is very clear what the will of God is.
The second time is when one gains much light and clarity from our experience of
consolation and desolation. There is clarity is this as well.
The third time is when there is neither consolation nor desolation, no movement
from God. Ignatius suggests we should then use our own reasoning process, try to be
a balance at equilibrium weighing the advantages and disadvantages for one’s
decision and bringing it to prayer. He also suggests to consider what advice one
would give to a person coming for consultation, to imagine oneself at the moment of
death, or to stand before Christ, the Judge, when this life has ended. How would
one’s decision affect that. Throughout the reasoning process of the third time of
making a decision, one continually begs God our Lord to bring him to the
experience of the Second or the Third Time.

10. The Third Week focuses on the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ. What can one
say in the face of such suffering? One can only be with, to accompany.

11. The Fourth Week focuses on the Resurrection of Our Lord, Jesus Christ/ It is an
experience of joy and triumph.

12. The Exercises ends with the Contemplation on God’s Love. Ignatius has two pre-
notes to this meditation. One is that love is expressed not only in words but in deeds,
and the other is that love consists in a true mutuality. At the completion of the
Exercises, one’s heart is filled with gratitude because of the generous gift of God’s
grace. How can I return to the Lord all that he has given to me, Take and Receive:
“You have given all to me; to You, O Lord, I return it.” Two key Ignatian themes
emerge from the Contemplatio Ad Amorem: “Finding God in All Things” and
“Becoming Contemplatives in Action.”

13. Gratuitousness: we are made for gift. We achieve our fulfillment in relationships
with others and with God. Neighbors who welcome my love become my benefactors,
for they have obtained for us what we were seeking all along – union with God.
Therefore, we should be grateful to them. Within this dynamic, all relationships
become imbued with a sense of reciprocal gratitude.
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14. Characteristics of the Ignatian/Jesuit Vision:

 sees life and the whole universe as a gift calling forth wonder and
gratefulness;
 gives ample scope to imagination and emotion as well as intellect;
 seeks to find the divine in all things – in all peoples and cultures, in all areas
of study and learning, in every human experience, and (for the Christian)
especially in the person of Jesus;
 cultivates critical awareness of personal and social evil, but points to God’s
love as more powerful than any evil;
 stresses freedom, need for DISCERNMENT, and responsible action;
 empowers people to become leaders in service, MEN AND WOMEN FOR
OTHERS, WHOLE PERSONS OF SOLIDARITY, building a more just and
humane world.

15. Ignatian spirituality is characterized by magis (Latin for “more), suggesting the
spirit of generous excellence in which ministry should be carried on. What more can
I do to serve God, to foster and promote His will.

16. Jesuit education is instrumental (not an end in itself, but a means to the service of
God and others; student centered (adapted to the individual as much as possible so
as to develop an independent and responsible learner); characterized by structure
(with systematic organization of successive objectives and systematic procedures for
evaluation and accountability) and flexibility (freedom encourages and personal
response and self-direction expected, with the teacher an experienced guide, not
primarily a deliverer of ready-made knowledge); eclectic (drawing on a variety of
the best methods and techniques available); and personal (whole person affected,
with goal of personal appropriation, attitudinal and behavioral change).

17. Jesuit education is characterized by the service of faith and the promotion of
justice. It should be noteworthy for the way it helps students, faculty and
administrators to move, in freedom, toward a mature and intellectually adult faith.
This includes enabling them to develop a disciplined sensitivity toward the suffering
of our world and a will to act for the transformation of unjust social structures that
cause that suffering. This enormous challenge falls on the entire school not just on
campus ministry and the philosophy and theology departments.

18. At the 1973 International Congress of Jesuit Alumni of Europe, Fr. Pedro
Arrupe, S.J., gave his famous “Men (and Women) for Others Speech:”

Today our prime educational objective must be to form men for

others; men who will live not for themselves but for God and his Christ –
for the God-man who lived and died for all the world: men who cannot
even conceive of love of God which does not include love for the least of
neighbors; men completely convinced that love of God which does not
issue in justice for men is a farce.