Different spirtualities (ignatian, benedictine, etc)

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I always hear the terms thrown around in class, I am a religion major, but I am unfamiliar as to what constitutes what… essentailly I would like to know what the differences in the various spirtualites are and where their emphasises lay in relation to each other.

Thanks,
Jason
 
some ways you might begin to study and answer your own questions: begin with the lives of each of the saints associated with these spiritual charisms–Ignatius, Benedict, Teresa of Jesus, John of the Cross, Francis of Assisi, Bernard, Dominic–all those who founded various religous orders. Each of them is associated with their basic writings, especially the rules of the orders they founded or reformed.

The rule of St. Benedict for instance is devoted to guidance on the practicalities of community life and governance, and the way to pray the liturgy of the hours and practice spiritual reading (lectio divina).

the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius describe the path one takes under spiritual direction in modelling life in Christ through contemplation of his life, suffering, passion, death and resurrection.

the writings of John and Teresa are guides to mystical contemplation and the three tiered path of the spiritual journey, purification, enlightenment, and union with God.

the rule and writings of Francis describe the evangelical poverty and identification of Christ in the poor through service to them.

there are links here in spirituality forum to various secular associates of these orders that describe these spiritualities especially as they may be adapted to life in the world in the lay state.
 
That article did help to understand benedictine and franscian spirtuality but didnt say anything of Ignatian spirtuality. So benedictine spirtuality is centered aroudn the liturgy of the hours and lectio divina but what makes ignatian spirtuality unique as opposed to the others? I always thought it similar to eastern spirtuality?
 
Future_Prodigy said:
That article did help to understand benedictine and franscian spirtuality but didnt say anything of Ignatian spirtuality. So benedictine spirtuality is centered aroudn the liturgy of the hours and lectio divina but what makes ignatian spirtuality unique as opposed to the others? I always thought it similar to eastern spirtuality?
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St. Ignatius of Loyola is the founder of Jesuit.
Fr. Serpa was talking about Jesuit spirituality which is the Ignatius spirituality.
 
umm… thanks I thnk. I knew that! I’m asking what makes their form of spirtuality unique and different from that of the otehrs (aside form the historical founders, etc).
 
Ignatian spirituality is, I think, based around the idea of finding God in all things. The essential prayer of Ignatian spirituality, as far as I’ve been able to work out, is the ‘Examen’ (not Imaginative Contemplation, though that’s important). The Examen involves looking over your day to see where life has been - where God has been, and where you have moved away from God. The idea is to help you to grow in your ability to identify what is drawing you to God, so that you may act upon it in daily life.

The classic prayer ‘to know you more clearly, love you more dearly and follow you more nearly’ is based upon the grace which is asked for during the Second Week of Ignatius’ ‘Spiritual Exercises’ - the actualy wording is ‘to ask for the inner knowledge of the Lord who became human for me so that I might the better love and follow him’.

The ‘manifesto’ of Ignatian spirituality is the ‘First Foundation and Principle’:
The human person is created to praise, reverence, and serve God Our Lord, and by doing so, to save his or her soul.

All other things on the face of the earth are created for human beings in order to help them pursue the end for which they are created.

It follows from this that one must use other created things, in so far as they help towards one’s end, and free oneself from them, in so far as they are obstacles to one’s end.

To do this, we need to make ourselves indifferent to all created things, provided the matter is subject to our free choice and there is no other prohibition.

Thus, as far as we are concerned, we should not want health more than illness, wealth more than poverty, fame more than disgrace, a long life more than a short one, and similarly for all the rest, but we should desire and choose only what helps us more towards the end for which we are created.

The classic text of Ignatian spirituality is ‘The Spiritual Exercises’. But it’s not a book to go out and buy and read. It is, rather, a guidebook, a manual, to help directors in guiding people through ‘doing’ the Exercises.
 
This is a wikipedia link for Catholic Spirituality. It’s Wikipedia so it’s probably not be complete or accurate. But the article lays out the differences pretty well.
 
Essentially the different “spiritualities,” which you refer to are merely different disciplines with the same end result, i.e. union with Christ.

Jim
 
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