St. Francis de Sales and Ignatian spirituality

[CrossofChrist]

How does Ignatian spirituality differ from the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales? (I mean if you are a lay person…I can see that if you are a Jesuit priest, for instance, how you have to follow the Superior General, etc etc)

 

[Shea96]

I don’t know much about Ignatian spirituality, but I would guess that a major difference is that St. Francis acknowledges or reminds us that we do not always feel God’s presence, but that even without His consolations we must continue to work at prayer, avoiding temptation, and living a truly devout life. St. Francis centers his teaching more internally, focusing on the “how-to”, so to speak, of living as God wants us to live, rather than on God interacting with us and being a part of those actions. St. Francis focuses on the individual works, such as developing a strong prayer life, keeping God as the focus of your entire day through constant aspirations, mini-meditations, etc. and recognizing your own weaknesses and how to strengthen them. Ignatian, on the other hand, seems, as I understand it, to center around how God is directly involved in your experiences.

Not sure if that’s a good answer. I love St. Francis, but am not so knowledgable of the other.

 

[St_Francis]

From what I know of each, I’d say they focus on different parts of the spiritual life. StFrancis de Sales more on how the layperson living in the world could grow in holiness; St Ignatius was more about the interaction of the sporitual and the person. I see them as very complementary.