Understanding and misunderstanding Jesuit tradition and thought

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Journeying with Ignatius of Loyola in July

What are your ‘holy daydreams’? What great undertakings do you desire to make for God and for others?

From Anthony de Mello,SJ:
"Ignatius himself was a man of great and intense desires, which is what made him the outstanding saint he is.

At the time of his conversion, he indulged in an exercise that can best be termed holy daydreaming by means of which he fostered his desires to do great things for God.

He would see himself in fantasy undertaking great and difficult enterprises for God. He would recall the great exploits of the saints and say to himself, 'Saint Francis did such and such for the Lord. I shall do more. Saint Dominic did these great deeds for the Lord, I shall do more . . . ’

He tells us that this holy exercise always left him with a feeling of peace and devotion and strength that he later termed spiritual consolation."
 
Journeying with Ignatius of Loyola in July

"Finding God in all things is at the core of Ignatian Spirituality and is rooted in our growing awareness of what is happening in our daily lives.

God is not lost and doesn’t need to be found. God constantly finds us. It is we who gradually learn to find and love God in all things, because God is in everything we see, hear and do. God labors in all things, creating them moment by moment, giving them life and beauty.

The yearning to find God in all things makes us more aware of what is happening all around us and we grow in an awareness of God’s presence in our lives and become more attentive to God’s desires than to our own…

…All we are doing is giving God a chance to open our hearts wider."
 
Journeying with Ignatius of Loyola in July

From the beginning of his spiritual journey, Ignatius had a good idea of what he wanted to do… He wanted to lead others into a relationship with Christ Jesus…

Ignatius describes his ministry by the simple Spanish word conversar. Conversar means “to converse,” “to talk with…”

Conversar has broader meanings as well. It means “to be conversant with” something or someone—that is, to truly know them deeply. It means “to have dealings with.” To converse with someone is to know them and to be involved with their lives. In the Ignatian scheme of things, to converse is one of our ways of loving.

Ignatius’s spiritual life developed around the idea of conversation. It is based on conversation with God in prayer. It is developed through conversation with others—spiritual directors, confessors, like-minded friends who share one’s ideals and way of life.

It is expressed in conversation as ministry—sharing the gospel with others.
  • David L. Fleming,S.J.
 
Journeying with Ignatius of Loyola in July

The goal of our life
is to live with God forever.
God who loves us, gave us life.
Our own response of love
allows God’s life
to flow into us without limit.

All the things in this world
are gifts of God,
presented to us so that
we can know God more easily
and make a return of love more readily.
As a result, we appreciate
and use all these gifts of God
insofar as they help us
develop as loving persons.

But if any of these gifts
become the center of our lives,
they displace God and so hinder
our growth toward our goal.
In everyday life, then,
we must hold ourselves in balance
before all of these created gifts
insofar as we have a choice
and are not bound by some obligation.

We should not fix our desires
on health or sickness, wealth or poverty,
success or failure, a long life or short one.
For everything has the potential
of calling forth in us a deeper response
to our life in God.

Our only desire
and our one choice should be this:
I want and I choose what better leads
to the deepening of God’s life in me.
  • Saint Ignatius of Loyola
    Principle & Foundation (annotation 23)
    Spiritual Exercises
    (paraphrased by David Fleming,SJ)
Holy. Indifference.
 
Journeying with Ignatius of Loyola in July

We should never postpone a good work,
no matter how small it may be,
with the thought of later doing
something greater.

It is a very common temptation of the enemy
to be always placing before us
the perfection of things to come
and bring us to make little
of the present.
  • St Ignatius of Loyola.
    from the Letter to the Jesuit Scholastics
    of the University of Alcala de Henares
    ca. 1543
 
Journeying with Ignatius of Loyola in July

We must always remind ourselves that we are pilgrims
until we arrive at our heavenly homeland,
and we must not let our affections delay us
in the roadside inns and lands through which we pass,
otherwise we will forget our destination
and lose interest in our final goal.
  • St Ignatius of Loyola.
 
This will shed some light on understanding our Holy Father.

Journeying with Ignatius of Loyola in July

Ignatius had deep concern and compassion for the disadvantaged in society. Even before he opens the first Jesuit schools, he and his first Jesuit companions already begin ministry in prisons and hospitals. They preach to, and pastor the poor people in Rome. They open the House of St Martha for reformed prostitutes.

In a letter to Fr John Pelletier,SJ and his community in 1551, Ignatius reminds his men about this important ministry of the Society:

"You should be careful to help prisoners and visit the prisons if you can, and you should occasionally preach and exhort them to confession and a return to God. Hear their confessions if opportunity offers.

Do not forget the hospitals. Try to console and give spiritual help to the poor as far as you can. Even in these places some exhortation may be profitable, unless circumstances seem to advise otherwise."

Something to think about today:
Inspired by Ignatius, how can I live and share Christ’s deep concern and compassion for the poor and the needy in society- and in my family, neighborhood, school, workplace, and relationships?
 
You must pray. We must pray!

If we don’t pray, we remain attached to earthly things, we become small like them, narrow like them, we get pressured by them, we sell ourselves to them–because we give our love and our heart to them.

We must pray!

Then we are far away from the petty everyday that makes us small and narrow. Then we draw near to God and become capable of “touching our Creator and Lord.”
  • Karl Rahner,S.J.
 
I remember joking (in a positive way) when Papa Francis was elected,

“Is the world ready for an infallible Jesuit?” 👍
 
Journeying with Ignatius of Loyola in July

Ignatius and his early followers lived in the underbelly of Rome, where they heard confession, preached in the streets and tended to the weak and vulnerable living in wretched circumstances.

At the same time, he charged his followers to discuss theology at the highest levels of society, and they were often called to debate at the papal court.

Out of this experience, a new missiology – particular to the Jesuits – was born.
  • Daniel Joyce, S.J.
    has taught the course “Ignatius and the City: An Introduction to
    Jesuit Urban Missiology” in St Joseph’s University, Pennsylvania.
 
Journeying with Ignatius of Loyola in July

Ignatius’ mysticism was one of action, an active attentiveness and prompt responsiveness to God’s direction and guidance.

The Society of Jesus was understood as following this pattern. In fact, Ignatius and his early companions envisioned the Jesuit as being ready to depart ‘on mission’ at a moment’s notice.

This demanded of him the ability to adapt to changed circumstances, determine the best course of action and make decisions.

Ignatian spirituality has a remarkable ‘nowness,’ both in its attentiveness to God and in its desire to respond to what God is asking of the person now.
  • Charles J Jackson,S.J.
    “Ignatian Spirituality” (excerpts)
 
Journeying with Ignatius of Loyola in July

We all long for what is good in our lives. For what is more. What is greater. What is better.

But it is not always easy. Conquering our bad habits takes great patience. Overcoming our selfish ways needs great courage.

In his pre-conversion years (his conversion experience is at age 30, remember), Ignatius is vain, ambitious and arrogant. He is given to wine, women and song. Yes, that is far from saintly.

Ignatius must have struggled – really hard – to change his set ways at 30. But he is not one who easily gives up. We know that from the battle of Pamplona, right?

Perhaps we need the same patience and persistence as we struggle with ourselves.

Do not give up. Do not give up on yourself. Do not give up on God. And here are words drawn from Ignatius’ own past experience on, yes, Throwback Thursday :

“In order to replace a bad habit with a good one, you must use effort upon effort,just as you use one nail to drive out another.”
 
Journeying with Ignatius in July

What has been your ‘cannonball experience’?

We are struck down sometimes by our life’s cannonballs. We are hit hard. We are wounded. We fall to the ground.

But when parts of ourselves are shattered and our defenses are down, we come to realize: the holes in our thick, well-protected walls become openings.

Today thank God for your life’s cannonballs.

"Upon turning 20, Ignatius hired himself out as a soldier. One day he was sent to defend the city of Pamplona against the French. Cannonballs began pounding the city wall, opening a hole in it. As Ignatius rushed to defend the opening he was struck down by a cannonball that shattered his leg.

‘No one falls to the ground without your Father’s consent… You are worth much more than many sparrows.’ Matthew 10:29-31 "
(Mark Link,SJ)

i154.photobucket.com/albums/s247/choliks_a/ignatius_shoes_zpsbc5d0314.jpg
image: the shoes of the pilgrim Ignatius still preserved in the Jesuit curia in Rome. from internet.
 
Journeying with Ignatius of Loyola in July

How passionate are you in pursuing God
and carrying out tasks, small and great,
for Him and for your neighbor?

"Ignacio is for our times, a clear example
of the man feverishly searching for God’s will.

He asks what He wants from us, even though
human eyes might think it absurd,
trusting the One for whom we accepted the mission
and then managing to take it forward

‘waiting for God as if all the success
depended on Him and nothing on us;
at the same time, we must work
with all our strength, as if we were supposed
to do everything on our own…’ "
(Jaime Emilio Gonzalez Magana,SJ)
 
Probably the last post on Journeying with Ignatius of Loyola this July…

In the Loyola castle in Spain, one finds among the upstairs rooms the Chapel of Conversion. It is the room where the war-weary Ignatius spends months to recover from his wounds.

In this chapel one reads the inscription rendered in both Basque and Spanish. In English it means: Here Ignatius of Loyola surrendered himself to God.

We all need this one room in our lives where we can return and come home, where we can recover from wounds and weariness, where we can be silent.

It is a sacred space (often in our hearts) where we can still our noise and notice voices that vie for attention. Where, in the end, we can hear that one still Voice that calls and comes close, heals and forgives, saves and sends.

And in this room of our lives, we, like Ignatius of Loyola, are called to surrender ourselves to God.

+AMDG.

Happy feast day! 7/31/2013
 
choliks said:
And this is one reason why I love the Jesuits:
Click to expand...
Thanks for this quote. I feel very strongly the same way. I try to be faithful at least in my practice even when my heart isn’t in it. I recite my breviary, or go to Mass, on schedule.

Sometimes it’s not easy.

But that’s usually when I get some kind of special grace or comfort from the Office or Mass. If I didn’t recite my breviary daily or go to Mass every Sunday, I would lose what little faith I have.
 
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