As I was moving through the discernment process between the ages of 18-20, my formation director had me look at several religious orders. I had zeroed in on the Redemptorists and the Benedictines but had looked at others. A class I now have long forgotten the title for had me write a paper on Ignatius of Loyola and I was introduced to the Jesuits. I only remember reading about the life of Ignatius and some of the spirituality his order brought to the contemplative table. This week, I want to return to that version of me and explore again for the second first time Ignatian Spirituality and how it can inform our contemplative practice.
Ignatius of Loyola
Ignatius of Loyola was a Catholic Spanish theologian and mystic. He is considered one of the most influential figures in the Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation in the 16th century, and founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in Paris in 1534.
Ignatius was born in 1491 in the Basque region of Spain. While serving as a soldier, he was injured in the leg that forced the end of his military career. While convalescing, he would read several religious books and would have a mystical experience that inspired him to become a priest. He would enter the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1534, and he would be ordained as a priest in 1537.
A gifted teacher and preacher, Ignatius quickly became a leader in the Jesuit order. He wrote several influential books, including the Spiritual Exercises, which is a guide to prayer and meditation. He also founded several Jesuit schools and colleges, including the University of Coimbra in Portugal and the University of Salamanca in Spain.
Ignatius died in 1556, and he was canonized a saint in 1622. He is the patron saint of soldiers, writers, and teachers.
Ignatian Prayer
Contemplative life life is rooted in four elements, reading, prayer, contemplation and meditation. You will see this format throughout all the contemplative traditions around the world. Ignatian spirituality follows similar patterns. “Ignatian prayer is imaginative, reflective, and personal.” Ignatius imagines a horizontal relationship with God that is very intimate. In rediscovering Ignatius, I found myself seeing open theism and an open and relational approach with Ignatian thought.
Ignatian prayer is a conversation and in re-reading this, I think I know why I was so inspired by the Jesuits in college. I have always felt this way when I have been in prayer with God. I just converse and let God’s presence be near. Ignatian prayer engages in a relationship with God that involves give and take, our response to God’s invitation, and a sharing of life. We become intimately aware of God’s presence in all things.
The Spiritual Exercises and the Examine
The Spiritual Exercises are a compilation of meditations, prayers, and contemplative practices developed by St. Ignatius Loyola aimed to help people deepen their relationship with God. Intended to be completed over thirty days, it is meant to be engaged in as a long retreat of silence and solitude. Contemporary engagement has people engage in the practice as daily retreat which, “a months long program of daily prayer and meetings with a spiritual director.”
The Spiritual Exercises urge us to see ourselves as God sees us—as sons and daughters, members of God’s family. Here, I hear echoes of Merton. Jesus used the affectionate word abba to refer to his Father when he prayed. The closest English equivalent is “Papa.” We can address God in the same intimate way because we are his children.
The Examine is a technique of prayerful reflection on the events of the day in order to detect God’s presence and discern his direction for us. The Examen is an ancient practice in the Church that can help us see God’s hand at work in our whole experience.
Mark Thibodeaux, SJ offers that the with the Examine “we review our recent past to find God and God’s blessings in life. We also look back to find moments in the day when things didn’t go so well—when we were hurt by something that happened to us, or when we sinned or made a mistake. We give praise and thanksgiving for the blessed moments. We ask forgiveness and healing for the difficult and painful moments.”
I find the format for the Examine to be a refreshingly lighter approach to the way Compline is prayed in the Benedictine tradition. It is simply a conversation with God.
Finding God in All Things
Another area of Ignatian spirituality that was an aha moment this week was the Ignatian practice of finding God in all things. I had forgotten that I had learned this so many years ago when I was in my twenties, only to learn it again when I went to seminary where I thought it originated. Growing up in the outdoors with an outdoor photographer dad, I always felt and still always feel closer to God when I am in the woods. Through years of practicing lovingkindness, I find myself closest to God when I am nearest to those poor in spirit.
It is a Jesuit teaching to consider that “If God isn’t here, then God isn’t anywhere.” If God is not present in your day-to-day work and struggle and fun, in your emotions and discoveries, and even in the incidental things that happen—then why should you invest so much time and energy trying to get to whatever place God inhabits?”
In Closing
I find it interesting how much we learn and behaviors we adopt in our lives that we forgot their origins. I can remember praying the rosary a lot and going to church a lot those two years of Catholic discernment. Revisiting Ignatius this week, I too remember why I do some of the things I do in terms of my spirituality. Finding God in all things, deeper intentions in prayer and the intimacy between myself and God. Since leaving the pulpit ministry in 2016, I have deepened my connection with my roots as a monastic and contemplative.
Prayer is often an overused term in our Christian world, full of magic and mystery. The contemplatives show us that is often much more. Prayer is a deep, intimate conversation with the divine.
“Ignatian spirituality focuses on God at work in our world now. We try to unite ourselves with God by working with God to save and heal the world.”
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which He looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are His body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours
Attributed to Teresa of Avila
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