Bruno MWAZUBA NAGONOWA, 11122T
The Spiritual Exercises – St Ignatius Loyola
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| I find spiritual elements |
St Ignatius Loyola was born in 1491 in a family of the
Basque nobility. He was the founder of Jesuit order which was approved in 1539
by the Pope Paul III as new Order and in 1540 the official document of the
approval was issued. The Jesuits laid great emphasis on education and upon the
ability to make effective defense of Roman Catholic doctrine. As example,
Loyola founded in 1551 the Roman College as a prototype for Jesuit education.
Loyola was died in 1556 and canonized by the Roman Church in1622.
Going through this book of St
Ignatius Loyola called ‘’Spiritual Exercises” written when he was studying
theology, I find a great numbers of spiritual elements so important for my life
as Christian. My Christian life should be lived in the light of the one of
Christ, which is acting for the greater glory of God. In fact, going through
the book it suggests me ways of strengthening this commitment through
appropriate appeals to feeling and emotion. Without forgetting also that
service of Christ is to be intelligent as well.
Summary and Reflection
INTRODUCTION
Jesus
Christ is our prototype in everything and whoever wishes to have eternal life
must proclaim and do what he teaches. The book of Saint Ignatius of Loyola was
written while studying theology. The book however is to be considerate as instrument
to support people who want to make retreat, in which spiritual elements are
provided for Christian life. Christian life should be lived in the light of the
one of Jesus, which is acting for the greater glory of God. To further this
reflection, we are going to summarize by analyzing and digesting Ignatius of
Loyola’s book and then present our own appreciation. And a brief conclusion
will wind up our research.
I.SUMMARY OF THE BOOK
Ignatius
of Loyola in writing Spiritual Exercises
which was the motto of the order wanted Christians to act always for the
greater glory of God, and to be motivated by the knightly desire to serve
Jesus, our King and Lord, also by dedicating entire life to him. This
dedication is to be deeply felt, and the book of the Exercises suggests ways of
strengthening this commitment through appropriate appeals to feeling and
emotion, but the service of Christ was to be intelligent as well.
As
underlined above that the book was written for helping people who make retreat, because “ in his opinion, the Spiritual Exercises were, as their name
implies, not a subject for mere reading but a handbook for those engaged in the
energetic activity of making retreat”.[1] The
book is divided into four parts. Each part aimed at leading to an act of the
will to follow God more closely. Thomas Corbishley writes: “four weeks are
assigned to the following exercises, corresponding with their four divisions:
first, reflection on and contemplation of sins; second, the life of Christ our
Lord, up to and including Palm Sunday, third, the sufferings of Christ our
Lord; fourth, the Resurrection and Ascension, with three ways of praying, as an
appendix”.[2] We
elaborate on each week.
First week:
It is composed with five exercises based on contemplation and meditation on our
sins and on hell. It is a particular time for the retreatant to examine his
conscience, by so doing eliminates faults and slackness in the performance of
the exercises. More precisely, it is a time of preparation, “ask our Lord God
for the grace to direct my thoughts, activities and deeds to the service and
praise of His Divine Majestic”.[3]
Second week:
The second week’s exercises revolve around Christ, that is, the life of Jesus
from his incarnation up to his nativity. His life is characterized by love,
obedience, justice common good, common interest especially doing the will of
his Father. Corbishley says: “He has given us an example is staying behind in
the Temple, leaving His foster-father and His Mother, to devote Himself
entirely to the business of his Eternal Father”.[4] Thus,
the retreatant ought to contemplate closely the life of Jesus in order to look
for ways of making a sound and right decision for his life.
Third
week: The third week as the second is based on the life of Jesus especially
from Bethany to the events in the Garden, that is, Christ’s death. Here the
retreatant should meditate on the passion and death of Jesus, especially on the
Sacred Body of Jesus which is the true and memorial sacrifice of Jesus. Barron
says: “to remember Christ, therefore, is to participate even now in the saving
events of the past, bringing them, in all their dense reality to the present
day”.[5]
Fourth week:
The fourth and last one is based on the resurrection of Jesus, which is the
basis of our faith because without that event there is no faith, “and if Christ
has not been raised, then empty (too) is our preaching, empty, too, your faith”
(1 Cor 15:14). So, during this week the retreatant should meditate on that
great event of his faith and especially to be filled with joy, “now it will be
grace to be filled with joy and happiness at the thought of Christ’s great
glory and happiness”.[6]
The
practice of all that the retreatant has been doing during those four weeks seen
in the previous paragraphs is found in the last part of the book called
contemplation for achieving love. Love is the greatest commandment in the Bible
whereby Christian applies his faith. “Which is the first of all the
commandments? Jesus replied, the first is this…you shall love your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
The second is this: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other
commandment than this” (Mk 12:28b-31). Love is very important virtue which has
to be manifested in daily Christian life.
It
should be said that for Ignatius of Loyola the retreatant thank God for all his
blessings received during his time of meditation, “here it will be to beg for a
deep-felt appreciation for all the blessings I have been given, that out of the
fullness my gratitude I may become completely devoted to His Divine Majesty in
affective love”.[7] This love proposed by Loyola is not a
simple love, but the one without limit, the one that puts away its own desire
and need to look for the well-being of others, “we should put away completely
our own opinion and keep our mind ready and eager to give our entire obedience
to our holy mother the hierarchical Church, Christ our Lord’s undoubted spouse”.[8]
And
the example of saints can also help Christians to practice their love, “the positive doctors, like saint Jerome,
saint Augustine, and saint Gregory, have the special gift of moving men’s
hearts to a general love and the service of God our Lord; saint Bonaventure,
the Master of the sentences and the rest, have their special gift, which is
rather to give precision to and clarify, in a way suited to our age”.[9]
II. OUR PERSONAL REFLECTION AND
APPLICATION
After
analyzing what the Spiritual Exercises
of Ignatius are all about, thus, in this second part of our reflection, we
would like to give our personal reflection in connection to what the book says,
and how relevant is it today.
Going
through the book we realize that Ignatius wrote the book to instruct people on
prayer and the life of the spirit, that is, the dedication of their lives to
God, searching for the divine will. “Among other things, Ignatius helps us to
learn to pray in a richer sense, and provides us with an immense variety of
themes for prayer”.[10]
In this sense, prayer is the only way for Christian to communicate with God, a
part from it there is no other way to present to God our needs. As result,
Ignatius through his book provides for us a great number of spiritual elements
for seeking God; Christian life should be lived in the light of the one of
Jesus, which is acting for the greater glory of God.
If
everybody in the world wherever and whoever acts in everything for the greater
glory of God, we are sure that violence, corruption, terrorism, war; injustice…will
not exist in our midst. But today people live without seeking the will of God, without
acting for the greater glory of God. Reading and familiarizing with the book of
Ignatius, peace and justice will reign among people, nobody will suffer and
life will be easy because the goal of the book is to instruct Christians on
prayer. And prayer is the only way to communicate and contemplate the face of
Jesus, to call down God’s blessing.
Without
any doubt, the Spiritual Exercises of
Ignatius is so relevant in today’s world whereby man’s morality is far from the
one of Jesus, whereby illegal thought has been legalized and the legal has been
illegalized; everybody gives more importance to reason than faith and thinks
that force or war is the effective solution to our problems, without knowing
that love (negotiation) should take priority over the use of force and
promoting peace and justice. So, prayer should not be underestimated in our
midst, because it is the only and most powerful way to call down God’s blessing
and out of it there is no possibility for man to act for the greater glory of
God.
CONCLUSION
By
way of conclusion, Jesus is the focal point of our action. Jesus in his daily
action was searching for the will of God to be done. As Christians, we have to
imitate the life of Christ which is acting for the greater glory of God. As
result, Ignatius in his book gives us and suggests to us ways of strengthening
our commitment to God especially through prayer which is the only way to call
down God’s blessing, because without prayer, it is impossible for man to love
God, and neighbor and to act for the greater glory of God.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BARRON.R., Eucharist, Orbis Books, Marknocl New York, 2008.
CORBISHLEY.T., The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius,
New York,
Eykens, 1963.
The African Bible, Biblical Text of the New
African Bible, Nairobi,
Paulines
Publications, 1999
[1]
T.CORBISHLEY, The Spiritual Exercises of
Saint Ignatius, 7.
[2]
T.CORBISHLEY, The Spiritual Exercises of Saint
Ignatius, 13.
[3]
T.CORBISHLEY, The Spiritual Exercises of
Saint Ignatius, 30.
[4]
T.CORBISHLEY, The Spiritual Exercises of
Saint Ignatius, 52.
[5]
BARRON.R., Eucharist, 89.
[6]
T.CORBISHLEY, The Spiritual Exercises of
Saint Ignatius, 76.
[7]
T.CORBISHLEY, The Spiritual Exercises of
Saint Ignatius, 79.
[8]
T.CORBISHLEY, The Spiritual Exercises of
Saint Ignatius, 120.
[9]
T.CORBISHLEY, The Spiritual Exercises of
Saint Ignatius, 121-122.
[10]
T.COBISHLEY, The Spiritual Exercises of
Saint Ignatius, 10.
Why did you decide to read and study this book?
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