Ignatian Spirituality - Charles J. Jackson, S.J. - [3]

Ignatian Spirituality

We have already observed that a spirituality possesses an internal cohesion, and this is certainly true for Ignatian spirituality. But we might well ask ourselves: Just what is the nature of this internal cohesion? What is the glue or, more precisely, the understanding or interior vision that gives Ignatian spirituality its cohesion? Although Ignatius never spoke in such terms, his realization at Loyola that God was actively at work in his life and, as his experience at Manresa revealed, that God was similarly at work in the lives of all people provided the grounding for what became his spirituality. This insight became the premise underlying his Spiritual Exercises and found expression in the fifteenth of its preliminary notes: ‘it is the nature of the Creator to deal directly with the creature, embracing it with love and praise, and disposing it for how it might serve him.’ It is this understanding of God – that God is an ‘active God,’ ever at work in people’s lives, inviting, directing, guiding, disposing them for how they might serve him – that animates Ignatian spirituality and gives it its internal cohesion.


Spiritual Exercises

Ignatian spirituality began in the religious experience of Ignatius Loyola, but it only took shape and form as he gave it written expression in his Spiritual Exercises. It is beyond the scope of this brochure to do justice to the rich complexity of the Spiritual Exercises. A few comments, however, are in order.

The Spiritual Exercises owes its origin to Ignatius’ reflections on his how God had been at work in his own life and his experiences of guiding others in the spiritual life. It is not a treatise on the spiritual life nor, for that matter, is it even meant to be read. It is a set of guidelines, somewhat like a teacher’s notes, intended for a person guiding another in ‘making’ the Exercises. The Spiritual Exercises describes a process directed toward developing attentiveness to God, openness to God and ultimately responsiveness to God. All this is based on the premises (1) that God deals directly with the individual person and (2)that the person can discern to what God is inviting him.

The Spiritual Exercises is meant to draw a person into a dynamic that progresses from his awareness that he is a sinner yet forgiven to his free and total offering of himself to God. Central to this dynamic and acting almost as a thread running through it is the person of Jesus. Yet Jesus is not simply a model to be imitated; rather as the glorified Christ, he is always God with us, laboring with us and for us, drawing us into the Father’s love. At its deepest level, the Spiritual Exercises is meant to draw the person into a deep and personal relationship with Jesus.

In one manner or another, all of Ignatian spirituality is expressed in the Spiritual Exercises. However, since it has been described as active attentiveness and prompt responsiveness to God, it seems appropriate to highlight two facets that give clear expression of this: discernment and the examination of consciousness
Ignatian spirituality can thus be described as an active attentiveness to God joined with a prompt responsiveness to God, who is ever active in our lives. Although it includes many forms of prayer, discernment and apostolic service, it is the interior dispositions of attentiveness and responsiveness that are ultimately crucial. The result is that 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.