by James Martin
As John W. O’Malley, the eminent Jesuit historian, wrote in his study of the early years of the Society, The First Jesuits, “Ignatius’s most fundamental teaching was that individuals had to find the way that suited them best.”
The Exercises follows a careful plan, which is based on the path of spiritual progress that Ignatius noted in himself and, later, in others. The First Week looks at gratitude for God’s gifts in your life and, then, at your own sinfulness. Sometimes a deep sin is revealed, like selfishness. In the end, you are usually led to realize that you are a sinner (or a flawed human being) who is still loved by God.
The Second Week is a series of meditations taken directly from the New Testament, focusing on the birth, young adult life, and eventual ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. Here you follow Jesus in his preaching, healings, and nature miracles, which bring you in contact, in an imaginative way, with Jesus in his earthly ministry.
The Third Week focuses on the Passion: Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, his trial, crucifixion, suffering on the cross, and death.
The Fourth Week is based on the Gospel accounts of the Resurrection and, once again, God’s love for you.
Along the way, like mileposts, Ignatius includes specific meditations on ideas like humility, decision making, and choosing between good and evil.
Some classic works of spirituality are meant to be read contemplatively. The Spiritual Exercises are different. They are meant to be experienced, not read. Frankly, they read more like a tedious instruction manual than a moving treatise on prayer. For example: “After the preparatory prayer and the three preludes, it is profitable to use the imagination and to apply the five senses to the first and second contemplations, in the following manner.” Snooze.
In a sense, the Exercises are like a dance. If you want to learn how to dance, you can’t simply read a book on dancing; you have to dance! Or at least have someone help you to dance. What I’ll try to do in this book is offer some insights from the Exercises, that is, tell you a little about what happens in that dance. And encourage you to start dancing yourself.
When Jesuits think about the Exercises, they often think of a particular style of prayer that Ignatius often recommends: using your imagination as an aid to prayer, as a way of picturing yourself within specific stories from Scripture. So the Exercises are not only a program of prayer; they also embody a way of prayer. And a certain worldview. (More about all that later.)
Overall, the Spiritual Exercises are one of the main repositories for understanding the way of Ignatius: what leads to God, what elicits greater freedom, and what helps you live a purposeful life.
The Constitutions
During his years in Rome, Ignatius spent much of his time writing the Jesuit Constitutions, the series of guidelines that governs Jesuit life—in the communities, in the various works we do, in the way that we relate to one another—almost every aspect of our lives. Ignatius worked on the Constitutions until his death and, as with the Spiritual Exercises, was always tinkering with it. It is another resource for understanding his distinctive spirituality.
Every religious order has something similar to the Constitutions. Usually it’s called a “rule,” as in the Rule of St. Benedict, which governs life in the Benedictine order. Each rule is a window into the underlying spirituality, or “charism,” of the religious order. You can learn a great deal about the Benedictines by reading their Rule. And you can learn a lot about Ignatian spirituality by reading the Constitutions. (Technically our “rule” also includes the original papal documents, issued by Pope Paul III and Pope Julius III, establishing the Jesuits.)
For the Jesuit, if the Exercises are about how to live your own life, the Constitutions are about how to live your life with others. The Exercises are about you and God; the Constitutions, at least for Jesuits, are about you, God, and your brother Jesuits.
Into the Constitutions Ignatius poured his ideas for the way that Jesuits should be trained, how they should live with one another, how they should work best together, what works they should undertake, how superiors should behave, how the sick should be cared for, and which men should be admitted to the order—in short, every facet of Jesuit life he could think of. Seeking guidance, he would pray fervently about anything before setting it down on paper.
In the process, he consulted with some of his original companions about the best course of action. So the Constitutions are a result of his own experience and prayer as well as the advice of trusted friends. Thus, they reflect an eminently sensible spirituality. André de Jaer, a Belgian Jesuit, says they embody “a spiritual realism, ever mindful of the concrete and practical.”
Here’s an example of that practicality: while the Constitutions lay out precise rules for life in Jesuit communities, Ignatius recognized the need for flexibility. After a lengthy description of what was required for community life, he would add a proviso, knowing that unforeseen circumstances always call for flexibility: “If something else is expedient for an individual,” he writes about Jesuits studying a particular academic course, “the superior will consider the matter with prudence and may grant an exemption.” Flexibility is a hallmark of this document.
Much in the Constitutions is concerned with the daily running of the order. But you’ll also find suggestions about living a simple lifestyle, making decisions, working toward a common goal with others, and relying on friends. So it is a great resource not only for Jesuits but for everyone interested in the Ignatian way.
LETTERS, ACTIVITIES, SAINTS, LIVING RULES, AND EXPERTS
The Autobiography, the Spiritual Exercises, and the Constitutions are three of the main sources for Jesuit spirituality. But not the only three. Several other resources can help us understand the way of Ignatius.
The first is his vast series of letters. During his lifetime he wrote an astonishing 6,813 letters to a wide array of men and women. He was one of the most prolific letter writers of his age, writing more than Martin Luther and John Calvin combined, and more than Erasmus, one of the great letter writers of the time. Between managing a new religious order, opening schools at a breathtaking clip, receiving Vatican officials and European ambassadors, requesting permissions from church and state authorities, praying and celebrating Mass, as well as corresponding with men and women—Jesuit priests, sisters, lay men and women, members of royal families—around the world, Ignatius must have been one of the original multitaskers.
These were not e-mails written on the fly. Some of his letters are minor masterpieces of the genre, combining encouragement, advice, a little news, and heartfelt promises of support and love. Like many public figures of the sixteenth century, Ignatius saw letter writing as an art. And like many religious figures, he saw it as a ministry. He advised Jesuits in official positions, particularly missionaries, to write two letters in tandem: the first would offer information for public consumption, “edifying” stories for fellow Jesuits and the public. The second would contain more personal news; these he referred to by the Spanish word hijuela, or “little daughter.” In those letters, “one might write hurriedly out of abundance of the heart.”
In this way Ignatius kept in touch with people from all walks of life from across Europe (and, later, with missionaries overseas), considering their questions and problems and answering them with care. His letters were a way to love and serve others. From them we can glean some of his spiritual insights too.
Another resource for understanding the Ignatian way is Jesuit activities. In The First Jesuits, John W. O’Malley, S.J., points out that to understand Ignatian spirituality, it is important to look not simply at what Jesuits wrote, but also at what they did. “That source is not a document,” writes O’Malley. “It’s the social history of the order especially in its early years.”
What Does S.J. Mean?
After every Jesuit’s name come the letters S.J. Abbreviations like this are traditional ways of identifying members of a religious order. Benedictines use O.S.B. for the Order of St. B
enedict. Franciscans, O.F.M. for the Order of Friars Minor. Jesuits use S.J. for the Society of Jesus. One alternative designation came from a woman who wrote an angry letter to America magazine, complaining about something I had written. “In your case,” she wrote, “S.J. obviously stands for Stupid Jerk!”
Knowing, for example, that the early Jesuits set up such varied ventures as schools for boys and a house for reformed prostitutes, while serving as advisors to popes and an ecumenical council, gives a sense of their openness to new ministries in a way that reading the Constitutions does not. And reading about their early work in education underlines the emphasis that Ignatius placed on reason, learning, and scholarship.
The history of the Jesuit saints who followed Ignatius is another resource for understanding his way. These men applied their own insights to the Ignatian way in both everyday ways and in extreme environments. Whether they were working among the Huron and Iroquois peoples in seventeenth-century “New France,” like St. Isaac Jogues and St. Jean de Brébeuf, or secretly ministering to sixteenth-century English Catholics while enduring persecution under the crown, like St. Edmund Campion. Or surviving in a Soviet labor camp in the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s, like Walter Ciszek. Or working alongside the poor, like the Salvadoran Jesuits who would be martyred in the 1980s. Each of the lives of these saints and holy men highlights a specific facet of Ignatian spirituality.
But holiness is not confined to the past. Over the last two decades I have met many holy Jesuits who have given me the gift of their examples.
In many religious orders, the members whose lives embody the ideals of their order are called “living rules.” Were the community somehow to lose its rule or constitution, it would need only to look at these men or women to understand it again. These living rules, whose stories I will share, are another source of insight on Ignatian spirituality.
Finally, there is the resource of experts who have made the study of Ignatian spirituality their lives’ work. Happily, this extends far beyond Jesuit priests and brothers. In a development that would have delighted Ignatius—who welcomed anyone onto his spiritual path— Catholic sisters, priests and brothers from other religious orders, clergy and laypersons from other Christian denominations, and men and women from other religious traditions have all embraced the way of Ignatius. Some have become among the most astute commentators on his spirituality.
THE WAY OF IGNATIUS
The way of Ignatius has been traveled by hundreds of thousands of Jesuits over the past 450 years, in all parts of the world and in almost every conceivable situation, many of them perilous.
Ignatius’s insights inspired the Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci to live and dress as a Mandarin in order to be granted entry into the imperial Chinese court in the 1600s. They encouraged Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a French paleontologist and theologian, to set out for (literally) groundbreaking archeological digs in China in the 1920s. They galvanized John Corridan, an American social scientist, to work for labor reform in 1940s New York. (His story partly inspired the film On the Waterfront) They consoled Alfred Delp, a German Jesuit, when he was jailed and awaiting execution for aiding the Resistance movement allied against the Nazis. They comforted Dominic Tang, a Jesuit who, beginning in the late 1950s, spent twenty-two years in a Chinese jail for his loyalty to the Catholic Church. They motivated Daniel Berrigan, the American peace activist, in his protests in the 1960s against the Vietnam War.
And thousands of Jesuits somewhat lesser known to the world have found Ignatian spirituality a guide for their daily lives. The high-school teacher struggling to connect with inner-city children. The physician working in a remote refugee camp. The hospital chaplain counseling a dying patient. The pastor comforting a grieving parishioner. The army chaplain accompanying soldiers trying to find meaning in the midst of violence. This particular list is closer to home, since I’ve known each of these men.
Add to this roster the millions of lay men and women who have come into contact with Ignatian spirituality through schools, parishes, or retreat houses—husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, single men and women, from all walks of life, from around the world—who have found a way to peace and joy, and you begin to glimpse the remarkable vibrancy of this ancient but living tradition.
In short, Ignatian spirituality has worked for people from an astonishing variety of times, places, and backgrounds. And it’s worked for me. It helped to move me from feeling trapped in life to feeling free.
This book is an introduction to the way of St. Ignatius Loyola, at least as I’ve learned it in my twenty-one years as a Jesuit. It’s not meant to be overly scholarly or academic. Instead, it’s a friendly introduction for the general reader. It’s not meant to be exhaustive either. You can’t summarize almost five centuries of spirituality in a few pages, and each of these chapters could easily spawn four or five books. So I won’t be touching on every single aspect, for example, of the Spiritual Exercises or the Constitutions—only those areas that I think would be of greatest interest, and use, to the average reader.
But Ignatian spirituality is so capacious that even an introduction will touch upon a broad spectrum of topics: making good choices, finding meaningful work, being a good friend, living simply, wondering about suffering, deepening your prayer, striving to be a better person, and learning to love.
The way of Ignatius means there is nothing in our lives that is not part of our spiritual lives. To use David’s homey image, all those “boxes” that you might be tempted to keep closed—marital difficulties, problems at work, a serious illness, a ruptured relationship, financial worries—can be brought out of the dark box and opened up to the light of God.
We’ll look at how to find God in everything and everything in God. And we’ll try to do so with a sense of humor, an essential element in the spiritual life. There’s no need to be deadly serious about religion or spirituality, because joy, humor, and laughter are gifts from God. So don’t be surprised by occasional humor, especially at my expense. (Don’t be surprised by the occasional Jesuit joke, too.)
And we’ll also look at some clear and simple ways to incorporate Ignatian spirituality into your own daily life. Spirituality should not be complex, and so I’ll offer simple practices and real-life examples.
Another final but important aside: you don’t have to be Catholic, Christian, religious, or even spiritual to benefit from some of the insights of St. Ignatius Loyola. When I’ve described for nonbelievers the Ignatian techniques for making a good decision, for instance, they are invariably delighted by the results. And when I’ve told atheists why we try to live simply, they appreciate the wisdom of Ignatius.
But it would be crazy to deny that for Ignatius “being spiritual” and “being religious” wasn’t the most important thing in the world. It would be equally crazy to separate God or Jesus from Ignatian spirituality. It would render Ignatius’s writings absurd. God was at the center of Ignatius’s life. The Jesuit founder would have some pointed things to say—most likely in a very long letter—about someone who tried to separate his practices from his love of God.
But Ignatius knew that God meets people where they are. We’re all at different points on our paths to God. And on different paths, too. Ignatius himself traversed a circuitous route, and he recognized that God’s activity cannot be limited to people who consider themselves “religious.” So Ignatian spirituality naturally embraces everyone from the devout believer to the tentative seeker. To use one of Ignatius’s favorite expressions, his path is “a way of proceeding” along the way to God.
So I’ll do my best to make Ignatian spirituality understandable, useful, and usable for everybody, no matter where you are in life, but I’ll also be clear about the centrality of God in the Ignatian worldview, and in my own, too.
Overall, don’t worry if you don’t feel close to God at the moment. Or if you’ve never felt close to God. Or if you have doubts about God’s existence. Or even if you’re reasonably sure that God doesn’t exist at all. Just ke
ep reading.
God will take care of the rest.
Chapter Two
The Six Paths
Spiritual, Religious, Spiritual but Not Religious, and Everything in Between
SINCE YOU’RE ALREADY READING this book, I figure that besides being interested in making good choices, finding meaning in your work, enjoying healthy relationships, and being happy in life, you’re at least mildly interested in religious questions. So let’s begin with a tough question.
Since the Ignatian way is founded on the belief that there is a God and that God desires to be in relationship with us, it’s important to think about God first. At the very least, it will make everything that comes afterward seem easy by comparison.
This doesn’t mean that you need to believe in God in order to find Ignatius’s insights useful. But to do so, you have to understand where God fits into his worldview.
So: how do I find God?
That question marks the starting point for all seekers. But, surprisingly, many spirituality books downplay or ignore it. Some books assume you already believe in God, that you have already found God, or that God is already part of your life. But it is ridiculous not to address that question in a book like this. It would be like writing a book about swimming without first talking about how to float.
To begin to answer that question—How do I find God?—let’s start with something more familiar. Let’s look at the various ways people seek God.
Even though there are as many individual ways to God as there are people on the earth, for the sake of clarity I’ll break down the myriad ways into six broad paths.
Each has its benefits and pitfalls. You may find yourself on several different paths during your lifetime. You may even feel like you’re on more than one path at the same time.