Espiritualitat ignasiana

Christianity, which is the following of Christ, consists of an entire life which is converted into a true sacrifice. This is not reduced to acts which are properly “religious”, like prayer or the sacraments, but rather the entire existence of the Christian should be converted into a form of living for God. Secularity, understood as the human and mundane condition of our life, is the substance of living as a Christian.

The text we have before us is an adaptation of the thirty-day course of Spiritual Exercises that Jesuit theologian Fernando Manresa gave years ago in Bolivia, by way of personalized spiritual accompaniment. As homage to his former teacher and friend, Carles Marcet has adapted the immense amount of material so that it fits into the reduced space of a booklet, thus converting it into an eight-day course of Spiritual Exercises. Our hope is that it will help both exercitants and directors to enter into a personal encounter with the God who is “always greater.”

Through the writings and the life of St. Ignatius, we will see to what extent the dimensions of accompanying, being accompanied and in companionship with others are fundamental to the process of maturation in our faith, to the pilgrimage of our hope and to the strengthening of our love. So therefore, they are dimensions to keep present before us and to cultivate, not only in our personal lives, but also in the groups and ecclesial communities of which we form a part.

There have been many Christian teachers or mystics who have explained the effects of contemplative prayer, but not how to do it. Fr. Jalics has filled this void with a suggestion that was born through a personal experience of detention and isolation that took place under the Argentine dictatorship. In this Notebook, which begins with a magnificent prologue by Xavier Melloni, he explains how his contemplative “journey” of prayer is tied into the practice of the Ignatian Exercises.

We find the phrase with which this publication is titled in St. Paul when he says, “But when in the fullness of time God sent His Son” (Gal 4:4), or “He has allowed us to know the mystery of his will, according to his goodness, which He had proposed in Himself, to bring together all things in Christ in the dispensation of the fullness of time.” (Eph 1:9-10). Beginning with this expression, the author of this article directly formulates this question: could Paul have written this today? Or even more clearly: can we understand it?

In fidelity to the purpose of our GUIDES collection, we offer in these pages some basic materials for understanding and practicing apostolic discernment in common. The materials include documents of the General Congregations, along with letters and other relevant texts of the Superiors General of the Society of Jesus. This compendium of texts is also an invitation to engage in a practice that will help us to respond in a realistic and relevant way to the challenges of the historical moment in which we live.

The present booklet does not pretend to be an erudite study of Ignatius of Loyola or his spirituality. Its aim is simply to help individuals or groups to reflect and pray by sharing in the spiritual experience of Ignatius. Our hope is that his exceptional interior pilgrimage will also inspire us in our own efforts to follow Jesus.

In this booklet the author explains the various ways in which Ignatius Loyola experienced friendship and promoted it among his companions. He agreed with Aristotle that friendship was “the thing most necessary for life,” but he also realized that friendship was a spiritual gift that needed to be cultivated and nourished with great care.

The author, who for many years has been director of the Cave of Manresa, invites us on a geographical and spiritual journey through the life of Saint Ignatius. This pilgrimage, which is interior as well as exterior, can help us, as the saint takes our hand, to discover how God speaks to us through the places and persons of our lives.

The Holy Spirit might seem at first sight absent from the Exercises, but such is not in fact the case. The author of our booklet re-reads the experience of the Exercises, uncovering the Spirit's silent presence there. What might initially have seemed a cerebral, tough, ascetic text is shown to be a source of mystical prayer of profoundly contemporary relevance.