The
"Spiritual Exercises" of St. Ignatius, though contained in a very small volume,
are strictly Exercises,
of application and will on the part
of him who makes them; and a great measure
of discernment and prudence, with a high degree
of what the world calls talent, as well as pious fervour, in him who conducts them. They were not completed at once;
Ignatius himself
said that he wrote them in fragments, as his own experience suggested
what was useful for others. He had in this way written the
Method of Examination of Conscience; and in the
Manner of Election he recalled what had been the contest
of the good and evil spirits within himself, while he was lying on his bed at
Loyola. not simply meditations or prayers. They require an effort. Whoever would understand these
"Exercises" must go
through them with a full and docile desire to appropriate them on his
own behalf. He will then learn, by God's grace, the wonderful power
which they contain under the extremest simplicity
of language. They are not to be made in a cut and dried manner;
they need a certain adaptation to each one's character or circumstances,
and good judgment accompanied with zeal on the part
of the director. Besides these qualities, some particular gift seems necessary; for
St. Ignatius found only
B. Pierre Favre, out
of all his associates, completely possessed
of it.
Next to him he estimated Salmeron; then Villanueva and Domenech; and
for the first part, which is designed to inspire repentance in the soul
and a horror
of sin, he greatly esteemed the eloquence and fervour
of Francisco de Strada.
Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God, and thus to save his own soul. All other things are created for the sake of man, and to aid him in the attainment of his
end; therefore he should use them only with this object, and withdraw
himself from them when they would lead him from it. We must then make
ourselves indifferent to all created things, where a choice is left us;
so that we should not desire health more than sickness, riches more than
poverty, honour more than contempt, a long life more than a short one,
and so of all the rest; desiring and choosing only what will conduce most surely to the end for which we were made.
When this great primary truth has been grasped, that the one only use
of all earthly creatures is to help man on his way to God, we are invited to consider the extreme folly
of using them for any other purpose. The nature and dreadful consequences
of sin are set before us in the
fall of the angels, and
of our first parents, and
of any single soul overtaken by the just judgment
of God, and then we are told to examine and judge our own past lives in the light
of this revelation. Contrition, with its included firm resolve to serve our Creator
of the first week
of the Exercises. The second week starts from this point
of efficacious good desires. It also has a fundamental principle. We are not left to find out for ourselves the way
of virtue. A perfect model is placed before our eyes. In the opening contemplation
of the Kingdom
of Christ,
the soldier-saint bids us follow our great Captain to the battlefield,
and he is careful to let us know from the outset that for generous souls
there is within reach and at their choice a higher service and more
complete devotion,—the way
of the Counsels. The Divine condescension is brought vividly to mind as we dwell upon the great mysteries
of the Incarnation and Nativity and Infancy
of our Lord; and then in the very famous contemplation
of Two Standards, which is said to have peopled monasteries, we are shown on the one hand the clever schemes
of Satan for the ruin
of souls, and on the other the well-ordered process by which grace works out their sanctification. The whole life
of Christ
is then passed in review, and definite instruction is derived from His
example and words for the most momentous decision, the central point
of the Exercises, the choice
of a state
of life for those who are free to choose, the choice
of a more perfect fulfilment
of existing duties for those whose sphere
of activity is already fixed beyond their power to change it. The practical bent
of the mind
of St. Ignatius is shown by many little details
of advice, but perhaps most
of all by the two very remarkable considerations which are meant to test the fulness
of sincerity and the degree
of generosity with which we mean
to give ourselves to the service of our God,—the Three Classes of Men and the Three Degrees of Humility. The third week leads us to the foot of the cross, and in the contemplation of that greatest act of love confirms the resolutions we have made. The fourth week animates us with the prospect of the reward exceeding great, as shown in the risen life of Christ.
more faithfully, is the fruit
The truly sublime Contemplation for obtaining Spiritual Love may be said to gather together and to crown the whole series of the
Exercises. It brings us back to the principle from which all started,
but it sheds upon it a brighter light from Heaven than our eyes could
have endured without the preparation of those intervening weeks. It seemed to us at first that creatures, even if we made a right use of them, could at best only move onward with us, helping instead of hindering; but now we see that they of themselves
have the power to bring us into closest communion with God, who lives
and moves and is in them and us. The following prayer is the Saint's
petition for the love of God :—
Take and receive, O Lord, all my liberty, my
memory, my understanding, and my will. All that I am, and have, Thou
hast given me. O Lord, I give it back to Thee: dispose of all according to Thy good pleasure. Give me only Thy love and Thy grace, for this is sufficient for me.
Ignatius, in his rules for the spiritual life, drew largely from the sayings
of the Fathers
of the Desert, especially
of Abbot Serapion. The work
of Garcias de Cisneros, who had been Abbot
of Montserrat, was probably known to him, but there is no similarity to give any ground for the accusation
of plagiarism. The
"Exercises" originated in Manresa, and were perfected by the experience
of Ignatius when he began to teach. Whoever uses them must own that only Divine inspiration could have shown
Ignatius such secrets
of the human heart—such remedies, such stimulants, and such aids.
At the end
of some editions
of the
"Spiritual Exercises" are placed some general admonitions, translated
by
Father André des Freux into Latin verse. We give them here in prose:— Resist no one, however much your inferior; it is
better to be the vanquished than the victor. Try to obey blindly in all
things, and willingly submit your own judgment to any one.
Do not remark the faults of others, and hide them when they are seen; accuse yourself of your
own, and desire them to be known. Whatever you do, say, or think,
consider in the first place whether it be for your neighbour's good, and
pleasing in the sight of God. Preserve always your liberty of soul;
neither allow any person or cause to oppress it. Do not lightly bind
yourself in friendship with any man, let faith and reason prove what is
best.
Diligently exercise the mind and body in good actions. Be a fool in the opinion of man,
and so you will be wise before God. Turn over these things in your mind
in the morning and at evening; and when you go to rest, fail not in
prayer. Hitherto he had enjoyed great peace of mind and conscience, together with a sense of buoyant exultation which had carried him over all obstacles.
All at once, without any transition or perceptible cause, Ignatius was assailed by terrible trials of more than ordinary debility, he was entering the church in which it was his custom to hear mass, a
voice seemed to say to him, "How will you be able to support this for
forty years or more?" For the moment a horrible dread came over
him; then recognising the source from which the insidious question had
proceeded, he replied, "Can you promise me, O wicked one, another single
hour of life? And what are forty years of suffering compared with the ages of eternity?"
For the time the enemy fled, but only to renew his assault with greater
malignity. and temptations. One day when, in a state
Henceforth the Saint was subject to continual and sudden
alternations of joy and sadness; sometimes his soul was left in utter gloom and desolation, and then again it was in a glow of happiness
and content. So sudden, yet so complete, were the vicissitudes through
which he passed, that, to use his own expression, it was like putting
off one garment and putting on another; and, astonished at his own
experiences, he said to himself, "What is this new phase of existence into which I have entered?"
Link (here) to St. Ignatius Loyola and the early Jesuits By Stewart Rose
