Ignatian spirituality is a way of living and relating to God, inspired by St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). It’s very practical, down-to-earth, and meant for ordinary life, not just monasteries or churches. It is a way of praying, discerning, and acting that helps a person find God in daily life and serve others with love and freedom.
In essence, Ignatian spirituality is a path of intimacy with God that fosters reflective, discerning, and loving action in the everyday world. It is less about a set of beliefs and more about a dynamic way of walking through life—attentive, reflective, and responsive to the presence and call of God in the midst of daily reality.
Spiritual Exercises
During the 1530s, St. Ignatius Loyola began writing about the emotions that he experienced in everyday life — feelings of gratitude or anguish, consolation or sadness. Those meditations eventually became the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, first published in 1548. The Spiritual Exercises is a compilation of meditations, prayers, and other contemplative practices. The Spiritual Exercises is a handbook, especially for use by spiritual directors who accompany and guide people through this dynamic process of reflection. The goal of the Spiritual Exercises is to help people develop their attentiveness, their openness, and their responsiveness to God.
Constitutions
The Constitutions were written by St Ignatius in collaboration with others, notably his secretary Juan de Polanco, over a number of years following the Society’s arrival in Rome. The writing exhibits both an extraordinary trust in God’s charismatic guidance and a realistic awareness of the need for structure. The ten parts deal with the successive stages of incorporation into the Society, with its life in mission, and with how it can be organized and governed so that it can keep moving forward in the divine service.
Finding God in All Things
The mission of Saint Ignatius and his companions was born in personal experience of God. This encounter with a loving God is at the heart of our mission as we reach out to others and live the gospel. Our spirituality is grounded in the conviction that God is active in our world. The spiritual path laid out by Ignatius helps us discern God's presence, to find God in all things, reaching out to a diverse, grace filled yet imperfect world. We bring this spirituality into the wider human context as we strive for social justice, peace and dialogue. Being a contemplative in action means that our active life feeds our contemplative life and our contemplative life informs our active life.
Discernment
Discernment is about finding the voice of the Spirit of God speaking to us in the ordinary and practical details of our lives. It is a key gift that St. Ignatius brought in the Spiritual Exercises. By trying always to listen to the Spirit, without being attached to our own desires and ideas, Jesuits wish to find where the Spirit of God is leading and respond with humility and joy. In our apostolic work, the Society engages in Discernment in Common to reach decisions about important apostolic issues. Those involved pray and reflect on the decision to be made and then share together the fruits of prayer. The major superior or Director of the work then makes the final decision. A special office for Discernment in Common and Apostolic Planning at the General Curia promotes this process.
Examen
The Daily Examen is a technique of prayerful reflection on the events of the day in order to detect God’s presence and discern his direction for us. The Examen is an ancient practice in the Church that can help us see God’s hand at work in our whole experience. One of the few rules of prayer that Ignatius made for the Jesuit order was the requirement that Jesuits practice the Examen twice daily—at noon and at the end of the day.