It is a psychological spirituality, that is, it is fundamentally inspired by life; it is based not on books, but on actual life experience. It tends to life--not only to a technique of prayer but also to a complete regulation of one's existence. It utilizes all the riches of life, the body, sensibility, imagination, intelligence, and will, all in their proper order. It is adaptable to every life. St. Ignatius was at first very much drawn by the austerity of a life in the desert, but he understood that what God asked of him was quite different.
Secondly, it is an active and militant spirituality demanding the widest unfolding of the power of the will; not only simple sun ray treatments but a getting down to the ground in virile exercises of effective love.
Thirdly, it is a Christo-centric spirituality. Jesus is the Leader to whom one wishes to devote himself entirely without any calculations. He is the model that one seeks to reproduce as perfectly as possible. He will be the Friend to whom one will give his undivided heart.
Finally, it is an apostolic spirituality. Two hundred fifty-nine times in the Constitution of his order, about once on every page, does St. Ignatius express a challenge to this apostolic spirituality for the greater glory of God. It is not merely a matter of sanctifying onself alone, but of sanctifying the whole world. Nothing helps us to understand St. Ignatius better than St. Francis Xavier.
"I will ask God to bless the sons of St. Ignatius, to make them always_________________
faithful to their holy vocation. If it is given to me to use their spirituality I will strive to draw as much as I can upon its capacity for sanctifying, for my own profit."
Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)
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