4Based on personal experience, I can say with conviction that our life experiences shape us into the people we become. From the simple things like a class test or a test of faith to the tragic loss of a loved one and emotional distress; one can move, based on choice into places of faith and love. In the case of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, his wounding experience drove him to a time of rest and reading and it is through this experience that he has become one of the pivotal characters in church history.
According to Gary Gaudreau, Ignatius was born in “…in 1491 at Loyola in
This need to model after the saints and service to God challenged Ignatius to develop and document the “Spiritual Exercises” which consisted of the following typical methodology and structure, so that others would be able to follow along.
1. A way of understanding and living the human relationship with God in the world.
2. Designed to take place in the setting of a secluded retreat.
3. Within the Exercises, daily instructions include various meditations and contemplations on the nature of the world.
4. (One two and three above contain the details on setting the stage for prayers)
The Exercises is divided into "four weeks" of varying lengths with four major themes.
From a Spiritual viewpoint God and Satan are presented as active players in the world and in human consciousness. The main aim of the Exercises is to develop “discernment” between good and evil spirits. Bible stories, imagination and prayer are interwoven into the Exercises in an incredible way. With his vision of the Blessed Mother and later his trip to the Holy Land , Saint Ignatius began a trend that included deep spiritual formats into the Exercises. With four major themes: Sin, The life of Jesus, The Passion of Jesus and The Resurrection of Jesus making up the framework , these were then expanded in the form of the following: 1) Consideration of God's generosity and mercy , 2) Complex reality of human sin, 3) An imagining of the life and public ministry of Jesus,. 4) Of Jesus’ Resurrection, 5)Jesus’ ascension and the pouring-forth of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. 6) And Christ’s continued life in the world through the Spirit today and in the Messianic People called and commissioned to his cause.
The purpose therefore of these exercises is to present a formula of spirituality in a format of prayer exercises, thought experiments, and examinations of consciousness—designed to help a person usually with the aid of a spiritual director to experience a deeper conversion into life with God. They also allow our personal stories to be interpreted by being subsumed into an ongoing story that God himself began.
In his document, John J. Callahan[2] presents an explanation of the Spiritual Exercises but neither of which challenged me. The format (and language) was less than appealing to me and was not as interesting to read. Likewise, Randy Roche[3] took the same approach as Callahan. First off I do not support Ignatius’ steps. Though there may be merit for some spiritual direction, it is void of ensuring that Christ is the focus. Instead, the individual and their actions are the focus. Further, the exercises are steeped in methods and non biblical practices. For example, “Ignatius asks the pray-er to "see in the imagination" the angels misusing "the freedom God gave them," to visualize Adam and Eve in the Garden, and to picture the effects of one person's sin of hatred or neglect. In our time, Ignatius would invite the pray-er to "see" the results of sin, e.g., to feel the pain of ethnic hatred, to touch the horror of war, to breathe the killing smog of Eastern Europe .”
If you take this quote and compare it to any biblical passage nowhere in the bible does it ask for such exercises to reach “spiritual enlightenment?” The use of one’s imagination in this case provides a very dangerous practice as many people are exposed to so many different circumstances and therefore having in many cases, undesirable results. The question is how I can measure my own spiritual path and spiritual pilgrimage? I would say it’s based on the results of relationships with the people around me and with God.
This statement would seem obscure and shallow but it isn’t when it is mirrored with Matthew 22:34-40 (New International Version)
The Greatest Commandment
34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'[a] 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[b] 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
In my opinion Callahan and Rohe both give the impression that the ‘Exercises’ should be embraced rather than giving you a comparison with what we should consider the ultimate yardstick which is the Bible.
Which brings me to the article by T.A. McMahon called “Contemplation Techniques for Youth?” With reference to The Exercises, he declares,
“Suppose you were introduced to a promotion promising a direct line of communication with the Creator of the universe. Let's say you're initially skeptical, but you also find the idea appealing. After all, who wouldn't want to be able to hear from and speak with God as though He were on one's cell phone? As you listen to the deal being pitched and peruse some of the literature, you realize that the key to this is the use of a Ouija board. You push the literature aside and head for the exit…. Ouija board is an instrument of divination, a device for contacting spirit entities, which the Bible explicitly condemns (Dt. 18:10)….., even though the diviner is sincerely attempting to contact God, the entities with which one ends up communicating are demons (posing as Jesus, God, angels, departed loved ones, aliens, gods, etc.).”
McMahon’s criticism of Ignatian spirituality is that he sees within it similarities of occult methodologies. He declares that “God has given His Word and His Holy Spirit to help discern what is of Him and what is not……. Under the guise of "spiritual exercises that invite direct experiences with God," and with the assurance that they are "classical forms of biblical meditation," growing numbers of our "church" kids are being led unwittingly into the occult.” I tend to agree with McMahon based on the facts copied throughout; I see where the Ignatian spirituality methods can lead to McMahon’s criticism and mine. One of the striking things is the fact that Mary the mother of Jesus has a part to play in all of this quote from Gary Gaudreau” Ignatius would soon be rewarded for his decision to follow Christ as did the saints, when one evening the Blessed Mother, holding the child Jesus in her arms appeared to him.” For me that is a bit farfetched.
This is where I’m challenged to critique and or deepen my spiritual pilgrimage. Unlike with the readings of Callahan and Rohe, McMahon gives me the option to weigh his extract with that of the Bible and the teachings of Ignatius. I am forced after reading McMahon to have the bible, Ignatius “spiritual exercises” and his article on the same space. Whereas I see Callahan and Roche regurgitate Ignatius teachings McMahon clarifies what the exercises are and this helps me to frame a better understanding of Ignatius’s work. “God has given His Word and His Holy Spirit to help discern what is of Him and what is not…”(McMahon). While I agree that the hope of getting closer to God is a good thing but at what cost at what method? And in reading the beginnings and the core teachings of the Ignatian Spirituality methods I have become weary of what would seem as merely surface methods but to a healthy Christian development.
[1] Gaudreau, Gary. Saint Ignatius of Loyola .Accessed February 18th 2010
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