The Jesuit Guide To (Almost) Everything - James Martin [0]
(ALMOST) EVERYTHING
A Spirituality
for Real Life
JAMES MARTIN, S.J.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Chapter One – A Way of Proceeding
Chapter Two – The Six Paths
Chapter Three – What Do You Want?
Chapter Four – Beautiful Yesterdays
Chapter Five – Beginning to Pray
Chapter Six – Friendship with God
Chapter Seven – God Meets You Where You Are
Chapter Eight – The Simple Life
Chapter Nine – Like the Angels?
Chapter Ten – More by Deeds Than by Words
Chapter Eleven – Surrendering to the Future
Chapter Twelve – What Should I Do?
Chapter Thirteen – Be Who You Is!
Chapter Fourteen – The Contemplative in Action
Acknowledgments
For Further Exploration
Index
About the Author
Praise for The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything
Copyright
About the Publisher
Chapter One
A Way of Proceeding
What Is Ignatian Spirituality?
WHO IS ST. IGNATIUS Loyola, and why should you care?
The short answer is this: St. Ignatius Loyola was a sixteenth-century soldier-turned-mystic who founded a Catholic religious order called the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits. And you should care (or, more politely, you’ll be interested to know about him) because his way of life has helped millions of people discover joy, peace, and freedom and, not incidentally, experience God in their daily lives.
St. Ignatius’s “way of proceeding,” to use one of his favorite expressions, has led people to more fulfilling lives for over 450 years. All in all, not a bad record.
The way of Ignatius is about finding freedom: the freedom to become the person you’re meant to be, to love and to accept love, to make good decisions, and to experience the beauty of creation and the mystery of God’s love. It’s based on an approach found in his own writings as well as in the traditions, practices, and spiritual know-how passed down by Jesuit priests and brothers from generation to generation.
While these traditions, practices, and spiritual know-how have guided members of the Jesuit Order since its founding in 1540, Ignatius wanted his methods to be available to everyone, not just Jesuits. From the first days of his Order, Ignatius encouraged Jesuits to share these insights not only with other priests, brothers, and sisters, but also with lay men and women. “Ignatian spirituality” was intended for the widest possible audience of believers and seekers.
Maybe it’s good to ask another question before we go on: what is a “spirituality”?
In brief, a spirituality is a way of living in relationship with God. Within the Christian tradition, all spiritualities, no matter what their origins, have the same focus—the desire for union with God, an emphasis on love and charity, and a belief in Jesus as the Son of God.
But each spirituality emphasizes different aspects of the tradition—one accents the contemplative life, another the active life. This one emphasizes joy, this one freedom, this one awareness, this one sacrifice, this one service to the poor. All these emphases are important in every Christian spirituality, but they are highlighted differently by each spiritual “school.”
Practical Jesuits
Jesuits take their cue from Ignatius in terms of a practical spirituality. One joke has a Franciscan, a Dominican, and a Jesuit celebrating Mass together when the lights suddenly go out in the church. The Franciscan praises the chance to live more simply. The Dominican gives a learned homily on how God brings light to the world. The Jesuit goes to the basement to fix the fuses.
In his book The Jesuits: Their Spiritual Doctrine and Practice, first published in 1964, which I read during my first few weeks as a Jesuit, Joseph de Guibert, a French Jesuit, offers a charming analogy first made in the Middle Ages.
A spirituality is like a bridge. Every bridge does pretty much the same thing—gets you from one place to another, sometimes over perilous ground, or a river, or great heights. But they do so in different ways. They might be built of rope, wood, bricks, stone or steel; as arches, cantilevers, or suspension bridges. “Hence,” writes