Spiritual Exercises
The Spiritual Exercises are a work of meditation and prayer composed by Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), founder of the Society of Jesus , from his own experience of seeking the will of God in his life. The work was approved by Paul III 31 July 1548 ( Pastoralis officii ).
The "first annotation" which opens the book explains the title:
"By this spiritual exercise is any way to examine his conscience, meditate, contemplate, to pray vocally and mentally, and other spiritual operations, as will be discussed later. Similarly, in fact, that walking, walking and running are bodily exercises, and do we call Spiritual Exercises every way of preparing and disposing the soul to depart from itself all the disordered affections and, after apart, to seek and find God's will in the disposition of his life for the salvation of his soul. "
Summary |
Introduction
The book contains about 200 pages. He is the guide who gives exercises The four weeks The four weeks of the Spiritual Exercises are not calendar weeks. They are of unequal length and must be tailored to the personal spiritual journey of retreating. The first week will help the retreatants to take the measure of the presence of evil, lies and everything that leads to death in the world and himself. Not necessarily the truth in his life, acknowledged sinner to rely upon God's mercy. He alone can renew the heart of man. The week usually ends with the sacrament of reconciliation. It is not uncommon in practice this week that lasts up to 10 or 11 days . The second week is a journey with Christ in his life traveling in Galilee. It begins with a meditation on the incarnation and ends with Palm Sunday. To contemplate the mysteries offered by Ignatius, the spiritual guide of the retreat is free to add other scenes of gospels not included in the booklet. The guide is always adapted to the spiritual needs of retreating he encounters daily in a special symposium. Throughout these meditations request that the retreating inside knowledge of Jesus is given to receive a fruit that gives direction to his life. The week ends on a preliminary reflection on the choices (or confirmation) of his state of life. Follow or not follow Christ? During the third week saw the retreating with the drama of Christ's passion: Bethany at his burial after death on the cross. Annihilation before Christ beloved at Golgotha , that his cross even recreates every man and every man. In the fourth week of Jesus Christ resurrected is contemplated in his appearances with his mother and the apostles and disciples. Transformation of the disciples who have themselves as a new life. They find in him the strength to proclaim the life and spiritual freedom in testifying to the presence of God. The month of spiritual exercises concludes by contemplating God present and active ('working') at the heart of the world. The restatement is his offering: "Take Lord and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will, all I have and possess. Thou hast given me: to Thee, O Lord, I return it. Everything is yours, dispose of it according to your will. Give me your love and your grace. It is enough for me " A book that influenced many during his forced immobilization Ignatius Loyola - and led to his conversion - is the Life of Christ by Ludolph the Carthusian. It kept him (for his Spiritual Exercises) scenes from the life of Christ who are not in any of the four Gospels. All his life one of his favorite books remained Imitation of Christ. The book of Thomas a Kempis is explicitly recommended to those who made the Spiritual Exercises. For the structure of the meditations and the very idea of spiritual exercises is likely that Ignatius was influenced by the de la vida spiritual Exercitario of Garcia Jimenez de Cisneros (1455-1510), Benedictine , abbot of the Abbey Montserrat , near Barcelona . Engravings At the initiative of Ignatius Loyola, Jerome Nadal , vicar general of the Society, was making a collection of engravings: Evangelicae Historiae Imagines. Shortly before his death, Ignatius of Loyola Nadal had pressed to design an illustrated guide for teaching meditation to Jesuit novices. Nadal illustrations commissioned several artists, reserving the writing captions. This collection (153 prints total) was published in Antwerp in 1594 , nearly 15 years after the death of Nadal. It was edited by Martin Nutus, successor to the printer Christopher Plantin. It is the oldest gathering of its kind to have survived. The captions contain the title of the Last Supper evangelical but also a series of annotations that explain with references to letters included in the picture (A, B, C, etc..), any part of the Supper represented, or more exactly the place where it occurs (called the "composition of place" in the Spiritual Exercises). The book follows the order of contemplations given by Ignatius in the Exercises. It becomes a supplement to help the retreatants to immerse themselves fully in the Supper, as he contemplates whether attended. In addition, these designs use the art of perspective, which is revolutionary for its time, to make the gospel more attractive. The faithful are invited to "dive with all his senses" in the proximity of God . In a similar purpose, the same use of perspective is in the Jesuit churches: architecture and paintings encourage the believer to enter with his whole being in the contemplation of the life of Christ. At Gesu in Rome , at St. Ignatius , the frescoes and trompe l'oeil contribute, in the midst Baroque , to give the visitor the feeling of reality. Matteo Ricci brought with him the spiritual exercises to proclaim the Gospel to the Chinese. He wrote: "This book is useful as large as the Bible in the sense that as we speak we can put in front of our interlocutors of the things that words alone could not explain. " First Week
Second week
Week Three
Fourth week
Contemplation for love
Influences
Editing
Notes
Notes
Related articles
External Links
Loading ...