Ignatian Spirituality

• 10 Elements of Ignatian Spirituality - Loyola Press
• Ignatian Info - USA East Province Jesuits
• Jesuit Educational Ministries - USA Midwest Province Jesuits
• Ignatian Pedagogy - Saint Louis University
• Ignatian Spirituality - Jesuit Conference of Canada and the US

The Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits, is a worldwide Catholic religious order. The Catholic Church has many religious orders that serve the Church in particular ways, such as the Benedictines, Dominicans, Franciscans, and Sisters of Providence. The Jesuits were founded in 1540 by St. Ignatius Loyola and his companions.

St. Ignatius Loyola

Iñigo López de Loyola was born in 1491 in the Basque region of Spain. (Later in his studies, he began going by the name Ignatius.) As a young nobleman, he was taught to be a soldier and a courtier, and he was injured in 1521 in Pamplona while fighting the French, who were impressed by his bravery and brought him back to the Loyola home to recover. During his long convalescence, he asked to read romances about knights and ladies but was given a Life of Christ and Lives of the Saints instead, and as he read, he began to imagine himself following God like the saints did. He felt ongoing hope, excitement, and joy when he thought of this new path, and this was his first introduction to discernment through what he later called spiritual consolation and spiritual desolation.

In 1522, Ignatius left Loyola, hoping to travel to the Holy Land on a pilgrimage. He stopped to pray at Montserrat, left his sword in front of the famous Black Madonna, exchanged his clothes for those of a beggar, and went to stay in a cave at Manresa, intending to stay only a short time. Instead, he stayed for months, struggling with guilt over his own past and doubts about his future ministry. One day, near the Cardoner River, he had a mystical realization that God was in all things and at work in him, and this realization led him to continue on his path.

Ignatius left for the Holy Land, but he had to return almost immediately because of the religious tension there. Returning to Barcelona, began to use the notes and reflections he had written during his time at Manresa to help lead others to God, and this collection of prayers, reflections, and meditations later became the Spiritual Exercises, a 30-day retreat that can also be adapted to everyday life.

The tensions of the Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation led to suspicion of preachers like Ignatius, who was questioned by the Inquisition and commanded to become a priest before teaching publicly. His early education had not prepared him for a university program, and he had to take a Latin class with young boys before beginning his studies. He tried a few colleges before finding his place at the University of Paris, where he also met his first companions, his roommates Francis Xavier and Peter Faber.

When they graduated in 1536, seven men promised to become priests, travel to the Holy Land, and remain “friends in the Lord.” Tension in the Holy Land made that travel impossible, so they moved to Rome and began serving those most in need. In 1540, the pope approved their proposal to start a new religious order that would “help souls” in any way that the Church needed. Ignatius was reluctant to lead the group but was voted unanimously, and he remained in Rome, writing letters and giving direction to the new order while his friends left as missionaries and served others in many ways and in many places.

Ignatius died on July 31, 1565, and his feast day is observed on July 31. By his death, there were over 1,000 Jesuits, and they had founded many schools to educate and train new Jesuits. These schools were so admired that people had begun asking for schools for children and young adults outside the Jesuits, and Ignatius recognized that a Jesuit education would help form people for service to the world in many different ways. In 1599, Jesuit school educators from the many established schools collaborated on the Ratio Studiorum, a document explaining a well-rounded liberal arts education that would form students in knowledge and service to God and others.

St. Jean de Brébeuf

Jean de Brébeuf was a French Jesuit who traveled in 1625 to the French territory in what is now Ontario, Canada with the intention of introducing the Native people to Christianity. He immersed himself in Wendat (Huron) life, admiring their culture and values, writing to his fellow Jesuits to explain their language and practices, composing a Christmas carol in their language, and observing a game they played that he is credited with naming “lacrosse” because the sticks resembled a bishop’s crozier. The missionary work of Brébeuf and his companions intersected with a period of British and French colonization, trading disputes, and conflict among Native tribes, and Jean de Brébeuf and his companions were killed as part of this conflict. Their feast day is observed on October 19, and the chapel sgraffito at Brebeuf Jesuit honors their lives and work.

Jesuits Today

Men who enter the Jesuits undergo a decade-long formation process to prepare to be a Jesuit priest (called Father, minister for Mass and the Sacraments) or brother (called Brother, member of the religious community). Jesuits in formation, priests, and brothers all use the letters S.J. after their names to signify the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits. They are members of a Jesuit province and can be sent anywhere in that province or around the world (in contrast with diocesan priests, including most parish priests, who usually serve in a particular diocesan area, like the Archdiocese of Indianapolis). Brebeuf is part of the USA Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus, one of five provinces in the United States and Canada.

Today, there are nearly 15,000 Jesuits around the world, including over 3,000 in the United States and Canada. Jesuits run over 800 schools around the world, including over 80 elementary, middle, and high schools and 27 colleges and universities in the United States. The Jesuits are a missionary order that have become well known for education, and they also run other ministries such as churches, retreat centers, and services for the marginalized, including the Jesuit Refugee Service.

AMDG: Abbreviation for the Latin phrase “ad majorem Dei gloriam” (for the greater glory of God), the goal to do all things for God.

Cura Personalis: Latin for “care for the person,” the principle of caring for each student and the many parts of each student’s life.

Discernment: When St. Ignatius was recovering from his cannonball injury, he noticed feelings that he later called “spiritual consolation” and “spiritual desolation,” and reflecting on these feelings helped him see God’s call for him. Ignatian Spirituality includes reflecting on our experiences and emotions to help us see God’s guidance in our lives.

Examen: One of the most important reflection tools taught by St. Ignatius, which we pray daily as a school, is the Examen, in which a person reflects on their daily life to find God’s guidance for them.

God in All Things: One of the first Jesuits wrote that St. Ignatius had the ability “in all circumstances, while at work or in conversation, of feeling the presence of God and of tasting spiritual things, of being contemplative even in the midst of action; he used to interpret this as seeking God in all things.” Through reflections like the Examen, we practice seeing God’s presence in our everyday lives.

Magis: From a Latin word meaning “more” or “greater,” the invitation to continually discern and pursue what is best for God and others.

Men and Women for Others: In the 1970s, the head of the worldwide Jesuit order, Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J., asked all Jesuit schools (mostly all-male schools at the time) to form “men-for-others… men who cannot even conceive of love of God which does not include love for the least of their neighbors.” This motto is now shared by many Jesuit schools.

Profile of the Graduate at Graduation: Jesuit schools aim to form students who achieve the characteristics of Open to Growth, Intellectually Competent, Loving, Religious and Committed to Doing Justice. Every student should develop these “Grad at Grad” characteristics in their time at a Jesuit school.

Spiritual Conversation: Jesuit schools focus on dialogue and conversation, often using conversation models where each person gets a chance to speak, and then the group discerns together from the insights of the group.

UAPs: In 2019, the head of the Jesuits announced the Universal Apostolic Preferences for the next decade of Jesuit work and ministry. These were created collaboratively with Jesuits and laypeople around the world, and include using discernment and the Spiritual Exercises, walking with youth and with the marginalized, and caring for the environment.

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius are at the heart of Ignatian Spirituality and many aspects of Jesuit education. This manual of directions for prayer and reflection, written by St. Ignatius Loyola and based on his own experience growing closer to God, is a treasure of Christian spirituality. 

The spirituality that St. Ignatius established in the Spiritual Exercises involves awareness of God’s work in each of us and use of reflection and imagination to experience God in our lives, and this spirituality is present in every Jesuit ministry. Jesuit pedagogy includes the use of these principles in education, including the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm cycle of context, experience, reflection, action, and evaluation.

To learn more about the Spiritual Exercises: The Spiritual Exercises - IgnatianSpirituality.com

Our Catholic and Jesuit mission is at the root of everything we do at Brebeuf Jesuit. For more on our mission, see below for a reflection by Fr. Chris Johnson, S.J., Vice President & Assistant to the President for Mission and Strategy.

Our approach to education is rooted in the Gospel, the Traditions of the Catholic Church, and the Jesuit charism. Our Jesuit values ultimately flow from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. St. Ignatius opens his Spiritual Exercises with what he calls the “Principle and Foundation,” declaring that human beings are made to be struck with wonder by the creation in which they find themselves and moved by that wonder, to consider it deeply. Engagement with this wonder and consideration then ought to move them into loving service. St. Ignatius is adamant that we can experience the love at the heart of reality in any circumstance – in health or sickness, in wealth or poverty, in honor or dishonor, in a long life or a short one – and that if in whatever circumstance in which we find ourselves we fail to engage in the movement from amazement to loving action, we will waste our lives. According to St. Ignatius we save our lives through praise, reverence, and service.

This principle and foundation is at the heart of every Jesuit endeavor, and this dynamic holds together all that we do and aspire to do at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School.

It is our desire to admit a student body already curious about the world around them – already struck by wonder and amazement. To the degree that such an amazement is absent in any of our students, we are confident that our curriculum and our community have the capacity to provide the needed spark. Our aim is to kindle these sparks into a fire that will not only enlighten the hearts and minds of our students, but the whole world.

These Jesuit values inspire our mission:

Brebeuf Jesuit, a Catholic and Jesuit school, provides an excellent college preparatory education for a lifetime of service by forming leaders who are intellectually competent, open to growth, loving, religious and committed to promoting justice. Fostering a culture of understanding and dialogue, Brebeuf Jesuit seeks and welcomes students from diverse religious, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. Students at Brebeuf Jesuit are called to discover and cultivate the fullness of their God-given talents as a responsibility and as an act of worship. 

Our core values of Educating the Whole Person, being a Caring and Diverse Community, and offering our dreams and our resources all for The Greater Glory of God call us to be attentive to: an academic excellence marked by inquiry, experience, and reflection; finding unity in diversity; and coming to the fullness of life by animating the dance between matter and intellect. Our goals for this plan are each grounded in these three core values and our mission.

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EDUCATION OF THE WHOLE PERSON

Brebeuf Jesuit fosters the intellectual, spiritual, physical, emotional and social development of every student. Each student is challenged and inspired to strive for academic excellence, to engage whole-heartedly in co-curricular activities, to develop confidence in leadership abilities and to discover God’s presence in everyday life. As students grow in each of these areas, they become more able to share their unique gifts as men and women for others.

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For St. Ignatius, the deep consideration of context is not to be marked by a casual attempt. Jesuit schools are about a rigorous investigation of reality, helping students develop or acquire the necessary knowledge and competence to engage life to the full. 

Deep consideration, however, does not stop with acquiring a comprehensive knowledge of superficial facts but includes a consideration of meaning. Such a consideration of meaning requires awareness – an awareness of self and of others.

St. Ignatius desired that members of the Society of Jesus endeavor to become contemplatives in action. This desire also informs our desire for our students. Time to reflect is built into our curriculum and is augmented by a program of retreats, the daily morning prayer and afternoon Examen, service opportunities, and opportunities to be involved with clubs, the arts, and athletics. Our efforts to support our students with regard to study skills, time management, and mental health are also important components of this dimension of our care for the whole person.

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A CARING AND DIVERSE COMMUNITY

Brebeuf Jesuit believes that the authentic development of each student unfolds within a safe and supportive environment. Rooted in the Catholic tradition and guided by its Jesuit heritage, the Brebeuf community embraces the fullness and diversity of creation, accepts and respects all people, and encourages genuine interreligious and intercultural dialogue. Brebeuf Jesuit’s ultimate goal is that every student will journey through life with the confident assurance of a personal friendship with a loving God.

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In the Jesuit Constitutions, St. Ignatius instructs that the arts and natural sciences be treated with diligence by learned teachers, as the serious study of these subjects disposes of the intellectual powers for the study of Ultimate Reality – the study of God.

The God discovered through the study of this world and human life in this world is a God who can be found at work and all things – in the great diversity of things. The creation in which we find ourselves is one of diverse elements in a single universe. Unity in diversity is the reality we discover and the context in which we discover it.

To that end, “Brebeuf Jesuit seeks and welcomes students from diverse religious, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds." The exploration and celebration of our diversity is aimed at fostering our experience of unity, with one another and with our Creator. Dialogue is at the center of this exploration and celebration. The recent document from the Congregation for Catholic Education asserts that dialogue is a constitutive dimension of human nature, rooted in our image and likeness to a God characterized by the Trinitatian dynamics of dialogue.

Brebeuf Jesuit believes that it has a responsibility to offer a counter-cultural response to the current social-political environment of division. To this end, Brebeuf Jesuit will focus on two related and integral parts of fostering a diverse and caring community: the intentional creation of community and the encouragement of dialogue as a means of understanding.

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THE GREATER GLORY OF GOD

Through intellectual pursuit, prayerful discernment and generous service, Brebeuf Jesuit strives to give students the foundation, the skills and the will to make the world more just, humane and loving. All are called to a holy boldness – to do all things for the greater glory of God.

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The glory of God is realized by the human person fully alive, a person whose mind and body are animated by a spirit informed by Love. Ignatius teaches that this animation becomes realized as a person grows closer to God through prayer and discernment, eventually taking action to best fulfill God’s will through the individual inspired by His grace and acting with a holy boldness to “set the world on fire”. As coming to life for a person is about uniting our dreams with material circumstance, so too is the coming to life of the enterprise that is Brebeuf Jesuit. The endeavors to help bring our students to the fullness of life occur in the everyday work of our entire school community

There are many wonderful online resources for daily Ignatian prayer, including the links below.

• 3-MINUTE RETREATS
• JESUIT PRAYER
• PRAY AS YOU GO
• SACRED SPACE
• AN IGNATIAN PRAYER ADVENTURE

Many retreat centers have scheduled group retreats to join, as well as opportunities to stay and have your own self-directed retreat or meet with a director individually.

• Jesuit Spiritual Center at Milford (outside Cincinnati)
• Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House (outside Chicago)
• Jesuit Retreat Centers
• Midwest Retreat Centers