Loyola Of Ignatius Quotes

Go forth and set the world on fire.

Act as if everything depended on you; trust as if everything depended on God.

Love is shown more in deeds than in words.

To give, and not to count the cost to fight, and not to heed the wounds, to toil, and not to seek for rest, to labor, and not to ask for any reward, save that of knowing that we do thy will

Laugh and grow strong

He who goes about to reform the world must begin with himself, or he loses his labor.

Teach us to give and not to count the cost.

Satan, on the contrary, is thin, ascetic and a fanatical devotee of logic. He reads Machiavelli, Ignatius of Loyola, Marx and Hegel; he is cold and unmerciful to mankind, out of a kind of mathematical mercifulness. He is damned always to do that which is most repugnant to him: to become a slaughterer, in order to abolish slaughtering, to sacrifice lambs so that no more lambs may be slaughtered, to whip people with knouts so that they may learn not to let themselves be whipped, to strip himself of every scruple in the name of a higher scrupulousness, and to challenge the hatred of mankind because of his love for it--an abstract and geometric love.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.

Lord, teach me to be generous; Teach me to serve you as you deserve; To give and not to count the cost; To fight and not to heed the wounds; To toil, and not to seek for rest; To labor, and not to ask for reward - except to know that I am doing your will.

O my God, teach me to be generous to serve you as you deserve to be served to give without counting the cost to fight without fear of being wounded to work without seeking rest and to spend myself without expecting any reward but the knowledge that I am doing your holy will. Amen

If our church is not marked by caring for the poor, the oppressed, the hungry, we are guilty of heresy.

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace, that is enough for me.

For it is not knowing much, but realising and relishing things interiorly, that contents and satisfies the soul.

If God causes you to suffer much, it is a sign that He has great designs for you, and that He certainly intends to make you a saint. And if you wish to become a great saint, entreat Him yourself to give you much opportunity for suffering; for there is no wood better to kindle the fire of holy love than the wood of the cross, which Christ used for His own great sacrifice of boundless charity.

God freely created us so that we might know, love, and serve him in this life and be happy with him forever. God's purpose in creating us is to draw forth from us a response of love and service here on earth, so that we may attain our goal of everlasting happiness with him in heaven. All the things in this world are gifts of God, created for us, to be the means by which we can come to know him better, love him more surely, and serve him more faithfully. As a result, we ought to appreciate and use these gifts of God insofar as they help us toward our goal of loving service and union with God. But insofar as any created things hinder our progress toward our goal, we ought to let them go.

What seems to me white, I will believe black if the hierarchical Church so defines.

O my God, teach me to be generous, teach me to serve you as I should, to give without counting the cost, to fight without fear of being wounded, to work without seeking rest, to labour without expecting any reward, but the knowledge that I am doing your most holy will.

[L]ove ought to manifest itself in deeds rather than in words.... love consists in a mutual sharing of goods, for example, the lover gives and shares with the beloved what he possesses, or something of that which he has or is able to give; and vice versa, the beloved shares with the lover. Hence, if one has knowledge, he shares it with the one who does not possess it; and so also if one has honors, or riches. Thus, one always gives to the other.

It is dangerous to make everybody go forward by the same road: and worse to measure others by oneself.

He learned by experience that one train of thought left him sad, the other joyful. This was his first reasoning on spiritual matters.

If God causes you to suffer much it is a sign that He has great designs for you and that He certainly intends to make you a saint. And if you wish to become a great saint, entreat Him yourself to give you much opportunity for suffering; for there is no wood better to kindle the fire of holy love than the wood of the cross, which Christ used for His own great sacrifice of boundless charity.

Ite, inflammate omnia.

Try to keep your soul always in peace and quiet, always ready for whatever our Lord may wish to work in you. It is certainly a higher virtue of the soul, and a greater grace, to be able to enjoy the Lord in different times and different places than in only one. —Ignatius of Loyola

After all, Ignatius of Loyola, a soldier who had killed and whored and made a thorough mess of his soul, said you could judge prayer worthwhile simply if you could act more decently, think more clearly afterward. As D.W. once told him, “Son, sometimes it’s enough just to act less like a shithead.

Next it dawned on him that the former ideas were of the world, the latter God-sent; finally, worldly thoughts began to lose their hold, while heavenly ones grew clearer and dearer.

Lakše je ukoriti duh nego razoriti tijelo.

if it happens that the soul is attached or inclined to a thing inordinately, that one should move himself, putting forth all his strength, to come to the contrary of what he is wrongly drawn to.

Up to his twenty-sixth year the heart of Ignatius was enthralled by the vanities of the world. His special delight was in the military life, and he seemed led by a strong and empty desire of gaining for himself a great name.

Even Ignatius Loyola wavered. That dark night of the soul, man. No one’s immune. It would all be meaningless if you didn’t wonder and doubt. That’s what makes it real. That’s what makes us people. God could have sent angels to flutter around like fairies, delivering rum punch and manna all day on a cosmic cruise ship. But what would that avail us?

Among some of the famous men educated by the Jesuits we find Bossuet, Corneille, Molière, Tasso, Fontenelle, Diderot, Voltaire, and Bourdaloue, himself a Jesuit.

Teach us… To give and not to count the cost; To fight and not to heed the wounds; To toil and not to seek for rest… —St. Ignatius Loyola

For though, outside the Exercises, we can lawfully and with merit influence every one who is probably fit to choose continence, virginity, the religious life and all manner of evangelical perfection, still in the Spiritual Exercises, when seeking the Divine Will, it is more fitting and much better, that the Creator and Lord Himself should communicate Himself to His devout soul, inflaming it with His love and praise, and disposing it for the way in which it will be better able to serve Him in future. So, he who is giving the Exercises should not turn or incline to one side or the other, but standing in the centre like a balance, leave the Creator to act immediately with the creature, and the creature with its Creator and Lord.

1. Ask God for light. I want to look at my day with God's eyes, not merely my own. 2. Give thanks. The day I have just lived is a gift from God. Be grateful for it. 3. Review the day. I carefully look back on the day just completed, being guided by the Holy Spirit. 4. Face your shortcomings. I face up to what is wrong-in my life and in me. 5. Look toward the day to come. I ask where I need God in the day to

Zdepasto i grbavo deblo drveta nikada ne bi povjerovalo da može postati statua, zadivljujuće umjetničko djelo, i nikada se ne bi podložilo dlijetu kipara, koji svojim genijem proniče što sve može načiniti od tog debla

Calisto, a companion of Ignatius, and who on recovering from a severe illness had heard of the imprisonment of Ignatius, hastened from Segnovia, where he was staying, and came to Alcala, that he, too, might be cast into prison.

A thick and shapeless trunk would never believe that it could become a statue, admired as a miracle of sculpture, and would never consent to submit itself to the chisel of the sculptor who sees by his genius what he can make of it.

156. There is a sort of glory of silence. Saint Ignatius of Loyola did not hesitate to write in his Spiritual Exercises: “The more the soul is in solitude and seclusion, the more fit it renders itself to approach and be united with its Creator and Lord.

Todo buen cristiano ha de ser más pronto a salvar la proposición del prójimo que a condenarla; y, si no la puede salvar, inquira cómo la entiende; y, si mal la entiende, corríjale con amor; y, si no basta, busque todos los medios convenientes para que, bien entendiéndola, se salve.

Prayer of St. Ignatius Loyola Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous; teach me to serve You as You deserve; to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labour and not to ask for reward save that of knowing I am doing Your Will.

Consideremos el sermón que Cristo nuestro Señor hace a todos sus siervos y amigos, encomendándoles que a todos quieran ayudar en traerlos, primero a suma pobreza espiritual y, si su divina majestad fuere servida y los quisiere eligir no menos a la pobreza actual; segundo, a deseo de oprobios y menosprecios, porque destas dos cosas se sigue la humildad. De manera que sean tres escalones: el primero, pobreza contra riqueza; el segundo, oprobio o menosprecio contra el honor mundano; el tercero, humildad contra la soberbia; y destos tres escalones induzgan a todas las otras virtudes.

Psychologists talk about the three parts of the mind: the cognitive (reason and other mental processes), the conative (the will), and the affective (feelings and emotions). All of these are involved in the choices we make, but the engine that drives the train is the affective power. The traditional word for it is “heart.

En los que proceden de bien en mejor, el buen ángel toca a la tal ánima dulce, leve y suavemente, como gota de agua que entra en una esponja; y el malo toca agudamente y con sonido y inquietud, como cuando la gota de agua cae sobre la piedra. Y a los que proceden de mal en peor tocan los sobredichos espíritus contrario modo.

Primer modo para hacer una buena elección: El primer punto es proponer delante la cosa sobre que quiero hacer elección, así como un oficio o beneficio para tomar o dejar, o de otra cualquier cosa que cae en elección mutable. Segundo. Es menester tener por obyecto el fin para que soy criado, que es para alabar a Dios nuestro Señor y salvar mi ánima; y con esto hallarme indiferente, sin afección alguna desordenada. Quinto. Después que así he discurrido y raciocinado a todas partes sobre la cosa propósita, mirar dónde más la razón se inclina; y así, según la mayor moción racional, y no moción alguna sensual, se debe hacer deliberación sobre la cosa propósita.

En toda buena elección, en cuanto es de nuestra parte, el ojo de nuestra intención debe ser simple, solamente mirando para lo que soy criado, es a saber, para alabanza de Dios nuestro Señor y salvación de mi ánima, y así, cualquier cosa que yo eligiere debe ser a que me ayude para al fin para que soy criado, no ordenando ni trayendo el fin al medio, mas el medio al fin. Porque primero hemos de poner por obyecto querer servir a Dios, que es el fin, y secundario tomar beneficio o casarme, si más me conviene, que es el medio para el fin; así ninguna cosa me debe mover a tomar los tales medios o a privarme dellos, sino sólo el servicio y alabanza de Dios nuestro Señor y salud eterna de mi ánima.

You ask me how I manage to put some balance into my life. This is a question I ask myself, as each day I am swallowed up more by my work.… So often I feel I am on a rock, battered from all sides by rising waves. The only escape route is heavenwards. For an hour or a day, I let the waves beat upon the rock; I stop looking out to the horizon and only look upwards towards God.

In the course of the conversation mention was made of the Blessed Virgin. The stranger remarked that though he admitted that the Mother of Christ had conceived without detriment to her virginal purity, yet he could not believe that after the conception of her divine Son she was still a virgin. He was so obstinate in holding this opinion, that no amount of reasoning on the part of Ignatius could force him to abandon it. Shortly afterward the Saracen rode on, leaving the pilgrim to his own reflections. These were not of the most peaceful nature. He was sorely troubled as he thought over the conduct of his recent fellow-traveler, and felt that he had but poorly acquitted himself of his duty of honoring the Mother of God. The longer his mind thought upon the matter, the more his soul was filled with indignation against himself for having allowed the Saracen to speak as he had done of the Blessed Virgin, and for the lack of courage he fancied he had shown in not at once resenting the insult. He consequently felt impelled by a strong impulse to hasten after him and slay the miscreant for the insulting language he had used.

Lord, take as your right, and receive as my gift, all my freedom, my memory, my understanding and my will. Whatever I am and whatever I possess, you have given it to me; I restore it all to you again, to be at your disposal, according to your will. Give me only a love for you, and the gift of your grace; then I am rich enough, and ask for nothing more. —St. Ignatius of Loyola

El primer punto. Es necesario que todas cosas de las cuales queremos hacer elección sean indiferentes o buenas en sí, y que militen dentro de la santa madre Iglesia jerárquica, y no malas ni repugnantes a ella. Segundo. Hay unas cosas que caen debajo de elección inmutable, así como son sacerdocio, matrimonio, etc.; hay otras que caen debajo de elección mutable, así como son tomar beneficios o dejarlos, tomar bienes temporales o lanzallos. Tercero. En la elección inmutable, que ya una vez se ha hecho elección, no hay más que eligir, porque no se puede desatar; así como es matrimonio, sacerdocio, etc. Sólo es de mirar que, si no ha hecho elección debida y ordenadamente sin afecciones desordenadas, arrepintiéndose, procure hacer buena vida en su elección.

Fifth Rule. The fifth: In time of desolation never to make a change; but to be firm and constant in the resolutions and determination in which one was the day preceding such desolation, or in the determination in which he was in the preceding consolation. Because, as in consolation it is rather the good spirit who guides and counsels us, so in desolation it is the bad, with whose counsels we cannot take a course to decide rightly.

For the love of God, do not be careless or tepid. For if tautness breaks the bow, idleness breaks the soul. Try to maintain a holy and discreet ardor in work and in the pursuit of learning as well as of virtue. With one as with the other, one energetic act is worth a thousand that are listless, and what a lazy man cannot accomplish in many years an energetic man usually achieves in a short time. —St. Ignatius Loyola, The Letters of St. Ignatius of Loyola, William

The Third Method of Prayer is that with each breath in or out, one has to pray mentally, saying one word of the Our Father, or of another prayer which is being recited: so that only one word be said between one breath and another, and while the time from one breath to another lasts, let attention be given chiefly to the meaning of such word, or to the person to whom he recites it, or to his own baseness, or to the difference from such great height to his own so great lowness.

Segundo modo para hacer una buena elección: La primera es que aquel amor que me mueve y me hace eligir la tal cosa descienda de arriba, del amor de Dios. De forma que el que elige sienta primero en sí que aquel amor más o menos que tiene a la cosa que elige, es sólo por su Criador y Señor. La segunda, mirar a un hombre que nunca he visto ni conocido, y deseando yo toda su perfección, considerar lo que yo le diría que hiciese y eligiese para mayor gloria de Dios nuestro Señor y mayor perfección de su ánima; y, haciendo yo asimismo, guardar la regla que para el otro pongo. La tercera, considerar, como si estuviese en el artículo de la muerte, la forma y medida que entonces querría haber tenido en el modo de la presente elección; y, reglándome por aquella, haga en todo la mi determinación. La cuarta, mirando y considerando cómo me hallaré el día del juicio, pensar cómo entonces querría haber deliberado acerca la cosa presente; y la regla que entonces querría haber tenido, tomarla ágora.

El enemigo mucho mira si una ánima es gruesa o delgada; y si es delgada, procura de más la adelgazar en extremo, para más la turbar y desbaratar. Verbi gracia, si ve que una ánima no consiente en sí pecado mortal ni venial ni aparencia alguna de pecado deliberado, entonces el enemigo, cuando no puede hacerla caer en cosa que parezca pecado, procura de hacerla formar pecado adonde no es pecado, así como en una palabra o pensamiento mínimo. Si la ánima es gruesa, el enemigo procura de engrosarla más. Verbi gracia, si antes no hacía caso de los pecados veniales, procurará que de los mortales haga poco caso; y si algún caso hacía antes, que mucho menos o ninguno haga agora.

Ignatius de Loyola came to the conclusion that the only way his "church" could survive was by enforcing the canons and doctrines on the temporal power of the pope and the Roman Catholic institution; not by just destroying the physical life of the people alone as the Dominican priests were doing through the Inquisition, but by infiltration and penetration into every sector of life. Protestantism must be conquered and used for the benefit of the popes. That was Ignatius de Loyola's personal proposal, among others, to Pope Paul III. Jesuits immediately went to work secretly infiltrating ALL the Protestant groups including their families, places of work, hospitals, schools, colleges, etc. Today, the Jesuits have almost completed that mission.

The examen is an immediate solution to the problem of what do Ipray about? The answer is: everything that's happened to you today. You might have the impression that your everyday life is the dreary same old, same old. It isn't. Daily life is rich and meaningful. Every encounter, every challenge, every disappointment, and every delight is a place where God can be found.

From the earliest centuries, the Church has understood that sin, or vice, has what are called opposing virtues: virtues that by their very nature counteract and weaken the influence of the sin in our lives. Following this tradition, St. Ignatius of Loyola recommended developing virtues that strike to the heart of our most troublesome sins. It goes something like this: we examine our consciences carefully. We go to Confession and get “swept clean and put in order.” Then we get to work refurnishing our house. We identify the virtue that will help us displace the sin. Chastity counteracts lust. Temperance uproots gluttony. Generosity counterbalances greed. Diligence displaces sloth. Forgiveness and meekness offset wrath or anger. Kindness replaces envy. And humility supplants pride. With each subsequent confession, the process continues on a deeper and deeper level until we find ourselves set free.

1. Pray for light. Begin by asking God for the grace to pray, to see, and to understand. 2. Give thanks. Look at your day in a spirit of gratitude. Everything is a gift from God. 3. Review the day. Guided by the Holy Spirit, look back on your day. Pay attention to your experience. Look for God in it. 4. Look at what's wrong. Face up to failures and shortcomings. Ask forgiveness for your faults. Ask God to show you ways to improve. 5. Resolve what to do in the day to come. Where do you need God today? What can you do today?

U slučaju kad nije mogao udovoljiti zahtjevu, rastumačio bi razlog tako strpljivo i iskreno da bi onaj koji je bio odbijen ostao uvjeren u Ignacijevu dobru volju i poteškoće koje će nastati ako mu udovolji molbi.

Beware of condemning any man’s action. Consider your neighbor’s intention, which is often honest and innocent, even though his act seems bad in outward appearance. —St. Ignatius Loyola

He who goes about to reform the world must begin with himself, or he loses his labor. -ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

The Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) was founded by the industry and endeavor of Ignatius of Loyola.

In the Jesuit novitiate, we were taught a simple daily prayer called the examination of conscience, also known as the examen. Popularized by St. Ignatius Loyola, it consists of five steps. First, you recall things for which you’re grateful and give thanks for them; second, you review the day, looking for signs of God’s presence; third, you call to mind things for which you are sorry; fourth, you ask for forgiveness from God (or decide to reconcile with the person you have harmed or seek forgiveness in the sacrament of reconciliation); fifth, you ask for the grace to see God in the following day.

[7] 7ª La séptima: el que da los exercicios, si vee al que los rescibe, que está desolado y tentado, no se haya con él duro ni desabrido, mas blando y suave, dándole ánimo y fuerzas para adelante, y descubriéndole las astucias del enemigo de natura humana, y haciéndole preparar y disponer para la consolación ventura.

Try to keep your soul always in peace and quiet, always ready for whatever our Lord may wish to work in you. It is certainly a higher virtue of the soul, and a greater grace, to be able to enjoy the Lord in different times and different places than in only one. —Ignatius of Loyola Aaron

He dwells in me and gives me being, life, sensation, intelligence; and makes a temple of me, since I am created in the likeness and image of the Divine Majesty.

Nothing human is merely human,” writes the theologian Ronald Modras. “No common labor is merely common. Classrooms, hospitals, and artists’ studios are sacred spaces. No secular pursuit of science is merely secular.” Everything that deepens our humanity deepens our knowledge of God.

I was also aware of three other historically important Christians whose apparently obsessive-compulsive symptoms had become a source of latter-day psychiatric speculation. They were Martin Luther, architect of Europe’s sixteenth-century Reformation and a figure of incomparable importance in the history of Western civilization; Ignatius of Loyola, Luther’s famous adversary, founder of the Catholic order known as the Jesuits and leader of the Counter-Reformation; and Alphonsus Liguori, a nineteenth-century Catholic saint who is renowned for his contributions to the field of moral theology.

It is dangerous to make everybody go forward by the same road; and worse to measure others by oneself. Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they're just one thing, and we shouldn't complicate the matter. Saint Joan of Arc. Speak little, listen much. Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

Religion gave him spiritual order, an ethical system with which to confront life. At times he doubted transcendence, he doubted God, but never the irreplaceable function of Catholicism as an instrument for the social restraint of the human animal’s irrational passions and appetites. And, in the Dominican Republic, as a constituent force for nationhood, equal to the Spanish language. Without the Catholic faith, the country would fall into chaos and barbarism. As for belief, he followed the recommendation of St. Ignatius Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises: to behave as if one believed, miming the rites and precepts: Masses, prayers, confessions, communions. This systematic repetition of religious form gradually created the content, filling the void—at a certain point—with the presence of God.

Oamenii lumii, care se lasă conduși de sentimentele pe care lumea le inspiră, iubesc și urmăresc cu multă însuflețire onoarea, faima, strălucirea unui nume mare printre semeni.

Standing a few paces from the spot where I am going to make my meditation, I must recollect myself, raise my mind above earthly things and consider Our Lord Jesus Christ as present and attentive to what I am about to do.

Mental prayer may also be done by choosing to engage some beautifully written prayer and making it your own. For example, Saint Ignatius of Loyola wrote a beautiful prayer that goes to the heart of surrender. That prayer is as follows: Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all I have and possess. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is Yours; do with it what You will. Give me only Your love and Your grace. That’s enough for me.

If ever there was a body of men who merited eternal damnation on earth and in hell, it is this Society of (Ignatius de) Loyola.

If ever there was a body of men who merited eternal damnation on earth and in hell, it is this Society of (Ignatius de) Loyola.

Take, Lord, all my liberty…” He had been following the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola. Joseph had recited this prayer so many times, he knew it by heart: “Accept my memory, my understanding, my entire will. Whatsoever I possess Thou hast bestowed; to Thee, I surrender it wholly. Grant me only Thy love and Thy grace—with these I am rich enough and desire nothing more.

Pinche Dave,” he decided to say, “do you never waver?” “Of course I do. Of course. Even Ignatius Loyola wavered. That dark night of the soul, man. No one’s immune. It would all be meaningless if you didn’t wonder and doubt. That’s what makes it real. That’s what makes us people.

Contemplación para alcanzar amor. Primero conviene advertir en dos cosas. La primera es que el amor se debe poner más en las obras que en las palabras. La segunda: el amor consiste en comunicación de las dos partes, es a saber, en dar y comunicar el amante al amado lo que tiene, o de lo que tiene o puede, y así, por el contrario, el amado al amante. De manera que si el uno tiene ciencia, dar al que no la tiene, si honores, si riquezas, y así el otro al otro.

Propio es del mal espíritu morder, tristar y poner impedimentos, inquietando con falsas razones para que no pase adelante; y propio del bueno dar ánimo y fuerzas, consolaciones, lágrimas, inspiraciones y quietud, facilitando y quitando todos impedimentos, para que en el bien obrar proceda adelante.

Llamo desolación a la escuridad del ánima, turbación en ella, moción a las cosas bajas y terrenas, inquietud de varias agitaciones y tentaciones, moviendo a infidencia, sin esperanza, sin amor, hallándose toda perezosa, tibia, triste y como separada de su Criador y Señor.

Es propio del enemigo enflaquecerse y perder ánimo, dando huida sus tentaciones, cuando la persona que se ejercita en las cosas espirituales pone mucho rostro contra las tentaciones del enemigo. Cuando el enemigo de natura humana trae sus astucias y suasiones a la ánima justa, quiere y desea que sean recibidas y tenidas en secreto.

Debemos mucho advertir el discurso de los pensamientos; y si el principio, medio y fin es todo bueno, inclinado a todo bien, señal es de buen ángel. Mas si en el discurso de los pensamientos que trae, acaba en alguna cosa mala, o distrativa, o menos buena que la que el ánima antes tenía propuesta de hacer, o la enflaquece o inquieta o conturba a la ánima, quitándola su paz, tranquilidad y quietud que antes tenía, clara señal es proceder de mal espíritu, enemigo de nuestro provecho y salud eterna.

El hombre es criado para alabar, hacer reverencia y servir a Dios nuestro Señor y, mediante esto, salvar su ánima; y las otras cosas sobre la haz de la tierra son criadas para el hombre, y para que le ayuden en la prosecución del fin para que es criado. De donde se sigue, que el hombre tanto ha de usar dellas cuanto le ayudan para su fin, y tanto debe quitarse dellas cuanto para ello le impiden. Por lo cual es menester hacernos indiferentes a todas las cosas criadas, en todo lo que es concedido a la libertad de nuestro libre albedrío y no le está prohibido; en tal manera, que no queramos de nuestra parte más salud que enfermedad, riqueza que pobreza, honor que deshonor, vida larga que corta, y por consiguiente en todo lo demás; solamente deseando y eligiendo lo que más nos conduce para el fin que somos criados.

The whole prayer is an exercise in finding God. It assumes that God is present in our daily lives, and that his presence can be detected. If you think God is far away, pray the examen.

Nothing vague, idle, or purely speculative, is to occupy man in the retreat. He comes to learn to conquer himself; to free himself from evil passions; to reform the disorder, great or little, of his past life, and to regulate it for the future by a plan conformable to the Divine will.

Semana 2, preámbulo para considerar estados: comenzaremos, juntamente contemplando la vida de Cristo, a investigar y a demandar en qué vida o estado de nosotros se quiere servir su divina majestad. Y así, para alguna introducción dello, en el primer ejercicio siguiente veremos la intención de Cristo nuestro Señor y, por el contrario, la del enemigo de natura humana; y cómo nos debemos disponer para venir en perfección en cualquier estado o vida que Dios nuestro Señor nos diere para eligir.

Perhaps some of them chose Schwester Kasimira's way, glorying in their discomfort because they knew that Jesus Christ hadn't stayed at the Ritz either. Perhaps there were unknown saints, Saint Ignatius Loyolas queuing at bus stops and Saint Augustines of Hippo giving up their seats on the tram. The thought made him briefly happy, seeming consecrate some of the aridity of his soldiering.

Josemaria, in his life and ministry, showed that it is possible for Catholics to have both a priestly soul and a lay mentality. It is possible for both priests and laypeople. He revered the work of religious orders; and their saints, such as St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Therese of Lisieux, had no small influence on his spirituality. For many years his spiritual director was a Jesuit, and the founder trained the first members of Opus Dei with St. Therese's Story of a Soul. We can hear echoes of St. Ignatius's phrase “contemplatives in action” in St. Josemaria's “contemplatives in the middle of the world.” We can hear echoes of St. Therese's “Little Way” in the founder's own emphasis on “little things.” Still, by divine disposition, his ways were distinctively not their ways.

El que lleva a Dios en su corazón lleva el Cielo con él dondequiera que va

¿De qué te sirve ganar el mundo, si al final pierdes tu alma?

Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to labor and not to ask for any reward except that of knowing that we do your will. Ignatius Loyola

The examen helps by directing our attention away from ourselves. "Woe is me" prayer is basically self-centered. But examen prayer is God-centered. The context for

The power of the youth is clearly shown to us in the Bible. For example, David was still a young boy when he fought and won the fight over Goliath (1 Samuel17:42). But David accomplished this because he had set his heart to God. And the same also with our youth today, if they will just recognize and acknowledge God in their talents and give their lives to the cause of the Church, they will certainly change the world. And I believe this will only happen if like the founder of the Jesuit’s Order, Ignatius de Loyola; our youth will also cry to God in prayer,

Goethe’s Faust, Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship

When he thought of worldly matters, he found much delight; but after growing weary and dismissing them, he found that he was dry and unhappy. But when he thought of going barefoot to Jerusalem and eating nothing but herbs and of imitating the saints in all the austerities they practiced, he not only found consolation in these thoughts, but even after they had left him he remained happy and joyful. He did not consider nor did he stop to examine this difference until one day his eyes were partially opened, and he began to wonder at this difference and to reflect upon it. From experience he knew that some thoughts left him sad while others made him happy, and little by little he came to perceive the different spirits that were moving him; one coming from the devil, the other coming from God.

my struggles with prayer; that's impossible and not even

Some of the most outstanding spiritual directors in Christian history - like Catherine of Siena and Ignatius of Loyola - either never had an office or orders, or did much of their work of direction before they held such an office. Generally speaking, effective spiritual directors are discovered by the Christian community; they do not put themselves forward without first having others seek their help. Because priests and ministers stand out publicly in the churches as spiritual leaders, most often it is they who have been sought out as spiritual directors. But ordination is not necessary (nor, as we shall see, sufficient) for effective spiritual direction.

The things done, the victories gained over circumstances by St. Bernard or St. Joan of Arc, by St. Catherine of Siena, St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Teresa, George Fox, are hardly to be explained unless these great spirits had indeed a closer, more intimate, more bracing contact than their fellows with that Life "which is the light of men.