Apostleship of Prayer
THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY OF IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA:
1491 – 1440In 1539 the companions, now ten, were received favourably by Pope Paul lll. In the "Formula" presented to Paul III for his approval, the Society of Jesus was founded…
to strive especially for the defence and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine, by means of public preaching, lectures, and any other ministration whatsoever of the word of God, and further by means of the Spiritual Exercises, the education of children and unlettered persons in Christianity, and the spiritual consolation of Christ's faithful through hearing confessions and administering the other sacraments.
Ignatius wanted Jesuits to be free to move from place to place wherever the need was greatest; he was convinced that institutions would tie them down and prevent this mobility. But the companions had only one goal: "in all things to love and serve the Divine Majesty"; they would adopt whatever means could best accomplish this love and service of God through the service of others, ever mindful of…“circumstances of place and person”.The Society of Jesus was formally approved in 1540; a few months later Ignatius was elected its first Superior General. He remained in Rome and dedicated the last years of his life to writing the Constitutions of this new religious order and communicating with his ‘friends in the Lord’. Inspired by the famed vision embodied in the Spiritual Exercises, the Constitutions manifest the Ignatian ability to combine exalted ends with the most exact and concrete means for achieving them. His Constitutions are all about relationships, friendly relationships; relationships with ‘God our Lord’, relationships with the Church, relationships with the Pope, relationships with superiors, relationships among members of the group, relationships with other people in service, and those being served, and relationships with the poor. The work, divided into ten parts, is a formative guidebook for Jesuit life.
It was the early morning of July 31, 1556 that Ignatius died.
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For more information concerning the Society of Jesus, please contact Ian Cribb, SJ