The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything

by James Martin

  But there’s more. Within that final contemplation is one of the most famous, and perhaps most difficult, of all Ignatian prayers. It’s often called the Suscipe, taken from the first word of the Latin prayer. Coming at the end of the Exercises, the Suscipe prayer is an offering to God. After the four weeks of the Exercises, after meditating on God’s wholehearted love for you, people are often moved to respond wholeheartedly. Like many of the Ignatian ideals— including indifference, detachment, humility—this prayer is a goal.

  Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,

  my memory, my understanding, and all my will—

  all that I have and possess.

  You, Lord, have given all that to me.

  I now give it back to you, O Lord.

  All of it is yours.

  Dispose of it according to your will.

  Give me love of yourself along with grace,

  for that is enough for me.

  Like I said, a tall order. It is a prayer of total surrender. I offer you everything, God. All I need is your love and grace. This is all I need to be “yes, alive.”

  Why am I ending this book with such a “hard” prayer? To remind you that the spiritual life is a constant journey. For me, I don’t think I’ve ever been able to say that prayer and mean it completely. That is, I still want to hold on to all those things. And I’m not sure that I can say yet that all I need is God’s love and grace. I’m still too human for that. But as Ignatius said, it’s enough to have the desire for the desire. It’s enough to want that freedom. God will take care of the rest.

  So together you and I are still on the way to being contemplatives in action, to finding God in all things, to seeing God incarnate in the world, and to seeking freedom and detachment.

  The way of Ignatius has been traveled by millions of people searching for God in their daily lives. And for that way—easy at times, difficult at others, but always moving us closer to God—we can thank our friend, St. Ignatius Loyola.

  Acknowledgments

  The examen starts with gratitude. This book ends with it. So let me recall some of the people for whom I am grateful.

  First, I would like to thank my spiritual directors over the past twenty years, who have taught me more about Ignatian spirituality than could ever be contained in one book—especially those Jesuits who have accompanied me for extended periods, sometimes years at a time, during my training: David Donovan, Ken Hughes, J. J. Bresnahan, Jack Replogle, Dick Anderson, George Drury, Ozy Gonsalves, George Anderson, Jeff Chojnacki, and Damian O’Connell. Also, to those men and women who have directed my annual retreats and deepened my appreciation for God’s activity in my life, heartfelt thanks: Ron Mercier, Joe McHugh, Jim Gillon, Phil Shano, Harry Cain, Jim Bowler, Bill Devine, Jim Keegan, Paul Harman, Dick Stanley, John Kierdejus, Paul Fitterer, Pat Lee (Jesuits all) as well as Gerry Calhoun and Maddy Tiberii, S.S.J. Thanks also to Bill Creed, S.J., and Martha Buser, O.S.U., who led me through a summer-long training program on the Spiritual Exercises at the Jesuit Spiritual Center in Milford, Ohio, and to Maureen Steeley, S.U., and Eleanora Murphy, S.U., for their spiritual direction practicum at the Linwood Spiritual Center in Rhinebeck, New York.

  Second, thanks to a group of exceedingly wise, generous, and patient men and women who read this book in its early stages and offered their wisdom, insights—and corrections! Some are experts in Ignatian spirituality, others in Jesuit history, others in Scripture, theology, or psychology. Some were asked to read the manuscript with a particular audience in mind. All of them spent a great deal of time poring over what I had written in very rough form. And all of them helped make this book more accurate and more accessible.

  So abundant thanks to the following Jesuits: Bill Barry, John O’Malley, John Padberg, David Fleming, John Donohue, Charles Shelton, Dan Harrington, Drew Christiansen, Richard Leonard, as well as to Margaret Silf, Maureen Conroy, R.S.M., Ron Hansen, Robert Ellsberg, and Matt Weiner—and to my mother, Eleanor Martin, and my sister, Carolyn Buscarino. Also thanks to the following Jesuits who helped with specific portions of the book:Jim Siwicki, Joseph Koterski, Peter Schineller, Antonio Delfau, and Bill Campbell.

  Third, thanks to my dear brothers in the Society of Jesus, to whom this book is dedicated—fratribus carissimis in Societate Jesu—for accompanying me along the way of Ignatius. For more than twenty years they have offered me their love, friendship, encouragement, and prayers, as well as their insights on Ignatian spirituality and their example as faithful priests and brothers. Special thanks to the members of my faith-sharing groups over the years, and also to George Williams, Steve Katsouros, Bob Reiser, Chris Derby, Dave Godleski, Ross Pribyl, Kevin White, Matt Cassidy, Bob Gilroy, David McCallum, Tim Howe, Myles Sheehan, Jack McClain, Bill Campbell, Tom Reese, Brian Frain, George Witt, and Kevin O’Brien.

  Fourth, there were some generous souls who helped me type this manuscript when my carpal tunnel syndrome was acting up, including Veronica Szczygiel, P. J. Williams, Kaitlyn Rechenberg, Regina Nigro, and Jim Keane, S.J.

  Fifth, thanks to Heidi Hill, possibly the world’s best fact checker, who saved me from numerous factual errors (which included misquoting something from one of my own books).

  Sixth, thanks to my literary agent, Donald Cutler, for helping to shepherd this book to completion, and to Roger Freet at HarperCollins for his initial and continued enthusiasm for the project and his superb edits and suggestions, which greatly helped to tighten and focus the book. Also great thanks to Carolyn Holland and Mary Ann Jeffreys whose careful editing improved the book greatly and saved me from some real howlers.

  Finally, thanks to—who else?—St. Ignatius Loyola. And, of course, God, with whom all things are possible.

  For Further Exploration

  Rather than include a lengthy bibliography of the books used in writing this one, I thought it would be more helpful to recommend some favorite books for specific areas. This list is also by way of thanks to these authors, whose superb works have helped me to follow the way of Ignatius.

  THE LIFE OF ST. IGNATIUS LOYOLA

  The starting point for any study of Ignatian spirituality is the Autobiography, a relatively short book of which there are multiple editions and translations. My favorite is by Parmananda R. Divarkar, S.J., called A Pilgrim’s Testament. For a more straightforward account of his life try St. Ignatius Loyola, the Pilgrim Years: 1491–1538, by James Brodrick, S.J.; Ignatius of Loyola by Candido de Dalmases, S.J.; Mary Purcell’s The First Jesuit; and Philip Caraman’s Ignatius Loyola. John W. O’Malley, S.J.’s The First Jesuits recounts the life of Ignatius and his early companions as part of his larger story of the Society’s first years.

  The Letters of St. Ignatius Loyola, edited and translated by William J. Young, S.J., is a compact compendium of the saint’s letters to Jesuits and other friends. So is the slightly more scholarly Ignatius of Loyola: Letters and Instructions, edited by John Padberg, S.J., Martin Palmer, S.J., and John L. McCarthy, S.J. Also, Joseph Munitiz and Philip Endean have edited a book called Saint Ignatius Loyola: Personal Writings that incorporates into a single volume the text of the Spiritual Exercises, many letters, and hard-to-find excerpts from the saint’s journals.

  THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES

  Reading The Spiritual Exercises is not like doing them, but it is an essential resource nonetheless for the pilgrim along Ignatius’s way. Two of the best translations are The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius: A Translation and Commentary, by George E. Ganss, S.J., which provides an analysis of some key words and concepts, and Draw Me into Your Friendship, by David Fleming, S.J. Fleming offers two side-by-side translations—one hewing completely to the original text, the other more contemporary and free-form. Other excellent books on the Exercises (helpful for directors and retreatants alike) include Letting God Come Close and Finding God in All Things, both by William A. Barry, S.J.; Seek God Everywhere, by Anthony de Mello, S.J.; Spiritual Freedom, by John English, S.J.; Stretched for Greater Glory, by George Aschen-brenner, S.J
.; The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola, with Commentary, byJoseph A. Tetlow, S.J.; and Like the Lightning, by David Fleming, S.J.

  If you’re interested in a line-by-line analysis of the Exercises, perhaps the best book is Michael Ivens’s Understanding the Spiritual Exercises. This is the most detailed of the books on the Exercises included here, and it can be used profitably by the newcomer and the expert, not to mention spiritual directors. For a woman’s perspective on the Exercises, try The Spiritual Exercises Reclaimed, by Kathryn Dyckman, Mary Garvin, and Elizabeth Liebert. Finally, Paul Mariani, a layman, husband, father, and poet, wrote a memoir of his time making the Spiritual Exercises at Eastern Point Retreat House in Gloucester called Thirty Days.

  IGNATIAN SPIRITUALITY AND PRAYER

  Margaret Silf’s Inner Compass is a lovely invitation to Ignatian spiritual practices for the beginner. William Barry has written several terrific books that explicitly and implicitly use Ignatian spiritual themes. My favorites are God’s Passionate Desire, Seek My Face, and A Friendship Like No Other. George Traub, S.J., has collected articles on a wide variety of topics in An Ignatian Spirituality Reader. A wonderfully concise book is David Fleming’s What Is Ignatian Spirituality? A more detailed and intensive approach to Ignatian spirituality is Eyes to See, Ears to Hear, by David Lonsdale, which has especially good chapters on discernment and Ignatian contemplation.

  For exploring prayer in general, an excellent starting point is William Barry’s God and You: Prayer as a Personal Relationship. Also Armchair Mystic, by Mark Thibodeaux, S.J., is a user-friendly introduction to prayer in general with an Ignatian flavor. Thibodeaux’s God, I Have Issues looks at prayer during different emotional states. The Discerning Heart, by Maureen Conroy, R.S.M., talks about both prayer and the practice of spiritual direction.

  Good books on the practice of discernment and decision making in the Ignatian tradition include Making Choices in Christ by Joseph A. Tetlow, S.J., Wise Choices, by Margaret Silf, and The Discernment of Spirits, by Timothy Gallagher, O.M.V.

  JESUIT SPIRITUALITY

  When I use “Jesuit spirituality,” I’m referring to aspects of the spiritual life distinctive to Jesuit life. The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus are, of course, an important foundation, though, except in some parts, they make for dry reading for all but Jesuits. A superb summary of the Constitutions and a reflection on its overarching spirituality is Together for Mission, by Andre de Jaer, S.J.

  The granddaddy of books on Jesuit spirituality is The Jesuits: Their Spiritual Doctrines and Practice, by Joseph de Guibert, S.J., first published in 1964, which, while absolutely fascinating in places, is heavy going in others. Perhaps the best short book on Jesuit spirituality is by William Barry, S.J., and Robert Doherty, S.J.: Contemplatives in Action, which describes the variety of “tensions” (between activity and prayer, to take one example) inherent in Jesuit life, community, and governance. Chris Lowney’s Heroic Leadership applies Jesuit practices to corporations, and William A. Byron, S.J.’s Jesuit Saturdays is designed for laypeople working in Jesuit institutions, introducing them to our “way of proceeding.” Finally, F. E. Peters’s memoir Ours is a window into the life of American Jesuits in the middle part of the twentieth century.

  THE HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS

  The gold standard of studies on the history of the early Jesuits, which also includes a précis of the life of Ignatius, is John O’Malley’s The First Jesuits. It combines the author’s superb skills as a historian with his elegant prose. (A good companion is Year by Year with the Early Jesuits, a firsthand account by Juan de Polanco, S.J., who entered the Society in 1541.) William Bangert’s A History of the Society of Jesus is a comprehensive (though somewhat dry) look at the Society’s entire history, from the early days until the early 1980s. James Brodrick, S.J., wrote both The Origin of the Jesuits and The Progress of the Jesuits. Other lively retellings of the almost five-hundred-year history of the Society of Jesus include God’s Soldiers, which focuses on the early centuries, by Jonathan Wright, and Jesuits: A Multibiography, by Jean Lacouture, which does a superb job highlighting the stories of some notable Jesuit priests and brothers. Also Thomas Worcester, S.J., edited a fine series of essays collected in The Cambridge Companion to the Jesuits.

  Focusing on particular aspects of Jesuit history are two books I would like to recommend. First, Liam Brockey’s Journey to the East, a scholarly and fascinating look at the Jesuit mission to China from 1579 to 1724 (including the story of Matteo Ricci). And for those interested in the artistic heritage of the Jesuits (particularly the distinctive heritage of “Jesuit architecture” as well as how Jesuits used arts in the “missions”), see Jesuits and the Arts: 1540–1773, a gorgeously illustrated book edited by John O’Malley and Gauvin Bailey. It includes marvelous photos of the Jesuit “reductions” in South America and illustrations of stage sets that exemplify the history of “Jesuit theater.”

  JESUIT SAINTS AND OTHER LIVES

  Start with Joseph Tylenda, S.J.’s Jesuit Saints and Martyrs, which packs into a few hundred pages the stories of the members of the Society of Jesus who have been canonized, beatified, or are otherwise on their way to sainthood.

  The list of books of Jesuit saints, blesseds, and holy men have (literally) filled libraries. Some of my favorites, in no particular order, are: The Quiet Companion (about Blessed Peter Favre, S.J.), by Mary Purcell; Saint Francis Xavier, by James Brodrick, S.J.; Jean de Brébeuf (about one of the North American martyrs), by Joseph P. Donnelly, S.J.; With God in Russia and He Leadeth Me, autobiographical works by Walter Ciszek, S.J.; Conquistador Without Sword (about Roque Gonzalez, S.J., one of the workers in the “reductions”) by C. J. McNaspy, S.J.; Spirit of Fire (about Pierre Teilhard de Chardin S.J.), by Ursula King; A Testimonial to Grace, a memoir by Avery Cardinal Dulles S.J.; Gerard Manley Hopkins, by Paul Mariani; Edmund Campion by Evelyn Waugh; With Bound Hands (about Albert Delp, S.J., killed by the Nazis), by Mary Frances Coady; and One Jesuit’s Spiritual Journey, a series of interviews with Pedro Arrupe. And I’ll add one hard-to-find book: a one-volume work by Georg Schurhammer, S.J., (summarizing his colossal four-volume one) called Francis Xavier: The Apostle of India and Japan.

  NOVELS, POEMS, FILMS, WEB SITES, AND OTHER RESOURCES

  Almost anything by Anthony de Mello, S.J., is worthwhile; my favorite collection is The Song of the Bird, which includes several of the parablelike stories told in this book. Hearts on Fire, edited by Michael Harter, S.J., is a short compendium of Jesuit prayers penned since the time of Ignatius. Ron Hansen’s novel on Gerard Manley Hopkins, Exiles, makes a natural companion to Paul Mariani’s scholarly biography of the poet. Speaking of Hopkins, read his poems “God’s Grandeur,” “The Windhover,” and “In Honor of St. Alphonsus Rodríguez,” as a way of getting to know this great Jesuit artist.

  Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow is a popular science-fiction novel that imagines Jesuits in the near future exploring another planet. The films The Mission and Blackrobe provide good ways of beginning to understand the Jesuit missionary tradition: the first one is based on the South American “reductions”; the second, more loosely, on the lives of the North American martyrs, specifically St. Isaac Jogues.

  The Web site jesuit.org, run by the U.S. Jesuits, offers a wealth of resources on Jesuit and Ignatian topics, and sacredspace.ie, run by the Irish Jesuits, provides daily prayer meditations in the Ignatian tradition.

  TWO THEOLOGICAL TOPICS

  There are two specific theological topics touched upon briefly in this book, which, if treated fully, would have taken up several hundred more pages—at least: the existence of God and the “problem of suffering.” One useful overview on the “proofs” or “arguments” for the existence of God can be found in the magisterial A History of Philosophy, by Frederick Copleston, S.J., which covers the major theological arguments for God, including, most notably, those of St. Anselm and St. Thomas Aquinas. A more focused and user-friendly look at that specific question is contained
in The One and the Many, by W. Norris Clarke, S.J. The “problem of suffering,” and how it is approached in the Old and New Testaments, is lucidly presented in Why Do We Suffer? by Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. Created for Joy, by Sidney Callahan, provides a broad overview of Christian theologies on suffering.

  MORE BY THE AUTHOR

  In Good Company tells the story of my move from the corporate world to the Jesuit novitiate. This Our Exile recounts two years working with refugees in East Africa as a Jesuit scholastic. Becoming Who You Are speaks about vocation and how desire plays a role in becoming our “true selves.” A Jesuit Off-Broadway tells of six months working with a theater company and includes a brief history of “Jesuit theater.” And My Life with the Saints focuses on holy men and women who have been influential and inspiring to me, including three Jesuits: St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Pedro Arrupe, and—who else?—St. Ignatius Loyola.

  Index

  The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific passage, please use the search feature of your e-book reader.

  Abandonment to Divine Providence (de Caussade), 285

  Addictive behaviors, 65–66

  Agnostics/atheists, 34–36, 54; author Martin and, 37–38; desire for God and, 63–64; the Examen as “prayer of awareness” for, 101; Ignatian spirituality and, 28; “secular saint,” 35; story of the atheist caught in the flood, 35–36; suffering, question of, 38, 39, 54; totalitarianism and, 45

  Allen, Woody, 228

  America, 278, 280, 286, 288, 348

  Amos: 3:3, 116

  Anger, 123–24

  Aquinas, St. Thomas, 44, 162, 163, 180

  Aristotle, 140

  Armchair Mystic (Thibodeaux), 113

  Arrupe, Pedro, S.J., 51, 195, 198, 211–12, 218–19, 274, 300, 364