Ben O.
Summary:
The document opens with a brief explanation of the goal of the book, to serve as a four week plan to become more spiritually pure and connected with God and gain salvation. Next it goes on to establish the fist principal of the exercises which is detachment form all temporal created things. This selection then prints the addendum to the book, “Rules for thinking with the Church”. Here Ignatius defines rules for thinking that are congruent with salvation. He stresses agreeing with the traditional church in all their decisions and doctrines, dismisses clerical marriage, praises the doing of good works, and praises the veneration of saints and building of churches. He ends the document by saying that predestination discussion is dangerous and should be avoided when possible, again stressing total church obedience.
Analysis:
In the opening portion of this piece Loyola defines the mission of the book he is writing. He wants for “The Spiritual Exercises” to be like physical exercise for the soul. The first important task is to free the mind from unnecessary attachments to the created world. Ignatius takes a fairly extreme view on this, “we must make ourselves indifferent to all created things, as far as we are allowed free choice and are not under any prohibition...we Should not prefer health to sickness, riches to poverty, honor to dishonor, a long life to a short life. The same holds for all other things.”(371) These spiritual exercises and guides were to serve as a kind of workout plan with the goal being salvation rather than fitness.
In the second part of this document Ignatious Loyola was reacting to Protestant criticisms of the church and its practices. He emphasizes the absolute authority of the church repeatedly in this document, in a way doubling down on commitment to church authority. A great quote exemplifying this is “What seems to me to be white, I will believe black if the hierarchical church so defines.” (372) In addition to this he also goes on at length to reaffirm certain church practices such as the recognition and importance of the sacraments, the importance of mass, the veneration of saints, and the importance of the building and lavish decoration of churches. Also stressed is the importance of works in salvation, one of the most fundamental differences between Lutheran and Catholic theologies, saying “we ought not to speak of grace at such length and with such emphasis that the poison of doing away with liberty is engendered.”(372)
Summary:
The document opens with a brief explanation of the goal of the book, to serve as a four week plan to become more spiritually pure and connected with God and gain salvation. Next it goes on to establish the fist principal of the exercises which is detachment form all temporal created things. This selection then prints the addendum to the book, “Rules for thinking with the Church”. Here Ignatius defines rules for thinking that are congruent with salvation. He stresses agreeing with the traditional church in all their decisions and doctrines, dismisses clerical marriage, praises the doing of good works, and praises the veneration of saints and building of churches. He ends the document by saying that predestination discussion is dangerous and should be avoided when possible, again stressing total church obedience.
Analysis:
In the opening portion of this piece Loyola defines the mission of the book he is writing. He wants for “The Spiritual Exercises” to be like physical exercise for the soul. The first important task is to free the mind from unnecessary attachments to the created world. Ignatius takes a fairly extreme view on this, “we must make ourselves indifferent to all created things, as far as we are allowed free choice and are not under any prohibition...we Should not prefer health to sickness, riches to poverty, honor to dishonor, a long life to a short life. The same holds for all other things.”(371) These spiritual exercises and guides were to serve as a kind of workout plan with the goal being salvation rather than fitness.
In the second part of this document Ignatious Loyola was reacting to Protestant criticisms of the church and its practices. He emphasizes the absolute authority of the church repeatedly in this document, in a way doubling down on commitment to church authority. A great quote exemplifying this is “What seems to me to be white, I will believe black if the hierarchical church so defines.” (372) In addition to this he also goes on at length to reaffirm certain church practices such as the recognition and importance of the sacraments, the importance of mass, the veneration of saints, and the importance of the building and lavish decoration of churches. Also stressed is the importance of works in salvation, one of the most fundamental differences between Lutheran and Catholic theologies, saying “we ought not to speak of grace at such length and with such emphasis that the poison of doing away with liberty is engendered.”(372)