Bagging Ignatius Series ’05-‘06

Ignatian Classics

Conversation 2
 
 

 

 

 

 


Presented by Howard Gray, S.J.

October 20th, 2005

DeGuibert’s The Jesuits: Their Spiritual Doctrine and Practice

A Historical Study [Chicago, 1964:  Loyola University Press]

 

Introduction.  Last month we viewed an interpretation of Ignatian culture, John W. O’Malley’s The First Jesuits, which has become a contemporary classic. O’Malley’s work emphasized the ministry of the early Jesuits. His thesis was what the Jesuits did helped them to understand what they were. If you also believe that what the Jesuits were becoming was God working through them and within them, then what O’Malley offers is also a ”take” on Ignatian spirituality. If you further pressed me to explain what that “take” was, then I would quote Jerome Nadal, clearly a hero in O’Malley’s galaxy. Nadal explained the Jesuit way of proceeding as one that was “Spiritu, corde, et practice.”

 

This afternoon we are taking a look at another classic, earlier than O’Malley’s work, different from O’Malley’s in its origin, its methodology, its thesis; however, an important study that prepared the way for O’Malley’s work.

 

I.                   How is The Jesuits organized? It has four major parts:  (1) Saint Ignatius [Cc. 1-4]; (2) The Development in History [Cc. 5-12]; (3) Some General Aspects [Cc. 13-16]; and (4) To Serve with Christ Jesus.

 

II.                De Guibert’s Thesis.  Spirituality focuses on three elements: (1) the interior life of an individual or a group, (2) his/her/their way of directing others in the interior life, and (3) the doctrinal synthesis that emerges from these first two experiences. De Guilbert follows this basic pattern in analyzing the spirituality of the Jesuits. He bases his argument on the interior life of Ignatius as both a singular event of God’s grace and also as a social event that could guide others in the life of the Spirit. That spiritual event was mystical, emphasizing the work of the Trinity, the power of Eucharist, and the human mediation of Christ, Mary, and the saints. Ignatius falls into the category of mystics who were both seraphic [i.e., celebrating the infused gifts of the Spirit as these touched the will] and cherubic [i.e., celebrating the infused gifts of the Spirit as these touch the intellect]. For De Guibert Ignatian spirituality and the Jesuit tradition represent “not a mysticism of introversion turned toward the depth of the soul, that is a mystic union with God but rather a divine activity, which affects the entire person in all bodily and spiritual activity so that he (sic) can devote himself to the service of God.”  Thus the message that God revealed to Ignatius was to dedicate himself to a mysticism of apostolic service rather than a mysticism of transformation and union. Jesus Christ became the great exemplar of what that service entailed.

 

III.       Our Reflections. What are the permanent contributions of De Guibert?                    What are his limitations? How does this synthesize with O’Malley’s         treatment?

 

On the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, October 4, 1542, Favre wrote in his Memoirs (Memoriale):[1] “I was reflecting about the manner of praying well and about different manners of performing good works; also, how the good desires in prayer prepare the way to good desires. I became aware of this and understood it clearly: He who in spirit is seeking God through his good works will find Him later in prayer better than if he had not engaged in these good works. I mean, this is what frequently happens. If we seek God above all in prayer, we find Him later in the good works. Therefore he who seeks and finds the spirit of Christ in good works progresses in a manner much more solid than he who occupies himself only with prayer. I might even say that one who possesses Christ through the practice of good works and one who possesses Him in prayer are like one who possesses Him in fact and one who possesses Him in affection.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          


[1] Memoriale, nos. 126-129, in MonFabri, pp. 554-558.

 

De Guibert, J., The Jesuits: Their Spiritual Doctrine and Practice. Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1964, p. 584.