Ignatian spirituality

Hi, I'm trying to figure out posterous. I am following the directions and sending an email but I don't know which page it will go to.

I'm Kris, an Episcopal priest. I first encountered Ignatian Spirituality at a conference for people working with youth in the church (probably about 10 years ago). We were introduced to 'Sleeping with Bread,' a book, and the presenter explained how he used it with teens.

Later I found the Irish Jesuit site www.sacredspace.ie and I used it for a few years, exploring all the facets and explanations on the site.

Both of these, the 'Sleeping with Bread' and the Sacred Space site are my only exposure to Ignatian Spirituality. I have used both of them, sometimes one, sometimes the other, sometimes both. I also like Anglican prayer beads.

I would really like to hear more about how Anglican spirituality and Ignation spirituality might mesh. I hear frequently from other clergy and lay people, on how Benedictine Spirituality meshes with Anglican so well for them. And it just doesn't work for me at all. I have an acquaintance who is a Franciscan oblate, but that doesn't feel like my way either.

So, please speak on how the two work together and enlighten me.

8 months ago ruthlin responded:

I hope this works because I didn't manage to post a response through the posterous site!

I really like that story about St. Ignatius that you shared. I particularly like the idea that, while the traditional ways of the church - in this case confession - are important and can often provide us with a path, ultimately we need to navigate a path that works for us, that allows us to live our lives to God's glory. Sometimes, traditions and expectations hinder that pursuit and we need to be empowered to recognize when that is the case.

As for the idea that Ignatian spirituality is a sort of "passionate indifference," I think I get what you mean and I think I agree, but I wouldn't word it that way. I am more inclined to think of a level of detachment rather than indifference. After all, Ignatius clearly loved the church - and he'd have needed at least fifteen minutes to mourn its disintegration! - but he recognized that everything here on earth is secondary to the love of God. His detachment was passionate inasmuch as it reflected a deeply experienced love of God, the only true and the only safe object of our love.

I only skimmed the link provided on Anglican spirituality, but it reminded me of another reason for my interest in the Ignatian tradition. The introduction described the Anglican tradition as refusing to differentiate between Catholic and Protestant. That is hugely important for me. I was raised outside of the church altogether, but I have always felt close to the Catholic tradition. My mother was raised Catholic and trained as a social worker in the terms of Catholic social teaching, and she passed on those values. Moreover, I have a deep love of the history and traditions of the Catholic church and find it tragic that so many Protestant traditions think nothing of losing it. I love that our worship is catholic and that we acknowledge that. Granted, the worship in my parish is decidedly "High Church" and I know it's not like that everywhere, but many Protestant churches won't even acknowledge their Catholic roots! That's nuts! And I think it leads to bad theology, because people end up paying too much attention to what they are not.

But although I am pleased that the Episcopal church has offered me a way in which I can be catholic without being Catholic, I still feel the loss of certain things very acutely, especially as regards the saints who post-date the Reformation. Thank goodness we celebrate Francis of Assisi and Julian of Norwich, but we have a shared history that continued after the sixteenth century, despite the often narrow histories we tell. So much of the Christian story in the west after the reformation has been framed in terms of the Catholic/Protestant divide, and I feel drawn to incorporating stories and traditions we have too often excluded.

Sorry that was quite rambling!

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Ignatian spirituality