ship, and representative of a commitment ership and professional achievement, and to social justice, USF extended healthcare enrichment of student learning. benefits to all adults legally domiciled with USF has also witnessed several major Chapter 3: USF employees, establishing USF as the campus improvements since 2000, including first Jesuit Catholic University in the nation the completion of the Koret Law Center to make a health-care commitment to at the School of Law, a new wing (Malloy Introduction same-sex partners, non-married other-sex Hall) for the School of Management, a partners, and financially dependent family major renovation of the oldest academic members. Fr. Privett was also instrumental building on campus (Kalmanovitz Hall), a to Ignatian in securing major gifts underpinning a significant remodeling of the Lone Mountain host of innovative social justice institutes campus, the renovation of Fromm Hall and programs, including the Leo T. (the building that houses our education McCarthy Center for Public Service and programs for retirees), and the building the Common Good, which exemplifies of the John Lo Schiavo, S.J., Center for the mission’s theme of educating for a just Science and Innovation. society, and draws students from a variety Recent years at USF have seen successful Finding in all Things: of academic programs who are interested in fundraising campaigns, endowment A Spirituality for Today service to the poor. Another new institute, growth, development and implementation the Lane Center for Catholic Studies and of outstanding academic programs, growth in Monika K. Hellwig Social Thought, focuses on the insights of student enrollment and diversity, successful Catholic thought on contemporary social recruitment of a diverse and talented faculty problems and on immersion programs to and staff, and promotion of social justice , founder of the largest For young people trying to discern underdeveloped countries. on the international level. Catholic religious order, the Jesuits, has their particular vocations in life, for people In 2006, USF’s commitment to social been attracting widespread attention this at a crucial juncture in their lives who justice in the local and global community year, the five hundredth anniversary of his can make themselves free for thirty days, Thomas Lucas, S.J., served many roles was recognized by the Carnegie Founda- at USF including co-founder and chair birth. Ignatius’s legacy goes far beyond and for those training to direct others, tion for the Advancement of Teaching, of the Art + Architecture Department, the founding of the Jesuits – he launched a complete withdrawal from everyday life which designated USF as one of only 76 director of the Thacher Gallery and distinctive style and tradition of spirituality to some quiet retreat house seems to be a University Professor from 1995 to 2013. community engaged colleges and universities He currently serves as rector of the that is particularly apt for our time. suitable plan. in the nation. USF also earned placement Jesuit Community at Seattle University. But there are many people who can The Spiritual Legacy on the Corporation for National and Com- Alan Ziajka is Associate Vice Provost derive great profit from the experience who munity Service President’s Honor Roll for for Academic Affairs and University of Ignatius could never get away like that. For such Community Service for seven consecutive historian and author of Legacy and people, the extended part-time retreat has Promise: 150 Years of Jesuit Education years. This award recognizes universities of the University of San Francisco, In their basic form, the Spiritual Exercises [of special advantages of its own. Resolutions nationwide that support innovative and University of San Francisco/Association Ignatius] consist of a silent retreat of about and conversions made in withdrawal from of Jesuit University Presses, 2005. effective community engagement pro- thirty days in which four or more hours are one’s ordinary life may look very different grams. In 2012, USF was selected as one given each day to certain prescribed medita- when regular activities and contacts are of five universities in the nation to receive tions. In an alternative form, the Exercises resumed, while those made in the everyday the Higher Education Civic Engagement are spread over a much longer period of time context of life are likely to be more realistic Award from the Washington Center for and are done while a person follows his or and therefore firmer. Internships and Academic Seminars, for her ordinary occupations, making time each When Ignatius set out the pattern its contributions to the community, lead- day for one period of meditation. of meditations for the Exercises, he took

12 13 the content from the basic structure of describes different ways of praying and has then expect some of them to direct several cultivate it. That, of course, is very much Christian beliefs as rooted in the Bible, the exercitant explore ways of most others each so as to spread the influence as the case in our own culture, in which especially in the gospels, often concretized suited to that individual. far as possible. In the course of generations people can live most of their lives without in imagery drawn from the traditions of But perhaps most characteristic of all, and centuries, more tradition has built up ever being confronted with the question his childhood. The material is divided the whole process is geared to conscious- and more training and experience are of the ultimate meaning and purpose of into four sections called “weeks.” The first ness raising of the individual (though that expected of directors. A living tradition their lives. week is focused on the theme of creation, term does not occur in the text), to be alert has been created for which the text is just There are two primary types of prayer including reflections on the nature and to one’s own motivations and inclinations, a rough guideline. Each generation shares and relation to the divine in Christian consequences of various disruptions of the and to learn to discern what is the voice in the cumulative wisdom garnered from tradition. The first, known as via negativa, harmony of creation and the focus and of the Holy Spirit of God and what is the the prayer, reflection, and life experience tries to encounter God by leaving senses, balance of human life by sin. voice of a spirit that is counter to God’s of all the foregoing participants. imagination, and intellect behind to meet Spirit, a spirit of destruction and disori- Out of this living process comes a vigorous, God in the darkness and silence of pure entation. For this, Ignatius thought, it was optimistic, world-affirming spirituality, presence without content. The second, …the whole process is geared necessary to be sensitive to the light of the committed to service but critical at all known as via positiva, tries to encounter to consciousness raising of the Holy Spirit in prayer so as to make appro- times of what is or is not really service for God through the appreciation of what God priate discernments in uncharted situations. the reign of God in the world. does in creation. individual to be alert to one’s These Exercises have been at the foun- Ignatian spirituality emphatically dation of the training of Jesuits. They Grounded in Gratitude chooses the latter as the predominant and own motivations and inclina- have shaped the way this congregation and Reverence ordinary type intended for most people. tions, and to learn to discern of vowed, celibate men (most of whom In that choice lies a directive to cultivate are priests) has run its many schools, has Because it is based in the Spiritual Exercises, visual and other sensory imagination in what is the voice of the Holy carried on a practice of spiritual direction Ignatian spirituality is grounded in intense prayer—contemplating scenes from the of laity, has carried out missions and gratitude and reverence. It begins with gospels by entering into them in one’s Spirit of God and what is the pastored local churches, and has engaged and continually reverts to the awareness of imagination to play a role and to come to voice of a spirit that is counter in social justice issues in far-reaching and the presence and power and care of God a relationship of warm affection with radical ways. everywhere, for everyone, and at all times. and his family, friends, and followers. to God’s Spirit, a spirit of In a similar way, the Exercises have been This sense of a wholly integrated universe, The process seeks to bring about a sense basic in the formation and spirituality of society, and personal life is one that of the attitudes and responses that Jesus destruction and disorientation. a number of congregations of religious certainly still existed in the Spain of would take in situations that do not actually women. Through the Jesuit schools, they Ignatius’s youth, but was rapidly disin- arise in the gospel narratives but do arise in The second week consists of meditations have shaped many generations of young tegrating for most people in his mature our lives. Nothing is more central in Ignatian on the hidden life and public ministry of boys, and through Jesuit colleges and years. In his youth he lived in a culture spirituality than this sense of intimate Jesus, including some very colorful and universities, generations of intellectuals, in which intimacy with God, and a sense companionship with Jesus, and the total dramatic meditations geared to recog- male and female. In their schools and in of belonging and being protected, could service that follows from such intimacy as a nizing and adjusting one’s own stance of their parishes, Jesuits have invited laypeople still be taken for granted, requiring no matter of both gratitude and family loyalty. discipleship. The third week consists of into groups called “Sodalities” (now known special effort or attention on the part of meditations on the passion and death of as Christian Life Communities) for spiritual the individual. Jesus, and the fourth week is given to the formation, support, and apostolic outreach, By the time Ignatius was guiding other events of the resurrection. and have served as spiritual directors. people through the Exercises, the culture Besides offering the subject matter in In his early apostolic outreach, Ignatius did not automatically convey such a sense brief comments and sending the retreatant would direct several people in a town of intimacy with God, so that the indi- back to the texts of scripture, Ignatius through the Spiritual Exercises. He would vidual had to make a deliberate effort to

14 15 A Cultivation of Critical Awareness can be immeasurably better and happier liberating human freedom. In Ignatian What it does mean is that engagement than it now is. spirituality, individuals are taught to expect in such affairs ceases to be profane, A second significant factor in Ignatian and to recognize their own empowerment which means outside the range of the spirituality is the cultivation of a critical Empowerment to Responsibility by grace. religious commitment. All the secular awareness of what is right and wrong in The pattern of this is very much like activities of life are brought into the faith one’s own life and attitudes, one’s society Ignatian spirituality contains within it a that which we find in testimonies of the commitment and are therefore brought and culture, and in specific situations. To strong sense of empowerment to accept Christians of the first and second centu- under scrutiny and evaluation in the light many people of our own time, no matter and exercise responsibility in the work of ries. These Christians wrote that Christ of what is revealed in Christ about the how well disposed in Christian faith, the redemption that is still going on in the had done two things for them: He had meaning and purpose and true orientation idea of repeated meditations on sin, day world. There is much emphasis on the illumined them and he had empowered of all creation. after day, is repugnant. The idea so pervasive surrender of the will and all the faculties them. The empowerment had to do with Redemptive action for justice and peace in our culture that one should always to God—not in a passive sense but rather the clarity with which they now saw in the public affairs of the human race look on the positive side, and that guilt on the model of a hidalgo such as the everything because of the illumination threatens the disproportionate privilege is a manifestation of neurosis, can easily young Ignatius, dedicating (and in that by Christ. of many who call themselves Christians, make Christians uncomfortable with the sense surrendering) his freedom, strength, In our own times of introspective and probably in good faith, but think that this very idea of sin. psychological awareness, it is easy to rec- pertains only to their individual private Yet what happens in the first- ognize this process happening. The more lives. While the vigorous opposition to week meditations on sin is the subtle but A second significant factor clearly we see ourselves in the light of social justice and peace activities in the effective cultivation of imagination and creation, sin, and redemption, the more public realm may be in good faith, it is consciousness. To reflect on the classic in Ignatian spirituality is the encouraged and empowered we are to act in not disinterested. stories of the sin of the fallen angels, the consort with Christ in the transformation The commitment to action and to public sin of Adam, and catastrophic destructive cultivation of a critical aware- and salvation of the world. responsibilities often meets an objection acts in history is not only to experience ness of what is right and wrong of another kind. This is the view that horror and grief, but also to know the A Commitment to Action contemplation is at the heart of religious disappointment over what might have in one’s own life and attitudes, faith, and that contemplation and action been and has not been realized. Combined Directly connected with this is the fourth are incompatible with one another. with the conviction of the unfailing one’s society and culture, and characteristic of Ignatian spirituality: the Contemplation is certainly at the heart power and loving care of God, and in specific situations. focus and insistence on action. This appears of faith, because contemplation means an leading into reflection on the meaning as a theme with many variations. Loyalty is attitude of receptivity, attention, and and impact of the events in the life of expressed in service. Love is appropriately awareness of divine presence and guidance. Jesus, these meditations on sin are also skills, and faculties to the service of his manifested in actions rather than in words. This is beyond question. an invitation to imagine the world and Lord. It implies, therefore, maximum Repentance means action for change. Serious However, Ignatian spirituality refuses one’s own life becoming quite different. ingenuity, diligence, and creativity—all conversion to Christ means commitment of to see contemplation as being in opposition What is rediscovered in the Ignatian at the single-minded service of the Lord’s all one’s resources—material and personal—, to action or incompatible with it. It was approach to spirituality is that the tradi- cause. expenditure of all one’s energies, and said of Ignatius himself in his mature years tional Christian doctrine about the sin The Exercises are geared, among other steady focus of one’s attention. that he seemed to be contemplative in of Adam, also called original sin, is not things, to the experience and recognition One very important consequence of this action. What is seen as incompatible with a message of doom but one of hope. It of grace in one’s own life. They have an is the gradual elimination of the profane contemplation is greed, possessiveness, declares that the world as we have it is not implied understanding of grace not as margins of one’s life. But in Ignatian spir- acquisitiveness, cruelty, indifference to the the best we can hope for, nor the world divine action alongside of human freedom ituality this does not mean that one no needs of others, pride, self-assertiveness, that God intends, but a badly broken and and action, but rather as divine action longer engages in worldly responsibilities and preoccupation with oneself and one’s distorted one which can be restored and empowering human action, divine freedom or in social, economic, and political affairs. public image. But hard work, preoccupation

16 17 with serving the needs of others, and the world is like that—in the context of Holy Spirit, working for an attitude of so forth, are seen as opportunities to be the Exercises, that is plainly untrue. It is detachment from self-interest in making contemplative in action. untrue because God does not intend that decisions, and trying at all times to enter kind of arrangement of human society in into the mind and intentions of Jesus. A Revolutionary Spirituality which so many are excluded. These suffer- When someone does this and gains ings are not divinely made but humanly confidence, tempered by humility, that All of the foregoing leads to the final made. God has not abandoned creation person has a basis for countercultural characteristic of Ignatian spirituality as but reaches out at all times and to all decisions, creative initiatives, and difficult countercultural and revolutionary in a peoples with possibilities and grace for undertakings. But unless an individual has nonviolent way. Much of the reflection in redemption—not, according to the gospels, the focus and the confidence for discern- the Exercises is geared to an effort to share a redemption confined to life beyond ment in uncharted situations, that person the vision of Jesus and understand what he death, but redemption of all aspects of is likely to be a passive obeyer of codes was and is trying to do in the world and human life in this world which we help and commandments, not responding to the its history. to shape for good or for ill. most important commandments of all: to The meditations are very clear in their By these insights and criteria, radical love God with heart and soul and to love implication that the task that Jesus received change is not only possible but necessary, one’s neighbors as oneself. from God is not to save souls out of the not only to be wished for but to be worked world, but to save the world, to refocus for in practical ways, not only an option Monika Hellwig (1929-2005) served as for the remote future but a challenge in President and Executive Director of our present. These attitudes are formed in the Association of Catholic Colleges …radical change is not only the meditations on the passion and death and Universities from 1996-2005. This article originally appeared in possible but necessary… of Christ and those on the resurrection. Sojourners in December 1991. Meditation on the passion and death of Christ has often been proposed as an and reintegrate all creation by drawing the invitation to accept the way things are. But human race back into its proper relationship what is implicit in the Ignatian approach is with God—and therefore proper relation- contrary to this, because it invites attention ships within the human race and all the not only to what Jesus suffered physically, created universe. but to the discernment process that Jesus Such a perspective judges everything went through and the action to which it in terms of what we can know of the led—which in turn provoked bitter perse- divinely intended outcomes. Such a vision cution. This leads to an appreciation of the leads to radical judgments about the way radical nature of the positions Jesus took in we are conducting the affairs of human his own times and to the real impact of his society now. Such a vision certainly does teaching on political and social structures not allow one to take for granted wars; in the long run. poverty; famines; injustices; marginal- Readiness and confidence for personal ization of ethnic, racial, linguistic, or discernment is a key element of Ignatian economic groups; or other unnecessary spirituality, and it is one that is particularly sufferings or deprivations. important in our times. It implies training, One cannot simply say that this is how as well as constant attention in prayer in it is and how it will always be because evaluating actions by the guidance of the

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