At the beginning of the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius Loyola, he presents us with his Principle and Foundation – a text that, as the title indicates, forms the foundational concept for the Exercises and is itself a basis for prayerful reflection.
This series of blog posts adapts the Spiritual Exercises for a pilgrimage (such as the Camino) and for other ways of growing spiritually following the insights of Ignatius.
Here are previous posts in this series – a good place to start:
How to Pray Like a Pilgrim – Camino Lessons from St Ignatius Loyola
Soul of my Saviour
Spiritual Exercises – 19th Annotation Pilgrimage
The beginning of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola [1491-1556]
1954 literal translation by Louis J. Puhl, S.J. of Spanish of St. Ignatius:
Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul.
The other things on the face of the earth are created for man to help him in attaining the end for which he is created.
Hence, man is to make use of them in as far as they help him in the attainment of his end, and must rid himself of them in as far as they prove a hindrance to him.
Therefore, we must make ourselves indifferent to all created things, as far as we are allowed free choice and are not under any prohibition. Consequently, as far as we are concerned, we should not prefer health to sickness, riches to poverty, honour to dishonour, a long life to a short life. The same holds for all other things.
Our one desire and choice should be what is more conducive to the end for which we are created.
1978 contemporary paraphrase by David L. Fleming, S.J.:
The goal of our life is to live with God forever. God, who loves us, gave us life. Our own response of love allows God’s life to flow into us without limit.
All the things in this world are gifts from God, presented to us so that we can know God more easily and make a return of love more readily.
As a result, we appreciate and use all these gifts of God insofar as they help us to develop as loving persons.
But if any of these gifts become the center of our lives, they displace God and so hinder our growth toward our goal.
In everyday life, then, we must hold ourselves in balance before all of these created gifts insofar as we have a choice and are not bound by some obligation.
We should not fix our desires on health or sickness, wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short one. For everything has the potential of calling forth in us a more loving response to our life forever with God.
Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to God’s deepening life in me.
On my recent prayerful walking of the Camino pilgrimage, as I prayerfully reflected on this, I wanted to stress two things. I wanted a more overtly ecologically responsible text – Ignatius, nowadays, I’m convinced wouldn’t want us to simply treat creation as if it is all there simply for our use. I also wanted to more overtly give it a a pilgrim’s perspective. I came up with:
My more Ecological/Pilgrim Principle and Foundation
We are created out of love, to journey through this life in praise, reverence, and humble service of the Creator, by whom all things exist.
The earth, its creatures, and the rhythms of nature are companions and signs given to guide us on our pilgrimage toward deeper union with God.
We are called to walk lightly upon the earth, to cherish it as sacred, and to discern in all things the invitation to love more deeply.
All things – sunlight, rivers, animals, technology, cities – are given to help us respond freely to God’s love. We are to use them in so far as they aid our journey, and to set them aside when they obstruct the flourishing of life.
Our fundamental stance is not possession but gratitude, not exploitation but wonder, not mastery but companionship. In all things, we seek the greater good of all creation and the glory of the Creator.
Thus, as pilgrims, we journey – open-handed, open-hearted -praising God in the life in which we belong.
On a recent retreat day that I was leading, I encouraged people to use these three texts (above) as inspiration for writing their own Principle and Foundation for their life. I also stressed that my ecological/pilgrim approach isn’t simply about pie in the sky when we die by and by but the purpose of life is present each day, and in fact in every moment.
I encourage you also to produce your own Principle and Foundation, and hope what is written here may help to inspire you.
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