Ignatian Obedience in the Light of the Spiritual Exercises

New Jesuit
Review


2010


Vol. 1, No. 3


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Ignatian Obedience in the Light of the Spiritual Exercises


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by Fr. Andrew Garcia, S.J.


Andrew Garcia, S.J., is the spiritual director of the regional seminary in Naples, Italy.

St. Ignatius, in his letter addressed to the Jesuit community in Portugal (March 26, 1553) says that Jesuits may allow themselves to be surpassed by other religious orders in fasts, vigils and other austerities, but those who serve in the Society of Jesus must distinguish themselves in the purity and perfection of obedience. He stresses that obedience is the virtue in which all Jesuits should excel and it should be characteristic of them. Underscoring the great importance of obedience, he writes:

Although in all virtues and spiritual graces I desire perfection from all of you, it is true (as you have heard from me in other occasions) that in God our Lord, I desire that you, in more than any other virtue, excel especially in obedience…

He concludes the letter with a final exhortation desiring that obedience should be observed as if the whole welfare of the Society depended upon it.

The Constitutions of the Society resonate with the same exigencies of obedience. Using examples of obedience taken from monastic tradition, Ignatius notes that a Jesuit should be like a cadaver that can be handled and disposed of at will, or that he should be like the walking cane of an old man, ready to help him in any way that he chooses. All should take care in obeying not only in things where obedience is expected, but also where there is the slightest hint of the Superior’s will -- making the Superior’s will one’s own. In obeying, one should have first and foremost the Lord before his eyes, obeying as if the order came from the voice of the Lord himself, “most especially placing all our efforts in the virtue of obedience, first and foremost to the sovereign Pontiff” (Cons 547). The germ of this special and particular obedience to the Pope finds its origin at Montmartre where St. Ignatius and his first companions desired and sought to wholly offer their services to God.

In the rules of the Spiritual Exercises dealing with Holy Mother Church (Ex 352, 365), he writes that one must be willing and ready to obey in everything the true spouse of Christ Our Lord, being ready to believe black what one sees white if the hierarchical Church determines it thus. This is the most perfect obedience, that of the understanding and can also be called “blind obedience.”

The various degrees of obedience and the variety of examples Ignatius used to elaborate upon it, both in the letter on obedience and in the Constitutions, demonstrate that he had carefully thought over and discerned what the nature of Ignatian obedience was to be. In fact, the famous letter on obedience was not the first of its kind. There were three letters dealing with the matter of obedience that preceded it. These letters were sent on July 29, 1547, to the college of Gandia, then six months later on January 14, 1548. Another letter was sent to the college of Coimbra, then once again on March 27, 1548 to Fr. Andrés Oviedo. Five more years passed when finally the definitive letter on obedience issued forth from the hand of Ignatius on March 26, 1553.

The theme of obedience is one that runs through many of Ignatius’ important writings, from the most pressing letters that he produced in Rome to the composing of the Constitutions of the Society itself. Indeed, the very fact that he thought that the whole well-being of the Society depended upon obedience makes it quite clear that it is a fundamental component of Ignatian spirituality. As such, it is of no slight value to examine the origin and development of his idea of obedience. However, to undertake such a task, one must necessarily begin from the font of all Ignatian spirituality, that is, the Spiritual Exercises. They are the distilled fruit of the mystical experiences and spiritual graces received by Ignatius. As such, the Spiritual Exercises can be viewed as a type of “Rule” of Ignatian spirituality. Therefore, any study of Ignatian obedience ought to find its primary source in the Spiritual Exercises. A more detailed study should include the Trinitarian and Marian dimension of Ignatian obedience. However, the scope of this brief paper is limited to an examination of the general nature of Ignatian obedience in its Christological dimension in the light of the Spiritual Exercises. The paper will be divided into two basic sections: the first dealing with the idea or “spirit” of Ignatian obedience and the second dealing with the praxis or “incarnation” of it.

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