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The genesis of the spiritual exercises by St. Ignatius Loyola
Roko Prkačin
; Filozofsko-teološki Institut Družbe Isusove u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
The "Spiritual Exercises" of Ignatius Loyola are deeply imbued with the mark of their author. Ignatius wrote them so that his experience would he of use to others.
They are deeply linked with tradition regarding their type and content. Also the hooks which Ignatius Loyola read during the time of his conversion and which influenced the composition of the "Spiritual Exercises" have traditional ecclesiastical spirituality. All this influences Ignatius' religious experience and his writing.
The primary source of the "Spiritual Exercises" is the Holy Scripture to which Ignatius arrived through the reading of other hooks, especially "The Life of Christ" by Rudolf Saxon. The Spiritual Exercises are divided into four weeks according to the mysteries in the life of Christ.
A secondary source of the Spiritual Exercises is the religious experience of Ignatius himself. "This experience" is related to the mysteries of the life of Christ in a dialectic entity. The mystery of the Holy Trinity and Christ's work of redemption are central to Ignatius' spiritual experience.
Thus we can say that the "Spiritual Exercises" are the fruit of the spiritual experience of their author, influenced by interior and exterior factors. Ignatius Loyola decanted the spiritual experience on the basis of the Holy Scriptures into the language of practical exercises. In these he has joined the proclaimed truth in the dynamics of the whole on the basis of the subjective experience of God's work. Therein lies his originality and permanence.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
54373
URI
Publication date:
20.2.1991.
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