From the Provincial's Desk

Human beings are created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord,
and by means of doing this to save their souls.

Principle and Foundation, The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius

You will find in this issue of Ignatian Imprints, our cover story on the “Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius” (page 10). The Exercises are truly a touchstone for my life. It would be difficult to imagine a day in which I didn’t reflect on one or another aspect of the Exercises.

The Exercises are a spiritual journey, inviting one to reflect on the fundamental truths of living a Christian life - among those truths that creation is an act of love, that we humans have the enormous responsibility of stewardship of God’s creation, that life is a constant struggle between good and evil, and ultimately that we surrender ourselves to God’s loving heart. If Ignatian spirituality is contemplation and action, then the Exercises represent that interiority, that contemplative dimension. And if we are grounded in that contemplation, that interior awareness of God, our actions become more Christ-like. God is at work in the world and wants us to enjoy the fullness of creation. God wants us to live in community, in humility and solidarity, with those less fortunate.

The articles in this issue embody these foundational truths. Fr. Bill Rickle, SJ, writes about his experiences with Jesuits in Bolivia. You will read about Sr. Kathleen Woody, GNSH, director of campus ministry at St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia, and Fr. Frank Moan, SJ, and his work with the Jesuit Refugee Service. You will read about the Year of the City project in which Loyola College has been engaged, a college-wide commitment to reflection on what it means to be a Jesuit institution in the context of Baltimore city. And this issue also includes some of the poignant stories about legendary social justice pioneer, Fr. Horace McKenna, SJ.

For Ignatius, prayer is both the times we encounter God in contemplation as well as the times we encounter God in the midst of our actions. Following Christ in humility and selflessness will bring us to that love of God and neighbor that is the fullness of creation.