Ignatius Loyola and You

As the author himself points out, “The unreflective life, Socrates tells us, is not worth living. An unreflective Christian life seems almost a contradiction in terms. And yet many Christians live lives that are so taken up with so many tasks that they are almost devoid of reflection on life itself and on its meaning.” Our lives may indeed need transforming, but what would such a transformation demand? What would it look like? Replete with reflective questions at the end of each chapter, this book looks at the six transformations of Ignatius Loyola throughout his life as a vivid example of what such transformations might mean for our own lives. From Basque adolescent to Spanish courtier, from courtier to knight, from knight to penitent, from penitent to pilgrim, from pilgrim to student, from student to founder of a new religious order, and finally to the last stages of a long mystical transformation, Ignatius’s life comes alive with Jensen’s engaging and easy-to-read style. Throughout the book, Jensen weaves various aspects of Ignatius’s life with specific elements of his Spiritual Exercises. The book also dispels some of the myths and misrepresentations surrounding Ignatius Loyola (i.e.: that he was a Spaniard, that he was a professional soldier, that he had little education, that the Spiritual Exercises were derived purely from his personal mystical experiences, or that he was not really one of the great mystics). Should the reader wish to dig even deeper into Ignatius’s life of transformation, an annotated bibliography at the end serves as a helpful guide for continued reading.Eric Jensen SJ