Spirituality

(Foreword about the author of this piece, Fr. Hugo Rahner.) BY birth Father Hugo Rahner is a native of Baden (Germany) where he was born in May 1900. At the age of nineteen he entered the Upper German Province of the Society of Jesus. For many years, both as a student and as a professor of Patrology and Church History, his name has been closely linked with Innsbruck in the Austrian Tyrol, where in addition to his teaching he has held two important administrative posts, that of Rector of the University, and Dean of the Faculty of Theology. In scholarly circles, both in Europe and in America, Fr. Rahner’s reputation is one of wide and genuine esteem. The books, the many monographs and articles which have appeared under his name have solidly established him as a theological thinker of originality of depth.

Always “the More” and “the Better” WE shall start with the fundamental fact that all apostolic forces at work in the nascent Society of Jesus can be explained by the Spiritual Exercises that book authored by St. Ignatius, which has left its impress upon history. This small volume is a remarkable summary of all those forces which made the Founder of the Society of Jesus a saint of the Church even in his own day. The life of St. Ignatius discloses that basic Christian phenomenon, clearly traceable in the documents, which is at the very heart of the life of grace and which emanates from Christ Himself; the new and constant transition from the good to the better that takes place in the individual human heart and soul is the driving force of Christian ‘discontent’ something of that fire which never says: “It is enough.” It is a perception experienced only in a conversion of seismic proportions – one which results in the transformation of a man’s whole life into nothing less than a passion for what is always the greater. It is the insight, which preserves the creative, the compelling force inherent in the Christian message. Theologically we can …

United under Christ’s Standard AT the outset of his own conversion to God the first realization that struck St. Ignatius was an insight into the secret conflict between the spirits that direct and determine all history, an insight into the struggle between Christ and Satan. In a gripping and sharply defined illumination Ignatius discerned that some terrible force is at large in the world, but first and last in the depths of the human soul. His autobiography has this to say of his experience: “In this way he gradually came to distinguish between the spirit of Satan and the spirit of God. This was the first discovery he made about divine things. Later on, after making the Spiritual Exercises, he began to draw light from this experience for his teaching on the discernment of spirits.” The Sodality, then, is an association of souls who, like Ignatius, realize that, though it is in the disguise of purely visible earthly, political and social affairs, there is a secret struggle of tremendous consequence taking place in this world: the struggle between Christ and Satan, the epic drama of Redemption from the death of Our Lord to His visible and second coming. The Sodality …

Bearing His Likeness THE second thing which St. Ignatius perceived from the very beginning was the burning realization that they alone can claim the victory in this battle who want to distinguish themselves in the service of Christ the King. To do this they must imitate Christ in the way He chose, which is victory by means of the Cross. When in the Exercises Ignatius has Christ the King say: “It is My will to conquer the whole world and all My enemies, and thus to enter into the glory of My Father”, then Ignatius’ immediate yet amazing conclusion is this: “Those who wish to give greater proof of their love, and to distinguish themselves in the service of their eternal King and Lord of all…will act against their sensuality and carnal and worldly love.” The corollary to this joyous and noble self- surrender, this offering of loyal service beneath the Standard of Christ the King, is the insight that Christ’s victory must begin in the depths of one’s own soul. First of all, we must be victorious in defending the frontiers of our own hearts if we would fight side by side with Christ in His conquest of the …

True Zeal Born of Generosity ALMOST automatically the third insight stems from the first and second. The soul that has denied itself even to the measure of selfless service, even to the desired identification with the Crucified, takes its place among those who are no longer deaf but “prompt” and “loving”. This is to say that always and without reservation they are at the disposal of their King and those words of the First Week are ever on their lips: “What ought I to do for Christ?” Here we find that readiness for apostolic action born of an interior life characterized by a Christ-loving self-denial, an entirely new receptiveness for world-wide co-operation in the redemptive work of Christ in the battle against the standard of Satan.

At One with the Hierarchy WHAT we have thus far said still requires further clarification. The Exercises conclude with the rules “to foster the true attitude of mind which we ought to have in the Church militant (= serving Church)”. This is no accident. If it is to be and to remain authentic, this passion for a limitless love of Christ must be given direction, controlled, so to speak, by God’s salvific will visible in His Church. The more of the willingness to serve and the readiness for greater things must be tested. Obedience to the hierarchical Church and humble, ordinary service in the visible Church constitute the infallible test. Our enthusiasm for Christ must be governed by the concrete demands of our everyday apostolic life. ‘To help souls’ – for Ignatius and his first companions that meant, precisely because of the strength of their enthusiasm, a sober service in the Church of the Pope of Rome threatened by so many storms (as it was) and burdened with so many needs. They united to form a new Order. For they realized that all apostolic enthusiasm must take definite form, if it is to endure, that the more of their ardent …

LET us say one more word about the place of devotion to Mary in the Sodality. By design we have throughout our paper put the Marian element in last place. Our reason was this. We desired to trace the inner structure of the Sodality back to its source, that is, the fundamental truths of the Spiritual Exercises. We were anxious to define first the theological and then the psychological background against which devotion to Mary assumes great importance and a new significance. Through this approach we found it more easy to avoid the pitfalls into which very recent writers on the Sodality have sometimes fallen, namely the controversy concerning what place devotion to Mary should hold, which can so readily become a pseudo-problem.

A Sermon Outline by Rev. Fr. Joseph Mary Gill, S.J. Director of the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Patrick THIS Word was made Flesh! This Word is the 2nd Person of the Holy Trinity! This Word now lies as a puny Thing as a little Thing as a very small Thing It lies under the heart of a mortal mother not possessing even the free use of its senses It lies there depending on each heart-beat of its mother depending on every breath she draws. This Word is reduced like every human infant, to a state of extreme lowliness and utter helplessness. “He emptied Himself” says Paul. “He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men. Though He was in the form of God JESUS did not count equality with God as a thing to be grasped And being found in human form He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death even death on a cross.” (Phil. ii 6-8) No Exaggeration this, but sober truth The Word was made flesh The Creator became His own creature The source of all being and life becomes a weak image of Himself. Infinite …

In this sketchy outline wherein we have attempted to derive from the Spiritual Exercises the spiritual significance of the Sodality we might further show, and with profit, how a reconsideration of the Sodality’s origins can provide a constantly new revitalization of any Sodality. Wherever a Sodality has returned to its first beginnings (its first spirit), an amazing new life appears. Just as the Exercises moulded men in the Society of Jesus who have experienced through the discernment of spirits a titanic battle between Christ and Satan; men who have understood through their identification with the crucified Christ that victory in this battle belongs only to those who follow Jesus in a spirit of prayer and total self-denial; men who come from their retreat fired for every type of service on behalf of their King, who want to conquer the whole world; men who know how to concretise their enthusiasm through a brave and a humble surrender to the Church; – so the authentic Sodality must mould Christians who, filled with a holy discontent, are ardent followers of the Cross and valiant servants of the Church. Their ideal is Our Lady who has crushed the serpent’s head, who stood beneath the …