Ignatius of Loyola’s literary work as an expression of his experience in life and spirituality

Abstract

The paper compares key life and spiritual experiences of St. Ignatius of Loyola with his literary works (the Spiritual Exercises, Constitutions and Spiritual Diary). It primarily focuses on events that influenced the “birth of a mystic” especially his stays in Loyola, Manresa and by the river of Cardoner. The paper also discusses a phenomenological description and interpretation of Ignatius’ spiritual metaphors and parables (God’s soldier – knight, life as a spiritual struggle, vocation as the call of the King, Christian life as a choice of Christ’s robe and its adornments). What is typical for Ignatius is that he radically shifted and spiritualized the semantics of this “secular” images. There is a spiritual theme that runs through Constitutions and which is based on a motif of spiritual love and not fear or discomfort. In Spiritual Diary Ignatius moves from spiritual metaphors and seeks new words to describe his mystical experience.