Introductory notes for readers of this thesis - Theses - Flinders ...

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opened…he understood and knew many things, both spiritual things and mattersof faith and of learning, and this was with so great an enlightenment thateverything seemed new to him. This was such that in the whole course of his life,through sixty-two years, even if he gathered up all the many things he had hadfrom God and all the many things he knew and added them together, he does notthink they would amount to as much as he received at that one time 15 .During his time at Manresa Iñigo wrote down everything that was helpful to him in hisown spiritual journey in the belief that it might be helpful to others also. These notes werecarried with him, continually being added to and refined, on his subsequent journeys overthe next 15 years—including a successful pilgrimage to the Holy Land and theological16studies in Paris . They became the basis for his Spiritual Exercises, a method ofdirection through which Iñigo was to lead others into a similar descent into transcendenceleading to a life-changing experience of devotion and calling. In practice, the spiritualityof Ignatius, as shaped by his Exercises, is a spirituality of deep silence and reflectionleading to a lifestyle of active contemplation and a seeking of God in all things in thecontext of the everyday and ordinary. Through these Exercises the pilgrimage of Iñigo(who became Ignatius) opened the door to spiritual encounter and adventure for countlessmillions—including the German spiritual theologian, Karl Rahner, who became anarticulate advocate of the benefit of Ignatian spirituality for modern women and men.Spiritual Exercises and Ignatian spiritualityThe Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius are a guide to a process through which each Christianpilgrim can become present to God in Christ in a deeply personal way.The Exercises do not reveal their secrets except to one experiencing themeditations, just as the Scriptures do not disclose their profound meaning exceptto … [people] of deep, interior spirituality…If we give them [the Exercises] amerely cursory reading, they appear to be a catalogue of pious, moral instructionsand do not make a very strong impression upon us, but when we really makethem, they exercise a tremendous power and influence upon the internalconversion of our souls and their growth in the spiritual life. Experienceabundantly testifies to this fact 17 .15 Olin, ed. The Autobiography St. Ignatius of Loyola, 39-40.16 Imhof, Ignatius of Loyola , 51-52; Gleason, The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius , 13-16.17 ‘An anonymous Jesuit’ cited in Hugo Rahner, The Spirituality of St.Ignatius Loyola (Westminster,Maryland: The Newman Press, 1953), 91.33
The outcome of this encounter: the pilgrim is enabled to discern a personal and particularcalling and to engage with the whole of life with a renewed and profoundly Christorientatedvision. Ignatius himself states simply that the purpose of the Exercises is ‘tohelp the exercitant to conquer…[themselves], and to regulate…[their] life so that…[they]will not be influenced in…[their] decisions by any inordinate attachment’ 18 . Understoodin light of the principles and foundations [should these be plural?] of the Exercises, thisemphasis reflects Ignatius’ own personal discovery that Jesus is the way to an authentic,joyful and truly meaningful human existence because human beings arecreated to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means tosave…[their souls]. All other things on the face of the earth are created for…[us]19to help…[us] fulfil the end for which…[we are] created’ .Likewise the call to self-regulation and detachment must also be understood in light ofthe guiding principle, dynamic, and driving force undergirding the Exercises: thecontemplation of divine love20 . This contemplation is not merely evident in the appositelytitled closing meditation; it is the spiritual substance of the whole, clearly revealed inIgnatius’ thought. His meditations on sin and hell lead the exercitant to give thanks andwonder at the mercy of the God who, with ‘great kindness and mercy’, has withheldjudgment and freely offers the gift of repentance and new life 21 .A striking feature of the Exercises is the intensely warm, personal and respectful waythey seek to facilitate an intimate and unique loving encounter with God. In hispreparatory instructions, Ignatius emphasises that spiritual directors need limit their inputto what is strictly necessary: ‘stating the subject matter for the contemplation ormeditation’ with no more than a ‘brief, summary statement of its principal points’. In thisway,18 The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius, 47.19 Ibid., 47.20 Hugo Rahner (elder brother to Karl) considered to be a leading Ignatian scholar of his era, statesemphatically that love is the fundamental motivational force throughout the Exercises and therefore thewhole of any spirituality that expresses itself as ‘Ignatian’. This love expresses itself through the incarnateministry of Jesus, through the loving action of believers in the world, and it is love that guides the believerto make choices in line with God’s intention for his creation. Finally, this love finds its measure in theimmensity of the Father’s love. See The Spirituality of St.Ignatius Loyola, xii.21 See the concluding directions for prayer in relation to the second and fifth exercises of the first week.34
Page 1 and 2: ‘A Spirituality of silence’An i
Page 3 and 4: Chapter 4: The human experience of
Page 5 and 6: Summary of thesis:This thesis offer
Page 7 and 8: The particular angle from which thi
Page 9 and 10: somewhat superseded by more recent
Page 11 and 12: Rahner: I have nothing against that
Page 13 and 14: One brief but notable spiritual inf
Page 15 and 16: dialectic between these two, has le
Page 17 and 18: odies of knowledge, history and alt
Page 19 and 20: superiors, having decided that he w
Page 21 and 22: High School Week, Rahner began his
Page 23 and 24: Earlier in this chapter, Rahner’s
Page 25 and 26: These anecdotes testify that Rahner
Page 27 and 28: As you see, at the top of the carto
Page 29 and 30: Central to Rahner’s thinking is t
Page 31 and 32: Kilby notes that in regard to this
Page 33 and 34: Introduced by Cardinal König to a
Page 35 and 36: influence will continue to spread a
Page 37 and 38: We see from Rahner’s pastoral con
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Page 41: Over a period of days and weeks, th
Page 45 and 46: Modras has pointed out that Ignatiu
Page 47 and 48: Rahner the Ignatian spiritual direc
Page 49 and 50: facilitate this joyful and liberati
Page 51 and 52: Rahner’s often-quoted comment tha
Page 53 and 54: The master of the Exercises in no w
Page 55 and 56: Endean argues that Rahner is interp
Page 57 and 58: The Ignatian Exercises—especially
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Page 61 and 62: their existential encounter, they a
Page 63 and 64: Chapter 3: Spirituality of silence
Page 65 and 66: which the spiritual pilgrim finds t
Page 67 and 68: Lord, to pray my whole life long wi
Page 69 and 70: Encounters with silence: strictures
Page 71 and 72: a long highway filled by a column o
Page 73 and 74: gaze; they prefer to stay safe, ris
Page 75 and 76: This experience is life’s true es
Page 77 and 78: Christians can experience the full
Page 79 and 80: Rahner does not claim for himself t
Page 81 and 82: example, it would limit God to say,
Page 83 and 84: will and love of God: then the diam
Page 85 and 86: Echoes of Ignatius’ Exercises are
Page 87 and 88: Chapter 4: The human experience of
Page 89 and 90: proximity, the silence that leads e
Page 91 and 92: ‘listening to the freely proffere
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approach; he is not arguing against
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must occur in history—time, space
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The most obvious criticism of Rahne
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Schleiermacher: seeking to build a
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and his meditations in Encounters w
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theological method, and the importa
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spirit dancing together in apprecia
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choosing to enter into the mystery
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may be described as a ‘mysticism
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possibilities but without a definit
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theologie) in which Rahner’s prim
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• around the concept and meaning
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knowledge. For we are not saved by
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silent experience of God—is able
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the immanent life of God’ 120 . T
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Investigations much like the biblic
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abandonment to the eternal life in
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Theology of mystery as dynamic chal
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ecause the phonetic sound of the wo
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alone that enables individuals to f
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Chapter 5: Word and sacrament—exp
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The centrality of scripture, and it
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What makes the words of scripture d
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silence. He felt that the movement
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with humanity—his ‘economic’
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Having discerned their revelatory c
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fulfilment in following the absolut
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Rahner’s transcendental perspecti
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toward which it points. God’s wor
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sacramental: a sign in which God’
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In light of the implications of Rah
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who, like mystics, experience such
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The juxtaposition of two articles
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These two interpretations of Rahner
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Rahner advocates that all believers
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The sacrament of the wordIn reflect
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‘theological aesthetics’. With
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Many things in life act as signs th
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Rahner’s dual commitment to recei
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living human being, and each indivi
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The church is sacramental in the se
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spiritual rhythms that trace direct
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the missionary tasks of the Church;
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unhelpful assumptions that diminish
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expressions of mystagogical 142 ini
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Does this lead Rahner into compromi
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) ) an ongoing contemporary influen
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Hosek shifts the soteriological foc
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Is this vision of silent spirituali
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Being in silence as a way of creati
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word of life and hope within them.
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Level 1:PremoralStage 2:Instrumenta
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These new monastics see the local c
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eliefs that have been tried and tes
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of mature theological reflection co
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ecognised in his Christological ass
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inability or unwillingness of the e
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Kanyini—an Australian Aboriginal
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The film Kanyini demonstrates the c
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estless and always in a hurry to ge
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considered the sole and ultimate au
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We define spirituality as a conscio
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supportive conversation with expres
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A glance at table 4 75 (above), Hug
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In the worldview of contemporary Au
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It certainly seems somewhat disinge
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A good starting point for examining
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Christian contemplative-prayer trad
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Of course, a small number of the vi
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For better or for worse, and despit
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energy, intellect, prayer, love and
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Rahner, K. Karl Rahner - Prayers an
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Kelly, G.B. (ed.). Karl Rahner - th
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Van Vorst, B. ‘Kung and Rahner: d
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Harden, J.A. ‘Ignatian Spirituali
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Tyson, P. ‘Contemporary Australia
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