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"Remember, I am with you always to the end of the age" (Mt 28:20)

On Prompt and Blind Obedience: To the Jesuits in Roman Houses, Rome, August 24, 1550


Ignatius personally ordered that this directive on obedience be sent to all the Jesuit houses in Rome. The obedience that he expected from his sons was to be prompt and blind. The basic idea expressed in this instruction is likewise enshrined in the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus, Part VI, chap. 1. The original directive was written in Italian [Ep. 3:156-157].

Our reverend Father Master Ignatius wishes for God's greater glory and the greater spiritual progress of all of Ours (as he has already partly declared in other ordinances), that in the future, when his reverence or father minister summons anyone, whether he be a priest or not, or the subminister calls one who is not a priest, they should all answer the call at once, as though it was the voice of Christ our Lord, and practice this obedience in the name of His Divine Majesty. In this way obedience should be blind and prompt. If one is at prayer, he should leave his prayer. If he hears the voice of his superior, or rather the voice of Christ our Lord, when he is writing and has begun a letter, say A or B, he should not wait to finish it.

In like manner, if he happens to be with anyone at all, even a prelate (supposing he owes him no obedience), he should come if he is called by any of his superiors. Should one be called who happens to be taking some bodily refreshments of any kind, whether he be at table or in bed, or busy with an invalid, serving a drink or a medicine, or engaged in a service which could not be interrupted without harm to the patient, such as helping to bleed him, or should he be going to confession or about to receive Communion, or hearing the confessions of others, if a priest, in all such cases he should send word to the superior and ask whether he wishes him to leave his meal, or his bed, or whatever else it may happen to be.

Given at Rome, August 24, 1550.
1. Such unhesitating obedience does not originate with Ignatius; it is part of the monastic tradition. In the fifth chapter of his Rule, Saint Benedict exhorts his monks to "lay down whatever they had in hand, leaving it unfinished."
I. In July 1521, a 30-year-old Basque knight, named Iñigo was brought home to recuperate after his cannonball experience in the battle of Pamplona—his watershed moment. The wounds on his lower limbs led to the first long lockdown in his life, about nine months, during which he read a life of Christ and a book on the lives of the saints, the only reading matter the Loyola castle afforded. He also killed time by recalling tales of martial valor and by day-dreaming about a great lady who captured his heart. Later when he was out of mortal danger, his attention was centered on the saints. This profoundly moved and attracted him that soon after he had barely recovered he resolved to do something about his many sins. To fulfill this he must embark on a journey towards conversion. He followed the holy austerities of the saints, eg Francis of Assisi, Onuphrius of Egypt and Dominic, that God sent as his first spiritual guides in his lifelong task towards holiness.
II. "That mission has its fullest meaning in Christ, and can only be understood through him. At its core, holiness is experiencing in union with Christ, the mysteries of his life… The contemplation of these mysteries, as St Ignatius of Loyola pointed out, leads us to incarnate them in our choices and attitudes" (Gaudete et Exsultate—Rejoice and Be Glad 20).

St Ignatius of Loyola by Peter Paul Rubens c. 1622
III. "This spiritual poverty is closely linked to what St Ignatius of Loyola calls 'holy indifference', which brings us to a radiant interior freedom: 'We need to train ourselves to be indifferent to our attitude to all created things, in all that is permitted to our free will and not forbidden’ so that on our part, we do not set our hearts on good health rather than bad, riches rather than poverty, honour rather than dishonour, a long life rather than a short one, and so in all the rest" (Gaudete et Exsultate—Rejoice and Be Glad 69).

St Ignatius's Examen Prayer

THE EXAMEN PRAYER at the Center for Ignatian Spirituality Philippines [www.cisphil.org]

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