M2L2 | The 1st Principle and Foundation of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Reflect on How we are Created to Praise, Revere, and Serve God, and How the Things in our lives Help us to Pursue that End - What is the main goal of the First Principle and Foundation?

To Live with God Forever - What is the goal of our life?

Love - God who loves us, gave us life. Our own response of ____ allows God’s life to flow into us without limit.

Appreciate and use all these gifts insofar as they help us develop as loving persons - All the things is this world are gifts of God, presented to us so we can know God more easily and make a return of love more readily. As a result we…?

Balance - But if any of these gifts become the center of our lives, they displace God and hinder our growth toward our goal. In everyday life then, we must hold ourselves in _ before all of these created gifts insofar as we have a choice and are not bound by some obligation.

Everything has the potential of calling forth in us a deeper response to our life in God - Why should we not fix our desires on health or sickness, wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short one?

I want and I choose what better leads to the deepening of God’s life in me - Our only desire and our one choice should be this.

Themes - At the end of Lesson 2, students will be able to: Recognize the in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

Purpose of Existence - At the end of Lesson 2, students will be able to: Examine one’s _ __ _ oriented to the 1st Principle and Foundation

Grateful and Generous - At the end of Lesson 2, students will be able to: Pursue a _ and _ heart in their everyday life.

Principle & Foundation: Ignatian Spirituality in a Nutshell

The Purpose of our Life in God and How We’re Supposed to Live it - What does the first principle and foundation tell us?

God’s Love - All the things in this world are created because of and they become a context of gifts, presented to us so we can know God more easily and make a return of love more readily.

Reverence - As a result, we show for all the gifts of creation and collaborate with God in using them so by being good stewards, we develop as loving persons in our care of God’s world and its development.

We break our relationship with God and hinder our growth as loving persons - But if we abuse any of these gifts of creation or take them as the center of our lives, what happens?

Sharing Life with God - The purpose of our life is this. Louis Savary states it this way: Bringing all creation together into one magnificent, conscious, loving union

(True) Our purpose is not to “get to heaven” though that phrase essentially means that sharing and union. The crux of this union is community oriented. It’s not just about God and me, but about God, me, and all creation.

(True) I’m called to be in communion with my family, those who are different from me, and even animals and the environment.

Gifts - All that is given to us by God are _ that ought to help us to our end goal.

Gifts - “Here, I’m offering you theses things, these gifts. Use them in ways that help you love better.”

“Do I substitute the good of creation for the God of Creation?” - What is the central question of the First Principle and Creation?

Indifference - Ignatius calls us to an _ before all created things, in other words, to not cling to one gift or another.

Growing as Loving Persons - What is the trajectory the spiritual life the P&F is trying to convey?

The Examen - It’s a prayer habit that sets us on this trajectory. It helps us ask daily questions: How am I using God’s gifts of creation? How am I growing as a loving person?

The Examen - It also tunes us into how our daily choices, big and small, contribute to our growing closer in union with God and creation. We’re reminded that our daily lives matter.

(True) Our daily lives matter to God! We should have a growing sense of being loved as we are, being called to share our gifts, to love more boldly and to be more free.

To be Free to Choose to Love - The P&F reveals that God wants us to be?

A Recognition of God’s Gifts, A Loving Response to these Gifts, A Freedom that Doesn’t Allow Any Particular Gift to Take the Place of God, and How All Our Choices are Informed by Our Life’s Purpose - Using the wisdom of the P&F, one can say that Ignatian Spirituality is all about?