The teachings of Saint Ignatius are still valid for living and interpreting today’s world

The International Congress held these days in Córdoba has shown that the teachings of Saint Ignatius are still valid for living and interpreting today’s world. The program has approached the figure of Saint Ignatius from three fundamental lines: a presentation of his life; a reflection on a main key to his spirituality, discernment; and an approach to concrete testimonies of how to live discernment as a way of life in the Church.

The International Congress on Saint Ignatius of Loyola has been organized by the Cathedral Chapter of Cordoba and the Diocese of Cordoba in collaboration with Loyola University and the Society of Jesus.

During it, the figure of Saint Ignatius has been presented in various papers that have gone through different stages of their lives since the moment of their conversion at Loyola, to Rome, passing through Manresa and Paris, as well as through other more concise papers that tried to present the main keys of his life and the updating of his figure. There was also a time to reread the figure of Saint Ignatius in parallel to that of Saint John of Ávila, as two renovators of the Church of their time.

In these presentations it became clear several fundamental points of the life of Ignatius: his integrating spirituality that allowed him to see a complex and ambiguous world as a place called by God; the ability to face situations of ambiguity in the mission from discernment; the importance in shaping his person of his studies in Paris, and the importance of recognizing his own fragility, as a key to updating his spirituality.

The different interventions have shown that the great treasure that Ignatian spirituality offers us is discernment, which, being an original concept of Saint Paul, he systematizes and makes accessible. It is also necessary to avoid an indiscriminate use of the term so as not to devalue it. But it has become clear from the Congress that discernment, as a trait of Christian life in Saint Ignatius, becomes an accessible and concrete method that allows listening to the Holy Spirit and his calls to follow him. As a method it illuminates the life of the Church and gives keys to live many ecclesial tasks and realities.

Finally, through some In a presentation and several round tables, concrete examples of life and action in the Church from discernment have been reviewed: in the leadership of organizations, in the educational world, family ministry, the social apostolate or the world of health. Discernment is listening to the Spirit who can call us along unsuspected paths beyond all prejudice or preconceived ideas. It requires courage and detachment from certainties and provides unusual creativity to the life of the Church. Those who live in the church from Discernment, which puts the call of Christ and the mission at the center, can live with an enormous freshness and previous openness. These allow them to discover ways to adequately attend to realities on the peripheries of the church that would cause blockage or paralysis in those who rely more on preconceived ideas.

In short, it has been seen as Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Ignatian spirituality are not an echo of the pastbut they are a gift from the Lord for the Church that helps today’s Christian to serve the mission of Christ better by following the paths that the Spirit indicates.