Pope Francis gave his thoughts in a foreword to a recently published book. The focus is on the achievements of “Saint” Ignatius of Loyola. His spiritual exercises have shaped this church, its philosophies and, above all, actions to this day.
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Francis devotes his thoughts
On Tuesday, US publisher Loyola Press released the book “First Belonging to God: On retreat with Pope Francis” written by Austen Ivereigh. Ivereigh is a Roman Catholic journalist from Britain. He works, among other things, as a biographer of Pope Francis.
However, the newly published book is not a pure reflection of the life of Pope Francis, but rather a manifesto of Roman Catholic theology around the so-called spiritual exercises of Ignatius of Loyola. The foreword for the book was written by Pope Francis himself, Vatican News reported (Source).
“When we make room for the Lord to rescue us from our self-sufficiency, we can open ourselves to all of creation and to every creature. We become channels for the life and love of the Father. And only then can we recognize what life really is: a gift from the Father, who loves us deeply and wants us to belong to him and to each other.“
Ignatius V. Loyola and its exercises
Ignatius of Loyola is the main founder of the Jesuit Order (Societas Jesu, SJ). Founded in 1534 and officially blessed and “activated” by Pope Paul III in 1540. As is well known, Pope Francis is a Jesuit and the first Jesuit pope in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. An extraordinary career for an order that has made it its mission not to seek high office. But at this point the following applies as usual: “The end justifies the means”.
Loyola, a Basque and considered “holy” by the Church, is the founder of spirituality as defined by the Roman Church. He wrote the instruction book for the spiritual exercises he developed. A principle that is not only used today, but also continues to spread. The former Protestant churches in particular ensured the expansion of the “Ignatian Spiritual Exercises”. They simply teach these practices using other names, including “contemplative meditation.” The same “Ignatian content,” just with an evangelical label. Such approaches can already be found in elementary school today.
The initial spark for spirituality
The exercises of Loyola, who is also often called by his nickname “Inigo”, are a mandatory program for every aspiring Jesuit, and this in a repeating sequence. They are a central part of the order and must therefore become “flesh and blood”. According to tradition, Loyola’s spiritual spark is said to have occurred when, after a serious war wound, he stayed in his castle in his homeland and was given two books to read.
One of these books concerned a collection of legends about “saints” and another concerned the life of Jesus. Accordingly, he was inspired by the “Legends of the Saints”. He then decided to make a pilgrimage from Barcelona to Jerusalem. On pilgrimage, Inigo stayed in the city of Manresa for around a year due to the raging plague. A varied time between prayer, penance, fasting and self-chastisement. The later founder of the order was able to free himself from his tormenting fears and return to inner peace. His ongoing notes served as the basis for the Book of Spiritual Exercises.
Ignatian Exercises are a must
Today, the Ignatian Exercises continue to serve as a guide for a “holistic spiritual life” within the framework of human reason. These included freedom from sinfulness, purification, renewal and union with God. Man can be freed from all “guilt of sin” and saved from it in the future. Through self-purification the path to the unification of all these areas will be paved.
Inigo would have preferred to have picked up the Bible back then instead of the collection of sagas and legends about “saints” that had already been embellished by his time. Already at this point it can be seen that for Ignatius of Loyola Jesus Christ plays no role at all, but rather that man’s salvation comes from himself. Thoroughly Roman Catholic teaching and probably only for this reason was unleashed on humanity by Pope Paul III, also in view of the ongoing Reformation and the associated spread of the truth of the Gospel, as part of the Counter-Reformation.
Decision making through imagination
These spiritual exercises focus on the imagination. In a meditative way, the practitioner imagines an environment that he mentally observes, smells, tastes and feels. A fictional reality. At an advanced level, this exercise also includes fictitious conversations with people or “saints”. A mental conversation through questions and answers.
Therefore, the practice of this Ignatius meditation still serves today to make decisions in personal life. Since the prospective Jesuit also adheres to spiritualism right from the start, since he is convinced that there is a soul that is separated after death and continues to live in the afterlife, one would prefer not to even imagine which spirit these inspirations actually come from. However, the answers found in this way serve as guidelines for shaping your own life and those of your immediate and wider environment.
Practical rules of conduct
The order’s founder’s exercise book not only contains instructions for meditative decision-making, but also guidelines for a life aligned with the Church of Rome. Inigo calls for the “positive and scholastic teaching” to be praised (pos. 11, section “Rules about church ethos”). Absolute submission and complete obedience to the Church is mandatory. Pos. 13 particularly stands out here with a certain visible “sustainability”.
“In order to be sure in everything, we must always keep in mind: what appears white to my eyes, I consider black when the hierarchical Church decides so, convinced that between Christ our Lord, the Bridegroom, and the Church, his Bride, the same Spirit reigns, who guides and directs us for the salvation of our souls; for through the same Spirit and our Lord who gave the Ten Commandments, our holy mother, the Church, is also directed and guided.“
In simple words: If the Church commands that something white be recognized as black, then man is obliged to call the white black and to defend it.
This idea can also be applied to any other situation (“learning against learning” – Info). And one must not lose sight of the fact that these exercises have been kept alive to this day.
Further bullet points of these “rules of practice and behavior” include venerating the relics of saints, addressing prayers to saints and lighting candles in the church (pos. 6). Furthermore, the “true bride of Christ” (the church) must be obeyed and Catholics are obliged to praise spiritual orders, religious vows, virginity, church decorations, church buildings and also the ordinances and commandments of the church (pos. 4 to 9).
The (divine) man is at the center
Pope Francis is such a Jesuit. Its connection to the Loyola exercises can therefore be taken for granted. The pontiff also made this clear in his foreword to the recently published book. Francis wishes readers to find the “magis” and the “Ignatian more”. In the preface, the Pope calls on people, who are at the center of this philosophy, to discover their own self through the love of God and with the greatest devotion.
Whether these spiritual exercises are called “Ignatian” or “contemplative” is irrelevant. They remove Jesus Christ from the center and replace Him with the “reason of man.” The French Revolution also had this signature. Led by the Jacobins and their trademark, the Phrygian cap. “A Jacobin is nothing other than a practical Illuminati,” was the title of the “Wiener Zeitung” in 1792, as (even) “Spiegel” reported (Source). In the course of the revolution, religions were banned, a prostitute was carried to Notre Dame Paris in a sedan chair and Splinterfilament was crowned naked as the “Goddess of Reason”.
Rumors and historical facts
There are many different stories about this “club” of the Illuminati. But what is historically certain is that the founder of this illustrious club was Adam Weishaupt from Ingolstadt, Bavaria. It is also certain that Weishaupt was a docile student of the Jesuits from an early age. It is also undisputed that the founding of the USA was linked to the French Revolution and that this Phrygian cap of the Jacobins still adorns the coat of arms of the US Army today. How this all fits together is left to everyone’s imagination without further evidence.
The gospel is the only guide
The first and only address for every serious Christian is and remains the gospel. One can certainly assume that the current and future events in this world predicted in the Bible will be preceded by a quasi copy. Development copied from prophecy in advance in order to easily mislead people. It is therefore essential to understand the prophecies found in the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation and to assign them correctly.
A look at the history of the past 2,600 years was enough to identify the actors. This is especially true of “Babylon” quoted in Revelation (Info) and for the “little horn” emphasized in Daniel (Info).
In this (apparently) hopeless mess of copies, forgeries and fictions, the Gospel remains the only constant and the only guideline for clearly recognizing the very narrow path to the saving outcome. Those who align themselves with the Word of God will one day be the lights for those who are disoriented. Still inconspicuous and invisible today, but appearing ever brighter as the darkness progresses to absolute darkness.
They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
Psalm 82:5
Bible verses from King James Version
