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Br. Paul Nguyen, OMV

Modern Church History, Orlando
March 11, 2015
Ignatius of Loyola on Rules for Thinking with the Church
St. Ignatius of Loyola's 16th-century text of the Spiritual Exercises, in addition to its
deviceful method of prayer and sequence of meditations leading the Christian to a deep
appropriation of the mysteries of Christ's life and the path of discipleship unto salvation, contains
a series of eighteen rules for thinking with the Church (Sentir-en-la-Iglesia, Ejercicios
Espirituales, #352). These rules (reglas) not only characterize his orthodox position, but
answer heterodox and schismatic viewpoints of his day, both ecclesiologically and doctrinally.
Contrary to Luther, Calvin, and other reformers, St. Ignatius articulates his loyalty to
Peter and the rational-historical foundation for it, insisting that all true believers here on earth
must have these dispositions (Rules 1, 10, and 13 EE, #352, 362, 365). He enumerates various
practices of the Church,including the veneration of saints and images, and the adornment of
churchesand that the true believer should praise (alabar) these practices, that is render glory
to God by partaking in them (Rules 6 and 8 EE, #358, 360). He encourages a full sacramental
life (in the face of Protestants who, if they had not already, would soon reduce their sacramental
life drastically), the observance of the ritual calendar, and the sanctification of the hours of the
day (Rules 2, 3, and 7 EE, #353, 354, 359). Protestants would also abandon many of these
temporal manifestations of the faith in practice. He also makes an effort to encourage instruction
and witness in the virtues, including consecrated religious life (Rules 4 and 5 EE, #356, 357).
Finally, St. Ignatius proposes the true fonts of orthodox theology and highlights areas that
require particular attentiveness. He underlines positive theology and the scholastics as
sources of true doctrine, for their teachings that move to love and serve God and define and
state clearly, according to the needs of our times, the doctrines that are necessary for eternal

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salvation, pointing out that more recent theologians have the advantage of the whole body of
revelation and its interpretation by the Church over the subsequent centuries (Rule 11 EE,
#363). He discusses in greater detail the pitfalls of comparing the virtues of the living to the
great saints already deceased, the dangers of speaking too often of predestination so as to
encourage neglect of the works that are conducive to the salvation and spiritual progress of their
souls, the tension between faith and grace, and works and free will (Rules 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17
EE, #364, 366369). Ignatius closes with a distinction between a lower servile fear,
nonetheless useful for those beginning in the faith and rising from mortal sin, and a higher
filial fear, wholly pleasing and agreeable to God our Lord and inseparably associated with the
love of Him.
It is clear that Ignatius was responding to the heterodox theology of predestination of the
saved, as well as the predestination of the damned, making useful distinctions between them, and
also responding to the intense sola fides camp, with its disparaging view of good works that
misunderstood their value and utility in disciplining the soul for greater faith and demonstrating a
life of greater virtue. Despite the variety of issues that Ignatius addresses in these rules, he
manages to enumerate the rich breadth of Catholic tradition and anchor his arguments in
Christocentric terms, which makes his treatise immediately ring true in the hearts of faithful
believers, then and now.