Jesuits
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a religious order of the Catholic Church founded by Sant Ignasi de Loyola and approved in 1540 by Pope Paul III. Its members are known by the name of Jesuits. Present throughout the world, they carry out a wide variety of tasks, adapting themselves to the needs of society. Its main areas of action are education, social action at the service of the most disadvantaged groups, spiritual accompaniment and intellectual work, among others. It is characteristic of all the activities of the Jesuits the option of the faith starting from the promotion of justice.
The genuine Ignatian experience
The Cave of Saint Ignatius is an International Center of Spirituality that offers primarily the practice, study and training on the genuine Ignatian experience.
- With the practice of the Exercises, in its various modalities, prioritizing a personalized accompaniment, convinced that in our time of uncertainties and changes, the Ignatian tradition helps to integrate interiority and commitment for a more just world, the depth of discernment and the clarity of action.
- With the study and training on Ignatian Exercises and Spirituality in courses and seminars, in close connection with the Ignatian School of Spirituality (EIDES of Christianity and Justice). Thus it aims to provide an application and translation of Ignatian spirituality to the different circumstances of our world.
New ways of discovering and delving into spirituality starting from the work on interiority.
The Cave of Saint Ignatius is an International Center of Spirituality that wants to participate in the research carried out by so many people, believers and non-believers, of new ways of discovering and exploring the mystery of the Real based on interiority work, while at the same time fighting against "the globalization of superficiality" (Adolfo Nicolás).
Moved by the experience of Ignatius's "enlightenment" before the Cardener, the Center of Spirituality seeks dialogue with the borders of our confessionality, with the longing to find answers to the crucial questions of existence, in the common yearning to build a Society more caring and just. This is specifically realized in:
- The offer of various programs of Silence, Interiority, Contemplation, prompted by the Ignatian pedagogy of "inner knowledge" that throws both the ineffability of the mystery and let itself be affected, like Jesus, by the poverty of all kinds.
- The theoretical study of interiority in the various Religious Traditions, and the participation and promotion of forums, seminars and training spaces.
Special attention to adolescence and youth
The Cave of Saint ignatius is an International Center of Spirituality which, in the wake of Ignatian history and that of the Society, has a special focus on adolescence and youth, fostering in them the process of growth in faith and an "initiation" in the areas described in the two previous headings.
- It offers pedagogies to stimulate interiority, silence, self-knowledge ... (with exercises of body expression, dance, relaxation, silence, reflection...) so that adolescents experience the joy of discovering the mystery of the Transcendent in one's heart itself and in the heart of life, not ignoring, but fitting one's own and other's ruptures as they are encountered in their process of growth.
- It promotes the theoretical study of the pedagogy of interiority for adolescents and young people, participating in forums for reflection on the subject, holding a permanent seminar with experts and devoting a special attention to the training of "pedagogues of interiority", an interiority which, in the wake of Ignatius, will only be valid if it is harmonized with the "exteriority".
Universality
The Cave of Saint Ignatius is an International Center of Spirituality that feels universality as a part of its mission. With this approach we want to be faithful to Ignacio de Loyola who had the conviction that "the more universal the more divine good is" and, at the same time, we want to tune in with the dynamics of globalization that characterizes our era.
- For this reason, the scope of service of this Center is to meet the demands that arise from different parts of the world, and in all proposals and emerging needs, with the wide range of sensitivities, within the scope of the objectives described in the previous sections.
- In order to respond adequately to this goal, the International Center of Spirituality will integrate Spiritual Guides and Teachers from different parts of the world seeking the synergy needed for the full achievement of the different objectives.
In the celebrations of 2022 (500 years since Ignatius' stay in Manresa), we want to effectively promote the appeal that this population has had over half a millennium, as the cradle of Ignatian (religious and secular) spiritualities and of the entire cultural, social, pedagogical work... that are born of them.
The "mission" of the Cave of Saint Ignacitius (Sanctuary and International Center of Spirituality) is to be "memory" of this original "source".
And it will only be "memory" (in the most genuine Ignatian spirit) if it is creative, if it is capable of letting itself be struck by the challenges of the complex reality of our own time, by its "joys and hopes, sorrows and anguishes."
In this age of internationalism and globalization they want to make it possible for the "Cave of Saint Ignatius" to remain, as it has been for five hundred years:
- A point of reference for the Ignatian families and of the works promoted by them.
- A place of interior transformation as it was for Ignacio.
- A school of formation in spirituality, especially for "trainers" and "multiplier" agents.
- School of values. The activity of the Center wishes to convey a training that combines, by way of example: interiority and depth, capacity for analysis and discernment, critical sense and social commitment, individual and social conscience, etc.
We believe that the holy place of the "Cave of Saint Ignatius", where Ignatius met the Lord Jesus, with the proximity of a friend who talks to his friend, is obliged to respond to this demand, an offer that we wish to extend from the four areas contemplated by the "vision".