SEPTEMBER 2011 RECOLLECTION GUIDE
Theme:
A Spirituality of Deep Personal Love for Our Lady
Sub-Theme:
DEVOTION TO MARY
Theme:
PRAYING THE IGNATIAN SPIRITUALITY
Sub-Theme:
A Spirituality of Deep Personal Love for
Our Lady
Devotion to Mary
Prayer Exercises
 Take time to quiet down before the Lord.
Behold him beholding you with much love.
When ready, beg repeatedly for The Grace I Desire and
Seek.
The Grace I Desire and Seek
I beg for a heart that is pure and meek so that I can always
declare my “fiat” to my God and be full of his loving grace,
just like Our Lady and Mother, Mary.
Scripture Readings
a) Ps 147 (“The Lord heals the brokenhearted.”)
b) Is 9:1-6 (“For a child is born to us, a son is given us.”)
c) Lk 1:39-56 (Mary’s Magnificat)
d) Lk 1:26-38 (Mary’s Fiat)
 Prayerfully read the Background and Basic Meaning of
“Devotion to Mary.”
BACKGROUND
One practice of Ignatius, as a pilgrim for many years,
was to visit, whenever possible, chapels and shrines dedicated
to Our Lady. Evidently enough, he was familiar with these
Marian places of devotion which dotted all across Spain
during his time and as such, he went out of his way to go to
them for personal prayer and vigil.
In the Autobiography, we read that not long after
leaving Loyola (1521), one of the first places Ignatius and his
brother-priest Pedro Lopez visited was the shrine of Our Lady
of Aranzazu (Auto. no. 13). There in that sanctuary, he
entrusted his entire Holy Land pilgrimage to Mary’s care and
prayed that he be blessed with the needed strength to make
his hazardous journey. Most likely, it was also here in this
same Marian shrine of Aranzazu where he made his vow of
perpetual chastity to the Blessed Virgin.
Making such a vow to Our Lady, at such a place and
time was not a totally unexpected move for Ignatius. This
was so because prior to his visit to this shrine, he was in their
ancestral home in Loyola for about nine months convalescing
from his leg wounds which almost led to his death. It was
during this critical period of recuperation after coming so
close to death that he had a vision of Our Lady with the
Holy Child Jesus. This vision of the Virgin radically changed
him and his entire faith life.
The vision so affected Ignatius that he “felt so great a
loathsomeness for all his past life, especially for the deeds of
the flesh.” At the same time, he found the graced moment so
moving that “he enjoyed an excess of consolation for a
remarkably long time” (Auto. no. 10). Deeply convinced that
such a spiritual conversion cannot possibly come from him,
he attributed the vast change in his heart both to the generous
blessing of our Lord and the special intercession of our
Blessed Virgin. Later, he desired so much to understand and
clarify further these various movements in his soul that he
decided to write them down with great care, using red ink
for our Lord and blue for Our Lady (Auto. no. 11).
With these rich consolations from that vision of Mary
with the Child Jesus forever etched in Ignatius’ heart, the
quality of his devotion to her was never the same again. As a
result, wherever he went as a pilgrim, at whatever city,
town, or village he visited, he endeavored much to seek Our
Lady’s assuring presence by explicitly taking time to pray and
do vigils in those sacred places dedicated to her. And so,
whether the place was Aranzazu or Montserrat or Manresa
(with Our Lady of Villadordis) or Barcelona (with Our Lady
of the Sea) or Jerusalem (with the Dormition of Our Lady) or
Paris (with the crypt of Notre Dame de Montmarte) or Rome
(with Our Lady of the Way and St. Mary Major), Ignatius
constantly made sure that he would not miss out on the
opportunity to visit the Mother of Christ and pay special
homage to her.
Often Ignatius made mention of Our Lady in his
writings. We see this especially in his Spiritual Exercises and in
his Spiritual Journal.1 These explicit references to Our Blessed
Lady are revelatory of how much he appreciated her humble
but indispensable part in his own personal conversion story,
not to mention in his own overall spirituality. As Harvey
Egan affirms:
Ignatius’ writings indicate that “Our Lady” had a
quiet, unobtrusive, but decisive and fundamental
influence in his piety, spirituality, and mysticism …
(He) experienced a vision of “Our Lady with the holy
child Jesus” that brought mystically-infused chastity,
conversion, and lasting transformation … (At)
Manresa (1522-23), “he also saw Our Lady in
similar form …” (Auto. no. 29). These Marian visions
formed part of the cluster of experiences that both
consoled, deepened, and confirmed him in the faith …
From the very beginning therefore, the Virgin Mary
helped bring about Ignatius’ conversions.2
BASIC MEANING
So far, we have seen that one very important turning
point in Ignatius’ love relationship with Mary was his Loyola
vision of her with the child Jesus (Auto. no. 10). Due to this
extraordinary consolation with the Blessed Virgin, he felt so
great a disgust with his past life and became confident that
God’s grace would never allow him to succumb to matters of
the flesh ever again. So unmistakable was the effect of the
vision on him that he was convinced beyond any doubt that
our Blessed Lady had played a most decisive role in his own
personal salvation.
Still and all, Ignatius believed that Our Lady did not
stop here. And that is why in his mind, after Loyola, there
came a second major turning point in his loving devotion to
Mary. This time it was in Manresa and it had to do mainly
with her indispensable role as the “Mother of God.”
It was in Manresa where Ignatius received the grace to
see “with inward eyes the humanity of Christ” (Auto. no.
29). There he began to realize greatly certain truths of faith,
in particular his five special mystical illuminations (Auto. nos.
28-30). These were: the Trinity, God’s creation of the world,
the Eucharist, Christ’s humanness and that of our Lady and
other “numerous spiritual things” (see Prayer Themes 1 and
13). With respect to the holy humanness of both Christ and
Mary, he gradually saw with much interior understanding the
profundity of the mystery of the Incarnation, i.e., how Christ,
though God, emptied himself and came “in human likeness
and found human in appearance” (Phil 2:6-7).
As Ignatius reflected on our Lord as Divine Word
becoming flesh, the Virgin’s role as Mater Christi had to
present itself inevitably. More and more, he grasped how our
Lady and her motherhood were most inseparable from our
Lord’s own Incarnation and humanity. He thought that with
Christ being both fully divine and fully human our Lady’s
influence must had been so essential to the whole of
economy of salvation. Subsequently, it was through her
person and her motherhood that the Father, in the Spirit, was
able to give Christ to all of us. In which case, Christ could not
have possibly come as a human person without her personal
fiat to God. Thus, for Ignatius, our Blessed Virgin had (and
will always have) a place all her own not only in his own
personal salvation, but also, and very much so in the very
salvation of the entire world and the whole of humankind.
With such realizations, his personal devotion to the Mother
of God intensified all the more.
A third and last significant turning point in Ignatius’
devout love for our Blessed Lady happened at La Storta
(1537). It was there in La Storta by way of another vision
where he saw the Father place him with Christ who was with
his cross (Auto. no. 96) (See Prayer Theme 12).
Oddly enough, while Ignatius notes that it was God the
Father who personally had granted him this prayer of his to
be placed with the Son, at the same time too, he states
plainly that in truth he had been making this prayer (also) “to
our Lady to place him with her Son” (Auto. no. 96). This had
been one of his deepest desires, “to be placed with Christ.”
And the fact is, the “one to whom he (chose) to address this
prayer … (was) precisely Our Lady.”3 Therefore, for him,
Mary did not just have a direct hand in his own personal
conversion and salvation. She did not have an indispensable
role in the actual salvation of the entire world and the whole
of humankind with Christ coming from her very own flesh.
Most significantly, he saw how our Lady, especially through
her intercession, had played a real major part in his devotion
to Christ himself. This devotion of Ignatius to our Lord
reached one of its culminations at La Storta where he
received that special grace of being placed with the Son, an
obvious answer to his prayers to our Virgin. In the end, with
all these three powerful turning points in Ignatius’
relationship with the Mother of Christ, he could not but fall
in love with her all the more.
What points draw your attention?
What points do you find significant and inspiring?
Take them and ponder them in prayer.
PRAYER PERIOD I
 Below is a prayer taken from the Call of the King prayer
exercise (SE nos. 91-98). Here Ignatius explicitly mentions
Mary our mother. Take it and reflect on it, making it your
own prayer.
Eternal Lord and King of all creation, humbly I
come before you. Knowing the support of Mary,
your mother, and all your saints, I am moved by
your grace to offer myself to you and to your work. I
deeply desire to be with you in accepting all wrongs
and all rejections and all poverty, both actual and
spiritual – and I deliberately choose this, if it is for
your greater service and praise. If you, my Lord and
King would so call and choose me, then take and
receive me into such a way of life (SE no. 98).4
 One name Ignatius gives to his God is a most wise physician
(Letter to Michael De Nobrega, August, 1554).
Pray over Ps 147.
Here the psalmist declares, “The Lord … heals the
brokenhearted, binds up their wounds” (v. 3).
Like Ignatius and the psalmist, how has God played the role
of Physician or Healer in your life?
Take time to clarify these in prayer.
PRAYER PERIOD II
 We said that Ignatius underwent three important turning
points in his love relationship with our Lady. These turning
points helped much in his overall spiritual journey to God.
Examine your own personal spiritual journey to God.
How has your own spiritual journey to God been like?
In particular, what major turning points can you identify
given your own conversion process and journey to God?
Take time to name and clarify these key turning points in
your faith life.
 We said that one of Ignatius’ deepest desires was “to be
placed with Christ.” To help realize this, he went to our Lady
and begged her much to intercede for him and his intention.
Right now, what intentions are closest to your heart?
Why these in particular?
When ready, present them to our Lady and beg her to
intercede much for these special intentions of yours.
 On July 31, 1951, Communist police arrested and imprisoned
four Jesuits of the Aurora Prep community in Yangzhou.
They were Frs. Eugene Fahy, James Thornton, William Ryan,
and Eugene Beauce.
While in prison, these Jesuits often prayed the rosary,
drawing much strength and consolation from it. However,
what was interesting was the way one of them prayed his
rosary while in detention. With their rosary beads confiscated
from them, Fr. Thornton said his rosary “by counting the
bare toes of the Chinese prisoners who shared his cell.” It is
said that he found this very convenient when praying his
beads to Our Lady because “inside the cell … the general rule
… was eyes on the floor.” Thus, what he did was to “use the
feet of those crowded around him as markers for the decades
and mysteries as he ticked off the ten on his fingers.”5
Reflect on Fr. Thornton’s deep “devotion” to our Lady.
How has our Jesuit story on Thornton and his companions
helped you understand and appreciate more this Ignatian
ideal of “devotion” to our Lady?
While in prison, these Jesuit fathers drew much strength and
consolation from their daily prayer and rosary.
Where do you draw your strength and consolation especially
in times of trouble?
Take time to clarify these in prayer.
PRAYER PERIOD III
 Do a contemplation on the Annunciation to Mary (Lk 1:2638).
Imagine Nazareth and enter prayerfully into the Gospel
scene, beholding the angel Gabriel and Mary there.
What do you see? hear? smell? touch? taste?
Spend time going into the details of the Annunciation story.
Slowly, in the end, focus on our Blessed Lady and gaze
lovingly at her face.
 In Lk 1:26-38, the angel Gabriel assures Mary and says the
“nothing is impossible with God.”
Have you ever asked God for something that seemed
“impossible”?
How has God been the “God of the Impossible” in your life?
Take time to clarify these in prayer.
 Aloysius Gonzaga (1568-91) was of noble descent. He was
destined for a military career. However, when he was only
17 years of age he decided to enter the Society. In 1591, a
plague broke out in Rome. He volunteered to work in a
hospital run by the Jesuits there. While attending to the sick
during the Roman plague, he himself became ill and died.
As a Jesuit he had four special devotions: the devotion to the
Blessed Sacrament, the devotion to the Passion of Christ, the
devotion to the angels, and the devotion to our Blessed
Lady.
Below is a prayer of St. Aloysius to our Lady. Take it and
pray it with much fervor.
Holy Mary,
my Queen and my mother,
I recommend myself
to your blessed protection and special keeping,
and to the bosom of your mercy.
Today and every day
and at the hour of my death,
I recommend to you
my soul and my body.
I entrust to you
all my hopes and consolations,
all my anxieties and miseries,
my entire life and the end of my life.
Through your most holy intercession
and through your merits
may all my actions be directed and disposed
according to your will
and that of your Son.
Amen!
 Take time to dialogue with the Lord on our points above.
End by thanking our Lord and resting in him.
NOTES
1. In the Spiritual Exercises, the title “Our Lady” appears 32
times; “Mother” 15 times; “Maria” 6 times; and “Virgin” at
least once.
In the Spiritual Journal, “Our Lady” is mentioned 33 times;
and “Mother” 6 times.
2. Harvey Egan, Ignatius Loyola the Mystic, (Wilmington,
Delaware: Michael Glazer, Inc., 1987), p. 115.
3. Simon Decloux, Our Lady in Ignatian Spirituality (Rome:
Centrum Ignatianum Spiritualitatis, 1988), p. 52.
4. Taken from David Fleming, Draw Me Into Your Friendship –
The Spiritual Exercises (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit
Sources, 1996), p. 87.
Below are additional excerpts on “devotion” to Our Lady.

This is the history. Here it is how after Christ expired on the
cross His body remained separated from the soul, but
always united with the divinity. His soul, likewise united
with the divinity, descended into hell. There He sets free the
souls of the just then comes to the sepulcher, and rising,
appears in body and soul to His Blessed Mother.
This is a mental representation of the place. Here it will be
to see the arrangement of the holy sepulcher and the place
or house of our Lady. I will note its different parts, and also
her room, her oratory, etc. (SE nos. 219-220)

Mass of Our Lady – Great devotion before, during and after
Mass, with tears so abundant that my eyes ached; I saw the
Mother and Son ready and willing to intercede with the
Father; both then and during the day I was set on poverty
and still more moved to it; in the afternoon it was as if I felt
or saw Our Lady was ready and willing to intercede
(Spiritual Journal no. 4).

Almighty and eternal God I (Name), though altogether most
unworthy in Your divine sight, yet relying on Your infinite
goodness and mercy and moved with a desire of serving
You, in the presence of the most Holy Virgin Mary and Your
whole heavenly court, vow to Your Divine Majesty
perpetual poverty, chastity and obedience in the Society of
Jesus; and I promise that I shall enter that same Society in
order to lead my entire life in it, understanding all things
according to its Constitutions. Therefore, I suppliantly beg
Your Immense Goodness and Clemency, through the blood
of Jesus Christ, to deign to receive this holocaust in an odor
of sweetness; and that just as You gave me the grace to
desire and offer this, so You will also bestow abundant grace
to fulfill it (Constitutions no. 540 – Jesuit Vow Formula for
First Vows).
5. George Anderson, With Christ in Prison: Jesuits in Jail from St.
Ignatius to the Present (New York: Fordham University Press,
2000), p. 84.
Reprinted with permission from the book:
Schooled by the Spirit
by Fr. Ramon Maria Luza Bautista, SJ