La Pieza del Mes difícilmente podría tener un comienzo más significativo que el de estar dedicada a la obra, núcleo y fuente de la espiritualidad ignaciana. Así lo recuerda el P. Arturo Sosa, SJ, Superior General de la Compañía de Jesús, en el prólogo de El autógrafo de los Ejercicios espirituales:

“En la primavera de 1521, el menor de los Loyola regresaba a su casa natal quince años después de haberla abandonado, cuando todavía era un adolescente habitado por fantasías y proyectos de grandeza. Pero, como tantas veces sucede, la vida vino a imponerse de manera imprevista y con otra lógica inesperada. Íñigo volvía a su casa forzado por las circunstancias, gravemente herido y viendo cómo sus sueños de futuro se iban desmoronando como un frágil castillo de naipes. En medio de la enfermedad y la fragilidad, esta nueva etapa fue abriendo sus puertas a un insospechado horizonte de sentido. Bastaron unas lecturas piadosas para que el Espíritu comenzara a desencadenar todo un proceso interno que fue tomando forma en eso que llamamos «conversión».

Deseo agradecer a los responsables de esta edición, los padres Santiago Arzubialde y José García de Castro, y al traductor, padre Barton T. Geger, el haber alentado esta iniciativa y haberla ofrecido precisamente en este año tan especial del quinto centenario de la conversión de san Ignacio, en el que aspiramos a encontrar nueva inspiración para llevar a cabo también cada uno de nosotros, nuestras comunidades e instituciones, las transformaciones que nos piden los tiempos, el Señor y su Iglesia.

Alentado por la experiencia del joven Íñigo, deseo también que esta nueva edición del texto de los Ejercicios nos anime a vivirlos más ignacianamente; que los Ejercicios nos introduzcan en el conocimiento interno del Señor y no dejen de convertirnos y atraernos hacia nuestra primera llamada para, así, más y mejor ayudar a “nuestros hermanos”.*

Arturo Sosa, SJ

Superior General de la Compañía de Jesús

Roma, 12 de marzo de 2022

Prólogo a la edición conmemorativa

500 Aniversario de la canonización de Ignacio de Loyola

 * Ignacio de Loyola, S. (2022). El autógrafo de los "Ejercicios espirituales" = The "autograph" copy of the "Spiritual exercises" (S. Arzubialde & J. García de Castro, Eds.; B. T. Geger, Trad.; Pról. A. Sosa, SJ. Mensajero.

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“In the spring of 1521, the youngest child of the Loyola family returned to his birthplace fifteen years after having left it. At the time, he was still a teenager at heart, captivated by dreams of doing great and glorious deeds. But as often happens, the harsh realities of life imposed themselves upon him. Thanks to the injuries that brought him home, he saw his dreams for the future crumbling around him like a fragile house of cards. But when one door closes, another opens. Amid Iñigo's injuries and fragility, he began to perceive a new horizon of unexpected meaning and purpose. A few pious readings were sufficient to unleash interior movements that culminated in what we call “conversion.

In response to Iñigo's efforts to understand those initial experiences, he began to put into writing his reflections on his own inte- rior life. At the time, he could hardly have imagined that 27 years later he would be kneeling before Pope Paul III, presenting him with a little book called The Spiritual Exercises.

This particular method or way of “seeking and finding God,” “for conquering oneself and ordering one s life,” has been the principal source of identity, life, and inspiration for the Society of Jesus in the last 480 years of its history; and not only for the Society, but also for all those people and institutions that find in Ignatian spirituality their particular way of understanding life, a pathway within the Church for finding God who dwells in all things.

Moreover, as one finds articulated in the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus for 2019 2029, the Spiritual Exercises are a privileged instrument for showing a way to God that begins with the practice of continual discernment, whereby one asks how the Lord continues to act in people at this time, and how his spirit guides the humanizing path of history.

That little book has survived the threats to its existence that every historical period holds. Five centuries after those first jumbled notes, we present today, in 2022, this new edition of The Spiritual Exercises. There are many editions and translations of this Ignatian work, but this one is different. It is unique for its presentation of a text that is closest to the mind of Ignatius himself. For that reason, this edition of the Autograph cannot but have an emotional and spiritual impact on all of us, to say nothing of the knowledge and erudition that the editors have poured into these pages.

It helps us “to bring to memory” the roots of our Ignatian identity as found in the Spiritual Exercises, as well as the many companions who have gone before us who had endeavored to practice it and live it. In them, we find a common bond. Since the days of the First Companions in Paris, the Exercises have been and continue to be our inspired point of encounter. Our bonds as “friends in the Lord” spring from this experience of making the Spiritual Exercises, in a way that transcends the immense diversity of cultures, intellectual formation, and life experiences. In the Exercises, we feel profoundly that we “are placed with Christ,” and we share that same language, even though we speak varied languages, and though we labor in many different missions, we share the same mission.

I wish to thank the editors of this book, Fr. Santiago Arzubialde and Fr. José García de Castro, and the Translator, Fr. Barton T. Geger, for having encouraged this iniciative, and all the more in this very special year of the fifth centenary of the conversion of St. Ignatius, when all those aforementioned individuals, communities and institutions endeavor to realize within themselves the kinds of transformation that the lord, his Church, and the present times ask of us.

As we take heart in the experience of the young Iñigo, I hope too that this new edition of the Exercises inspires us to live them in a more authentically Ignatian manner. May the Exercises bring us to an interior knowledge of the Lord, and never cease to convert us and to attract us ever more deeply and directly to our principal call of “service to others”.*

Arturo Sosa, SJ

Superior General of the Society of Jesus

Rome, March 12, 2022

Prologue to the commemorative edition 

V Centenary of the Canonization of St. Ignatius of Loyola

 * Ignacio de Loyola, S. (2022). El autógrafo de los "Ejercicios espirituales" = The "autograph" copy of the "Spiritual exercises" (S. Arzubialde & J. García de Castro, Eds.; B. T. Geger, Trad.; Pról. A. Sosa, SJ. Mensajero.