Ignatius as Contemplative Courtier: (published in The Tablet, in 2000, as part of a weekly series on spiritual giants of the second millennium)

There have been various proposals to make a film about St Ignatius of Loyola. I would suggest beginning the picture in 1550, a Jubilee year, with a panorama of the Roman skyline just after sunset. We would see the outline of the new St Peter's, without its dome, but with Michelangelo's "drum" under construction. Gradually the camera zooms in on a lighted window in a small building. Gazing at the sky is a bald man in his late fifties. Behind him one can glimpse papers covered with elegant handwriting. As the camera moves closer we realise that he is weeping quietly, and if the actor were good enough, we would know that these are tears of joy. Looking at the stars, Ignatius is overwhelmed by the glory of God. The papers behind him are his first draft of the Constitutions for his ten-year old order, the Society of Jesus. Beside them is the first edition of his "Spiritual Exercises", published in 1548.

In 1521, when he had his leg broken in battle, and then his dramatic conversion during convalescence at Loyola, he never imagined spending long years in Rome. Ignatius came from the Basque country, and spent his youth as a courtier and only as a part-time soldier. After his conversion he thought of himself as a poor "pilgrim", a layman living on alms and offering spiritual advice to anyone who would listen. But he got into trouble with the Spanish Inquisition on account of his lack of theology. So at the age of 33 he went back to study ("to help souls"), learning Latin with small boys. His studies continued until he was 44. By that stage he had gathered several companions around him at the University of Paris, having led them personally through a month of guided prayer. They planned to go to Jerusalem together but when that proved impossible, they offered their services to Pope Paul III in Rome (eventually taking a special fourth vow of obedience to the Pope "for missions"). Thus the Jesuits were born through a series of outer accidents, and through the inner vision of this courtier turned contemplative, whose apostolic energy drove him to work both with princes and prostitutes.

Starting the film in that way would be an attempt to go beyond the misleading image of Ignatius as a severe soldier who founds an order of "shock troops" to combat the Reformation. His diary reveals another side altogether, symbolised by his weeping (which happened so often during Mass as to endanger his eyesight). The elegant writing sums up a man of courtly reverence, a quality that marked his relationship with God as Trinity. The Constitutions, over which he prayed for years, are unique in their emphasis on flexibility, giving priority to frontier ministries of different kinds. They embodied a non-monastic approach to religious life and as such had a crucial influence on later "apostolic" religious congregations. The novelty of this approach no doubt gave Jesuits a more individualistic stamp than older religious families.

However, the greatest legacy of Ignatius lies in his "Spiritual Exercises", which are more a set of instructions for a retreat director than a text to be read. I remember my disappointment - as a lay university student - when I borrowed the little book from a library. It seemed as uneloquent as a driving manual. But, as for many others through the centuries, it came alive years later when I "did" the thirty-day retreat. Ignatius drew on his own spiritual adventure to offer contemplative scaffolding for a succession of graces - trust, contrition, discipleship, freedom for the service of Christ. In this way the Exercises guide a retreatant through a pedagogy of prayer into "interior knowledge of the Lord".

Even though it was often interpreted in rigid ways, authentic Ignatian spirituality is marked by his typical preference for flexibility. His is a spirituality of discernment of choices, both everyday and lifelong. His advice is to find "whatever is most helpful and fruitful" and he tells the retreat director to get out of the way of God! To allow, in his surprising words, "the Creator to deal immediately with the creature". There is a fundamental trust here that the "movements" of the Spirit are recognisable in everyone's experience.

Secular history often speaks of Jesuit colleges as another major inheritance from Ignatius. They were not part of his original plan of a highly mobile ministry. But after 1548, when he was convinced of the importance of educational work, the schools mushroomed and evolved new ways of humanistic formation, encouraging for instance the writing of poetry and staging elaborate theatricals. Historians also stress the creative character of Jesuit missions, ranging from India to Paraguay - an outreach that started under Ignatius. But they should also mention times when Jesuits lost their roots and became inflexible and elitist.

What are the better hallmarks of the Ignatian tradition? Depth and practicality together. Order and adaptability. Contemplation and creativity. Remembering the mystic on the balcony, I think of Ignatius as outwardly controlled, inwardly emotional, and humanly a welcoming courtier. He welcomed history at a time of huge change - the outset of modernity - and he embraced change as the theatre of the Spirit.