The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life

“So I’ll do my best to make Ignatian spirituality understandable, useful, and usable for everybody, no matter where you are in life, but I’ll also be clear about the centrality of God in the Ignatian worldview, and in my own, too.”

One of the key themes of this book is that Ignatian spirituality is universally applicable, even across faith traditions. However, Martin approaches it from a Catholic perspective, meaning that language of God will remain prominent in the book, though he consistently uses examples from other traditions to show this applicability.

“The benefits of walking along the path of belief are clear: faith gives meaning both to the joys and struggles of life. Faith in God means that you know you are never alone. You know and are known. Life within a worshipping community provides companionship. During times of hardship, faith is an anchor. And the Christian faith also holds out the promise of life beyond this earthly one.”

This quote touches on the way that Ignatian spirituality is very apt for the modern world, even though it stems from a tradition that is over four centuries old. Throughout the book, he relates the ways that Ignatius discusses joy and struggle in the Spiritual Exercises and how it is still applicable in contemporary society.

“Not until I entered the Jesuits and began hearing about a different kind of God—a God was with you in your suffering, a God who took a personal interest in your life, even if you didn’t feel that all your problems were solved—did life start to make more sense.”

Martin presents a spirituality that is open to all and tries to break stereotypes about faith, such as the idea of a God that is distant. Rather, he envisions God as approachable and part of a person’s everyday life. Additionally, he frequently uses himself as an example to show how Ignatian spirituality is a journey that is never-ending, an idea he returns to at the end of the text. 

“It’s a healthy tension: the wisdom of our religious traditions provides us with a corrective for our propensity to think that we have all the answers; and prophetic individuals moderate the natural propensity of institutions to resist change and growth. As with many aspects of the spiritual life, you need to find life in the tension.”

This quote touches on the theme of spirituality in the modern world because Martin here relates how the tension between the individual and the church sometimes stem from disagreement about beliefs or dogma. However, he stresses that this is “healthy”

“Jesus asks Bartimaeus what he wants, not so much for himself as for the blind man. Jesus was helping the man identify his desire, and to be clear about it.”

Much of Martin’s book references back to the theme of desire and discernment. Identifying desire can help someone to better understand their longing and, ultimately, their vocation. Part of this process is abbreviated in this example with Bartimaeus, but it is a useful way to begin to understand how to address in one’s relationship with God and with oneself.

“Sometimes those feelings are stronger than simple incompletion and feel more like an awful emptiness. One writer called this emptiness within our hearts the ‘God-shaped hole,’ the space that only God can fill.”

Martin brings up the concept of incompletion—the feeling that is missing—to discuss a sense of desire for something more, a desire for God. He contrasts this sense of emptiness with a feeling of wanting more material items. Rather, he places this feeling as something deeper, and as he will move through the rest of the book, Martin will describe how to use Ignatian spirituality to fill that hole.

“Contemplating the real, rather than trying to grasp an abstract concept like the transcendence of God, or trying to puzzle out a complicated philosophical proof, is an easier place for most people to start.”

Ignatian spirituality, as Martin posits it, is for everyone. It isn’t just for priests; rather, it is a spirituality that people can engage with in their everyday lives. He works to bring down abstract concepts of religion, faith, and prayer down to a more grounded, quotidian level. This, he recognizes, is the best entry point for those looking to get more out of their lives, regardless of their faith background.

“The daily examen is of special help to seekers, agnostics, and atheists. For them it can be altered into a ‘prayer of awareness.’ The first step is to be consciously aware of yourself and your surroundings. The second step is to remember what you’re grateful for. The third is the review of the day. The fourth step, asking for forgiveness, could be a decision to reconcile with someone you have hurt. And the fifth is to prepare yourself to be aware for the next day.”

Martin wishes to show how Ignatian spirituality can be used by those who are not Catholic or Christian, and so, in his section about the examen, he describes how it can be tweaked to make it more accessible to those who may not believe in God or share the same belief in a higher power more generally.

“It was a liberating moment, one in which I realized the possibility of a different kind of relationship with God. Ron wasn’t saying that this was the right way, or the wrong way, or the only way, to pray. Rather, he was saying that thinking about Jesus as a friend was a kind of prayer. That it was okay to have feelings about God in addition to thinking about God. And that using your imagination in prayer was also okay.”

St. Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises require that retreatants imagine creatively in their relationship with God to better come to know and understand God. Martin spends some time breaking down stereotypes about God, and in this one, he paints a picture of with whom someone can be angry, happy, or frustrated and still be praying the right way.

“But Father Barry’s general point was revelatory: the way you think about friendships can help you think about, and deepen, your relationship with God.”

Martin presents friendship as one means of understanding a person’s relationship with God, as in many ways, people should treat God like a friend. This paints a picture of a more approachable and understanding God rather than as a vengeful one. Martin, however, is also careful to differentiate the fact that God is omnipotent and omnipresent, two marked differences between the human and the divine.

‘“That’s a good prayer because it’s honest,’ he said. ‘God wants your honesty, Jim.’ Being honest also made me feel that God now knew exactly how I felt. Have you ever had the experience of confiding something to a friend and feeling relief? It felt like God could now better accompany me, as a good friend might. Or, more accurately, I would be able to allow God to accompany me.”

One of Martin’s goals is to show how Ignatian spirituality is applicable to everyone’s life, and to do so, he shows that one’s relationship with God is more than simply asking God for things or following Catholic dogma to a tee. Rather, it requires building a relationship with God, one that can draw out emotions such as anger. In this example, Martin describes how he once felt so angry he swore at God, and his spiritual director validated this as a real prayer experience.

“Using my imagination wasn’t so much making things up, as it was trusting that my imagination could help to lead me to the one who created it: God. That didn’t mean that everything I imagined during prayer was coming from God. But it did mean that from time to time God could use my imagination as one way of communicating with me.”

The Spiritual Exercises ask that people use their imagination as part of their prayer life, and it can be used as part of the discernment process to determine one’s vocation. Here, Martin describes how to engage with this process and how it can be a part of one’s relationship with God.

“But it is an invitation to freedom, not to guilt. The turn to a simple lifestyle frees us, reminds us of our reliance on God, makes us more grateful, and leads us to desire ‘upward mobility’ for everyone, not just for the few.”

Martin calls readers to question the mentality of upward mobility and of consumerism. He challenges them to think critically about what they really need and how access to purchasing power often means leaving people behind on the latter of upward mobility. In doing so, people are able to connect with the theme of discernment and desire as they determine what they really desire, beyond material items.

“What pertains to the vow of chastity requires no interpretation, since it is evident how perfectly it should be preserved, by endeavoring therein to imitate the purity of the angels in cleanness of body and mind. Therefore, with this presuppose, we shall now treat of holy obedience.”

This section is taken from the Jesuit Constitutions, as Ignatius wrote it. It both illustrates the ways in which those Constitutions are grounded in the 16th century as well as their ability to be up for interpretation in the present. Ignatian spirituality is meant to be for the modern world, and Ignatius writes this in such a way that the believes that all, throughout the centuries, will understand what he means about chastity. In a world with fewer priests and religious sisters, it becomes more open for interpretation.

“This may be one of the greatest gifts that the chaste person can offer: showing not only that there are many ways to love, but that loving a person freely, without clinging to him or her, is a gift to both the lover and the beloved. Often, we are tempted to think that loving someone—a spouse, a boyfriend or girlfriend, or even just a friend—means clinging to them, which is a subtle form of ownership. But love means embracing the poverty of not owning the other.”

Martin works to make the vows each Jesuit takes more approachable for everyday life, and in this example, he discusses how chastity as a value can be applied to lay person’s life. This serves the ultimate goal of showing how Ignatian spirituality, initially designed in the 16th century for Jesuit priests, is both a spirituality for the modern world and one that can be engaged with by anyone.

“The thinking goes like this: since we spend all our time in prayer, we never have to relate to any actual human beings and never have to deal with any interpersonal problems. And we’re thought to be solitary types unconcerned with something as commonplace as friends.”

Throughout this text, Martin wishes to break down several myths and stereotypes about the Catholic Church and Catholic clergy in particular. In this example, he talks about how priests are often seen as distant and solitary people who don’t engage with the world. However, he uses his life to discuss how, like everyone, Jesuits still thrive on friendship—perhaps even more so because of their vow of chastity.

“Actually, I’m always surprised by the number of people who scoff at obedience in religious orders yet live it religiously in their own lives. Many people who work in professional settings report to a manager who gives directives that they would often not choose on their own […] These decisions are seen as necessary to achieve the organization’s goals—as are the decisions in a religious order.”

Martin wishes to make Ignatian spirituality and Jesuit life relatable to his readers to illustrate how Ignatian spiritualty can be used by anyone. He often uses his own experiences to do so, and in this section, he describes how his life as a Jesuit with a superior is not so different from those who have a supervisor to report to.

“For most people, obedience is not being sent away to work in a foreign land. It is stepping onto the path of daily life and continuing on it.”

Several chapters of A Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything are dedicated to discussing the vows each Jesuit takes (poverty, chastity, and obedience). However, Martin reframes these as still useful for the laity by grounding them in everyday life, a direct nod to the book’s subtitle, “A Spirituality for Everyday Life.”

“As David Lonsdale writes, we feel peace about a particular decision when it is ‘coherent with’ God’s desires for our happiness. Ignatius understood that God works through our deepest desires. When we are following that path to God, things seem right. Things feel in synch because they are in synch.”

Martin makes the connection between desire and discernment as a key theme of this book. He also shows the connection between God and desire, one that he uses to break the stereotype that the Catholic Church looks down on all desire. Rather, he poses it as an important part of recognizing one’s vocation.

“There is no perfect decision, perfect outcome, or perfect life. Embracing imperfection helps us relax into reality. When we accept that all choices are conditional, limited, and imperfect, our lives become, paradoxically, more satisfying, joyful, and peaceful.”

Martin attempts to address and describe Ignatian spirituality by making it approachable. He wants readers to view it as a spirituality that is very applicable to contemporary society, one that can have positive effects in a material society.

“But at heart it is simple. Ignatian discernment means trusting that through your reason and your inner life, God will help to draw you to good decisions, because God desires for you to make good, loving, healthy, positive, life-giving choices.”

Discernment and desire are key themes in Martin’s book. Martin frames Ignatian spirituality and its tactics as a way of helping a person figure out what their desires are and how they connect them to God through a process of discernment. It is an everyday spirituality that requires people to notice where they feel fulfilled.

“God calls each of us to different vocations. Or, rather, God plants within us these vocations, which are revealed in our desires and longings. In this way God’s desires for the world are fulfilled, as live out our own deepest desires. Vocation is less about finding one and more about having it revealed to you, as you pray to understand ‘what I want and desire.’”

The theme of discernment and desire is central to this book, as Martin describes the process of arriving at one’s vocation through discernment based on one’s desires. Additionally, this quote touches on the applicability of this spirituality to all as it poses vocation as not just as priestly vocation but rather something that everyone can work to discover and live out.

“Contemplatives in action seek to find God in all things by looking at the world in an incarnational way, and in their quest, they realize their desire for freedom and detachment, which helps them move even closer to God. That’s probably a fair summary of Ignatian spirituality.”

This quote provides the ultimate summary of Ignatian spirituality through its key terms, which Martin has sought to describe in this book. It especially highlights how central the theme of discernment and desire are to Ignatian spirituality as one works to determine their identity, build their relationship with God, and find fulfillment of their desires through their vocation.