- Gregory Vigliotta
To Know My Purpose : Praying with the Principle & Foundation
"I am created to praise, love, and serve God."
In the beginning of the Spiritual Exercises, St Ignatius invites us to pray over the 1st Principle and Foundation. He presents us with a road map for life, of who we are, our purpose and destiny, and how best to live our lives to achieve that end. In this prayer exercise, we reflect on our fundamental vocation of being a person created by God, made in His Image and Likeness, created with particular gifts and aptitudes to use for giving glory to God, as we co-labor with Him in building the Kingdom.
Preparatory Prayers
The Preparatory period is a time for recollection to dispose ourselves rightly with an offertory and a petition of asking for grace what we want and desire from the Lord based upon the meditation exercise. Each prayer lasting a minute.
Offertory Prayer
Beginning your prayer time: At the beginning of each prayer period, offer yourself to the Lord. Pray the “Take and Receive”
Take Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding, and my entire will,
all that I have and possess.
Thou hast given all to me.
To Thee, O Lord, I return it.
All is Thine; dispose of it wholly according to Thy will.
Give me Thy love and thy grace, for this, is sufficient for me.
Amen
Preparatory Prayer
“The preparatory prayer is to ask, God Our Lord for the grace is that all my intentions (wants and desires), actions, and operations (interior mental activities), maybe order purely to the service in praise of the Divine Majesty” (SE 46).
Write in your own words your intentions ____________________________________________
Petitionary Prayer
Now being situated within the mystery, after reading it the night before (or before the prayer period begins) we ask for what we desire from the Holy Spirit to reveal to us how we may go forth to meet the will of God.
Share your desires with the Lord for this day's retreat. _________________________________
Suggested: Lord grant me a deepening awareness of my fundamental vocation to praise, love, and serve God and others; a desire for greater indifference in my life; a willingness to embrace who I am before our loving God.
When we allow disordered loves and self-preoccupations to clutter our lives, we find ourselves out of balance, unhappy, and discontented.When we live out of this vocation, we are truly happy and fulfilled. This is our true calling and vocation.
Three Prayer Periods
Prayer Period 1: Understanding
1. Prayerfully read the traditional translation of the Principle & Foundation here below. Ask God to help you to understand.
2. Read a second time. Notice which words draw you in and or what resistance do you sense in you.
3. Read a third time. Reflection on the following questions
What is our purpose?
What are we created for?
How are we called to live with creation?
What ought our deepest desire be?
4. Review your Prayer experience. Write down notes about how you felt before, during and after your prayer.
Principle and Foundation (SE:23) by St. Ignatius of Loyola Puhl's Translation Human beings are created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save their souls. The other things on the face of the earth are created for the human beings, to help them in the pursuit of the end for which they are created. From this it follows that we ought to use these things to the extent that they help us toward our end, and free ourselves from them to the extent that they hinder us from it. To attain this it is necessary to make ourselves indifferent to all created things, in regard to everything which is left to our free will and is not forbidden. Consequently, on our own part we ought not to seek health rather than sickness, wealth rather than poverty, honor rather than dishonor, a long life rather than a short one, and so in all other matters. Rather, we ought to desire and choose only that which is more conducive to the end for which we are created.
Prayer Period 2: Relating
1. Prayerfully read the contemporary translation of the Principle and Foundation below here. Ask God to help you to understand.
2. Read a second time. Notice your response to the words.
3. Read a third time.
Reflection Questions
How do I react to God's call to me?
What is my heartfelt response to being called to be a "good steward".
What attachments (habits, addictions, lesser desires) hinder me from responding fully to God?
4. Review your Prayer experience. Write down notes about how you felt before, during and after your prayer.
Principle and Foundation Contemporary Version by David Fleming, SJ (2015) The goal of our life is to live with God forever. God, who loves us, gave us life. Our own response of love allows God’s life to flow into us without limit. All the things in this world are gifts of God, presented to us so that we can know God more easily and make a return of love more readily. As a result, we appreciate and use all these gifts of God insofar as they help us develop as loving persons. But if any of these gifts become the center of our lives, they displace God and so hinder our growth toward our goal. In everyday life, then, we must hold ourselves in balance before all of these created gifts insofar as we have a choice and are not bound by some obligation. We should not fix our desires on health or sickness, wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short one. For everything has the potential of calling forth in us a deeper response to our life in God. Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to God deepening his life in me.
Prayer Period 3: Responding
1. Prayerfully read the first traditional translation of the Principle & Foundation. Recall moments in your life when you felt in balance and times when you felt out of balance. (We call these moments of spiritual freedom and spiritual chaos.)
2. Prayerfully read the contemporary translation of the Principle & Foundation. Note the disordered attachments or "unfreedom" in your life that are roadblocks in your spiritual journey. 3. In the light of your previous prayer periods, write out the Principle and Foundation in your own words–that is, write out the mission statement that you want to govern your life.
Principle and Foundation (SE:23) by St. Ignatius of Loyola Puhl's Translation
Human beings are created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save their souls. The other things on the face of the earth are created for the human beings, to help them in the pursuit of the end for which they are created.
From this it follows that we ought to use these things to the extent that they help us toward our end, and free ourselves from them to the extent that they hinder us from it.
To attain this it is necessary to make ourselves indifferent to all created things, in regard to everything which is left to our free will and is not forbidden. Consequently, on our own part we ought not to seek health rather than sickness, wealth rather than poverty, honor rather than dishonor, a long life rather than a short one, and so in all other matters.
Rather, we ought to desire and choose only that which is more conducive to the end for which we are created.
Principle and Foundation Contemporary Version by David Fleming, SJ (2015) The goal of our life is to live with God forever. God, who loves us, gave us life. Our own response of love allows God’s life to flow into us without limit. All the things in this world are gifts of God, presented to us so that we can know God more easily and make a return of love more readily. As a result, we appreciate and use all these gifts of God insofar as they help us develop as loving persons. But if any of these gifts become the center of our lives, they displace God and so hinder our growth toward our goal. In everyday life, then, we must hold ourselves in balance before all of these created gifts insofar as we have a choice and are not bound by some obligation. We should not fix our desires on health or sickness, wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short one. For everything has the potential of calling forth in us a deeper response to our life in God. Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to God deepening his life in me.
When we allow disordered loves and self-preoccupations to clutter our lives, we find ourselves out of balance, unhappy, and discontented.When we live out of this vocation, we are truly happy and fulfilled. This is our true calling and vocation.
Our Lady of the Way, Pray for us!
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