Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

Volume 4 Number 2 Article 10

1-1-2015

Ignatian Spirituality and Ecology: Entering into Conversation with

the Earth
Joseph Carver S.J.
Pastor , St. Francis Xavier Parish, Missoula, MT, [email protected]

Follow this and additional works at: https://epublications.regis.edu/jhe

Recommended Citation
Carver, Joseph S.J. (2015) "Ignatian Spirituality and Ecology: Entering into Conversation with the Earth,"
Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal: Vol. 4: No. 2, Article 10.
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 Carver: Ignatian Spirituality and Ecology

Ignatian Spirituality and Ecology: Entering into Conversation with the Earth
Joseph Carver, S.J.
Pastor
St. Francis Xavier Parish, Missoula, MT
([email protected])

Editor’s note: A version of this paper was presented at the International Seminar on Ignatian Pedagogy and
Spirituality on November 7, 2014 in Manresa/Barcelona. The author was recently interviewed at Regis
University about Pope Francis’ latest encyclical: Laudato Si. https://youtu.be/hi3VUYfYGsY

The Earth, in all its wonder and diversity of Incarnate Christ. Ignatian spirituality demands a
creatures, is in crisis, and responding to this crisis critical awareness of the environment in our daily
will require every ounce of our willingness, skill, lives, moving us from a sense of mere stewardship
creativity and commitment. Any contemporary of the Earth to a deeper committed covenant of
theology that claims to address the ecological membership in the order of creation. One
crisis will need to be a theology that understands manifestation of this deeper covenant is found in
the human person as part of the natural world. My a Eucharistic Ecology that both emerges from the
assertion is that committed Christians have a tradition and is imaged in Ignatian spirituality.
particular role in the environmental movement This view is not simply instrumental, but rather
because of our understanding of both the sacramental: the very relational quality of God as
Incarnation and communion. A communal actualized in creation. Such a perspective
theology, which takes seriously the incarnational recognizes that we are engaged in a relationship
grounding of our human identity, transforms with the Incarnate God, and, therefore, must see
humanity’s relationship to the natural world and ourselves as kin with all creation, both biologically
inspires an enriched approach to the ecological and spiritually. The model and movements of the
movement. I would argue that the sacramental Ignatian Examen, serve as a tool for persons to
tradition of Catholicism, and especially Ignatian enter into the conversation through this
spirituality, offers unique points of entry into transformative practice. The world can no longer
ecological spirituality and thus the restoration of sustain the dichotomies of spirit and matter or
creation. When the great themes of Christian ecology and spirituality. The responsibility is ours-
theology, such as covenant and incarnation, are -perhaps especially those of us graced by the gift
brought to our contemporary understanding of of Ignatian spirituality—to reconcile these
ecology, with an attitude that is critical yet respects opposites for the life of the world. This demands
the beauty and depth of both disciplines, they an ecological conversion and commitment, by
raise our ecological vision from one of mere which we address the current environmental crisis
materialism to one of reconciliation, re-creation, with a fresh recognition of our kinship with the
and ultimately resurrection. created order. A new-found communion can
enable us to overcome abstraction and to know
In what follows, I do not pretend to offer the full the bonds of Heaven to Earth, of Spirit to Matter.
realization of what will come from this meeting of
Ignatian Spirituality and an ecological imagination, Applying the Spiritual Exercises: A Way of
but I hope to offer a few initial approaches. The Commitment
tradition of Ignatius provides a foundational
dimension to the spirituality of the contemporary In the Spiritual Exercises, we find a basis for both
Church. In examining aspects of this spirituality, I a creation-centered and resurrection-centered
hope to show how both its incarnational approach to Ecological Spirituality. The fullest
grounding and the character of kinship expression of this approach is found in the
(communion of subjects) may act as means to Contemplation to Attain Divine Love. However, there
understand and encounter God as Creator,1 thus are several key mediations that assist in sensitizing
allowing our ‘kinship’ with the Earth and all of us to the ecological issues of our time. Ignatius’
creation to inform our encounter with the view of Christ as “Eternal Lord of All things”2 -- a

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 Carver: Ignatian Spirituality and Ecology

resurrection centered approach -- addresses the accident that Ignatius asks retreatants to begin to
polarization of human transformation over against clarify the relationship between themselves and
the redemption of creation. To argue that Ignatius creation. The theological anthropology operative
was focused on the transformation of the natural in the Exercises emphasizes humanity’s ability to
world would be anachronistic; however, it is clear discern both God’s ongoing labor in and through
that for him creation is the place for salvation. creation, as well as God’s invitation for persons to
Indeed, it is within the wonder of creation that we cooperate in His divine work.
begin to comprehend Ignatius’ mystical principle
of “finding God in All things.” At the beginning Ignatius specifically invites retreatants to marvel at
of the Exercises, we experience God through the heavens, the sun and moon and all the stars,
creation around us and we are moved the earth with its plants and animals, and to
spontaneously “to praise, reverence, and serve.” consider how these created things sustain,
In the third rule of discernment, Ignatius indicates nourish, and protect us. They keep us alive even
that we cannot know God apart from creation. He when we ignore God and refuse to praise the
presents consolation as “an interior Divine Majesty; when we shut ourselves off in
movement…aroused in the soul, by which it is isolation and refuse to serve God; when we abuse
inflamed with love of its Creator and Lord, as a and misuse creation. (SpEx #23) It becomes clear
consequence, can love no created thing for its to retreatants that God’s plan for creation requires
own sake, but only the Creator of them all” (SpEx specifically discerned choices and delicate
#316). The movement toward indifference (i.e., precision. The other beings within creation are
relating freely) in the Principle and Foundation, companions helping us to attain the fullness of
the Meditation on the Incarnation, and the relationship with God. In fact, humans are given a
Mediation on the Two Standards assist in share in God’s authority, a real part in establishing,
increasing our ecological awareness. maintaining, healing, and restoring creation. Other
beings of creation are companions to us, helping
The Principle and Foundation: An Invitation us to attain the fullness of relationship with God.
to Relationship “For human beings there is no authentic search
for God without an insertion into the life of
Ignatian indifference in the Principle and Creation, and, on the other hand, all solidarity
Foundation does not imply a lack of concern for with human beings and every engagement with the
the natural world, in fact it is meant to cultivate created world cannot be authentic without a
understanding of “the end for which we are discovery of God.”4 Throughout the First Week
created” (i.e. compassionate awareness and of the Spiritual Exercises, retreatants become
gratitude for life with God.) As the retreatant intimately aware that they are involved in the
acknowledges her own creaturehood before God, processes of sin at work in the world. The
there is an increase in knowledge of her role in possibility of participation in the social and
that self-same creation. The language and structural sins of consumption and greed
instrumental focus on creation can certainly be mentioned in the introduction, though at first
read in an anthropocentric manner; however, distant and impersonal, becomes all too real. It is
throughout the Exercises, Ignatius makes it clear incumbent upon the retreatants, therefore, to
that creation is both a resource from God as well discern their own complicity with such structures
as an avenue to God. Indeed, he emphasizes that and thus to increase their ecological awareness and
God is both dwelling in all creation, and co- sensitivity.
laboring with us in creation. We must remember
that the Principle and Foundation exists as a The Nativity and the Incarnation: A Way to
starting point, set within the larger dynamic of the Intimacy with Creation
Spiritual Exercises – the goal of which is always
greater interior freedom.3 Thus, Ignatian In the second week of the Exercises, the
indifference is not a matter of not caring for the meditations on the Incarnation and the Nativity,
things of creation, but rather relating freely to like the Principle and Foundation, offer us an
them. The goal of the Exercises is a spiritual opportunity to raise our ecological sensitivity.
journey toward ever-greater freedom. It is no Ignatius presents the contemplations on the

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 Carver: Ignatian Spirituality and Ecology

Incarnation and Birth of Jesus as “models for all The Two Standards: A Way to Awareness
the other contemplations.” 5 He directs retreatants
to directly enter into the life of Jesus. “With the The meditation on the Two Standards (SpEx
inner eyes of the soul” retreatants imagine the #136) leads retreatants into an understanding of
road from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the size of the both Christ’s identity and virtue, as well as the
cave, and the persons they encounter. (Note: deceits and strategies of Satan leading us to
Although Ignatius invites an encounter with the “riches, honor, and pride.” As noted above, it is
‘holy persons,’ there is also an opportunity to not difficult to see the implications of our greed
encounter the road or to ‘become’ other parts of and consumptive pattern related to the Earth’s
creation as the scene is composed – never is a natural resources. Whether we examine water,
retreatant limited to only human roles in the food consumption (beef in particular), oil,
contemplations.) Each contemplation, like the building materials, land use, waste production, or
Eucharist, becomes an encounter with both energy – an unsustainable pattern emerges.
creation and the divine. The encounter becomes However, when we apply the interconnectedness
thereby a sharing in the transformation of the revealed in an ecological worldview to the
elements of creation, and indeed the universe as Meditation on the Two Standards, the issues of
well. greed and consumption become frighteningly
clear:
While the Nativity Meditation focuses retreatants’
attention on the historical events within creation,  As many as 3.1 billion people on the planet
the Meditation on the Incarnation focuses on the struggle to survive on less than 2 dollars a day,
divinity of Christ and the mystery of the Trinity. and more than one billion people lack
Ignatius does not intend to present a theological reasonable access to safe drinking water.
formulation for the unity of creation in God, as  Americans constitute 5% of the world's
his focus is always human salvation. However, it is population but consume 24% of the world's
clear that his vision encompasses the whole of energy. On average, one American consumes
creation in all its concreteness. In fact, it is as much energy as 2 Japanese, 6 Mexicans, 13
precisely through the Incarnation Meditation that Chinese, 31 Indians, 128 Bangladeshis, 307
Christ participates in and draws creation “back to Tanzanians, or 370 Ethiopians.
God.” Creation is therefore the place to
 Americans eat 200 billion more calories per day
experience God’s redemptive love. At this point, it
than necessary -- enough to feed 80 million
is difficult to overlook the resonances with Paul’s
people, and Americans spend $30 billion a year
letter to the Colossians. “He is the image of the
on diet programs, while millions of people
invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For
around the world starve to death.
by Him all things were created; things in heaven
and on earth, visible and invisible, whether  Producing 1 pound of wheat requires 25
thrones or powers, or rulers or authorities; all gallons of water with modern Western farming
things were created by him and for him” (Col. techniques. Producing 1 pound of beef
1:15-16). Because Jesus shares identity with God, requires 5,214 gallons of water.
He shares the same relationship to creation as  In matters of commercial energy consumption:
God. Therefore, it is clearly appropriate to say the 1 person in the industrialized world = 10
Earth is Jesus’ and everything in it belongs to people in the developing world.
Jesus. Thus our failure to care for and protect  Worldwide, 1.2 billion people do not have
creation is an affront to God. Creation clearly access to clean water. Americans flush 6.8
shares in the effects of the sinfulness of humanity, billion gallons of water down their toilets every
but it also shares in Jesus’ divinity. Jesus became day. Each day, nearly 10,000 children under the
human, a carbon-based life form, participating in age of 5 in Third World countries die as a
creation, exchanging food and cells, and result of illnesses contracted by use of impure
sanctifying life, blood, and even the very air we water. 6
continue to breathe.
In choosing the Standard of Christ, we are
reminded of His simplicity, humility, and way of

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 Carver: Ignatian Spirituality and Ecology

finding God in the natural world. Knowledge of once again teeming with life, amazing visitors and
this Standard leads to awareness, to love, and to scientists alike. Resurrection!
worship. Following the Standard of Christ
reminds us that God “labors and works for us in The eruption of Mount St. Helens destroyed so
all creatures on the face of the earth.” A retreatant much, that often overlooked is that so much has
finds the Creator “in all things” and “not in spite resurrected - an entirely new ecosystem. What was
of created things as if they were hiding from him a fifteen-story wall of mud and volcanic material,
as behind a veil, or even with their help, as if they travelling at more than 300miles per hour down a
had only instrumental value. He is one with them mountainside, is now 130 new ponds, two new
in relationship with God which God lovingly lakes and thousands of creatures. The ash and
established for us in union with our debris unleashed by the eruption clogged streams,
environment.”7 seeps, and hollows, trapping rain and
groundwater. The result? Ponds replete with algae
Contemplation to Attain Divine Love for tadpoles and aquatic salamanders to eat -
stoking populations. The fern and lupine lush in
In the fourth week, Ignatius calls us to a new life flower and leaf have helped build the soil quickly.
in Christ, and no matter how many times I read Gophers that survived the blast underground have
the words above, I cannot help but be consoled proven surprisingly important, forcing up
by God laboring on my behalf. As with the nutrient-rich soil from below the ash, with the
Principle and Foundation, Ignatius asks retreatants added benefit of providing migratory tunnels for
to consider how God dwells in creation. Spending toads. Alder have returned, hosting scores of
time praying in and with creation fosters a blackbirds with their tuneful songs. Some animals,
communal consciousness, and a growth in kinship such as the Northwestern salamander, continue to
and responsible action. Just as it is clear that we adapt, keeping their gills and living their entire
can harm creation from great distances, whether lives as aquatic animals, rather than moving into
through the worldwide impact of coal-fired plants the rich undergrowth and soil of a mature forest
in China, or destructive oil spills in the Gulf of they would normally inhabit as adults.
Mexico; so too we can heal and restore creation
from great distances. As we grow in our awareness Thirty years later, hiking over Windy Ridge, as
of our interconnectedness, we become more Spirit Lake comes into full view, one encounters
sensitive to the impacts of our consumerist an ecosystem teeming with croaking, blooming,
behaviors and their global effects. If we drive less, singing, soaring, darting, swimming, and chewing
eat lower on the food chain, use toxic materials life. What began 40,000 years ago on an eroded
sparingly or not at all, watch for signs of stress on surface of still older volcanic and sedimentary
ecosystems, use renewables, and do nothing that rocks, the youngest of the major Cascade
will degrade the water supply, then we are part of volcanoes has been transformed in thirty short
the Earth protecting itself. All of these years. It is not restoration, renewal, or recovery. It
opportunities have a cumulative effect in a closed is something new – an entirely new ecosystem.
earth system – allowing us to participate in the
resurrection of the planet.8 Lessons from Giving the Exercises

Thirty years ago, on May 18, 1980, Mount St. It is not surprising that when retreatants are asked
Helens erupted and destroyed over 200 square where they “find God,” they most often respond,
miles of mature forest. A massive landslide “in nature.” Never have I heard: “in a clear-cut
reduced the mountain’s summit by 1,300 feet, and forest,” “a polluted river” or “an over-crowded
in less than three minutes, ecosystems were city.” We are drawn to God in creation – just as
obliterated. I recall walking through the visitors’ we are drawn to healthy community. As a retreat
center, and viewing a screen to see thousands of director, understanding how individuals pray in
downed trees, scattered like matchsticks over an creation is a great help toward understanding their
area that looked as though it had been strip- relationship with God and offers insights into
mined. Now, three decades later, the blast zone is where and how consolation is working in their
prayer.

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 Carver: Ignatian Spirituality and Ecology

On the Oregon coast a short time ago, as I sat universe as being subsumed into human
with a retreatant, it was clear to me that he was fulfillment in Christ.
spinning. He was immersed in day six of the third
week of the Exercises, preoccupied not with The Spiritual Exercises are written entirely from
Christ, but with the intensity of His suffering, the point of view of Christ as “Eternal Lord of All
speaking again and again of the gruesomeness of Things,” as well as the humble self-emptying
the contemplations. As we came to the end of our servant. The split between human transformation
session, I invited him to place Christ in the tomb and the redemption of creation seems to result
by the end the day. He agreed. Though rarely so from a separation of humans from the world or an
directive in accompanying a retreatant, holding on overly rationalized approach to the final
to my piece of gneiss - I felt compelled by the transformation (as in Origen’s and Teilhard de
Spirit. I invited him to consider imagining himself Chardin’s view). If transformation is accomplished
as the tomb in the contemplation. Again, he by God’s self-emptying and resurrecting love, and
agreed. When we met late the next day, he love preserves the ‘otherness’ of the other and
tearfully said four words: “Christ rose within me.” does not simply subsume it, there would be no
Deeply consoled and joyful, he went on to reason to deny the self-emptying and resurrecting
recount the powerful contemplation he had of the universe as the place where humans (and
experienced as Christ’s tomb. Christ as human) can contemplate the immensity
and diversity of God’s creativity, beauty, and
A resurrection-centered approach to the harmony.
environment begins with God moving us toward
the realization of his love in all created things. The Just as Teilhard de Chardin’s “Mass on the
paradox of love resides at the very center of the World” was shaped into the mountains and hills
gospel and at the core of the Exercises. The center which burst into song, and trees which clap their
of Ignatius’ spiritual experiences is the awareness hands — so all creation will come to sit at table in
of Christ’s divine love present and at work in the the Kingdom of God. Theologian Catherine La
world. Therefore, finding God at work in creation Cugna writes:
for Ignatius does not begin with that creation and
then ascend by some form of purification of the God is so thoroughly involved in every last
senses, but rather begins in God and moves into detail of creation that if we could truly grasp
and through creation. Developments since the era this it would altogether change how we
of high scholasticism have not fundamentally approach each moment of our lives. For
changed such an understanding of the basic everything that exists — insect, agate, galaxy
mystery of God’s relationship to creation. Teilhard — manifests the mystery of the living God.11
de Chardin, for example, thought it his life work
to reintegrate spirituality with the Earth. He The Constitutions of the Society recognize that
accomplished much toward that end, however, his the activity of God in creation is “co-operating
thinking concludes by subsuming all material with Him and glorifying Him… that which he
creation within human transformation. As he gives as Creator, nature.”12 Thus Ignatius offers a
writes: “In a convergent universe, every element supernatural view of creation so that we might be
finds its fulfillment, not directly in its own led to render to God greater glory and service.
perfection, but in its incorporation into the unity This view leads us to be passionately concerned
of a superior pole of consciousness in which it can about healing the Earth and human healing, since
enter into communion with all others. Its worth humans and Earth are seen as united in God’s
culminates in a transmutation into the other, in a primary and communal act of love. This relational
self-giving excentration.”9 Or again, he reflects on view provides the bridge between creation and
“the end of the world; the overthrow of redemption.
equilibrium, detaching the mind, fulfilled at last,
from its material matrix, so that it will henceforth Ignatian Imagination and the Examen:
rest with all its weight in God’s Omega.”10 These
and other passages indicate that Teilhard saw the The daily Examen and Ignatian Imaginative Prayer
are two clear ways to cultivate an ecological

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 Carver: Ignatian Spirituality and Ecology

sensitivity in our interior lives. We are well aware What challenges or joys do I experience as I recall my
that God continually draws each one of us to care for creation?
Himself in and through Christ. We experience
God’s activity in our feelings, moods, actions, and How can I repair breaks in my relationship with
desires. We believe that God reveals Himself in creation, in my unspoken sense of superiority?
our feelings as much as He does in our clear and
distinct ideas. Allowing God to draw us more As I imagine tomorrow, I ask for the grace to see the
intimately, we must first let Him draw us at the Incarnate Christ in the dynamic interconnections of all
core of our being, which means becoming more Creation.
aware of our feelings. Here we recognize God’s
ceaseless invitation to come closer, to be more like Conclude with the prayer of Jesus: The glory
God, to be one with God. Additionally, we that you have given me I have given them, so that they
become conscious of our resistance to God, may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me,
which arises from sin in ourselves and in the that they may become completely one, so that the world
world about us. Using the technique of the may know that you have sent me and have loved them
Examen with an ecological lens allows us to even as you have loved me. (Jn 17:22-23)
prayerfully reflect on the events of the day. We are
able to witness our relationship with creation, and Conclusion: Reconciliation: A Sacrament for
to detect God’s presence and discern God’s the Society
direction for us. The goal of the Examen is a The more I listen in the confessional, and in
discerning heart. The purpose of the ecological spiritual direction, the clearer it becomes that the
Examen is discerning how God is inviting us oil that has ravaged the Gulf of Mexico abides in
individually to see how we are responding with many of us deeply – forcing each of us to ask the
greater sensitivity. question: “What is my part?” As we look on this
“pierced side” of the earth, we feel a desire to act,
The five movements in the Ecological Examen to reconcile, to change habits, whether in our
parallel the traditional Examen. We begin with patterns of driving, or in our use of plastics. Many
thanksgiving and gratitude for the covenant God I have encountered have spoken at length about
offers in the gift of God’s self in all creation. how the crisis weighs heavily on their psyches, and
Second, we make a specific request to have our how they are longing for a spiritual response.
eyes opened by the Spirit to the ways we might
care for creation. Third, we undertake a review of As noted above in reflections on the ecological
the challenges and joy experienced in this care. We implications of the Spiritual Exercises, when the
ask God how we were drawn into the divine 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus
presence today by creation, and how we were sought to articulate the mission of the Society
being invited to respond to God’s action in that today, it spoke of our need to create right
same creation. Is there some part of our relationships, especially in three areas: first,
relationship with creation that is in need of reconciliation with God; second, reconciliation
change? Fourth, we ask for a true and clear with one another; and third, reconciliation with
awareness of our sinfulness, whether found in our creation. (I am reminded of Pope Paul III’s charge
sense of superiority or in a failure to respond to to Ignatius to include the hearing of confessions
the needs of other creatures. Finally, we ask for when he sought approval of the founding
hope in the future, seeking greater sensitivity to documents of the Society.13) Reconciliation with
trust in God’s living presence in all creation. God and neighbor has a long history in the
Church. However, a reconciliation with creation
Ecological Examen has often been forgotten, emerging today in a time
of grave ecological challenge and profound new
All creation reflects the beauty and blessing of God’s insight into the richness of our incarnational
image. Where was I most aware of this today? heritage. The Congregation, realizing this new
reality, challenged Jesuits and all those inspired by
Can I identify specifically how I made a conscious effort the spirituality of Ignatius to “move beyond
to care for God’s creation during this day? doubts and indifference to take responsibility for

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 Carver: Ignatian Spirituality and Ecology

our home, the Earth.”14 This investigation is my the same time an intense moment of intimacy with
attempt to take the call of the Congregation the evolving Earth.
seriously; but it is also a call to a Eucharistic
ecology that emerges from—and has often been This Eucharistic covenant shapes our
overlooked within—the long sacramental tradition imaginations, minds, and hearts toward an
of the Church and the incarnational spirituality of ecological sensibility and spirituality, in which
Ignatius, especially as seen in the Spiritual communion and love of creation is an essential
Exercises. dimension of communion and love of the
Resurrected Christ. An authentic Eucharistic
When Teilhard de Chardin –inspired by his covenant leads to an ecological ethos, culture, and
encounter with the Ignatian charism—looks at the praxis – every Eucharistic experience, therefore,
breadth and depth of unfolding creation, he sees calls us to ecological conversion and action to
Christ, the Incarnate One, as not only the advance the salvation of all the world. As the
spiritual, but also the physical center of the source and summit of the whole life of the
universe. Because the Word becomes flesh, no Church, the Eucharist relates us to Christ,
part of the physical universe is separable from the connects us with one another, and re-members us
Spirit of God. All such dichotomies are overcome. with creation. It is the image of the covenant fully
Indeed, as Teilhard sings in the poetry of his realized, where “God will be all in all” (1 Cor.
Hymn of the Universe: 15:28).

All the things in the world to which this day In his letter promulgating the Decrees of General
will bring increase; all those that will diminish; Congregation 35, the Superior General of the
all those too that will die: all of them, Lord, I Society of Jesus, Adolfo Nicolás, wrote: “The task
try to gather into my arms, so as to hold them now at hand lies with the whole Society. It is our
out to you in offering. This is the material of responsibility to ‘receive’ the decrees and to give
my sacrifice; the only material you them life in our ministries, communities and
desire…Over every living thing which is to personal lives. Our experience has taught us that
spring up, to grow, to flower, to ripen during the success or failure of a General Congregation
this day say again the words: This is my Body. does not lie in documents but in the quality of
And over every death-force which waits in lives, which are inspired by them. Because of this,
readiness to corrode, to wither, to cut down, I earnestly exhort all Jesuits to read, study,
speak again your commanding words which meditate on and appropriate these decrees.
express the supreme mystery of faith: This is Likewise, I encourage you to enrich them with the
my Blood.15 depth of your own faith and insight.”17 In this
investigation, I have attempted to respond to the
For Teilhard, the Eucharist is an iconic prayer of call of Father General and to engage the mission
the transformation of the universe in Christ, offered by the most recent Congregation.18 Today,
because it acknowledges and anticipates the since the world can no longer sustain the
divinization of the universe. The One we dichotomies of spirit versus matter or ecology
encounter sacramentally in the Eucharist is the versus spirituality, it is up to us—perhaps most
One in whom all things are created and in whom especially those of us graced by the gift of Ignatian
all things are transfigured in an on-going process. spirituality—to reconcile these historical
Our Eucharistic communion is always a sharing in ‘opposites’ for the life of the world. Adhering to
the transformation of the universe, as well as a the encouragement expressed in the letter of
sacramental expression of the already existent promulgation for the General Congregation, I
union with God in creation. Because the world is have attempted to set forth a variety of
already “charged with the grandeur of God”16 inspirations found in our tradition, and to “give
through the covenant of creation and the them life” anew through my own “faith and
indwelling of the Incarnation, the Eucharist insight.”
reveals what is even while moving the world
toward what is coming to be. Thus, the most
intimate communion with God in Eucharist is at

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 Carver: Ignatian Spirituality and Ecology

Notes
14Documents of the 35th General Congregation of the
1 We live in a broken world (the 1999 Jesuit document on Society of Jesus, Decree 3: Challenges to our Mission Today,
ecology states that Ignatius affirms a “three-fold relationship “Reconcilation with Creation,” accessed March 1, 2009,
of subjects” between God, humans, and the rest of Creation) http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/
Promotio Justitiae 70 (1999), 21. In his address to Arrupe GC35/prmlgtn:
College in Harare, Father Kolvenbach insists that these three
relationships are “so closely united that a person cannot find Following the directive 30 of GC 34, Fr. Peter-Hans
God unless he finds him through the environment and, Kolvenbach commissioned a study and invited all “Jesuits
conversely that his relationship to the environment will be and those who share our mission to show ever more
out of balance unless he also relates to God.” “Our effective ecological solidarity in our spiritual, communal,
Responsibility for God’s Creation,” August 22, 1998, address and apostolic lives.” This invitation calls us to move
at the opening of Arrupe College. beyond doubts and indifference to take responsibility for
our home, the earth. Care for the environment affects the
2 This phrasing is drawn from the Kingdom Meditation. quality of our relationships with God, with other human
beings, and with creation itself. It touches the core of our
3Roger Haight’s recent article (“Expanding the Spiritual faith in, and love for, God, “from whom we come and
Exercises,” Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits 42, no. 2 (Summer towards whom we are journeying.” It might be said that
2010): 1-43) expands on this and other points of Creation St. Ignatius teaches us this care of the environment in the
Spirituality. Principle and Foundation when speaking of the goodness
of creation, as well as in the Contemplatio ad Amorem when
4Peter Hans Kolvenbach SJ, Discourse to GC 34, 6 January describing the active presence of God within creation.
1995. The drive to access and exploit sources of energy and
other natural resources is very rapidly widening the
5 See Adolf Haas, “The Mysticism of St. Ignatius,” in Ignatius damage to earth, air, water, and our whole environment,
of Loyola: His Personality and Spiritual Heritage, ed. Friedrick to the point that the future of our planet is threatened.
Wulf (St. Louis, MO: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1997), 188. Poisoned water, polluted air, massive deforestation,
deposits of atomic and toxic waste are causing death and
6Worldwatch Institute, “Annual Report 2014: Vision for a untold suffering, particularly to the poor. Many poor
Sustainable World,” communities have been displaced, and indigenous
http://www.worldwatch.org/system/files/Annual_Report_2 peoples have been the most affected. In heeding the call
013-14_PDF_FINAL.pdf. to restore right relationships with creation, we have been
moved anew by the cry of those suffering the
7 Kolvenbach, “Our Responsibility.” consequences of environmental destruction, by the many
postulates received, and by the recent teaching of the
8The insights shared in this section were inspired by Holy Father and many episcopal conferences on this
conversations with Dr. Janet Ruffing and Dr. Trileigh Tucker issue.
expanded upon in “Ecology and the Spiritual Exercises,” The
Way 43, no. 1 (2004): 7-18, 15Hymn of the Universe was published in 1961 by Harper &
http://www.theway.org.uk/Tucker.pdf. Row, accessed March 1, 2013 http://www.religion-
online.org/showchapter.asp?title=1621&C=1535.
9 See Teilhard de Chardin, The Future of Man & The Hymn of
the Universe, trans. N. Denny (New York: Harper & Row, 16“God’s Grandeur,” accessed March 1, 2013,
1959), 76. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_Manley_Hopkins.

10See Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man, trans. 17“Letter of Promulgation,” accessed March 1, 2013,
Bernard Wall (New York: Harper & Row, 1959), 287f. http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/
GC35/prmlgtn.
11Catherine Mowry LaCugna, God for Us: The Trinity and
Christian Life (San Francisco, HarperCollins, 1991), 304. 18This mission is succinctly presented in the opening
quotation and initial paragraphs of Part II (page 24).
12 Constitutions P.X, n.3.
Further Reading
13 The text from the September 27 approval of the Society
reads: “…that he is a part of a society founded for the Berry, Wendell. The Gift of Good Land. San Francisco: North
especial purpose of provid-ing for the advancement of souls Point Press, 1981.
in Christian life and doctrine and for the propagation of the
faith through public preaching and the ministry of the word Berry, Thomas. The Dream of the Earth. San Francisco: Sierra
of God, spiritual exercises and deeds of charity, and in Club Books, 1990.
particular through the training of the young and ignorant in
Christianity and through the spiritual consolation of the
faithful of Christ in hearing confessions.”

Jesuit Higher Education 4(2): 6-14 (2015) 13

 Carver: Ignatian Spirituality and Ecology

Berry, Thomas, and Thomas Clarke, S.J. Befriending the Earth:

A Theology of Reconcilation between Humans and the Earth.
Mystic, CT: Twenty Third Publication, 1991.

Boff, Leonardo. Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor. Maryknoll,

NY: Orbis Press, 1997.

Botkin, Daniel. Ecological Prospects: Scientific, Religious, and

Aesthetic Perspectives. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1994.

Brueggemann, Walter. Place as Gift, Promise and Challenge in

Biblical Faith. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1997.

Classen, Lambert. “The ‘Exercise with the Three Powers of

the Soul.” In Ignatius of Loyola: His Personality and Spiritual
Heritage. St. Louis, MO: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1995.

Cobb, John B. “Process Theology and an Ecological Model.”

In Cry of the Environment: Rebuilding The Christian Tradition,
edited by P. Joranson and K. Butigan. Santa Fe, NM: 133
Bear and Company Books, 1984.

Edwards, Denis. The Breath of Life: A Theology of the Creator

Spirit. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Press, 2004.

Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion,
translated by Willard R. Trask. New York: Harcourt,
Brace and World, 1959.

Ganss, S.J., George E. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. St.

Louis, MO: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1992.

Johnson, Elizabeth. Woman, Earth, and Creator Spirit. New

York: Paulist Press, 1993.

McDaniel, Jay B. “Emerging Options in Ecological

Christianity,” in Ecological Prospects: Scientific, Religious, and
Aesthetic Perspectives, edited by C. K. Chapple. Albany, NY:
SUNY Press, 1994.

McFague, Sallie. The Body of God: An Ecological Theology.

Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1993.

Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Gaia and God: An Ecofeminist

Theology of Earth Healing. New York: Harper Collins, 1992.

Santmire, H. Paul. Brother Earth: Nature, God, and Ecology in

Time of Crisis. New York Thomas Nelson, 1970.

Sears, S.J., Robert T. “Resurrection Spirituality and Healing

the Earth.” Review for Religious 49, no. 2 (1990): 163-177.

Surette, S.J., John. “What Does It Mean To Be Human?” The

Way 43, no.1 (2004).

Toolan, S.J., David S. “Nature is a Heraclitean Fire:

Reflections on Cosmology in an Ecological Age.” Studies
in the Spirituality of the Jesuits 23 (1991): 37-38.

White, Lynn. “The Historical Roots of Ecological Crisis.”

Science 155, no. 3767(1967): 1203-07.

Jesuit Higher Education 4(2): 6-14 (2015) 14