Toronto School of Theology

Teresa and Ignatius

A Tale of two Mystics

RGP6206 Classics of Christian Spirituality

Dr. Michael Stoeber

Kenneth Light

December 17, 2021

It could be argued that the contemplative Ignatius of Loyola took Christian mysticism out of the

monastery and presented it to the masses. He forged a spirituality with three main foci:

contemplation/meditation, the prayer of Examen and the practice of discernment of spirits through

consolation and desolation. These practices were taught through The Spiritual Exercises. His ethos

could be summed up in the statement ‘finding God in all things.’ His movement became known as

‘Contemplatives in Action.’ Teresa of Avila wrote The Interior Castle as a guide for contemplative

nuns who upon entering their order broke off contact with the outside world. The Interior Castle

is an encouragement for them to explore their own inner worlds. It is a treatise on the spiritual life

as the individual moves from the ascetical toward spiritual marriage with God. Her focus is on

contemplative experiences and paranormal phenomenon. In the Sixth Mansions, she mentions two

types of visions, imaginative and intellectual and guidelines for discerning whether the

phenomenon are genuine. There appears to be some convergence between Teresa and Ignatius

even though each work was written for a different audience. The influence of Ignatius remains

with us today stretching across ecclesial lines and informing the lives of millions of Christian

believers. Teresa’s work remains as a classic in mystical literature.

Ignatian spirituality offers a holistic engagement with the Christian scripture through meditation

and contemplation, it is the Spiritual Exercises that provide the stage for contemplation as a

mystical encounter with the divine. Secondly, the Ignatian prayer of Examen acts as a ‘radar’

helping one to discern the path forward by asking the question: Where is God moving and how am

I related to that movement? Lastly the practice of discernment provides guidance as to whether

one is hearing from the divine. Ignatius’ spirituality is the source of his activism and his ‘mysticism

of service based on love rather than the mysticism of loving union’1 Raised in a well to do family

1
Meissner, Ignatius of Loyola, 283.

2
Ignatius became a soldier and was involved in a life of chivalry consisting of swordsmanship,

riding, gambling, and courtly romance. His conversion was a long process. While recuperating

from a war with France he read novels of chivalry and a book on the life of Jesus. He noticed the

difference between how he felt after reading the two which became the basis for

consolation/desolation and the discernment of spirits. Before his final conversion he had a vision

of the Virgin Mary with the child Jesus which brought him great peace. His autobiography recounts

that he experienced five more ‘intellectual visions’, which are characterized predominantly by

profound insights given by God.2 In the first three he gained insight into the Trinity, how God

created the world, and how Christ is present in the sacrament. His fourth vision which he saw

twenty to forty times is a vision of Christ. He reports that ‘if there were no scriptures to teach us

these matters of faith, I would be resolved to die for them, solely because of what I have seen.’ In

the fifth vision his ‘eyes of his understanding’ were opened, and he understood and learned

‘spiritual, faith and scholarship matters.’ At sixty-two-years of age when reflecting on his life he

said that everything he had learned since wasn't as much as he understood at that moment.3 Ignatius

had one vision that he discerned as false: A form that somehow seemed to have the shape of a

serpent and had many things that shone like eyes but were not eyes.4 He later regarded it as the

devil in an alluring form. Ignatius was a warm, affective, communicative, and stimulating

personality, afire with the love of God and the humans with whom he conversed. 5 He traveled

widely to Italy, Jerusalem and spent time living in Paris. The highly visual character of the Spiritual

Exercises sprang from his personality. He had a burning desire to lead people to an encounter with

Christ and what sprang out of it is the Spiritual Exercises. He wrote them as a way ‘of preparing

2
Ignatius, Ignatius of Loyola, 30.
3
Ignatius, sec. The Autobiography.
4
Tylenda, A Pilgrim’s Journey, 32.
5
Ignatius, Ignatius of Loyola, 58.

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and disposing the soul to rid itself of all inordinate attachments, and, after their removal, of seeking

and finding the will of God in the disposition of our life for the salvation of our soul.’6 They

originate out of his own religious experiences.7 The Spiritual Exercises is a heavily annotated

outline for spiritual directors to use when leading others through a retreat. The exercises are divided

into four weeks. Week one covers sin and repentance and corresponds to the purgative way. Week

two covers the life of Christ until Palm Sunday corresponding to the illuminative phase and the

third week treats the passion and death of Christ. In week four we dwell on the risen Christ. The

Exercises end with a ‘Contemplation to Attain the Love of God’ and some extra material including

two sets of rules for the Discernment of Spirits that deal with consolation and desolation. Part of

what makes the exercises mystical is the approach used in doing them. The goal is encountering

God while contemplating on scripture by using the imagination. Ignatius states: ‘…when we

contemplate Christ our Lord, the representation will consist in seeing in imagination the material

place where the object is that we wish to contemplate.’8 Nicolas Standaert explains that we create

a space for a personal encounter with ‘the person in whom God gives Himself – Jesus of Nazareth.

It is not simply one’s imagination or personal emotions but ‘coming up against an irreducible

other.’ We do so by stepping into the scene and sharing with those who were there really saw,

heard, smelt and so on.’9 The 1599 Jesuit Directory also tells us that composition of place helps

toward concentrating and moving the soul, providing a means to refocus and call itself back to the

spot where it originally imagined itself.’10 Ignatius assumes that God and the devil are competing

for the human soul so discernment acts like a ‘security mechanism’ to detect intruders. Mark

6
Ignatius, The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, pt. 1.
7
O’Malley, The First Jesuits, 42.
8
Ignatius, The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, n. 47.
9
Standaert, “Composition,” 17.
10
Standaert, 11.

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Rotsaert says that ‘spiritual discernment is our human capacity to discern illuminated by God’s

spirit. The light that illuminates our discernment comes from the spirit.’11 A key tool for

discernment is an awareness of the inner movements that take place in the heart. He refers to

spiritual consolation as ‘an interior movement [that] is aroused in the soul, by which it is inflamed

with love of its creator and Lord’ and is accompanied by joy peace and gratitude and proceeds

from the good spirit (God). Desolation is the opposite, it's a ‘darkness of the soul, turmoil of spirit

and restlessness accompanied by depression, anxiety and fear and proceeds from the evil spirit

(Satan). Ignatius wrote two sets of rules for discernment. The first set of fourteen rules (Spiritual

Exercises 313-317) deal with desolation. They were written for use in the first week as an aid in

understanding the different movements and recognizing the good from the bad. The second set of

eight rules (Spiritual Exercises 328-336) are further rules for a more accurate understanding of

movements in the soul and are often used in decision making. Ignatius placed particular

importance on the prayer of Examen, a five-point method for prayer in which one gives thanks to

God for the favors received, asks for grace to know their sins and to rid themselves of them,

perform a personal inventory by looking at their thoughts, words, and deeds and then asking for

God’s pardon. The final step is to resolve to move forward in God’s grace. Moments of consolation

provide clues to God’s presence, and desolation may indicate sin or the presence of the evil one.

Ignatius saw the Examen as an illuminating and dynamic experience that enhances one’s

awareness and response to our ever present and ever active Lord. 12 The Examen needs to be seen

in relation to the discernment of spirits and is a daily intensive exercise.13 Ignatius encouraged the

use of a diary to enable the individual to look for patterns of God’s movement in their life. In

11
Rotsaert, “Spiritual Discernment The Horizon That Is God,” 99.
12
Saint Louis, “The Ignatian Examen,” 67.
13
Aschenbrenner, “Consciousness Examen.”

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Ignatian praxis one encounters Christ in meditation/ contemplation on scripture utilizing

composition of place. The rules of discernment apply to the encounter, and the prayer of Examen

is the means to discern the movements of God in one’s life throughout the day. What constitutes

its’ mysticism is the insistence on ongoing encounter with the divine.

Teresa of Avila’s was told to write a book for the nuns in her charge.14 Interior Castle is

the result in which she catalogs the various types of prayer and mystical experiences. They range

from prayers of the ascetical life to mystical prayers and paranormal experiences. From an early

age she desired to follow Christ and joined a Carmelite monastery in 1535 at age twenty. She

suffered a severe illness for a few years, and she continued learning habits of prayer moving

beyond meditation into contemplation in silence. At age thirty-nine she had an experience of

Christ’s healing and later sensed a call while reading Augustine’s Confessions. People around her

began to be suspicious of her experiences so she found encouragement and guidance from the

Jesuit Diego de Cetina. Her relationship with the Jesuits would continue for some years.15 In 1560

after her vision of the Risen Christ, and the transverberation of her heart she decided to move ahead

with the reformation of the Carmelite Order. The nuns had been unable to pray, being distracted

by interference from the town and powerful families who were effectively in charge of the convent

and causing internal divisions.16 She founded fourteen more reformed Carmelite monasteries

before her death in 1582.17 In Interior Castle she teaches about prayer through expositing personal

experience mixed with rich imagery. She explains the mystical life of prayer resplendent with

imagery of the soul as a diamond castle. We walk with her through each of seven spiritual

14
Avila,Teresa, Interior Castle, 34.
15
Ruiz Jurado, “Saint Teresa and the Jesuits,” 118.
16
The Wiley‐Blackwell Companion to Christian Mysticism, 429.
17
Avila,Teresa, Interior Castle, 11.

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Mansions with the seventh Mansion as the final one at which one enters God’s abode and becomes

one with Him. The key to progression lies in prayer. Mansions one to three correspond to purgation

with Mansions four to six corresponding to illumination while Mansions six and seven are union

with God. Teresa records nine different types of prayer which are used in the Mansions. For our

purposes two types of prayer interest us, vocal prayer in which we use words to talk to God and

Infused contemplation which is the beginning of mystical prayer in which one receives the gift of

an intimate, experiential knowledge of God, and an intellectual light that illumines the mind.

Mansions Six seems to have similarity to Ignatian spirituality. It talks about the trials a soul faces

and various ways God speaks. This Mansion is the state of spiritual betrothal where the Holy Spirit

gradually takes over more of the soul’s inner recesses. There are both interior and exterior trials.

The criticism of others or receiving undue praise require special handling. Serious long-term

illnesses can make life difficult. However internal suffering is worse, such as confessors who

condemn one for small imperfections, or cause one to second guess experiences by saying they are

due to melancholy or the devil. It is difficult enduring periods of aridity when the person feels

alienated from God and has no one to talk to. She says: ‘these very trials enable it [the little dove

of the soul] to make a higher flight’18 She mentions other awakenings such as hearing voices

(internal or external) and having visions and how to discern if they are from God. They must

conform to scripture, be accompanied by peace, be burned into the memory and eventually come

true. She counsels us to always have a spiritual director to help with discernment. She speaks of

two types of visions. The first type of vision is an intellectual vision through which even deeper

secrets are revealed. These secrets are learned not through the physical eyes or the ones of the soul,

but by a communication at a deep level without any intermediaries.19 In Mansions 6:9 she talks

18
Avila,Teresa, 172.
19
Avila,Teresa, 198.

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about imaginative visions saying they are more helpful to the soul than most other visions. God

uses our imagination to reveal himself quickly. As an example, she mentions God revealing a vivid

image of Christ on earth or how He was transformed after his resurrection. The person may be

briefly afraid but will quickly experience deep peace.20 In Mansions 6:3 she advises that one can

receive direct messages from God through the ears, imagination, and spirit or intellect. She

counsels careful discernment because they can come out of melancholy, the devil or someone’s

fancy in which case she recommends not upsetting the person and having them pray less and help

them to focus their attention elsewhere. Teresa offers the following guidelines for discernment: It

conforms to the Scriptures, possesses power and authority, is accompanied by peace, is strongly

memorable, and eventually come true. She tells her readers to submit everything to the judgment

of a learned confessor or spiritual guide, even those about which one has certitude of their

authenticity.

Comparisons:

Ignatius experienced mostly intellectual visions, insights, in which ‘God communicates

himself in a way that leads a mystic to better understanding of truths.’21 Standaert’s comments

about the composition of place sound much like an entry way into either Teresa’s Infused

Contemplation or imaginative visions where the individual seeks the gift of an intimate,

experiential knowledge of God because it is placing oneself in a position to receive a divine

encounter. Teresa seems to have experienced the full range of mystical experiences starting with

meditating in scripture to hearing God (locutions) and comprehensive visions that overwhelm the

senses. She encourages her readers not to seek such experiences as it is a sign of a lack of humility.

20
Avila,Teresa, 235.
21
Ignatius, The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, 30.

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Ignatius, on the other hand seems to espouse a spirituality that sees God in everything and expects

that God will work deeply in the interior life wherever the believer is situated. Could this be a case

of a female feeling she isn’t worthy to receive from God? She writes carefully in a self-deprecating

way at times, referring to herself as ‘this wretched and foolhardy woman’ confessing her ignorance

and always instructing her readers to defer to the church or their male confessor. Amanda Michaels

in commenting on the difference between male and female mystics states that: God is gendered

masculine, and while there are also male Mystics “who burned with that flame …they are rare and

their fervor is of a highly refined intellectual cast; whereas the women who abandon themselves

to the joy of the heavenly nuptials are legion, and their experience is of a peculiarly emotional

nature.”22 That contrast couldn’t be more evident than in the differences between Teresa and

Ignatius. In the Spiritual Exercises Ignatius writes like a military commander producing a training

guide for soldiers. He writes concisely with just enough detail for the spiritual director to

understand what he means. For example, on the first day of week 3 on the first contemplation he

notes: Christ our Lord goes from Bethany to Jerusalem and the Last Supper. #289. It contains the

preparatory prayer, three preludes, six points, and a colloquy. Each of the elements listed above

have brief comments. Kevin O’Brien comments that the reason for this curious layout is that

Ignatius intended the Exercises to be lived more than read.23 Even in his autobiography which was

dictated, Ignatius uses a simple, straightforward manner of relating events.24 On the other hand, as

Katherine Grieb states, Teresa writes candidly, confidently, and coherently - though hardly

systematically - employing powerful imagery, much of it drawn from biblical text, in rhetorically

sophisticated and subtle ways.25 For example in the Seventh Mansions on spiritual marriage she

22
Michaels, “The Mystic Poet,” 675.
23
Ignatius, The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, 3.
24
Ignatius, 67.
25
Grieb, “Teresa of Ávila,” 231.

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uses Song of Songs imagery: For from those Divine breasts, where it seems that God is ever

sustaining the soul, flow streams of milk, which solace all who dwell in the Castle… to sustain

those who in bodily matters have to serve the Bridegroom and the bride.26 McGinn notes that ‘it

was shocking for a woman to write an exposition on the Song of Songs, especially in the Catholic

lands of the 16th century where women were barred from direct contact with scripture.’27 He notes

that Teresa had to use numerous strategies ‘literary, theological and political to get a hearing with

the unfriendly confines of the male dominated church.’ Spain was particularly inimical to women

so her phrases such as “I’m only a weak woman” and constant self-deprecation and self-censorship

are defence mechanisms to allow her confessors or the inquisitors to correct her writings .28 One

wonders what was contained in the manuscripts the church confiscated from her. The original may

have been even more beautiful and profound. Fortunately, her confessor Jerome Gratian (1545-1614)

rescued her work by insisting she reproduce it.

In some respects, Ignatius was ahead of his time. In Rome he worked for the conversion of

the Jewish population and provided housing for several catechumens, allowing some of them to

become novices. This should be seen in the context that Jews were generally persecuted at the

time, and many other orders barred them from membership.29 He was also involved in the work of

the House of Martha which was founded to save prostitutes and homeless women. Some of the

prelates were outraged that religious men would work on behalf of ‘fallen women’ 30 Katherine

Dyckman records numerous women who helped Ignatius. They provided food, shelter, and

clothing particularly at Manresa. They provided funds for Ignatius theological education and were

26
Avila,Teresa, Interior Castle, 273.
27
McGinn, Mysticism in the Golden Age of Spain (1500-1650), 163.
28
McGinn, 127.
29
Maryks, A Companion to Jesuit Mysticism, 2017, 28.
30
Maryks, A Companion to Jesuit Mysticism, 2017, 78:28.

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attentive to his preaching of the exercises allowing themselves to be formed by what they heard.

They did acts of service not suitable for women at the time such as missionary activities and

convent reform. Yet none emerged as leaders or ministry partners.31 In spite of his work with

disadvantaged women he refused to provide spiritual counsel to women in convent communities

or to form a female branch of the Jesuits.32 He commented that ‘we must always be on guard and

hold no conversations with women unless they be ladies of prominence.’33

Ignatius and his followers went on to carry the Christian message to all parts of the world

including the New World where they were foundational to the settling of French Canada. They

were known for going into an area and adapting to the culture and presenting the message in a way

that made sense to the locals, unlike their Protestant cousins who tended to introduce more radical

cultural reforms. They founded schools and universities to train people. In recent years they have

had an increasing impact on the wider church, including Protestants. Evangelical Protestants are

discovering Ignatian spirituality and finding it refreshing. Ignatian retreats are being held at

Protestant venues in Western Canada and many spiritual directors are being trained at Guelph and

other Jesuit institutions because it is recognized that Ignatian training is the gold standard. Many

Protestants are doing the Spiritual Exercises in the annotation 19 format. They are also writing

about it. Andrew Dyck writes Mennonite Brethren Encounters with Ignatian, Taizé, and

Benedictine Spiritual Practices in the Mennonite flagship publication The Conrad Grebel

Review34 and Beth Dickson writes how her Plymouth Brethren background prepared her for an

Ignatian encounter.35 Gordon T. Smith president of Ambrose University in Calgary did his PhD

31
Dyckman, The Spiritual Exercises Reclaimed, chap. 2.
32
Maryks, A Companion to Jesuit Mysticism, 2017, 78:29.
33
Tylenda, A Pilgrim’s Journey, 114.
34
Dyck, “Mennonite Brethren Encounters with Ignatian, Taizé, and Benedictine Spiritual Practices,” 1.
35
Dickson, “All Unawares: Evangelical Spirituality as a Preparation for the Ignatian Encounter,” 1.

11
thesis on John Wesley and his similarities to Ignatius of Loyola. It was done at Ateneo de Manila

university under Thomas Green. In 2020 Smith held a remote class on Ignatian discernment that

was attended by people from Asia, the Middle East, Europe, the former Soviet Union and Canada

and the United States.

In conclusion Ignatius forged a spirituality that taught contemplation and meditation on

scripture, the prayer of Examen and the practice of discernment of spirits through consolation and

desolation. These practices are taught through The Spiritual Exercises. The ethos could be summed

up in the statement ‘finding God in all things.’ It has taken a few hundred years, but his influence

is also being felt among Protestants who are increasingly seeking a spiritual focus that includes

encounter with God that is simultaneously unafraid of the life of the mind. Ignatius’ point of

intersection with Teresa of Avila is mystical encounters with God. Today her work remains a

classic but is not widely read by the Christian population at large. As for the future, mysticism

may not have come to an end quite yet. Bernard McGinn posits a defining element of mysticism

as ‘the reaction to what the mystics understand as a direct, immediate, and transformative

encounter with the presence of God.’36 Grace Jantzen catalogs how the ideas surrounding the

mystical and who we count as a Mystic have undergone major changes.37 When we survey the last

five-hundred years in which we have witnessed the demise of the transcendent due to the forces of

modernity perhaps the continuing Ignatian emphasis on encounter is our connection to a long line

of mystics stretching back to Plato. Maybe its time for a redefinition. As we would say in the math

world, we have arrived at another inflection point where the trajectory of the curve changes

direction.

36
McGinn, Early Christian Mystics, Kindle location 90.
37
Jantzen, Power, Gender, and Christian Mysticism, 323.

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