First Principle and Foundation Archives

What the Principle and Foundation Calls Us To

The launching point of Ignatian spirituality is that God loves us fiercely, passionately, and unconditionally. Because of this love, God’s desires and hopes for us are based on who we are: our gifts, talents, preferences, and joys. What God wants for us is the same as our deepest desires. What, then, should our response to God be? In Ignatian spirituality, this response is known as the Principle and Foundation. Let’s unpack this, using a contemporary […]

Purpose in this Moment

Lisa Kelly

This post is by Lisa Kelly, as she begins An Ignatian Prayer Adventure. So often in our lives we want that big picture, the clear road map, the understanding of the infinite, whether it is to know what the future will bring, what life’s purpose is, or even where this Ignatian Adventure might lead. But skipping to the end of the book would miss the point. Being human means we can’t know the whole picture. […]

Reimagining the Ignatian Examen Flip Books

Reimagining the Ignatian Examen Flip Book: Praise, Reverence, Service

dotMagis Editor

The First Principle and Foundation is the inspiration for Reimagining the Ignatian Examen: Praise, Reverence, Service. This latest in our series of Examen flip books brings a fresh perspective on prayer right to your computer. The text is from Reimagining the Ignatian Examen by Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ, a novice director for Jesuits in formation and an acknowledged expert on prayer and discernment. Praise, Reverence, Service If the embedded feature doesn’t display in your e-mail […]

Vinita Hampton Wright on the Principle and Foundation

dotMagis Editor

Vinita Hampton Wright speaks about the Principle and Foundation, the first key meditation of the Spiritual Exercises. In it, we reflect on how we are created to praise, reverence, and serve God, and how the things of earth all help us to pursue that end. Vinita says that the Principle and Foundation re-orients us to reality. The reality is this. God, who is love, created everything that is, including me. And all of creation, including […]

Living Frugally on Surprise

Michelle Francl-Donnay

It’s been a tough few weeks, with just a few too many surprises disrupting the usually gentle rhythm of the semester. A grant deadline was pushed up by two weeks; my youngest son, a continent away, got quite ill. All the while my e-mail chirped like a nest of starving baby birds, messages popping up and demanding answers faster than I could stuff answers in them. Last Monday, in what appeared to be a lull […]

In God Alone My Soul Rests

Becky Eldredge

The words of the Psalmist in Psalm 62 echo with reminders of the comfort and strength that come from God: “In God alone is my soul at rest. God alone is my rock. My hope is in God.” These words speak to the depths of my heart and give me clarity on where I find respite to my restlessness, tiredness, worries, and busyness. I know these words speak truth and hold wisdom for me from […]

Prioritizing Prayer

Jurell Sison

This is a guest post by Jurell Sison, as he begins An Ignatian Prayer Adventure. To be quite honest, making time for prayer and meditation has always been one of my biggest struggles. For me it’s like exercising—I love the idea but it seems there is a force that keeps me glued to my couch or at my computer. It’s as if someone drugged me with fear, or even worse—the curse of being “too busy.” […]

The Tattoo

Lisa Kelly

It was the parental conversation when I realized I had lost all control. “You are not getting a tattoo!” I declared to my 18-year-old son, who just smiled back at me slyly with that I-love-you-but-you-know-you-can’t-do-anything-about-it look. Eight more months and he will move out of the house, and while he is counting every day with anticipation, I am counting them with dread. I question every decision we made along the way. I panic at the […]

How Indifferent Are You?

Jim Manney

Ignatius really means it when he says that we need to be “indifferent to all created things.” In his Principle and Foundation at the beginning of the Spiritual Exercises, he says “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.” To make it even more challenging, Michelle Francl-Donnay suggests that we write our personal version of that sentence, inserting […]

Ignatian Parenting

Tim Muldoon

It is possible to bring an Ignatian perspective to parenting. My wife Sue and I don’t claim to be the best at this all the time, but the basic thrust of it goes like this. Taking the First Principle and Foundation (FPF) seriously means seeking to discover what kind of person God has created our daughters to be. I paraphrase the FPF this way: God creates us to render praise, reverence, and serve God our […]