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

Discernment is the decision-making process that Ignatius describes in the Spiritual Exercises. The goal of the exercises is to clarify one’s desires in relation to God’s wishes so that better decision making will result in one’s life. Discernment aids in finding one’s vocation.

A daily prayer that Ignatius codified and popularized based on the examination of one’s conscience. It has two preparatory steps, expressing gratitude and asking for awareness of one’s sin. The main practice is making a mental account of one’s entire day, from waking onward. The last and fifth step is asking for forgiveness.

In Latin, lectio divina means sacred reading. It is a spiritual practice that involves reading passages from Scripture prayerfully and meditating on them.

In Ignatian spirituality, indifference means a state of complete openness in decision making. Related to equanimity and the classical Stoic virtue of apatheia, indifference is a state of freedom in which true action can occur.

A parable is a short story told by Jesus in the New Testament to communicate a spiritual meaning. Jesus’s parables were often surprising and enigmatic, going against norms and expectations. The parable of the Good Samaritan, for example, tells about a person from an ethnic group despised by Jews during Jesus’s time (the Samaritans) who was moved to care for a Jewish stranger when no one else would (119). Martin also positions Jesus himself as a parable from which one can learn about God.

The Society of Jesus is a religious order founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1540. Members of the society are called “Jesuits,” and they, like the members of other orders, take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The letters “S.J.” after a person’s name indicate that they are a Jesuit, including the author of The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, Fr. James Martin, S. J.

Martin defines “spirituality” as “a way of living in relationship with God” (2). Spirituality is not identical to religion; the Christian religion contains many spiritualities. Ignatian spirituality is a system of prayer and meditation derived from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556).