SENTIRE IN ECCLESIA ET CUM ECCLESIA. LA LITURGIA, CUMBRE Y FUENTE DE LA VIDA ESPIRITUAL DE SAN IGNACIO DE LOYOLA
SENTIRE IN ECCLESIA ET CUM ECCLESIA. THE LITURGY SUMMIT AND FONT OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE OF SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

Summary/Abstract: Sentire in ecclesia et cum ecclesia. The liturgy, summit and font of the spiritualy life of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. The Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium, published by Blessed Paul VI on 4 December 1963, declared that “Liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows" . In accordance with that, I find that it is valid to affirm that Liturgy is also the summit and the source of spiritual life. If we conceive Liturgy as the authentic prayer of the Church, it is the only important channel of man's relationship with God and it attests the relationship of each one in the ecclesiastic life in the Church which is the spouse of Christ. Even when some have taken the opposite view, the Ignatian spirituality has its roots and branches in the ecclesiastic liturgical movement. Saint Ignatius of Loyola knew how to discover the beauty, the intensity and the reach of Liturgy till the Council of Trent and, in the period of Reformation, with the foundation of the Society of Jesus, he cooperated to strengthen the position of the Church that sustained the liturgical manifestations as spring of life and spiritual enrichment. Having these considerations, I find opportune and reasonable to argue that an historical analysis will allow us to understand the inseparable relationship between Liturgy and the Ignatian spirituality. Our starting point is the personal conviction that the link between Liturgy and Spirituality is a pending argument to develop and to deepen the environment of the liturgical science and that of the spirituality, and in our search the spirituality shared by Saint Ignatius of Loyola and the first companions. The fact that this area has not been deeply studied does not mean that it is a secondary argument in the common ecclesiastic effort to favour the experience of God. Since the liturgical practice has its roots in the life and in the practice of the Church, it justifies that it is presented like an ordinary way through which each man comes closer to the sacred mystery and, consequently, propitiates his personal relationship with God. Our objective will be to present the historical, spiritual and mystic experience of Ignatius is a possible way to experience God, and propose that "the liturgy is the heart of the spiritual life for Christians, the first school for listening the Word of God and the best place for invocation of the Holy Spirit. In Liturgy, the Spirit remembers and makes present Christ's mystery, makes the believers docile to the Word of God and enables them to announce and testify faith, He transforms them to the image of God who has called them to continue his mission of Servant of His Father and of men announcing the Gospel to each creature" .

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