In Catholic circles, from time to time, one can hear the term “Jesuit education.” While this term carries a particular meaning related to the kind of education offered by Jesuits, I would like to use the term here to speak of an introduction to St. Ignatius’ spirituality, through speaking of my own experience.

My “Jesuit education” began in a way when, in a private Catholic school setting in middle school, I was taught the tradition of writing “A.M.D.G.” at the top of a page, sometimes with a little cross underneath. “A.M.D.G.” is an abbreviation for the Latin “Ad majorem Dei gloriam" (For the greater glory of God) — which is also the Jesuit motto. While a simple set of four letters, it also was a way of extending the Morning Offering prayed in sixth-grade homeroom to math exercises, outlines of science chapters and the like, and also a moment to realize that these seemingly mundane tasks provide an opportunity to glorify the Lord. The present moment, whether bringing math lessons, a time of recreation or perhaps even a grocery run, offers an opportunity to glorify God.

As St. Paul writes: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31); “and whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).

This “Jesuit education” would continue through the years as I learned about St. Ignatius and his contributions to Catholic spirituality, particularly through his Spiritual Exercises and their influence on retreats in the Church. I would in college also have an opportunity for the first time to take part in silent retreats based on the Spiritual Exercises and to learn, as the Jesuit Servant of God Father John Hardon said in his Catholic Dictionary, “their underlying principle”:

Their underlying principle is their opening statement that ‘Man was created to praise, reverence and serve our Creator and Lord, and by this means to save his soul.’

Here, again, in the Spiritual Exercises, one finds the invitation to “do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

While one might rightly argue that the “Jesuit education,” in this sense, is the work of a lifetime, I would like to leave another image that helps build out this theme of glorifying God.

At the Chapel of the Conversion in Loyola today, one finds a statue commemorating the conversion of St. Ignatius as well as the words written on a wooden beam above it: “Here Ignatius of Loyola gave himself to God.” This moment of conversion, of gift of self to God, is that which precedes the tremendous fruitfulness that would come from his simple gift of self to God. This wooden beam, above the chapel and its statue, serves as an invitation to the pilgrim: glorify God by turning to him in conversion.

As with the “underlying principle” of the Spiritual Exercises, one finds another echo of the call to glorify God in the Chapel of the Conversion’s invitation: turn from fruitless self-seeking to glorify God in your current circumstances.

While much could be said about the contributions of Jesuit spirituality and Jesuit education, it can be helpful to remember the simple invitation addressed to every Christian by Ignatian spirituality: Do all for the greater glory of God.

While the Jesuit motto, the “underlying principle” of the Spiritual Exercises, and the Chapel of the Conversion all serve as reminders of this, so does St. Ignatius himself. As a master teacher and example of how to give oneself to God, may St. Ignatius of Loyola pray for us!