History

In the early sixteenth century, Ignatius Loyola established a religious order for men (The Society of Jesus or Jesuits), based on a code of spirituality which he wrote as a layman (The Spiritual Exercises).

This new expression of spirituality suited a non-cloistered community whose members had the freedom to move in response to various needs and to work in the ways best suited to their individual gifts. In such a framework, the experience of each person was to be trusted. Ignatius worked on the principle that the glory of God, who is love, is the fullness of creation. Within this context, each one is recognized as unique and God's action in each life, particular. By being faithful to a daily practice of reflection on experience, one can be more and responsive to the action of God and grow in awareness of one's own strengths and weaknesses. Such faithfulness also heightens awareness of patterns in life - in the ordinary ebb and flow.

Mary Ward was formed by what we now call, Ignatian approaches to prayer. Daily life, the ordinary way of doing things, is the place where God speaks. By living in such a way as to be attentive to what is going on around them, individuals are drawn constantly inward, to know God in their hearts, and outward, in openness to others and in service.