St. Ignatius wrote his Spiritual Exercises at a time when the heresy of Luther was tearing apart the Mystical Body of Christ. The following 'rules,' which come at the end of the Exercises, are still relevant today.
TO HAVE THE TRUE SENTIMENT WHICH WE OUGHT TO HAVE IN THE CHURCH MILITANT...
Let the following Rules be observed.
1. All judgment laid aside,
we ought to have our mind ready
and prompt to obey in all
the true Spouse of Christ our Lord, which is our holy Mother the Church Hierarchical.
I. Notice he says "Church Militant" and then 'Church Hierarchical.' What is the significance of these terms? What or who does he mean by Church in this document? What does it mean to lay aside "all judgment" in order to be "ready and prompt to obey in all?"
2. To praise
...confession to a Priest,
and the reception of the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar once in the year, and much more each month, and much better from week to week, with the conditions required and due.
3. ...the hearing of Mass often, likewise hymns, psalms, and long prayers, in the church and out of it;
likewise the hours set at the time fixed for each Divine Office and for all prayer and all Canonical Hours.
4. ... much Religious Orders, virginity and continence, and not so much marriage as any of these.
5. ...vows of Religion, of obedience, of poverty, of chastity and of other perfections of supererogation. And it is to be noted that as the vow is about the things which approach to Evangelical perfection, a vow ought not to be made in the things which withdraw from it, such as to be a merchant, or to be married, etc.
6. ...relics of the Saints, giving veneration to them and praying to the Saints; and to praise Stations, pilgrimages, Indulgences, pardons, Cruzadas, and candles lighted in the churches.
7. ...Constitutions about fasts and abstinence, as of Lent, Ember Days, Vigils, Friday and Saturday; likewise penances, not only interior, but also exterior.
8. ...the ornaments and the buildings of churches; likewise images, and to venerate them according to what they represent.
9. Finally, to praise all precepts of the Church, keeping the mind prompt to find reasons in their defense and in no manner against them.
II. What might St. Ignatius have in mind when he says to 'praise' these things he lists?
10. We ought to be more prompt to find good
and praise as well the Constitutions and recommendations as the ways of our Superiors. Because, although some are not or have not been such, to speak against them, whether preaching in public or discoursing before the common people, would rather give rise to fault-finding and scandal than profit; and so the people would be incensed against their Superiors, whether temporal or spiritual.
So that, as it does harm to speak evil to the common people of Superiors in their absence,
so it can make profit to speak of the evil ways to the persons themselves who can remedy them.
III. What might St. Ignatius mean by finding 'good' in our Superiors? What is the reason he gives for doing this?
11. To praise positive and scholastic learning.
Because, as it is more proper to the Positive Doctors, as St. Jerome, St. Augustine and St. Gregory, etc., to move the heart to love and serve God our Lord in everything;
so it is more proper to the Scholastics, as St. Thomas, St. Bonaventure, and to the Master of the Sentences, etc., to define or explain for our times the things necessary for eternal salvation; and to combat and explain better all errors and all fallacies.
For the Scholastic Doctors, as they are more modern, not only help themselves with the true understanding of the Sacred Scripture and of the Positive and holy Doctors, but also, they being enlightened and clarified by the Divine virtue, help themselves by the Councils, Canons and Constitutions of our holy Mother the Church.
12. We ought to be on our guard
in making comparison of those of us who are alive to the blessed passed away, because error is committed not a little in this; that is to say, in saying, this one knows more than St. Augustine; he is another, or greater than, St. Francis; he is another St. Paul in goodness, holiness, etc.
III. What might motivate someone to speak ill of the holy Doctors or to hold up contemporaries as equal to saints (or even superior)?
13. To be orthodox in everything,
we ought always to hold that the white which I see, is black, if the Hierarchical Church so decides it, believing that between Christ our Lord, the Bridegroom, and the Church, His Bride, there is the same Spirit which governs and directs us for the salvation of our souls.
Because by the same Spirit and our Lord Who gave the ten Commandments, our holy Mother the Church is directed and governed.
IV. Is St. Ignatius making a hyperbole when he says "hold that the white which I is see is black?" What does he mean by this? What is he saying about our attitude toward anything "if the Church decides it so"?
A complete text (including the remaining "rules" on preaching about predestination, faith, and grace) may be found at https://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/seil/seil82.htm.
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