Ignatian spirituality emphasizes finding God in all things and discerning God's presence and call in everyday life. It focuses on developing a deep, loving relationship with God through prayer, reflection, and generous service of others. The "magis" refers to this continual deepening of one's relationship with God and openness to God's work, not merely doing more activities. Overall, Ignatian spirituality aims to cultivate spiritual freedom and ignite a passion for justice through contemplation and action with God at the center.

3. AMDG

5.  The word 'magis', a Latin word
meaning better and greater, is found
throughout Ignatius' writings. 'Magis'
meant for him the effort to open one's
heart more, to turn from one's own
preoccupations, and to be generous in
one's interest and regard for others.

6.  An old African proverb says: "God gives
nothing to those who keep their arms
crossed." 'Magis' means to turn away from
mediocrity and to choose the path of love
which is limitless, to give one's whole self,
to love with 'all our hearts, our soul and
our strength' (Luke10:27). Those who
share in the Ignatian tradition know a
restlessness always to be more open, to
give, to question, and not simply to be
content with the existing way of doing
things.

7.  It could make one crazy for power,
driving one to cut-throat competition
and corruption. All these result in
ego-inflation, self-centredness. The
“more” of the Ignatian Magis, on the
other hand, is opposed to selfish
attitudes and actions.

8.  ‘The Magis’, a noun, has elided from the
original adjective ‘maiorem’ (greater) as
found in AMDG: Ad Maiorem Deo
Gloriam. MAGIS and AMDG are thus
closely linked and complementary. It is
this Ignatian combination of MAGIS-
AMDG that gives a distinctive character to
“more”.

9.  For anyone impelled by the MAGIS-AMDG
there is “more” to life than living! Maiorem
– greater – means God’s glory always
becomes more, not because of our
achievement but because of who God is.
“The Magis essentially is not ‘what we do
for God’ but ‘what God does in us and
with us’ when we are open and responsive
to God’s presence and power in our lives.
Our co-creativity opens us to a glory that is
the whole of creation.”

10.  “Magis is one of the keywords for Ignatian
spirituality. It is about living in a more
enhanced, deeper, loving and passionate
way with Jesus Christ. Translating this as
more can be mistaken in the sense that
one thinks it is about working more or
doing more programmes. But that is
exactly what it is not about. It is rather a
deeper understanding of a more
profound fellowship with Christ.

11.  In other words, Magis for Ignatius is
a relationship word, a word having
meaning in terms of personal
relationships, in terms of love,
reverential love. For Ignatius, God-
given love is the only thing, the only
giving, that gives proper meaning to
“More!” – the love given freely, in
generosity and always in reverence,
just as God loves.

34.  K

45. Ignatian spirituality is one of
the most influential and
pervasive spiritual outlooks
of our age. There’s a story
behind it. And it has many
attributes.

46.  Ignatian spirituality is rooted in the experiences
of Ignatius Loyola (1491–1556), a Basque
aristocrat whose conversion to a fervent Christian
faith began while he was recovering from war
wounds. Ignatius, who founded the Jesuits,
gained many insights into the spiritual life in the
course of a decades long spiritual journey during
which he became expert at helping others
deepen their relationship with God. Its basis in
personal experience makes Ignatian spirituality
an intensely practical spirituality, well suited to
laymen and laywomen living active lives in the
world.

47. 2. “The world is charged with the
grandeur of God.”•
 This line from a poem by the Jesuit Gerard Manley
Hopkins captures a central theme of Ignatian
spirituality: its insistence that God is at work
everywhere—in work, relationships, culture, the
arts, the intellectual life, creation itself. As
Ignatius put it, all the things in the world are
presented to us “so that we can know God more easily
and make a return of love more readily.”•Ignatian
spirituality places great emphasis on discerning God’s
presence in the everyday activities of ordinary life. It
sees God as an active God, always at work, inviting us
to an ever-deeper walk.

48. 3. IT’S ABOUT CALL AND RESPONSE—LIKE THE
MUSIC OF A GOSPEL CHOIR.
 An Ignatian spiritual life focuses on God at
work now. It fosters an active
attentiveness to God joined with a prompt
responsiveness to God. God calls; we
respond. This call-response rhythm of the
inner life makes discernment and decision
making especially important. Ignatius’s rules
for discernment and his astute approach to
decision making are well-regarded for their
psychological and spiritual wisdom.

49.  Ignatius Loyola’s conversion occurred as he
became able to interpret the spiritual meaning of
his emotional life. The spirituality he developed
places great emphasis on the affective life: the
use of imagination in prayer, discernment and
interpretation of feelings, cultivation of great
desires, and generous service. Ignatian spiritual
renewal focuses more on the heart than the
intellect. It holds that our choices and decisions
are often beyond the merely rational or
reasonable. Its goal is an eager, generous,
wholehearted offer of oneself to God and to his
work.

50. 5. Free at last.
 Ignatian spirituality emphasizes
interior freedom. To choose rightly,
we should strive to be free of
personal preferences, superfluous
attachments, and preformed
opinions. Ignatius counseled radical
detachment: “We should not fix our
desires on health or sickness, wealth
or poverty, success or failure, a long
life or a short one.”•Our one goal is

51. 
The Ignatian mind-set is strongly inclined to
reflection and self-scrutiny. The distinctive
Ignatian prayer is the Daily Examen, a review of
the day’s activities with an eye toward detecting
and responding to the presence of God. Three
challenging, reflective questions lie at the heart
of the Spiritual Exercises, the book Ignatius
wrote, to help others deepen their spiritual lives:
“What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for
Christ? What ought I to do for Christ?”•

52.  Ignatian spirituality is adaptable. It is an outlook,
not a program; a set of attitudes and insights,
not rules or a scheme. Ignatius’s first advice to
spiritual directors was to adapt the Spiritual
Exercises to the needs of the person entering the
retreat. At the heart of Ignatian spirituality is a
profound humanism. It respects people’s lived
experience and honors the vast diversity of God’s
work in the world. The Latin phrase cura
personalis is often heard in Ignatian circles. It
means “care of the person”•—attention to people’s
individual needs and respect for their unique
circumstances and concerns.

53.  Ignatian spirituality places great value on
collaboration and teamwork. Ignatian spirituality
sees the link between God and man as
a relationship—a bond of friendship that develops
over time as a human relationship
does. Collaboration is built into the very structure
of the Spiritual Exercises; they are almost always
guided by a spiritual director who helps the
retreatant interpret the spiritual content of the
retreat experience. Similarly, mission and service
in the Ignatian mode is seen not as an
individualistic enterprise, but as work done in
collaboration with Christ and others.

54.  Those formed by Ignatian spirituality are often
called “contemplatives in action.”•They are
reflective people with a rich inner life who are
deeply engaged in God’s work in the world. They
unite themselves with God by joining God’s active
labor to save and heal the world. It’s an active
spiritual attitude—a way for everyone to seek
and find God in their workplaces, homes,
families, and communities.

55. 10. “Men and women for others
 The early Jesuits often described their work as simply
“helping souls.”•The great Jesuit leader Pedro Arrupe
updated this idea in the twentieth century by calling
those formed in Ignatian spirituality “men and
women for others.”•Both phrases express a deep
commitment to social justice and a radical giving of
oneself to others. The heart of this service is the
radical generosity that Ignatius asked for in his most
famous prayer:

56. PRAYER FOR GENEROSITY
Lord, teach me to be generous.
Teach me to serve you as you
deserve;
to give and not to count the
cost,
to fight and not to heed the
wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labor and not to ask for
reward,
save that of knowing that I do
your will.

57.  Magis-driven leadership inevitably leads to
heroism. Heroism begins with each person
considering, internalizing, and shaping his or
her mission. Whether one works within a large
organization or alone, no mission is motivating
until it is personal. And it is sustainable only
when one makes the search for magis a
reflexive, daily habit

58.  . A magis-driven leader is not content to go
through the motions or settle for the status quo
but is restlessly inclined to look for something
more, something greater. Instead of wishing
circumstances were different, magis-driven
leaders either make them different or make the
most of them. Instead of waiting for golden
opportunities, they find the gold in the
opportunities at hand.

59.  Heroes lift themselves up and make themselves
greater by pursuing something greater than their
own self-interest. Our classic heroic role models
often do so through extraordinary bravery at
uniquely critical moments. But heroism is not
limited to these rare and privileged opportunities.
They are also heroes who demonstrate the courage,
nobility, and greatness of heart to pursue a personal
sense of magis, to keep themselves pointed toward
goals that enhance them as people.

60.  AMDG
I am supposed to do everything in life for one reason: the
greater glory of God.
Yet I spend most of my life unconcerned with this;
I waste it on petty things.
God, please grant me clear vision,
The vision to work for the greater glory of your name.
Please help me to wake up each morning with this in mind.
Help me to clear my mind of minor details that only distract
me from my purpose.
Keep away the indifference that fogs humankind.
Point me where your people need help
So that I may go to bed each night knowing the world is a
better place,
And your vision has been fulfilled.

61.  Ignatius’ principle of choice, “the ever greater glory
of God” or the “Magis” can easily be
misunderstood. Many believe that the Magis
means finding ways and means of doing more for
the God or seeking the more difficult and more
challenging things in life. But the Magis is a
reflection of what Ignatius teaches through the
Principle and Foundation and the Contemplation
to Attain Love in the Spiritual Exercises. God must
be our end and only end in all things and the sole
object of our love. The Magis, then, is not doing
great things for God but deepening our
relationship with the Divine and the Infinite.

62. DHANYAWAD

63. Fr Victor Emmanuel S J
FR VICTOR EMMANUEL, S.J.