THE ATTITUDE OF REVERENCE IN THE IGNATIAN COLLOQUY AS PERSONAL ENCOUNTER IN ST. IGNATIUS’ SPIRITUAL EXERCISES AND MARTIN BUBER’S I AND THOU

Abstract

The Ignatian Colloquy in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola can be understood as a personal encounter between the exercitant and the persons of Mary, Jesus, and the Father in which the exercitant addresses and converses with the persons, asking them to obtain for him what he desires, ultimately that of finding and doing the will of God. In his religious classic I and Thou, Buber
famously describes a personal encounter with two human beings as an I-You relation in which, by addressing each other as You, the human partners can have an encounter with God as their eternal You. With the help of Buber’s analysis of human and divine I-You relations, this article argues that the exercitant can address and converse with the persons in the Ignatian Colloquy to obtain what he seeks when he approaches them with reverence. Martin Buber’s description of a personal encounter with the other as You in I-You relations can aid us in approaching and addressing with reverence Mary, Jesus, and the Father in the Ignatian Colloquy