On Ignatius’ of Loyola spiritual practice and the vision in La Storta

Abstract

This article studies the problem of comprehension of Ignatius’ of Loyola spiritual method. The fi rst part of the article outlines the basic principles that are necessary to carry out the study as to the functioning of the inner speech as the language of mind; it also pays special attention to N.I. Zhinkin’s conception of the twofold structure of the inner speech. The second part analyses Ignatius’ methodology of prayer described in the Spiritual Exercises and compares it with the tradition of lectio divina on the base of Guigo’s II text. The article studies in more detail the refl ection of the priciple of transitivity in the Spiritual Exercises, thanks to which principle the one who practises it acquires the objective of the possibility of communication with God. The transitivity is clearly implemented in the event placed in the title of the article which happened to Loyola in the shrine of La Storta, the analysis of which continues the aticle. The autocommunicative nature of this event — it had happened to Ignatius before writing the Spiritual Diary, — and those visual and auditive components that are present in it allow one to make a conclusion about the interrelationship of the visions and the gift of the “discourse” as constituent elements of Loyola’s religious method of spiritual self-cognition in the Spiritual Diary.

Keywords

• ignatius of loyola
• autocommunication
• inner voice
• practice of prayer
• religious method
• lectio divina
• transitivity
• игнатий лойола
• автокоммуникация
• внутренняя речь
• молитвенная практика
• религиозный метод
• lectio divina
• транзитивность