I read an article entitled “Meditations on Magnanimity” of Ateneo de Manila’s “The Hill”, their community newsletter, and while reading it; my blurry abstract understanding of a fundamental Ignatian trait simply condenses into a humble crystal that may start a whirlwind of contemplation and action. Ladies and gentlemen, this is what I call the “Magnanimity Mechanism”. Magnanimity or generosity is the corner stone of our Jesuit education. Magnanimity or magna anima, which means great soul in Latin, is the very virtue that encapsulates Ignatian spirituality, the thing that marks us different from the rest – the search of the great soul inside of us. Being generous, what does it mean? How do we attain it? I am no Jesuit, so as the Consul but after reading several articles about this. I hope I could share a precise shot of it.
It is in self-awareness which leads to self-acceptance where the dynamic of formation begins. Two powerful words that have countless philosophical interpretations but are the simple end result of a rollercoaster ride called the Spiritual Exercises. As what Carmelo Caluag mentioned in the article, self acceptance results one to be more grateful for the blessings in one’s life and also for God’s compassion towards our shortcomings and sinfulness.
Gratitude, genuine and deeply rooted gratitude, always leads to humility, the acknowledgement that everything in life is grace, that everything in life is a gift. Being humble and grateful of the graces received results to a sense of freedom from self – knowing and understanding that we are not the center of the universe. With this in mind, one focuses this question, “what will I do in return?” Or in the words of Ignatius, “What more ought I do for Christ?”
The sense of mission then follows, the mission of doing something more, the mission of setting one’s life within the horizon of a dream larger than life (in the words of Fr. Arevalo,), the magis. This mission becomes the very driving force of our lives. Life is mission as what it’s called. One is then called to give the self totally to the work. The great soul dedicates his whole in his life mission.
As Ateneans, we live as this magna anima, the great soul. Never forgetting that what ever we do, we do it for God’s greater glory and we do it for others. And the giving is not only for the sake of giving but a deep rooted desire to extend God’s love to those who despair, to those who have seemed lost in the light of the Lord.
God loves you!
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