It’s July, the month of high summer (in the Northern Hemisphere) and the month of St. Ignatius Loyola, whose spiritual ideas we celebrate here at IgnatianSpirituality.com.  Ignatius’s feast day is July 31.  Loyola Press has assembled a collection of reflections, insights, prayers, blog posts, and article excerpts for every day of the month.

Here is the list. Today’s good idea is an invitation to browse the “What Is Ignatian Spirituality?” section of this website.

The Wall Street Journal admires the Cristo Rey network of schools.

A blog you should check out: Days of Deepening Friendship.  They’re discussing Tim Muldoon’s book, Longing to Love over there.

What happens when Jesuit colleges play each other in basketball.

The Jesuits open seldom-seen houses in Rome, including rooms where Ignatius lived.

A business guru on the takaways from Ignatius (“Be open-minded, form your organization with a purpose, and don’t be afraid to redefine that purpose.”)

Today marks the 400th anniversary of the death of the Jesuit Matteo Ricci, who was the first Westerner in the court of Imperial China.  He is one of my heroes, not only because I am fascinated by the history of China, but also because his ministry represents in my mind a model for the future of interreligious dialogue, globalization, and even Catholic mission.  (See the China Daily story.)

Ricci’s was a very Ignatian approach to evangelization.  He entered China hoping to first learn about the country and its people.  His first published work there, in fact, was on friendship (Jiaoyou lun, 1595).  Mindful of the maxim to find God “in all things,” he wrote to his confreres in Europe that China’s vast civilization was certainly not bereft of God’s presence–only a kind of European (and even Catholic) triumphalism could posit such nonsense.  He paid attention, hoping to discern the ways God was already revealing himself to the Chinese, even before he could share with them the story of Jesus.  He donned the garb of Buddhist monks (although he himself had little tolerance for Buddhism), but later understood that the way to gain the respect of the literati was through presenting himself as a Confucian scholar.  The picture here shows him in that stage of his ministry.  Ricci went on to write on astronomy, mathematics, cartography (see the Library of Congress exhibit), mnemonics, philosophy, and Christian doctrine.  He made a lasting impact on both China and Korea; both he and his Chinese friend (and convert to Catholicism) Paul Xu Guangxi have been talked about as candidates for beatification.

Further viewing: Vatican exhibit on Matteo Ricci (You Tube)

Further reading: Ronald Modras’ chapter on Ricci in Ignatian Humanism (Loyola Press, 2004).

The visionary paintings of James Tissot in America.

Pop psychology discovers Ignatian discernment. (“Using the 4 D’s to find more meaning and purpose in life.”)

Adolfo Nicolas, SJ, on the beatification of Bernardo de Hoyos, SJ.  (Litany of Jesuit saints here.)

Peter Nixon on the washing of feet.

An awesome view of the Sistine Chapel.

A documentary on the life and legacy of Pedro Arrupe, SJ, is available for viewing on YouTube.  The film was produced by Georgetown University a couple of years ago.  It was uploaded through the Jesuit Channel, a YouTube channel sponsored by the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities.  The video here is the first one in the series.  The other videos are available here. If you like these, you might want to subscribe to the Jesuit Channel’s videos.

A reading list of Jesuit classics.

Jesuits are pro-life.

Jim Martin, SJ goes into the recording studio.

Thinking about Matteo Ricci.

Suggestions for Ignatian prayer.

In 1602 the Jesuit Matteo Ricci created a map of the world and presented it to the Chinese emperor.   It was the first world map to combine the geographic knowledge of the west and east.  It is now on display the Library of Congress.  Go here for a Times review of the exhibition.  A scalable version of the map is online at the Tohoku University Library in Japan.

Ricci was the first westerner admitted to the emperor’s court. He introduced European learning to China–along with the Christian religion.  He had enormous respect for the culture of his hosts.  He mastered the Chinese language and became proficient in Chinese literature, philosophy, and religion.  His map placed China in the center of the world with Europe on the periphery.  But Ricci subtly portrayed Italy and China as parallel superior cultures.

December 21 is the feast of another great Jesuit saint, Peter Canisius. Let this post represent a shout-out to Buffalo’s Canisius College and Canisius High School; Jakarta’s Canisius College (secondary school); and Berlin’s Canisius Kolleg (secondary school).

The Dutch-born Canisius (1521-1597) was one of the early first-generation Jesuits. He met Pierre Favre, one of Ignatius’ roommates at the University of Paris and one of the original seven members of the Society; Pierre led him through the Spiritual Exercises. He eventually attended several sessions of the Council of Trent, taught and lectured, and spent most of his life in Germany. He became renowned for a catechism he wrote, which was printed in more than four hundred editions in fifteen languages. He was later named a Doctor of the Church.

My friend and colleague Jim Campbell recently discovered a Jesuit calendar that’s a great resource for anyone interested in all things Jesuit.  It was developed by Otto Sayre, SJ, a German Jesuit.  The calendar pays special attention to the German history of the Society, but it covers the whole history of the Society, from Ignatius to the present.

St. Francis Xavier (Indonesia, c. 16th century)

December 3 is the feast of Saint Francis Xavier. Francis is the patron of foreign missions because of his evangelization in India, Indonesia, and Japan (he died off the coast of China, and the site is a pilgrimage destination for Chinese Catholics). Many Asian Catholics to this day recognize Francis as a patron; many priests take his name.

Francis is perhaps the most striking example of what Ignatius’ disciple Jerónimo Nadal described as the place for the ministry of the nascent Jesuit order. In contrast to the cloisters of the monastic orders, he suggested that “the world is our house.” Francis’ life after college with Ignatius (Francis was the athlete; Ignatius was like the older brother figure to him) was a passionate commitment to spread the gospel to those places that had not yet heard it.

In recent years, there is greater attention to the question of whether Francis’ ministry was compromised by his reliance on Portuguese expansion into Asia– economic exploitation, colonialism, racism, and so on. During the 500th anniversary of his birth, I visited the castle at Javier, in Navarre, Spain, where there was a remarkable exhibit of artwork depicting Francis. The exhibit examined how depictions of Xavier perpetuated stereotypes of the European noble and the darker skinned, uncivilized foreigners. They are deeply troubling images, in some cases.

Yet what is most remarkable about Xavier today is that in the very lands where he preached, there is great devotion to his memory. India, Japan, Indonesia, and China all have communities that remember him with great veneration. In this age of great awareness of cultural difference, Xavier remains a remarkable figure– a reminder that authentically preaching the gospel is not a violation of culture, but an appreciation of it.