David Fleming SJ

The Jesus of the Gospels Becomes Our Jesus

by Jim Manney

To follow Jesus we must know him, and we get to know him through our imagination. Imaginative Ignatian prayer teaches us things about Jesus that we would not learn through scripture study or theological reflection. It allows the person of Christ to penetrate into places that the intellect does not touch. It brings Jesus into [...]

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What Is Ignatian Spirituality?

by Jim Manney

Many people want to know, and it’s not an easy question to answer.  Here are some things that help.  The late David Fleming, SJ, wrote an excellent small book by that title.  We have a whole section of this website devoted to it.  I like this “top ten” list by Paul Campbell, SJ. Jim Martin, [...]

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David Fleming, RIP

by Jim Manney

David Fleming, SJ, a prolific writer and esteemed spiritual director, died on Tuesday in St. Louis.  He was a great popular interpreter of Ignatian Spirituality.  I worked with him on his book, What Is Ignatian Spirituality?, which you can read here.  Many of his articles are on this website, including “God Calls, We Respond,” “Prayer [...]

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Best Ignatian Songs: To Be a Pilgrim

by Jim Manney

In his autobiography, St. Ignatius Loyola wrote of himself in the third person as “the pilgrim.” As David Fleming, SJ, writes in What Is Ignatian Spirituality?, “Ignatius looked at his entire life as a pilgrimage. His journey seemed for a time to be a meandering one. For many years he pursued a goal indistinctly seen [...]

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What Does it Mean to "Serve"?

by Jim Manney

“Service” is a central idea in Ignatian spirituality. But what does it really mean? Here is an excellent article by David Fleming, SJ, that unpacks the Ignatian concept of service. Service is humble. Ignatius spoke of being helpful–not something that conjures up “great deeds and great accomplishments,” Fleming notes. Love is the foundation of service, [...]

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