Jesuit Education and Ignatian values key characteristics

FINDING GOD IN ALL THINGS
Ignatius of Loyola taught others to experience life attuned to God’s activity in everyday circumstances. Finding God in all things is an invitation to spiritually encounter God’s beauty in everything we come to know in our lives through an ongoing process of personal discernment. As such, every academic discipline provides hope to encounter the divine.

CURA PERSONALIS
Latin meaning “care for the person”. Cura personalis is having concern and care for personal development of the “whole person”, and dedication to promoting human dignity. This includes being open to and accepting a person’s religious and spiritual development.

MAGIS
Latin meaning the “more”. Embodies the idea of discerning, “What is the best choice in a given situation to better glorify or serve the Lord”; e.g. choosing between options encountered in life with a primary focus of being “God centered”. The Magis does NOT mean to always do or give “more” to the point of personal exhaustion. It is a value central to Ignatian spirituality and encompassed by the Latin phrase “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam” meaning “For the Greater Glory of God”. (Motto of the Society of Jesus).

MEN AND WOMEN FOR AND WITH OTHERS
A spirit of giving and providing service to those in need and recognizing that all humans have physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. In 1973, Father Pedro Arrupe, S.J. (previous Superior General of the Society of Jesus) put it this way … “Men and women who will live not for themselves, who cannot even conceive of a love of God which does not include a love for the least of their neighbors, and who are completely convinced that a love of God which does not result in justice for all is a farce”.

FAITH THAT DOES JUSTICE
All individuals (faculty, staff, & students) are encouraged to seek justice for all God’s creatures, especially the poor and marginalized. According to the Gospel, our goal is to work for the betterment of society as a whole. This is what “A Faith That Does Justice” actually means.


Jan, 2007