IGNACIAN FORMATION PROGRAM

MODULE 6: MOTHER IGNACIA AND THE VALUE OF WORK

SESSION 2: SPIRITUALITY OF WORK
Target Participants Ignacian Marian Personnel
Objectives At the end of the session, the participants will be able to:
a. assess Mother Ignacia’s attitude towards work
b. manifest appreciation and love of work as gift of God
c. practice Mother Ignacia’s attitude towards work
Opening Prayer Loving God, we praise You for the wonders of Your creation. It is your will that we accept work as a human
responsibility. In your kindness may the work we begin, bring us growth in this life and help us to lead others to
fullness of your kingdom in Christ Jesus. With Mother Ignacia as our example and guide, may our work enhance our
human dignity and draw us closer in service to one another. Amen.
PRELECTION
A. Prior Knowledge What ideal attitudes/perspectives towards work do you want/wish you and your co-workers to have/possess?
- Respectful, Committed, Innovative, Systematic, Helpful, Enthusiastic, etc.
B. Activity Draw a Symbol of your Work. It may be a simple drawing of a material related to what you do (ex. foot rule for Math
teacher; PC for NTP or broom for MSP); or an abstract/symbol which describe your function/s. Write your name on
the Activity Sheet.
PRESENTATION
A. Data Gathering Small Group Sharing:
1. Having the drawing/symbol of your function/s, what is/are your present viewpoint/s towards work?
2. With the combined attitudes that you and your co-workers have in the workplace, how will you achieve the
proper dispositions to accomplish your work?
B. Synthesis
Mother Ignacia’s Spirituality of Work

CFC 1212 tells us that we should view our work as “sharing in the activity of the Creator.” Our work should enable
us to transform the earth, and to have fulfillment as a human being.

The following spirituality of work (PCP II, 317) was exemplified by Mother Ignacia:

1. WORK AS A WAY OF SANCTIFICATION

When Mother Ignacia decided to “live in the service of God”, she resolved to live by the “sweat of her face.”
She left her parents who could decently support her, bringing only a needle and pair of scissors from home.

In the 1726 Rules and Constitutions, chapter 1 #22, she tells her beatas that “their support should come from
the labor of their hands… They should place their confidence in the providence of the Merciful and
Compassionate God.”

For Mother Ignacia, one’s work is the process to becoming holy. She believes that by performing it with a view
in mind that it is for God and for humankind, a sister becomes holy.

2. WORK AS A WAY OF HEEDING THE WORD OF GOD AND COOPERATING WITH THE LORD

Mother Ignacia heeded the call of God after undergoing the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. She
was 21 years old when she lived alone in prayer, penance and sacrifice. She also extended charitable works to
people around her. This apostolic life of Mother Ignacia attracted many to join her while others supported her
charitable works. Her group attended religious services at the Jesuit church, gave catechism to children,
admitted women for retreat and provided the needs of others especially the poor and underprivileged.
Believing that she is following God’s plan, she never felt tired of performing her apostolic works

3. WORK AS A GIFT TO GOD

Mother Ignacia enjoined her beatas to dedicate all their works to God. In the 1726 Rules and Constitutions
(1.37), she tells them that “All works should be offered to God, our Lord, avoiding vanity and ostentation,
because Jesus tells us in His Gospel, that any person whose work is motivated only by human respect without
seeking God’s glory, shall not merit the reward in the next life.” Ignacia believes that all their works are God’s
gifts to them. Because she loves the Giver of the gifts, she took good care of them. She performed them
responsibly to make them worthy offerings to God.

4. WORK AS A WAY OF DISCIPLESHIP AND VOCATION

Mother Ignacia catechized young children and accepted them as boarders. She taught them how to pray, read
and write, do household works and be good persons pleasing to God.

Teaching is the noblest profession and vocation not just because it is about molding the mind, heart and soul of
the youth but also because it is about following the footsteps of Christ.

Mother Ignacia never felt tired of performing her works because she thinks of it as a gift of God. Rendering
apostolic services to the people is her way of following Jesus Christ. She believes that her work is a way of
obeying God’s plan. She performed her works wholeheartedly because it helps her become holy.
 The positive attitudes of Venerable Ignacia del Espiritu towards work are her unique ways towards sanctification
and holiness. Our reverend RVM Foundress also values her prayer life that her whole day’s activity during her time,
is a life of prayerful expressions and witnessing to God present within her. She, for sure, has time, to be with her
personal God, to commune with Him in solitude, in silence, and even in her resting moments to replenish her soul to
gain more wisdom, strength, and right will to respond to Him through her mission.

CARDINAL TAGLE: “REST, DON’T WORSHIP YOUR WORK”

MANILA, Philippines – Working needlessly on a weekend? Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle is urging
the workaholic: “Rest.” “Part of spirituality is rest, and as we rest, we don’t only allow our body to recuperate. We
allow the earth to also rest,” Tagle said as the Archdiocese of Manila opened its annual Season of Creation.

The cardinal also reminded his flock to “observe the Sabbath,” the day of rest ordained by God.
Christians consider Sunday their day of rest. Unfortunately, Tagle said, “we have made work, profit, salary our
gods.” “Ayaw nang magpahinga, kailangan sambahin ang suweldo! ‘Yung iba mayroon nang regular job, may
part-time, nag-o-overtime pa, kasi parang ginagawa na nating Diyos ang trabaho,” Tagle said. (Now people don’t
want to rest, because they need to worship their salary! The others already have a regular job and a part-time job,
and still work overtime, because we seem to have made work our god.)

Like Tagle, Pope Francis stresses the value of rest – and links it with a “greater concern for nature and the
poor.” In his encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si'  (Be Praised), Francis pointed out that Christian spirituality
“incorporates the value of relaxation and festivity.” Francis said: “We tend to demean contemplative rest as
something unproductive and unnecessary, but this is to do away with the very thing which is most important about
work: its meaning. We are called to include in our work a dimension of receptivity and gratuity, which is quite
different from mere inactivity.”

“Rather, it is another way of working, which forms part of our very essence. It protects human action
from becoming empty activism; it also prevents that unfettered greed and sense of isolation which make us seek
personal gain to the detriment of all else,” the Pope said.

He explained that in the Book of Exodus in the Bible, work was forbidden on the seventh day “so that
your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your maidservant, and the stranger, may be refreshed.”
The Pope said: “Rest opens our eyes to the larger picture and gives us renewed sensitivity to the rights of others.
And so the day of rest, centered on the Eucharist, sheds its light on the whole week, and motivates us to greater
concern for nature and the poor.”

While stressing the value of rest, Tagle also said Catholics should learn the value of “contemplation,” or
seeing beauty, dignity, and worth in persons beyond what is “useful.” The cardinal pointed out: “We have become
too pragmatic. We have become too functional. We don’t even give ourselves the time and space to enjoy the
beauty of something or of someone.” Tagle said: “If you are not useful anymore, you are dropped, you don’t exist.
It is not human dignity. It is not a contemplation of human dignity. Even people are measured by our
profitability.”

“That’s why children being conceived in the womb could be aborted. That’s why children are considered
as liabilities and elderly people are not cared for. They are not profitable anymore,” he said. He said husbands and
wives, for one, should have time to “contemplate each other.” For others, it can be as simple as “to sit down and
contemplate the aroma of coffee.”

The cardinal asked his flock: “Do you have time, as they say, to smell the roses? Do you have time to
marvel at a blade of grass? Do you have time to thank God for the cool breeze that reminds us that Christmas is
just around the bend?” “We will miss out on a lot of those things if we are not contemplative. The beauty of
creation is lost on us, and everything becomes material for our work and function. I am not saying we should not
work, but I am saying that true work is accompanied by contemplation,” Tagle said. (– Rappler.com/Sept. 15, 2015)

INTEGRATION
A. Creative Output Enumerate ways on how you can imitate Mother Ignacia’s attitude towards work. Write them at the back of Activity
Sheet.
B. Closing Activity Leaders will gather all the activity sheets which will be placed in one (1) basket to be offered in the Holy Mass.
C. Closing Prayer
Lord God, You have given us talents and skills as stewards of your creation to care for, promote and develop it by
our human labor. May we bring the spirit of Christ’s love in all our efforts and work with our brothers and sisters at
our common task, establishing true love and guiding your creation to perfect fulfillment.

Enable us by the power of your Holy Spirit to build up the body of Christ on this earth that your name may be
proclaimed and blessed through the good work of all. Grant to us the will to share the blessings we have inherited –
the fruits of our labor with those in need. Remind us always dear God that we are not benefactors but recipients of
your grace every time we open our hand to work and walk with others through the journey of life. Let your love fill
our hearts so that like Mother Ignacia who lived by sweat of her brow constantly we may use wholeheartedly our
abilities for love of You, Your church and the whole human family. Amen.