Spirituality: Pedro Arrupe "Rooted and Grounded in Love"

The Spiritual Exercises are, in the last analysis, a method in the pedagogy of love - the pedagogy, that is, of the most pure charity towards God and towards one's neighbor. They root out of the human heart carnal and worldly love, thus opening it to the beams of God's love. A demanding love it is, calling forth in us a response of love and of service. Service, which is itself love. This is the message of the very last paragraph of the book of the Exercises: 'The zealous love of God our Lord, out of pure love, should be esteemed above all'. In the Exercises, we find terms and concepts which are logically reducible to one another: 'the glory of God,' for example, can be replaced by 'the service of God.' The same may be said of 'praise' and 'reverence.' Only one term in final and irreducible to any other: love.