The Theology of Begging in the Spiritual Exercises

Traces the theology of begging embedded in Ignatius of Loyola's Spiritual Exercises, situating it within the wider Christian history of voluntary poverty, from the vita apostolica and mendicant orders to Ignatius's own experience as a beggar in Manresa and Paris. Analyzing the Spanish verb pedir ("to beg") as it recurs in the Exercises, especially in the grace sought in the Contemplation on the Incarnation, the article argues that begging expresses the exercitant's Thomistic dependence on grace and models the disposition of a creature before a provident God. The reflection concludes with the author's own appropriation of this theology of begging within seminary formation for the priesthood.