I Alone, What Can I Be?

GUIDES

Publication date:

April 2023

The title of the present booklet “I alone, what can I be?” is a key expression which appears in number 58 of the Spiritual Exercises text. The “I alone” does not refer to a physical solitude (I’m on my own) or a psychological one (I feel alone), but instead to a vital choice: “by and with my own strength,” “without needing God for anything.” A presumption characterised by covetousness and pride which ends up turning into the root of sin (personal and structural) and its characteristic turmoil. Precisely by means of the exercises in this first week, the text attempts to help the exercitant detect the lie hidden in such arrogance: alone, without God, nothing can and nothing is, because human beings have been created/loved precisely so as to live their relationship to God in all things.

Ignatian Spirituality

Author

Carles

Marcet

Carles Marcet, sj. has a degree in Theology, and for a number of years was Parish Priest of Bellvitge (L’Hospitalet del Llobregat), whilst also giving the Spiritual Exercises to groups of lay people. Up to recently, he has been living in Manresa and an active team member of the International Spirituality Center attached to the Cave of Manresa, being in charge of an Ignatian Immersion course among other courses. In this series, he has also published Re-reading our own lives. In the steps of St Ignatius’s Autobiography (no. 7), and Ignatius Loyola: A Life Journey (no. 11).