ne time than he did in the rest of his life. Ignatius never revealed exactly what the vision was, but it seems to have been an encounter with God. He said that now all creation was seen in a new light to him and he acquired a new meaning God, finding him in all of the things in his life. This grace, finding God in all things, is one of the central characteristics of Jesuit spirituality. Ignatius himself never wrote in the rules of the Jesuits that there should be any fixed time for prayer. He felt that by finding God in all things that all times of the day are in prayer. He did not exclude formal prayer. One of the reasons some opposed the formation of the Society of Jesus was that Ignatius proposed doing away with the chanting of the Divine Office in choir. This was a radical departure from custom, because until this time, every religious order was held to the recitation of the office in common. For Ignatius, such a recitation meant that the activity envisioned for the Society would be hindered. Some time after the death of Ignatius, a later Pope was so upset about this that he imposed the recitation of the Office on the Jesuits. Fortunately, the next Pope was more understanding and allowed the Jesuits to return to their former practice. It was also during this period at Manresa, that Ignatius undertook many extreme penances, trying to outdo those he had read of in the lives of the saints. Ignatius had not yet learned self-control and true spirituality. This is probably why the congregation he later founded did not have any prescribed or set penances, as other orders had. Ignatius finally arrived at Barcelona, took a boat to Italy, and ended up in Rome where he met Pope Adrian VI and requested permission to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Once Ignatius arrived in the Holy Land, he wanted to remain there, but was told by the Franciscan superior who had authority over Catholics there that the situation was too dangerous...
