One of the most popular Ignatian prayers is the Prayer for Generosity.
Lord, teach me to be generous,
to serve you as you deserve,
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labor and not to look for any reward,
save that of knowing that I do your holy will.
It’s a popular prayer, especially in Jesuit high schools and colleges. It’s easy to understand and to say. It’s composed almost entirely of one-syllable words. It’s full of powerful infinitives (“to serve,” “to labor,” “to toil,” “to fight,” etc.). Its simple structure consists of four strong contrasts: to do something, and not to do something. It sounds good when a group prays it aloud together. It looks good on a prayer card or a website.
The prayer has long been attributed to Ignatius, but no evidence has ever been found that he said or wrote anything like this. It first appeared in print in 1910 in French in a handbook for French boy scouts. Jesuits were active in the French scout movement in those days, and it’s thought that one of them wrote it. (See this article by the British Jesuit Jack Mahoney about the prayer’s origins.)
It’s easy to see why Jesuits and their friends take the prayer to heart as a quintessential expression of the Ignatian ethos. It’s focus is on action—work, labor, positive engagement with the world. It echoes Ignatius’s dictum that “love is best expressed in deeds rather than words.” It’s not a prayer of praise or intercession or repentance, but rather a prayer to become a certain kind of person—one who is generous, focused, zealous in serving others.
Ignatius greatly valued this quality. He wanted anyone making the Spiritual Exercises “to enter upon them with magnanimity and generosity toward his Creator and Lord.” This is not an absolute requirement for making the Exercises, but it’s close.
Magnanimity means having greatness of mind and heart. It’s an ability to rise above self-interest and the usual worries about comfort and safety and choose the best thing. A magnanimous person isn’t petty. He or she makes the extra effort—being the first to volunteer, walking the extra mile, giving someone your coat when they only asked for your shirt. William Barry, my favorite spiritual writer, says that Ignatian magnanimity means having great desires. A desire to become more aware of God and to draw closer to him is what propelled Ignatius in his spiritual journey. That’s what he wanted to see in someone who asked to make the Exercises—magnanimity, not theological sophistication, great learning, or deep holiness.
That’s what we pray for in the Prayer for Generosity. In its powerful simplicity, it expresses the paradox and challenge of everyday Christian life: God takes the initiative but we make the choices and do the work.
The Prayer for Generosity leaves some things out. As the Jesuit historian Barton T. Geger points out, the Ignatian point of view actually does count the cost. Ignatian discernment involves a careful weighing of alternatives. A good choice is the one that accomplishes the greater good. This usually includes an assessment of the probable results of a new venture. We’re best able to make good choices not in a state of single-minded passion but in a state of “indifference”—detachment from personal preferences.
As for toiling without seeking for rest—well, Ignatius frowned on that. His letters are full of warnings about going to extremes. He constantly reminded his colleagues and friends to eat well, get proper rest, go on vacations, and generally take care of themselves. In 1547 he told some Portuguese Jesuits who were engaging in prodigious feats of prayer and fasting to cut it out:
Without moderation, good turns into evil and virtue into vice; and numerous bad consequences ensue. . . . It makes a person unable to serve God over the long haul. If a horse is exhausted in the early stages of a trip, it usually does not complete the journey; instead it ends up making others have to care for it
That’s the practical side of Ignatian wisdom: balanced, shrewd, discerning, good for the long haul. But the heart of the person walking this steady path burns brightly with love. It’s a generous heart, a magnanimous spirit. It’s the heart of a person transformed by love. We pray to have that heart when we pray the Prayer for Generosity.
https://youtu.be/pl1cVT5Q3Ns
I learned this prayer as a child, when I became a "jeannette" (young girl guide) at 7 years old. I can still sing it, as we did every night during camps. For me, it is the scout's prayer. I never heard about it as ignatian in my french cultures (France and Canada).