Spiritual Exercises

The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius

Origin / Inspiration

The Spiritual Exercises grew out of St Ignatius Loyola’s personal experience of prayer seeking to grow in union with God and to discern God’s will. He kept a journal of these experiences in pondering the life of Jesus Christ as he gained spiritual insight and deepened his spiritual experience.

The experience of his own conversion led Ignatius to share what he learned with others and, eventually, refine his personal prayer journal into what we now call the Spiritual Exercises.

The Spiritual Exercises are a compilation of meditations, prayers, and other contemplative practices. Ignatius’ desire was to assist people develop their attentiveness, their openness, and their responsiveness to God, to help deepen their relationship with God.

A central aim of the Exercises through a process of meditation and contemplation, is discernment — learning to recognize the movements of consolation and desolation in one’s heart to choose what leads to God’s greater glory. The Spiritual Exercises are a school of prayer, freedom, and mission — helping a person to ‘seek and find God in all things’.

Dynamic / Composition

Full Spiritual Exercises

There is a pattern to the Full Spiritual Exercises, consisting of four essential movements or ’weeks,’ each with its own spiritual gifts (Ignatius called them ‘graces’) and challenges. Ignatius originally conceptualized the retreat as a 30 day experience in solitude and silence. In recent years, there has been a renewed emphasis on the Full Spiritual Exercises as a ‘retreat in daily life,’ which involves a program of daily prayer over a period of 30+ weeks.  The retreat ‘weeks’ are not rigid stages for a retreatant to follow but merely approximations of time and can be adapted. Rather, they represent a map for identifying one’s spiritual place and progress.

Prior to beginning the first ‘week’ there is a period of preparation to allow the retreatant to ‘prepare their heart’ and an opportunity to embrace more deeply God’s unconditional love.

The movements marking each of the following weeks are, essentially:

First Week – Reflection on God’s love, human sinfulness, and mercy, leading to gratitude and conversion.

Second Week – Contemplation on the life of Christ, inviting the retreatant to know, love, and follow him more closely.

Third Week – Prayer with Christ’s Passion, entering into his suffering and self-giving love.

Fourth Week – Reflection on the Resurrection, joy, hope and mission in the world.

The Spiritual Exercises have been adapted in ways allowing for flexibility to meet the individual needs of people. One of these adaptations is the First Spiritual Exercises.

First Spiritual Exercises

The First Spiritual Exercises combine the ministries of spiritual conversation and spiritual exercises, akin to the form of spiritual exercises given most frequently by Ignatius and his Companions to anyone of good will. They are a foundational set of guided prayers, meditations, and contemplative practices and prayer exercises, structured in a four week program as a single, progressive and powerful experience of grace, developed around personal prayer at home and guided spiritual conversation in a small group that meets weekly. They are designed to help retreatants deepen their relationship with God, find inner peace, and journal their daily spiritual journey.