Has Anyone Been Involved with the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius?

[Corinne3]

Hello Everyone:

Has anyone embarked on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola? I am embarking on a workshop next week, for 12 weeks for this, which I am so excited about and boy do I need it.

Just wondering how it went for you? If you have before. And what it meant in your spiritual walk?

 

[Joe_5859]

Hello Everyone:

Has anyone embarked on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola? I am embarking on a workshop next week, for 12 weeks for this, which I am so excited about and boy do I need it.

Just wondering how it went for you? If you have before. And what it meant in your spiritual walk?

I have not done it myself, but I know people who have and found it to be quite beneficial. Best of luck to you! It sounds like a wonderful opportunity!

 

[giuseppeTO]

I go on an Ignatian (silent) Men’s Retreat each year and will be doing it this year on July 12th. The retreat I attend is run bi-monthly by the Society of St. Pius X in Ridgefield, CT. It is a compression of the classical 30 day Spiritual Exercises into one week.

It is probably the most rewarding week one could spend in retreat following the course set out by St. Ignatius. You follow the Life of Christ from Annunciation to Ascension through a daily regiment of conferences, meditation, reflection, Mass, rosary, benediction, and Stations of the Cross. The retreat-master ties each conference with the part of the exercise you are currently at, your own spirituality applicable to your life according to your station and state (married, single, widowed, etc), and the teaching of the church via scripture references and the catechism.

I can really only tell you of my own personal experience and others will have to chime in with their own. The daily regiment is typically Prime (6:30), Low Mass (7:15), Breakfast (8AM), 1st Conference (9-9:40), Meditation in chapel 9:40-10, 2nd Conf + Meditation (10-11), Rosary and Visit Blessed Sacrament, Lunch (12), 2 Afternoon conferences and meditations, Free time to privately consult with priests, Benediction at 5, Dinner at 6, 2 Evening Conferences and meditations, Compline at 8:30.

Usually on the third day, we make a General Confession - that is a confession of all sins since your last General Confession. A part of the second day involves the examination of conscience and the church’s teaching on venial/mortal sin in preparation for the General Confession.

The entire week is silent although you are encouraged to meet privately with the priests as often as possible. The retreats at Ridgefield is usually led by a team of 4 priests and occasionally, a transitional deacon from the seminary may also give a conference.

The experience is quite profound. When going through the part of the exercises dealing with Christ’s passion, I have seen many grown men moved to silent tears.

No matter how many times I go, I find a new level of spirituality and deeper sense of meditation. You will usually be tasked with identifying and implementing changes in your spiritual life, again in accordance with your own state of life. These could be adopting a family rosary, more frequent attendance at Holy Mass, more diligence in one’s prayer life, throwing the TV in the trash bin, etc.

God bless you and may Our Lord touch your heart in your retreat.

 

[Alan55]

I’ve done the full 30-day silent directed retreat and a 9-month “Spiritual Exercises in Everyday Life” that involved a larger group, although each of us had individual spiritual direction. Both were great experiences. Often, week-long retreats based on the Spiritual Exercises use, primarily, exercises from the first part (“Week”) of the Exercises and may either be silent or preached retreats. There are a number of books about the Spiritual Exercises that can give you a flavor of what is involved. The best source would be to ask the retreat giver(s) how they approach the retreat and what will be involved, since there are many legitimate adaptations.

 

[Oneofthewomen]

I heard it said recently that the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius are the best kept secret in the Church. This is really too bad! :tsktsk:

I just completed the 19th Annotation of the Exercises.
It takes the 30 day retreat and stretches it out over 30 weeks,
and is sometimes called the “retreat of everyday life.”

It was an amazing, life-changing experience.
I have gained a new appreciation for the sacrament of reconcilliation,
a wonderfully rich prayer life, great tools for discernment and for finding God in every day life.

The Execises are not something you should try to do by yourself.
It is best to find an experienced retreat or spiritual director who is knowledgeable in the exercises and Ignatian spirituality.

I am hoping to do the 30 day retreat in the next year or 2,
I’m just not too sure about being silent for a whole month!!

 

[avus]

Is there much difference between the Spiritual Exercises in an NO retreat and a TLM retreat, other than the Masses themselves?

 

[Oneofthewomen]

Is there much difference between the Spiritual Exercises in an NO retreat and a TLM retreat, other than the Masses themselves?

The Exercises are neither EF or OF, it’s not about that,
I will let the word of St. Ignatius speak for me, (with my emphasis added)

*The Principle and Foundation
"Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul.

And the other things on the face of the earth are created for man and that they may help him in prosecuting the end for which he is created.From this it follows that man is to use them as much as they help him on to his end, and ought to rid himself of them so far as they hinder him as to it. For this ***it is necessary to make ourselves indifferent to all created things in all that is allowed to the choice of our free will and is not prohibited to it; **so that, on our part, we want not health rather than sickness, riches rather than poverty, honor rather than dishonor, long rather than short life, and so in all the rest; desiring and choosing only what is most conducive for us to the end for which we are created."

This past Lent, a group of Jesuits from around the country collaborated on a blog that was the Spiritual Exercises geared toward the season, and is a wonderful resource to give you and idea of what the “Exercises” are all about. You can find the blog here, sedaily.wordpress.com/
To get to the beginnning of the retreat, you are going to want to go to the February archive(at the left) and start on Feb. 14.

As I said in my original reply, the “Exercises” have been life-changing for me. While I hate having to use the labels, I was, and in some ways still am, at least by the standards of the forum, quite “progressive” in my thinking. What has happened because of the exercises is that I am beginning to see that it is not about me, and what I want, but about what glorifies God, and that in turn has made me start to look at things in a much different perspective.