Spiritual Exercises

The 30-day retreat known as The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius is a pivotal moment of the first two years for every Jesuit. The novice will spend those days in silent prayer, focusing on his relationship with Jesus Christ through a series of 3-5 hour-long prayers each day.

The retreatant will begin by focusing on the love of God and his less-than-perfect response. This period, called the First Week, aids the novice in learning that he is a sinner loved by God and is the most introspective period of the retreat.

From there, the novice spends his time following Christ throughout his life, from the Annunciation to his public ministry and through his Passion, Death and Resurrection. After praying with the Resurrection, the novice will then proceed to use the final days, often no more than two or three, to examine more fully what the Resurrection calls him to.

The main focus of these three “weeks” is scripture. He takes a Gospel passage and attempts to place himself fully into the scene, utilizing his senses. What does it look like? Smell like? Sound like? Feel like? Who is he? Who are the other people? Are they people he knows? Perhaps most importantly, what do the people in the scene feel? How do they react to the actions of others? This method is more commonly called Ignatian Contemplation because it was popularized by St. Ignatius.

I had the privilege to make this retreat in beautiful Gloucester, Massachusetts in a retreat house right on the Atlantic Ocean. The Midwest novices make the retreat with the East Coast and Canadian novices. I was one of 16 novices making the retreat together. The space was picturesque and its distance from the novitiate gave me a greater sense of freedom to enter into the prayer.

Suffice it to say that the retreat left an indelible mark on my soul. I felt empowered to continue life as a Jesuit and no longer trapped by my own doubts. I knew, at a much deeper level than ever before, that God loves me and calls me by name. I can never do justice to the effects of the prayers, also because I know that I continue to learn from the hundreds of prayer periods over the thirty days.

Cover Image Untitled by Flickr User Eric Harrison, via Flickr Creative Commons, available here.