St.Ignatius of Loyola

The Spiritual Exercise of St. Ignatius of Loyola

This year marks the 500^th anniversary of the death of St.Francis Xavier, the great Apostle of the East. The apostolate of St. Francis Xavier to the East and to India, in particular, was made possible by the heroic life of another saint, St Ignatius of Loyola whose contribution to the revitalization of the spiritual life of the Catholic church is incalculable.

St. Ignatius of Loyola is remembered not only as the founder of the Society of Jesus but also as the author of a great spiritual classical work known as “The Spiritual Exercises.” The impact of this book on the thousands and thousands of the members of the Order as well as on millions of other catholic faithful is beyond measure. Through the methods of the retreat and spiritual regeneration described in the book, hundreds and thousands have come closer to Jesus as well as to their fellow human beings. The tireless missionary endeavors of the Jesuits and their significant contributions in the educational and social development of people in many nations the world are mainly due to the spiritual regeneration accomplished through the “Spiritual Exercises.”

St. Ignatius was born in 1491 at the castle of Loyola, Spain and died at Rome in 1556.In his early life, he led a life of luxurious abandon that was usual in the life of the young men of his time. But a great change happened in his life when he was wounded in a battle in 1521.During the time of convalescence, he wanted to read romances of chivalry but he got instead books on the life of Christ and of the saints. He wanted form then onwards to be soldier for Christ.

St. Ignatius was 26 years old when he left his brother’s castle for the little town of Manresa, near the Benedictine monastery of Montserrat. The months at Manresa were those of intense penance and spiritual exercises.

The book is called Spiritual Exercises because these ,like physical exercises, these spiritual methods prepare and dispose one’s soul to rid itself of disordered attachments. It contains directions for helping people to make general and particular examination of conscience and to engage in various forms of prayer.

The exercises are divided into four weeks. The first week is concerned with letting God reveal to the person his or her sinful tendencies in order that he may repent of them. The second week is devoted to the following of Christ. In the Third week one tries to share with Jesus His Passion and Death. The Fourth Week is devoted to the sharing the joy of Resurrection.

The structure of The Spiritual Exercises

Ignatius points out at the beginning of the work that “the human person is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord.Other things are created to help man to pursue this end. To do this, we need to make ourselves indifferent to all created things.”

First Week:

The following are the exercises to be done in the first week: Particular examination of conscience is to be done daily in the morning on rising.The exercitant makes a firm resolve to take great care to avoid the particular sin or defect that he or she wants to correct and reform.

The First Exercise:

A meditation on sins with the powers of intellect, will and understanding.It starts with a prayer asking for God’s grace.

The Second Exercise:

It is a meditation on sins.The purpose is to ask for intense sorrow and tears for one’s sins.One recalls to mind all the sins of one’s life.

The third and fourth are the repetitions of the above.

The fifth Exercise: it is a meditation on Hell.

The Second Week:

Contemplation on the life of the Eternal King . Here , we ask Our Lord for grace not to be deaf to His call.

First day: Incarnation

Second day: Nativity . This continues for the third day.

Fourth day: Meditation on Christ, Our Commander –in – Chief and Lucifer, our deadly enemy.

This goes up to 12 days.

Third Week:

First day: Contemplation at midnight—how Our Lord went from Bethany to Jerusalem including the Last Supper.

The Second contemplation is on the life of Jesus from the Last Supper to the Garden.

This meditation on the different aspects of the passion goes for 7 days.

Fourth week:

First Contemplation : How Christ appeared to Our Lady. The person asks for the grace to feel gladness and to rejoice over the great glory and joy for Christ our Lord. During the contemplations of this week, all the mysteries of the Resurrection are to be gone through up to and including the Ascension.

Comments by William A. Barry (Finding God in All Things):

As William A. Barry points out in his book “ Finding God in All Things”: “One of the hallmarks of Ignatian spirituality is the belief that God can be found in all things…. The Spiritual Exercises are various methods to help us to become aware of this ever-present God.”