The Exercises and the Liturgical Year
March 13, 2010As we enter into the second half of Lent, the readings we hear at daily Mass begin to shift focus. Until now we have mainly heard readings from the synoptic gospels which have emphasized our relationship to God, particularly our need to acknowledge our sinfulness and repent. Beginning Monday, the Gospel of John will take precedence. These readings will focus more intently upon the person of Jesus. Two basic questions emerge: who is Jesus and what does Jesus do?
Our retreat follows the same path as the liturgical year. We find ourselves asking the same questions: who is Jesus and what does Jesus do? Let us, therefore, allow the liturgical year to draw us more deeply into prayerful contemplation of the person of Jesus.
Posted by Fr. Kevin Dyer, S.J. in UncategorizedEntering Contemplation
March 7, 2010Perhaps as you have prayed with the meditations of the past two and a half weeks (the “first week” of the Spiritual Exercises), you have begun to feel a desire to go deeper in your prayer. If so, you are probably experiencing exactly what St. Ignatius thought would happen. You are starting to experience a desire for contemplation.
St. Ignatius largely recommends what he calls ‘meditations’ during the beginning of the exercises. This is a more labor intensive form of prayer that focuses upon the memory, intellect, and will. In meditation, we reflect upon certain basic truths and first principles of the Christian life and try to grow in our desire to incorporate them into our lives. But as you have probably begun to experience, Christian life is more than a program for behavior. At the center of the Christian life is the person of Jesus. During the first week, we experience the love of Jesus that searches us out and saves us through love, despite the fact that we are sinners. From here, it is the person of Jesus who leads us into contemplation.
Ignatian contemplation begins with the revelation of Holy Scripture. Starting with the concrete stories of the Bible (especially the Gospels), Ignatius asks us to enter into the narrative by using all our faculties, including the senses. The narrative takes on a deeper richness through the application of our senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and even taste. We see the characters involved; listen to their conversation; observe and reflect upon their actions. We go so far as to insert ourselves in to the very narrative, becoming a character in the scene, interacting with the other characters and entering into “colloquy” (conversation) with them. Ignatian contemplation, far from being devoid of sound or image, is replete with the sensible material made available to us by the fact that God entered into our physical world through the person of Jesus Christ.
Last Friday’s prayer with the Incarnation was the first contemplation of the retreat. The coming weeks will introduce many more. Perhaps you might want to do a repetition of the Incarnation and allow Jesus to lead you more deeply into the heart of prayer.
Posted by Fr. Kevin Dyer, S.J. in UncategorizedDiscovering Jesus Again
March 6, 2010We are now entering into what is called the “second week” of the Spiritual Exercises. During the first week, we focus our attention upon how the dynamics of creation, fall, and redemption apply to our own lives. We experience how the love of Christ can overcome our human rebellion. True repentance and contrition awakens in our heart as we come to know Jesus, wounded for our sins. Contrary to our customary way of thinking, Jesus does not hold our sin against us, but forgives us, heals us, and even calls us into service at his side. The Call of Christ the King sounds in our ears and demands a response.
Who is this person calling to us? Have you experienced a desire to know Jesus at a deeper level? The purpose of the second week of the Spiritual Exercises is to answer this desire. Yesterday’s reflection upon the Incarnation set forward the grace which will direct us during the second week: an intimate knowledge of our Lord, Who has become man for me, that I may love Him more and follow Him more closely. Knowledge, love, discipleship: these are the graces we seek. Our eyes are turned toward Jesus, not toward self, in order that in knowing Him, we might be inwardly transformed.
During the second week, we will pray directly with the stories of the Gospels. In one sense, these stories seem very familiar to us. We have heard some of them too many times to count. But it is one thing to hear these stories and quite another to stop and inwardly savor them, contemplating them and allowing them to shine forth with greater brilliance.
St. Ignatius recommends that we supplement our prayer of the second week by reading the Gospels. The experience of reading an entire Gospel from beginning to end can be exhilarating. We are used to hearing the story in short pieces spaced throughout the liturgical year. In doing this, we might miss the force of Jesus person and His mission. We might fail to grasp what made him such an attractive figure. The Exercises are a means of reconnecting to the newness of Christ which is available in every age for those who love Him. Now is the time to discover Jesus again.
There is plenty of time remaining in Lent. Pick up a Gospel and start reading from the beginning. In reading, ask for the grace to know Christ more intimately. Open your heart to Him, and you will discover His heart open for you.
Posted by Fr. Kevin Dyer, S.J. in UncategorizedTotal Praying
February 21, 2010St. Ignatius believes that we human beings pray with our entire selves, body and soul. Nothing is left behind. Mindful of that “nothing left behind” mentality, let’s look at Annotation #5 of the Exercises where St. Ignatius says that we will gain more fruit if we enter into retreats with great “courage and generosity.” Do you often associate the virtues of courage and generosity with retreats? St. Ignatius thinks you should. Risk everything, body and soul, and you will gain everything God offers.
Regarding the body, St. Ignatius says to choose whatever prayer posture and location works best in finding God. Kneel, sit, stand, lie prostrate on the ground—whatever helps prayer become most vivid. Also, do not be afraid to fast and deny yourself (in proper measure) in order to obtain God’s graces. Create a prayer space that matches the subject upon which you are praying. If sin, darken the room and undergo discomfort. If resurrection, place yourself in the most beautiful place you know—anything to enhance the atmosphere of the meditation.
Regarding our interior being, St. Ignatius says to use the “three powers” of the soul: memory, intellect, and will. Each of these three powers has been weakened through sin. By turning their focus upon Christ in the Spiritual Exercises, we are engaged in a process of healing what has been wounded.
First, the memory is used to store up the images, stories, and truths of the Scripture and Tradition of the Church. Consider how many terrible images and lies are stored up in our memories. How can these not have an effect upon our attitude and action? By turning the memory toward the things of God, we are building a new foundation for our future consciousness. Ignatius recommends that we begin our meditation through bringing up the relevant subject matter within our memory. This way, it will gain a deeper hold within us.
Second, we should use our intellects to think about the subject matter of the meditation and learn what truth God is trying to teach us through it. We want to understand what God has revealed to us through Christ and the Church.
Third, we should allow the meditation to affect our wills. At the level of the emotions, the images and truths we contemplate will elicit different responses. This is a level which is somewhat out of our control. But we should nevertheless be conscious of what our emotional responses are to the different meditations. We can then go deeper to the level of our own conscious choices. Is the meditation calling me to make some kind of resolution or change in my life?
Body and soul, we are one human person. Therefore, be generous in offering your entire being in order to know God’s will and accomplish it.
Posted by Fr. Kevin Dyer, S.J. in UncategorizedA Quick Note Concerning Comments
February 18, 2010A quick note on blog comments: Early on the authors of this blog decided to moderate any comments we might get. Blog comment sections are often a forum for lively discussion that falls into debate and finally unhelpful fights. We didn’t want that since our real goal is to offer the Spiritual Exercises. Our policy became this: If the
comment distracts from the topic at hand, keep it private. If it supports the topic or is more or less neutral, allow it.
We hope this helps anyone thinking of posting a comment. We certainly don’t mean to criticize anyone who left a comment that we kept private; after all, we never made our policy known. We are grateful for all of the feedback we have gotten.
Christ’s Peace.
Posted by Fr. Kevin Dyer, S.J. in UncategorizedAdditional Resources
February 17, 2010As you are reading and praying though this blog, you may find the following books and websites to be helpful to get a more in-depth sense of Ignatian prayer and spirituality:
Making Choices in Christ: The Foundations of Ignatian Spirituality by Fr. Joseph Tetlow, S.J.
Ignatius Loyola: Spiritual Exercises by Fr. Joseph Tetlow, S.J.
Meditation and Contemplation: An Ignatian Guide to Prayer With Scripture by Fr. Timothy M. Gallagher, O.M.V.
Armchair Mystic: Easing Into Contemplative Prayer by Fr. Mark Thibodeaux, S.J.
A Pilgrim’s Journey: The Autobiography of St. Ignatius Loyola
The website for the Apostleship of Prayer: http://www.apostleshipofprayer.org/
John Brown, S.J.’s website, Companion of Jesus (especially the section “Jesuit Review”): http://companionofjesus.com/
“Seasoned Spirituality”, daily reflections by Fr. Rodney Kissinger, S.J.: http://ignatiusresidence.org/blog/
Update: By no means should you feel obligated to read anything on this list. The reflections provided here are written in such a way that one who has never encountered the Exercises before can draw fruit from them. What is provided here is simply for those who may be inclined to discover more about Ignatian spirituality.
Posted by Mr. David Paternostro, S.J. in UncategorizedIn Preparation
February 16, 2010As we anticipate the beginning of this season of conversion and turning again in a new way to the Heart of Jesus who has turned Himself to us, we examine our own hearts on this “Fat Tuesday.” As the branches of last Palm Sunday are burned so that we might use the ashes tomorrow to remind us of our need for conversion, we might take a brief look over the past year. Where have I come from? How has the Lord met me and carried me along? How have I wandered? What part of my heart has grown hardened? Where has my heart dried up? For what do I thirst today? And even more importantly, how does Jesus thirst for me- for my freedom from sin, for my life, for my joy, for my love?
Posted by Fr. Chris Collins, S.J. in UncategorizedPraying With This Blog
February 14, 2010Welcome to the Spiritual Exercises blog! This blog is a collaborative effort between David Paternostro, S.J., John Brown, S.J., Deacon Kevin Dyer, S.J., and Fr. Chris Collins, S.J. In it, we will offer daily reflections over the course of Lent based on the prayers proposed by St. Ignatius Loyola, S.J., in his Spiritual Exercises. By Easter, one who has followed these reflections regularly will have a basic introduction to the whole of the Spiritual Exercises.
Each post will have roughly the same format. It will begin with a grace to ask the Lord for as you begin your time of prayer and reflection. Then, it will provide a text for prayer, either from the Scriptures or the Spiritual Exercises. After this will come the main part of the post, a reflection based on a prayer from the Exercises. Then, questions or a prayer that will help you reflect with greater depth how the day’s reflection applies to your own relationship with God. Having read the reflection and gone over the questions, you might then want to use the day’s text for further prayer, using your imagination to enter into the scene depicted.
As you read these daily reflections to grow in your relationship with the Lord, you should feel free to use as much or as little as you need, and spend as much or as little time as you can allow. If you simply wish to take five minutes to read the reflection of the day, that will be five minutes well spent. If you wish to spend 30 minutes and use the reflection, the questions, and the texts, that too, is fine. Likewise with anything in between, or even more time in prayer if you so desire. The ultimate goal of this blog is to help anyone who reads it to grow in their love for God our Lord, and to better discern His will in their daily lives. We would encourage you to let that goal of growing in the love of God be the one measure you use to determine how much or how little you make use of the materials provided here, and how much or how little time you spend in prayer. Let all things be Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam- for the greater glory of God!
Posted by Mr. David Paternostro, S.J. in Uncategorized