Ignatian Spirituality and the Spiritual Exercises: Table of Contents
- Contemplative in Action
- God in All Things
- Daily Examen
- Spiritual Exercises Overview
- What Happens in the Spiritual Excersies
- Ignatian Resources on Hallow
It may have been the most fortuitous cannonball in history.
In 1521, a cannonball shattered the right leg of Ignatius of Loyola and also damaged his left leg.
As his right leg healed, it did so in an unsightly, unattractive way. Ignatius’s vanity led him to have his leg completely reset so it could heal without the slightest deformity.
During his recovery period, Ignatius read a book about the life of Christ as well as a book about saints, and his conversion began.
One single cannonball gave the world a great saint, a new religious order (the Society of Jesus, known as “The Jesuits”), and one of the greatest Christian spiritual traditions we have: Ignatian spirituality.
Contemplative in Action
Being a “contemplative in action” is a simple way to describe Ignatian spirituality.
“Contemplative” refers to being mindful of how God is reaching out to us and leading us. “In Action” refers to taking this “contemplation” and using it to respond today, in this world, to the needs of our brothers and sisters and to how God guides us.
In other words, in Ignatian spirituality, spending time with God and discerning His call does not lead us to isolation from the world. Instead, it calls us into the world. Contemplation leads to action—acts of love.
In a 2015 address, Pope Francis discussed contemplative in action, saying the following:
We can speak a lot about theology, a lot… good things, speak about God… but the way is being able to contemplate Jesus Christ, to read the Gospel, what Jesus Christ did: It’s He, the Lord! Fall in love with Jesus Christ and say to Jesus Christ that you choose to follow Him, to be like Him. And this is done through prayer and touching the wounds of the Lord. You will never know Jesus Christ if you don’t touch his injuries, his wounds.
Being contemplative in action reflects the reality that God is very much present in our world, in big and small things.
God in All Things
According to Loyola Press, what rests at the core of Ignatian Spirituality is “finding God in all things.”
This means that we don’t just recognize God while we are at Mass and through His presence in the Eucharist. Rather, finding God in all things calls us to open our eyes to God being with us throughout our days, in good times and in bad, and often in moments where we don’t expect to feel His presence.
The foundation of this belief is that God is active in our world. God is not distant and removed from us. He’s present in our joys and sorrows, our best moments and our lowest.
We can better appreciate God’s presence around us each day through another core element of Ignatian Spirituality: the daily examen.
Daily Examen
Our days can often feel like a blur. We wake up and are busy from when we crawl out of bed until the time we nod off into sleep.
If we don’t take time to review our days–and the conversations, experiences and feelings we have–it can be easy to miss how God is present in our lives, and perhaps more importantly, where He is leading us.
When we reflect on our day, we can notice where we experience feelings of consolation and desolation, sometimes called discernment of spirits.
The Daily Examen helps us unpack our days and be more aware of how God is moving in our daily lives and where our hearts feel most alive.
It has a simple format:
- Beginning by giving thanks to God
- Reviewing your day and the moments that stand out
- Talk to God about your feelings throughout the day; ask for forgiveness for times you missed the mark
- Looking ahead to the next day and asking God for what we need
It takes just a few minutes on any given day to pray the daily examen. A more in-depth form of prayer that Ignatian spirituality gives us is the Spiritual Exercises.
Ignatian Spirituality and the Spiritual Exercises
Perhaps the greatest contribution that St. Ignatius gave to our spiritual lives remains his spiritual exercises.
What we now know as Ignatius’s spiritual exercises started out as his own personal journal before he eventually realized the universal nature of some of the truths and experiences that he was discovering.
The full spiritual exercises traditionally take place as a 30-day retreat, broken down into four weeks with different themes and areas of focus. This 30-day (sometimes 28-day) retreat is part of the formation of men pursuing a vocation with the Jesuits.
Since it’s difficult for many of us to leave our daily routines for a full month, the full spiritual exercises have been adapted into the “19th Annotation,” sometimes called the “retreat for daily life.”
One thing that is true in both forms of the retreat is that Ignatius’s spiritual exercises were intended to guide the retreat director, not the retreatant. Therefore, while you can read the writings of Ignatius, it’s best to pursue the spiritual exercises under the guidance of someone trained in the exercises.
What Happens During the Spiritual Exercises?
But what exactly happens during the spiritual exercises?
Fr. Joe Laramie, S.J., explains, “In some sections of the Exercises, Ignatius plunges us into the mystery of sin and evil. In other parts, he helps us to contemplate the love and power of Christ by engaging our emotions and imaginations.”
In practice, this looks like spending time with Scripture and imagining ourselves in certain Gospel scenes through imaginative prayer.
Entering into prayer in the Scriptures is the basic pillar of the spiritual exercises, according to Fr. Timothy Gallagher.
“There are other actions in the spiritual exercises, but the main one is to pray over and over again through the days with Scripture.”
Even if we have heard these passages many times, Ignatian contemplation through the spiritual exercises can allow God to reveal new details to us.
“Ignatian contemplation allows us to see stories that we may have heard countless times with new eyes,” says Jesuit Tucker Redding, S.J. “We might notice different details, ask new questions, and find ways that God is speaking directly to us.”
Explore Ignatian Spirituality on Hallow
Hallow offers a number of prayers and meditations rooted in Ignatian spirituality, including the daily examen, discernment of spirits (consolation and desolation) with Fr. Joe Laramie, S.J., and the full four-week spiritual exercises led by Fr. Timothy Gallagher.