The Pilgrim's Story by Brendan Comerford

Author:Brendan Comerford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL110000, RELIGION / Christianity/Saints & Sainthood, REL062000, RELIGION / Spirituality, BIO018000, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Religious, Religious leader biographies, Christian books and bibles, saints biographies
ISBN: 9780829450118
Publisher: Loyola Press
Published: 2021-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Purpose of the Spiritual Exercises

Ignatius knew that people might want to do the Spiritual Exercises for a variety of reasons. Some might wish to deepen their prayer life and their relationship with God. Others might come to the Spiritual Exercises wanting to discover God’s will for them in their lives. Here the Spiritual Exercises, with God’s grace, will help the retreatant to come to freedom in choosing a state in life—marriage, priesthood, religious life, or some other vocation or profession. The retreatant desires to come to this important decision and choice before God in the context of solitude and prayer. Put simply, the retreatant wants to discover God’s will and desires to respond in freedom to God’s call. So, the Spiritual Exercises are both a school of prayer and an instrument for discernment. It is worth pointing out how frequently the word “desire” comes up in the context of Ignatian spirituality. Ignatius was always looking for people with great God-given desires.

So, what are the Spiritual Exercises? Ignatius himself helps us here by answering this very question in the First Annotation. He tells us:

By this name of Spiritual Exercises is meant every way of examining one’s conscience, of meditating, of contemplating, of praying vocally and mentally, and of performing other spiritual actions, as will be said later. For as strolling, walking, and running are bodily exercises, so every way of preparing and disposing the soul to rid itself of all disordered tendencies, and after it is rid, to seek and find the Divine Will as to the management of one’s life for the salvation of the soul, is called a Spiritual Exercise.

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