The Spiritual Exercises

The Spiritual Exercises, a structured yet flexible program of Christian spirituality that was developed in the 16th century by St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), a Roman Catholic religious order. Comprising meditations, contemplative practices, and prayers, the program is designed to draw a person into deeper intimacy with God and to aid in discerning one’s vocation (spiritual calling).

The Spiritual Exercises was first published in book form in 1548 under the approval of Pope Paul III. Many Jesuits, however, describe it as a journey to spiritual freedom rather than a text to be read. The program is intended to take about 30 days to complete and is traditionally undertaken in silence during a religious retreat led by a spiritual director. Considered one of the cornerstones of so-called Ignatian spirituality, The Spiritual Exercises has also been adapted to some Protestant traditions.

Background and development

Born Iñigo López de Loyola in Castile (Spain) in 1491, St. Ignatius came from a noble family and entered military service at a young age. By his own account he was “a man given to the vanities of the world…with a great and vain desire to win renown.” In 1521 he was wounded in the Battle of Pamplona during the war between France and the Habsburg empire. While convalescing, he read a life of Christ and a book on the lives of the saints, which profoundly moved him. After much reflection, he resolved to follow the example of the saints and do penance for his sins.

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In 1522 Ignatius made a pilgrimage to Montserrat, in northeastern Spain, and then to Manresa, a town 30 miles (48 km) from Barcelona. There he committed himself to the life of an ascetic, living in a cave, attending mass daily, and spending hours in prayer. He also began to sketch out the meditations that became The Spiritual Exercises.

Eventually, Ignatius decided to pursue theological studies, which led him to the University of Paris. He attracted a small group of disciples, to whom he introduced his spiritual exercises. In 1534 he and his followers went on a retreat, during which they took vows. This event marked the beginning of what would become the Jesuit order, which received papal approval in 1540.

Use and structure

The Spiritual Exercises has remained an important part of Jesuit training, or formation. Before ordination, men who enter the order are required to undertake the program twice: first as a novice during a monthlong retreat and again during the tertianship, the final stage in Jesuit formation. Traditionally, the exercises are largely performed in silence; retreatants speak only with their spiritual director. Many other religious orders and ministries, as well as Roman Catholic parishes, schools, and universities, have adopted the program to aid in the spiritual development and well-being of their members and students. In the modern era there are also retreat centers and resources on the Internet that lead laypeople through the exercises.

Generally, the exercises take about 30 days to complete. St. Ignatius divided his program into four “weeks,” although each week is not necessarily intended to take seven days to finish. Rather, the weeks are intended to be stages of prayer and contemplation, underlying the concept of the program as a spiritual journey.

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Each week is devoted to a meditation on a different theme:

• First week: sin and God’s mercy
• Second week: the life and ministry of Jesus
• Third week: the Passion of Christ
• Fourth week: the Resurrection of Christ and the obligation to love and serve God

In addition to these meditations, The Spiritual Exercises requires retreatants to examine their conscience twice daily. They are encouraged to keep a written record of their transgressions, with the expectation that the number of sins will decrease each day, indicating their spiritual progress. Also included in the text are “annotations”—essentially, instructions and guidance for retreatants and spiritual directors.

Influence on Ignatian spirituality

Certain practices of The Spiritual Exercises have been adapted into other forms of Ignatian spirituality. For example, the exercise of examining one’s conscience underlies the practice of the Daily Examen, a five-step prayer done twice a day. However, most modern forms of the Daily Examen stress nurturing gratitude for God’s goodness in one’s daily life, rather than making an account of one’s sins.

Another example is imaginative contemplation, a meditative practice in which one uses their imagination to enter fully into one of the scenes of the Gospels, diving deeper into the sights, sounds, and other details of a specific event. The intention, according to Jesuits, is to “move from the head to the heart” and nurture a more personal relationship with Jesus. Many Jesuits believe that imaginative contemplation underlies the creative impulse of the Catholic imagination, a cultural and aesthetic tradition across art forms in which storytelling and creative expression are influenced by Roman Catholic theology and belief.