Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola

Loyola University’s Office of Mission Integration is happy to offer the Baltimore community the opportunity to pray the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius beginning in the Fall of 2024.

Background

Throughout much of the world, the Jesuits are best known for their colleges, universities, and high schools. But in a time when many are searching for greater meaning, another aspect of Jesuit life is attracting wide interest. And that is the unique spirituality introduced nearly 500 years ago by St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits.

Ignatius was a Spanish soldier and aristocrat who discerned his calling after suffering nearly fatal wounds on the battlefield. He established the Society of Jesus in 1540, instructing the early Jesuits to go out and "find God in all things." That is the signature spirituality of the Jesuits.

Ignatian spirituality is grounded in the conviction that God is active in our world. As the great Jesuit paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin wrote: "God is not remote from us. He is at the point of my pen, my pick, my paintbrush, my needle — and my heart and my thoughts." The spiritual path laid out by Ignatius is a way of discerning God's presence in our everyday lives. And doing something about it.

The Jesuits have a handbook for this search. It is The Spiritual Exercises, composed by the saint before he was even a priest. Often described as Ignatius' greatest gift to the world, these exercises unfold a dynamic process of prayer, meditation, and self-awareness. The basic thrust is to make us more attentive to God's activity in our world, more responsive to what God is calling us to do.

Spiritual Exercises in Daily Life

Our approach will be one that Ignatius himself proposed for busy people – a way to make a prayerful and potentially transformative retreat in everyday life.

Over the course of nine months of daily prayer with Scripture, journaling, regular conversation with a spiritual director, one can experience the same graced movements and discoveries that a privileged few get to make in 30 days of secluded silence. (Yes, that would include the Jesuits!)

This particular Ignatian retreat is a rigorous experience that requires the dedication of time and discipline over the course of 9 months.

Those who do embark on this retreat will need to commit to the following:

• One uninterrupted hour of daily prayer and journaling
• Weekly, hour-long meetings with your spiritual guide
• Orientation Session 
• Optional large group gatherings for Advent, Lent, and Easter seasons   

The long retreat is undeniably a commitment of time and resolve – one that may or may not be right for everyone or perhaps not right at this time. It is something of a spiritual marathon. Fortunately Ignatius offers many other practical tools for spiritual growth that we can all enjoy.

Informational Session:

We are so happy to share that Loyola University's Office of Mission Integration will once again offer the Baltimore community the opportunity to pray the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola during the 2024-2025 academic year. Over the past eight years, nearly 250 people from all walks of life and from within and beyond the belway have availed themselves of this opportunity.

Our approach will be one that Ignatius himself proposed for busy people - a way to make a prayerful and potentially transformative retreat in everyday life. Over the course of nine months of daily prayer with Scripture, journaling, and regular conversation with a guide, one can experience the same graced movements and discoveries that a privileged few get to make in 30 days of secluded silence. While there are obious challenged to making the retreat while still immersed in the world, those who perservere come to see how both their prayer and daily routines are gracefully enriched. The long retreat is undeniably a significant commitment of time and resolve - one that may not be right for everyone or perhaps not right at this time.

All interested persons must attend a Zoom Information Session (Thursday, June 20th or August 8th, 2024; 7-8:30 p.m.). 

In addition to attending a Zoom Information Session, all retreatants are asked to complete the online Self-Assessment Application.

For more information or to speak to a member of the retreat team, please contact us (please feel free to share these emails with any friends or colleagues who may be interested):

sue-cesare@dexterco.com OR sspahn@loyola.edu OR LUMspiritualexercises@gmail.com 

Zoom recording of an Informational Session for the 19th Annotation that describes the Spiritual Exercises.