Our Approach to the Exercises

We begin the Exercises by soaking in God’s love for six weeks. We then explore our sin and brokenness, but we do so held in God’s love and in light of God’s love. We pray through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, discovering that Jesus is the fullness of God’s love incarnate in human flesh: love filled him; love flowed from him. Great love led Jesus to the cross to die for us. He rose from the dead, filled with love, calling his friends to embody that love, share that love, and live in his love.  The journey of the Exercises helps us fully experience God’s love.

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We believe God’s love is the most powerful thing in the universe. As we spend time with Jesus praying the Exercises and encountering him, we cannot help but go away changed, healed, freed, and experience a newness of life. Our deepest desires are awakened, and we find love welling up in us - love for Jesus, others, and even love for ourselves.

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Our structure of Ignatian prayer is filled with love. We begin by receiving God’s loving gaze. God looking upon us with love. The content we are praying is also filled with love. We are invited into a love relationship with Jesus, and we close our prayers by having a conversation with him, as one loving friend with another. 

 

As we go deeper into love on the Ignatian journey, we find ourselves developing a healthy attachment to God. This loving attachment is spiritually and emotionally healing, opening us to spiritual freedom, deep communion, joy, and peace. 

 

We are freely invited to pray through the Exercises, discovering that it isn’t up to us or about us, yet it is in the Exercise we find that Jesus sees us, knows us, and loves us in ways that free us to love in a new way. We discover that we are invited to follow Jesus as his companions, his friends, in freedom and joy, trusting him more and more with generous spirits, while wanting what he wants in a life of discernment, depending on his love and his grace to give us all that we need.

 

Practicalities:

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• The Ignatian Center takes people through the Exercises in a hybrid model, which includes group and individual sessions.

• Groups are small, usually between 3 and 8 people.

• You choose the Ignatian Director for your group and individual sessions 

• Most directors use Dale’s rewritten version of Joseph Tetlow’s material. (Some directors use other prayer materials.) 

• The journey lasts approximately 9 months, starting in September and ending in May. You are encouraged to connect with a director in July or August and prepare for the journey by praying through Dale Gish’s book Beloved: A Journey of Prayer. 

• You can find a list of directors offering the Exercises this year. Reach out to one or more and find a director who is a good fit for you.

• Each year, The Ignatian Center offers online information sessions for those considering the Exercises. Sign up for our email list to receive notifications of upcoming opportunities.