This is part two of an explanation about the nature of the Spiritual Exercises. If you have not read part one, you should read that first. Simply scroll down to the previous post.
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FIVE: The Experience of God.
The Spiritual Exercises are not a study of spirituality, nor are they a theology about God. The intent of the Exercises is to help the "retreatent" experience God. For many evangelicals (who are some of the conversation partners for this site), we have preferred intellectual discussions about God over personal conversations with God. Our focus is on our concepts of God encapsulated in our doctrinal formulations about God and not on the existential encounter with God.
J.I. Packer (Reformed theologian) described it as the difference between Knowing God and Knowing About God. Ignatius wanted his society to know God and the Exercises were designed for that end. For those who live in an age that is hungry for God, but who have settled for studying a Cookbook and memorizing recipes, the Spiritual Exercises are a way to "taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8).
The personal encounter with and experience of God is woven throughout the Exercises.
SIX: Finding God in All Things.
Brother Lawrence used the language of Practicing the Presence of God. What makes Brother Lawrence (who was not a Jesuit but rather a Carmelite monk) so special is that he learned how to do this in the simple, mundane things of life - like working in the Abbey Kitchen as a cook and dishwasher. In those simple tasks he encountered God.
The Jesuits had a similar idea in their desire to Find God in All Things.
You are probably familiar with the poem by Gerald Manley Hopkins which begins:
The world is charged with the grandeur of God...
What you may not know is that Hopkins was a Jesuit! And in this poem, he is expressing a core, Jesuit, worldview conviction that the Presence and Work of God is pervasive... everywhere. The Jesuits had a world affirming and a world engaging spirituality and they were skilled in practices needed to find God in all things.
The Spiritual Exercises teach one the tools and mindsets for Attentiveness and Awareness. This becomes a spiritual posture as one engages in the Daily Examen (of which there are at least two variations of this taught by Ignatius.)
(Here is a run on sentence that you will probably need to read twice.)
The Daily Examen, a discipline in which one reflects back over the day to notice and discern the Presence, Work and Word of God that was with one, but perhaps unnoticed in the busyness of the moment, was a life changing discipline I was taught in the early stages of my 19th Annotated Retreat. Late at night, when everyone was asleep, I would spend an hour or two in an Examen, journaling my recollections and prayers... slowly discovering how God was with me and what God was doing.
Twice a day Examens (at least) are part of the Jesuit way, learned through the Spiritual Exercises. It becomes habitual for a practitioner trained in the Exercises to begin to practice the presence of God, in the moment... finding God in the here and now... and that is a beautiful way to live.
SEVEN: A Spirituality of Conversion.
The Spiritual Exercises have the potential to uproot and dismantle your old identity, purpose and way, and then Re-order Everything about you. These are not simple exercises that accessorize your current way of doing things. They are not a quick fix solution for the spiritually bored. They are not a "quick pick-me up" for the religiously lethargic.
The early followers of Jesus were described as those who have "caused trouble all over the world" (Acts 17:6). They caused trouble wherever they went, because they spoke about things that were in opposition to the status quo, the way things are, the powers that be. That is exactly what the Exercises do. They are troubling to the established order of your world. They turn it upside down, or perhaps better, right side up. And then, thus equipped, you become a "troubler of the world." (More on this one later when I talk about the Exericses as a Missional Spirituality.)
Note: It is a bit ironic that the Jesuits were a society of missional entrepreneurs, who in their day, caused trouble all over the world as well. Something they are still doing.....
The Spiritual Exercises aim at nothing less then a re-birth in the life of the retreatent. (I hope this image is not offensive, but it is powerful in communicating the drastic nature of re-birth.) Palin-genesis is the goal. Ignatius would settle for nothing less than challenging his members to embrace a re-created life, a re-structured self and a re-shaped identity, all built on and sustained by a total commitment to God and His will. The Exercises progressively and relentlessly make the retreatent face this theme and this Person Jesus who asks us for everything.
Here is where our experience of the Exercises may veer off (at least a bit) from their original intent. Remember that the Exercises were developed for Jesuit novices to do BEFORE they took their vows of obedience, poverty and chastity to the Jesuit Order. The Exercises were designed to help the novice make their life altering vow to follow the will of God in the context of the society of Jesus.
This is a concern that I have. For those of us (the vast majority) who do the Exercises in some variation of the 19th Annotated Retreat, this paradigm changing nature of the Exercises may be missed or at least lessened. It was not that way for the Jesuits. To view and use the Exercises, merely as a supplement or enhancement to your spiritual world is to fall short of the full potential of these Exercises.
EIGHT: A Spirituality of Choice and Response.
This one certainly makes sense. This flows directly out of the previous section. The Exercises ask you to determine and choose "only" those ways that are most conducive for you to achieve the end for which you are created. "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10). In the words of Ignatius:
"Man is created to praise, reverence and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul. . . Our one desire and choice should be what is more conducive to the end for which we are created."
This is known as the First Principle! Ignatius begins his Spiritual Exercises asking us to reflect on and take up our creational purpose. It is the First Thing. It is the Main Thing. The Exercises are written to make this good choice possible and Ignatius will bring us back to this, over and over.
Metanoia (repentance) leads to Palin-genesis (re-birth) which makes metanoia possible - which deepens the palin-genesis - and the retreatent moves further into this spiritual ascent into the presence and will of God.
Here is the link for this beautiful image and many more contemplative images like it.
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Here is a teaser for next week's post. To choose wisely and well requires that you and I be free of dis-ordered attachments, that we have the equilibrium of Indifference and that we have tools of discernment. I'll pick up with this in the next post.
Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
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