​Website of the Week

24th October: 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time 

Transformational Spiritual Exercises

"The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius are one of the cornerstones of contemporary Christian spirituality... They were put together by Ignatius of Loyola in the early sixteenth century. They draw on his own spiritual journey and the resources he found helpful in guiding others. Significant new departures include extensive use of the imagination in prayer and his own exceptional spiritual and psychological awareness...The Exercises help a person to know the forgiveness of God before taking them through a deep encounter with the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. They can be used to help someone make a major decision, but they can also be a powerful tool for someone simply wanting to deepen their spiritual life." (From the United Reformed Church website)

Divided into four thematic "weeks" of variable length, the Exercise were designed to be carried out over a period of 28 to 30 days. However, recognising the difficulties of engaging so intensively in such exercises, Ignatius’ spiritual descendants, the Jesuits, have devised an alternative approach: a 34-week self-guided online retreat, specifically designed to be undertaken in the midst of a busy daily schedule. This online journey has been made by hundreds of thousands of people – in seven languages:  English,  Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Kiswahili, Japanese and Chinese. You can access it here.

As the quotation above shows, the Spiritual Exercises are not confined to Catholicism – they have been found invaluable by people of all Christian denominations.

Note: while the retreat page mentions that the retreat begins in September, it can - in fact - be undertaken at any time of the year.