Five hundred years ago a seed of the Spiritual Exercises was planted in the Church by Ignatius of Loyola. Five hundred years later people continue to experience the graces of Ignatius' conversion by making the Exercises.
- Mercy Sister Lorita Moffatt
By Liz Dossa
"I used to listen to people who would tell me how they loved Jesus with so much emotion. I couldn't quite relate," said Paula Zand to the small group seated in folding chairs. "And now I do!" Her voice rose exuberantly. Zand and her companions were concluding the year - long Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius at Mercy Center in Burlingame.
One of the most powerful tools of spiritual change of the last five centuries is quietly drawing Christians like Zand in great numbers - and transforming their lives. "There is an increasing interest, a hunger and thirst for spirituality and prayer, for a relationship with God, " said Jesuit Father Bernie Bush, a staff member at the Jesuit Retreat Center in Los Altos where the Exercises have been given since 1925. "Taking a person through the Exercises helps people see and understand God's movement in their lives."
Out of his own suffering, Ignatius de Loyola had a conversion experience in 1522. At the river Cardoner near Manresa in Spain, he experienced God shining through all of creation. He sensed "God in all things." The Exercises are the fruit of his on - going conversion that continued for many years. The Jesuits have made it their mission to pass on this gift of their founder.
"In addition to being inspired, St. Ignatius was a genius," said Mercy Sister Lorita Moffatt, who directs the Exercises at Mercy Center. "The Exercises use all of humanity's faculties. They engage the mind, imagination, the will and heart. Ignatius paid attention to the whole person. Perhaps this is because he paid such close attention to his own interior life."
Forty years ago this experience was unavailable to lay people. "Before Vatican II the Spiritual Exercises were limited to preached retreats for religious," said Jim Neafsey, a spiritual director and former staff member at Mercy Center. "After Vatican II the Jesuits rediscovered the more personal way of doing these exercises. Doing them in the midst of life was rediscovered."
People who have gone through the Exercises talk about the life - altering effects. Some, like Mercy Sister Pat Galli, have found them immediately life - changing. She entered the Mercy community after taking the Exercises in 1988 and now gives them at the Jesuit Retreat Center.
After her 30 - day retreat, Cathy Gilligan, a former school teacher, used her retirement savings to open a Catholic Worker House in Redwood City for abused Hispanic women.
Liz Lawhead left her job as a program and project manager in the high technology industry after she participated in the Exercises in 2000. She is now a spiritual director and team member of the Exercises at Mercy Center.
Not everyone changes a vocational path so radically. Through prayer and with the help of a spiritual director, people learn to look for the movement of God in their lives. They learn to ask, "Where was God in my life today?"
"The main intention of the retreat is to develop a deeper, experiential relationship with Christ, with God, and therefore to become more like Christ," said Marilyn Granucci who directs the Exercises at Mercy Center with Sister Moffatt.
Nancy Warfield, who completed the 30 - week experience at Mercy Center this May, came into the Exercises thinking her understanding of Scripture would grow. "But in beginning the Exercises," she said, "I was answering that deep call underneath the academic interest. There was a much deeper desire to know and see the world in God's eyes."
St. Ignatius divided the Exercises into four "weeks," or stages, which guide the retreatant through the Mysteries of Jesus' life: his birth and presence in the world, his suffering, death and resurrection.
At Mercy Center, the Ignatian Retreat is given in the form of a 30 - week experience. Participants meet once a week from October to May. Each week they pray together with material of the Exercises presented by a retreat director. During the two and a half hours there is time for personal prayer and time to meet in a small group to listen to the presence and activity of God in each person's prayer and life experience. Every third week, the person meets with his/her retreat director for individual attention.
At the Jesuit Retreat Center, retreatants meet daily with their spiritual director and spend hours in prayer during the 30 - day retreat. The Eucharist is celebrated daily.
A 30 - week format is also offered for individuals throughout the year with a spiritual director while the participant continues daily life.
In the Bay Area the Exercises fill up quickly. The summer retreats at the Jesuit Retreat Center, which include an eight - day version of the retreat, are full with a waiting list. Mercy Center offers a six - day Ignatian retreat.
Description of the process falls far short of the Exercises themselves. "The Spiritual Exercises is like a cookbook," said Jesuit Father Joseph McHugh, who helped lead the June retreat at Mercy Center. "You can't just read about it. You have to taste it yourself."
Masses to prepare for St. Ignatius feast
A three - homily preparation for the celebration of the July 31 feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola will take place during 5:15 p.m. Masses at St. Ignatius Church on the campus of the University of San Francisco July 28, 29 and 30, organizers have announced.
"St. Ignatius Loyola: His Life, His Lord, His Legacy" will be the theme of the three 15 - minute homilies at the church, Fulton at Parker in San Francisco. The three Masses will be followed by short instructional sessions on Ignatian prayer and spirituality at 6:15 pm in the parish offices.
Jesuit Father Charles Rodrigues will lead the sessions. He is currently studying for a Licentiate of Sacred Theology at the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley, with a focus on Biblical Theology and Ignatian Spirituality. For more information, contact Dan Faloon at ( 415 ) 422 - 2195 or faloon@usfca.edu.
Websites on Ignatian spirituality:
www.mercy - center.org - Mercy Center's website lists the Ignatian Retreat and other programs.
www.jrclosaltos.org - website of the Jesuit Retreat Center, Los Altos.
www.nwjesuits.org/JesuitSpirituality/SpiritualExercises.html - description of the Exercises and an opportunity to do the Exercises online.
