Spiritual Exercises
Begun by St Ignatius himself, the Spiritual Exercises is an intensive process of prayer-informed self-reflection that is a basic element of Jesuit Spirituality. For centuries, laypeople, Roman Catholic and otherwise, have performed, and benefited from the Exercises.
At the Jesuit Post, Br. Mark Mackey, SJ is crafting a series of videos that introduce the Spiritual Exercises, and describe how they are as relevant as ever in 21st Century lives.
The Spiritual Exercises For Busy Lives
Ideally this month-long experience of prayer and reflection on a person's life in the light of Jesus' life of was to be made over four weeks in seclusion. Because of the inability of most people solely to devote four weeks to these Exercises contemporary people have adopted them for a more extended time period. This version of the Exercises is usually called the "Nineteenth Annotation" version because Ignatius of Loyola speaks about adapting the Spiritual Exercises in his 19th Annotation or introductory remarks.
