Disposition Weeks For The Spiritual Exercises
(Prayer Units 1 -- 5)
 

Prayer Unit 1

Theme:	God, who is mother and father to us and so much more than we can imagine, loves us and cares for us personally.
Grace:	To ask for what I desire -- a deep confidence and trust in God's care and nearness.

Prayer Texts:

 

a) Lk 11:1-13	Teach us to pray ... how much more will my Abba give the Holy Spirit.
b) Lk 12:22-34	Lilies of the field ... you are much more precious.
c) Is 43:1-4;  Is 49:14-16	If you go through the fire, I will be with you ... you are precious in my eyes ... I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.
d) Hos 11:1-4	When Israel was a child, I loved my child.
e) Ps 23	God is your shepherd and welcoming host.
f) Ps 121	God is your guardian and protector.

        Through the resurrection of Jesus, God is present to us always (Mt 28:20). In the resurrection, God reveals God's self as one who cares and is concerned about us (Jn 20:11-18; Jn 21:9-14). The quality of this presence is gentleness and patience. Ignatius suggests that every time we begin a prayer exercise, we should pause for a few moments as we recollect ourselves and consider "how God beholds me." We go to prayer with an attitude of listening. In prayer we let God's word speak of God's own nearness and care; we let the Spirit give us that deeper trust and confidence that we need.

        Prayer begins with the realization that I am loved by God as I am. God's love is based on nothing and, therefore, is the most basic and secure fact in my life. I simply let myself be loved by God. This is not so much an activity of mine but a passivity in which I let God's love soak in and permeate my whole being.

-- adapted from "As Bread That Is Broken" by Peter van Breemen

Additional Readings for reflection outside prayer times:

 

Ps 62	Confidence in God's protection.
Ps 63:1-8	O my God, I long for you.
Ps 91	Our Guardian will cover you with wings; you will be safe within God's care; God's faithfulness will protect you.
Ps 95	If today you should hear God's voice, harden not your hearts.
Ps 131	A prayer of trust ... as a child in a mother's arms.
Is 25:1-9	The helpless have fled to you; like them we have put our trust in you.
Rom 8:31-39	If God is for us, who can be against us?
Mt 10:29-31	Every hair on your head has been counted.

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Prayer Unit 2

Theme:	Our creaturely dependence on God -- God created us and continually is creating us -- God shares personally with us.
Grace:	To ask for what I desire -- amazement at my existence and at how personally God relates to me.

Prayer Texts:

 

a) Ex 3:4-6	God's holiness before which both Moses and I bow down in awe.
b) Job 1:21; 38:1-40:5	Naked I came from my mother's womb ... and I must bow down before my Creator's wisdom.
c) Rom 8:26-34	Yet God gives God's self to us through the Spirit present even in our limitation and weakness ... God is on our side.
d) Repetition	of any portion of the above, particularly those parts that you have found comforting and/or disconcerting.
e) Repetition  or                 Ps 139:1-18	O God, you examine me and know me.
f) Repetition or Ps 8	Who are we that you should care for us?

        My existence is rooted in mystery, and at the heart of this mystery are three profound truths: God's holiness (transcendence) -- Is 6:1-3; my nothingness -- Job 1:21; God's desire to have an intimate relationship with me -- 1Jn 4:10. I am a dependent being of love. To experience this is to say with Augustine, "I tremble with fear and burn with love." Our response to this love is praise in word and deed; in word, because praise spontaneously springs to our lips when we experience this love; in deed, because the one who is thus loved perceives one's lover in all things and desires to respond in kind.

  Why might God have called you into these exercises?
Perhaps because of the great delight, esteem, honour
and profound love in which God holds you?
 -- David Howells

Additional Readings for reflection outside prayer times:

 

Deut 1:29-33	The Holy One goes before you and will personally fight for you ... God carries you as a parent carries a child.
Deut 7:7-9	Not because you are the largest of nations, does God love you.
Wis 11:22-26	Before you, the whole universe is like a little seed.
Is 54:5-10	For God, your maker, has become your spouse.
Jer 18:1-6	God is the potter; we are the clay.
Ps 19	The heavens declare the glory of God.
Ps 104	The glories of creation ... you made the moon to mark the seasons ... the sun knows when to set.

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Prayer Unit 3

Theme:	God desires to forgive me.
Grace:	To ask for what I desire -- a deep awareness of God's eagerness to forgive.

Prayer Texts:

 

a) Ps 103	No less than the height of heaven is the greatness of God's love.
b) Is 55:1-13	All you who are thirsty come to the water ... my thoughts are not your thoughts ... God is generous in forgiving.
c) Lk 5:12-14	Jesus' eagerness to heal the leper is the sign of his Abba's eagerness to heal and forgive ... "Of course, I want to!"
d) Lk 15:11-32	The prodigal son and the prodigal father.
e) 2Cor 5:17-21	It is all God's work ... for our sake God made the sinless one to be sin.
f) Repetition	of any of the above passages or parts of the above that you have found comforting and/or disconcerting.

We live our lives within the context of struggle between good and evil. The sin situation is so mysterious that God, out of love, must reveal its presence because we are blind to the subtle ways it penetrates human life. So blind are we to its presence that we continually attempt to do battle with the evil by ourselves -- without God's help. Often we attempt to "fix ourselves" before we allow God to accept us with a forgiving love. Such an attempt always fails because:

 "... without me you can do nothing!" (Jn 15:5)

 "Love consists in this: not that we have loved God,
but that God has loved us...." (1Jn 4:10)

The Spiritual Exercises are like a new car. They are filled with complexities too hard to understand. They are an investment. They are acquired as a symbol of status. They require time, polishing, attention, money. But they may also be used simply to get you to where you need to be.
 -- David Howells

Additional Readings for reflection outside prayer times:

 

Ps 136	Thanksgiving for the everlasting love of God.
Lk 15:1-10	Parables of the lost sheep and lost coin.
1Jn 1:5—2:2	If we acknowledge our sins, the Just One can be trusted to forgive us.
Rom 5:12-21	Sin through Adam ... grace and life through Jesus.
Rom 8:28-39	Is it possible that God, who did not spare Jesus, would not be on our side?
Rev 7:9-17	God will lead them to life-giving water.

Prayer Unit 4

Theme:	God leads me into greater freedom.
Grace:	To ask for what I desire -- a deep awareness of how God has to free me in order that I can respond to God's calls in my life.

Prayer Texts:

 

a) Gen 22:1-19	I pray over the story of Abraham and Isaac to be able to have the trust and openness of Abraham.
b) Repetition
c) Lk 1:26-38	I pray over the story of the Annunciation to be able to say like Mary, "Let it be done to me according to your will."
d) Repetition
e) Phil 3:7-16	May I come to a point of saying with Paul, "I consider all the advantages I have as disadvantages in comparison to knowing Jesus."
f) Repetition  or                  Jn 3:22-30	May I come to a point of being able to say with John the Baptist, "He must increase, but I must decrease."

        I am called to be fully human; I am called to live in Christ Jesus; I am called to cooperate with others in fulfilling God's desires for humanity. These calls presume the freedom to hear the call and then the freedom to respond to the call and then the strength to carry it out. Such freedom is beyond my own achievement -- it is God's gift. God frees me from all those biases and prejudices and possessions that make me deaf to the Spirit's call; God frees me FOR cooperating with others in developing God's reign. God gives me the ability to carry out this effort.

Some of our medicine men always say
that one must view the world through the eye in one's heart rather than
just trust the eyes in one's head.
 -- from "Lakota Woman" by Mary Crow Dog and Richard Erdoes

 Additional Readings for reflection outside prayer times:

 

Gen 12:1-9	God's call to Abraham was a call that led him into the unknown and on a path different from his own people.
Deut 6:4-9	You shall love God with your whole being.
Mt 13:44-46	Parables of the treasure and the pearl.
Mk 10:17-27	Jesus calls the rich person caught by possessions.
Eph 3:14-21	May Christ's love be the root and foundation of your life -- the result of God's freeing love.

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Prayer Unit 5

Theme:	The Principle and Foundation [23].
Grace:	To ask for what I desire -- both an understanding of the P & F and a deep belief of the heart that however God calls, it is with the power of the risen Lord.

        The Principle and Foundation expresses the stance of a person of faith who is seeking to live a life in harmony with God's desires. To understand it is not to have achieved it. The stance and attitude of the Principle and Foundation (P & F) cannot be achieved by one's own effort. It is the gift of God.
        Hopefully as you are praying through the Spiritual Exercises over the next few weeks, God will give you both the desire for and the gift of such Spiritual Freedom. Whenever God calls, God calls us to discover our choices from this stance of freedom in the power of the risen Lord by the working of the Spirit. Paul's prayer in Eph 1:15-23 is also our prayer.

Prayer Texts:

      Since you are looking for a deeper understanding of this P & F, it will be more helpful to ponder reflectively asking yourself questions such as, "What does this phrase mean? How do I understand it? How does this apply to my life?" Then dialogue with God about it.

a) P & F  first part	What is the meaning of "to be created," "other things"? What "other things" in my life exist between my "me" and God? It may be helpful to list them.
b) P & F  middle part	From my own experience, what "creatures" have proved helpful? a hindrance? When? Where? How? Why? What "other things" tend to influence my life decisions: status? possessions? job? acceptance of others? talents? clothes? lifestyle? Read Phil 3:7-16.
c) P & F  last part	How can a person be "indifferent"? How can one be free from the desire for health or a long life? If I am to be truly open, from what `things' do I need to be freed? Does this freeing mean that I will never get them back? Read Phil 1:18-26 on the freedom of Paul. What might be some examples of choosing what is `more conducive' to the end for which we are created?
d)	In the light of your prayer exercises of the past several weeks and the past three days, write out the P & F in your own words. Use pen and paper during your prayer exercise period. You might find it helpful to write a letter to God expressing the truths of this P & F in your own way. It would be helpful to pay close attention to how you interpret the following aspects:  In terms of the way we presently understand our position on planet earth in the universe, how are we called to be in relationship to all of creation?  What is the image of your personal role? Are you a short-term guest? a loving host? a gardener? a steward? or some other image? As you express the purpose of creation and the `use of created things' with a spirituality of balance and indifference, how are you going to express these truths from a perspective of God's overall dream for the universe?  As you think about expressing the truth about choosing what is `more conducive,' how will you include the cooperative efforts of many others?  How do ecological issues affect your own interpretation of this P & F?
e) Phil 4:11-13	In God, who is the source of strength, I have strength for everything.
f) Jn 14:15-28	I shall ask my Abba to give you the Spirit who will teach you all things.

        Guardian God, guide us in our daily efforts. May the changing moods of our human hearts and the limits which our failings impose on hope never blind us to you. May the faith you have nurtured in us reveal the way of love and give us the promise of peace. We need your Spirit to remove any selfishness that blurs our vision of this faith.

  -- adapted from a Roman Catholic prayer of worship

 Additional Readings for reflection outside prayer times:

 

Jer 1:4-10	The reaction of Jeremiah could very well be our reaction at this point, and
Lk 24:36-53	we might be filled with the incomprehension of the disciples with respect to the P & F. But if we bring these reactions to Wisdom itself, our minds will be opened to understand the scriptures as God shows us how to wait for the power of the Spirit.
Heb 11:8-10,  17-19	Filled with this power, we shall believe and trust as Abraham did, so that what God has begun in us, God will be able to fulfil.
Jn 15:1-8, 16-17	God will personally do the pruning as the vinedresser does in order that we may bear more fruit.
Eph 1:15-23	God enlightens our vision and gives us the knowledge of the hope to which we are called with the same strength that God used in raising Jesus.
Eph 3:20	God's power now at work in us can do more than we can ask or imagine.