2.           Consult the section on "formation" from the above (click here).

3.           Consult the section on "formation" from the above (click here).

4.           Consult the section on "Critical Reflection" from Spiritual Psychological Horizons .

5.           Consult [72] where Ignatius identifies First Exercise, Second Exercise, Third Exercise etc. as the special prayer exercises of the First Week; but then he applies the term "exercise" to the five prayer exercises (or periods of prayer) each day for the following Weeks. Thus any method of prayer which is done in a prayer period is called "exercise." 

                    Also, consult also Ivens, Michael, Understanding The Spiritual Exercises: Text and Commentary, a Handbook for Retreat Directors. Leominster: Gracewing, 1998. p.44f.  " ... despite divergencies of detail, the general position of Ignatius and the early authorities is clear from the Directories. The Week should begin as nearly as possible with the exercitant making all of the five meditations. To find these five Exercises [45]-[72] click here. For the remaining time, the norm should be the daily repetition of this sequence. Nevertheless other materials might be added ...". The footnotes on these pages indicate the sources for this statement and the variety of interpretations as to the meaning of the original text of Ignatius.

6.           See #5 above. 

7.           Notice notation [162] where, according to the perspective from which Ignatius wrote the original text, the purpose of the three days on the Hidden Life is to help the retreatant of notation [20] to enter into the method of Gospel Contemplation with greater skill and fruit. So, if after two days the directee has acquired this skill, the director could cut the time shorter; or, if the directee requires more time, the director could use more days on the Hidden Life; or if the directee seems to need different mysteries than those proposed, the director can pick and choose according to his/her needs.

8.           Why is this? It is because of the perspective from which Ignatius wrote the original text. The Spiritual Exercises were written from the perspective of being an instrument of decision-making. A directee, in the midst of determining a significant decision, needs the time to reflect upon, pray over and discern. More prayer material may interfere with that process.

9.           Consult Ivens op. cit. p169 footnote #14. "Strictly speaking, therefore, the dynamics of the Exercises, taken in themselves, require that the Contemplation to Attain Love should be made after the contemplation of the Ascension. However, in order to allow the exercitant more time to assimilate its dense material, some directors prefer to give it pari passu with the Fourth Week contemplations, from the Second Day on, a procedure approved by Polanco and incorporated into the 1599 Directory ...".

10.         Consult Ivens op. cit. p. 28. 

11.        Forty-day Spiritual Exercises Institute is described on a 2002 website of Loyola House as follows:

          This is an in-depth experience of prayer for forty days and contains the following program of practical spirituality. It begins with an introductory period of instruction on prayer and theological themes, during which the participant receives personal direction in prayer. After this initial phase each individual is personally guided through the full Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Reflection and discussion on the experience of prayer and of being directed through these thirty days constitutes the final phase of the institute. This last phase is intended to further appropriate and understand the experience of the Spiritual Exercises and it touches upon some basic principles involved in prayer and spiritual life. This institute may be of great assistance for those in leadership positions and for those engaged in the ministry of formation and spiritual direction. It is also an excellent experience for those in a time of renewal or sabbatical or for those making decisions during a period of transition. The fee is all-inclusive. It covers room and board for your 40 nights at Loyola House, daily sessions with a spiritual director, input, facilitation, daily liturgy, all required materials and access to the 640 acres of the Ignatius Jesuit Centre of Guelph.

12.         To understand why we believed this to be so, it would be really helpful to read the chapter, Different Perspectives In Understanding And Using The Spiritual Exercises, from my Orientations Volume 2 Part B. 
                    The purpose of our attempt to stay as close as we could to the literal structure and text of the Exercises was that we could use them in the formation of future directors of the Exercises. 
                    Hence just as Ignatius wrote the Spiritual Exercises from an "election" or decision-making perspective we gave these same Exercises from a decision-making perspective. We believed that it was with the impact of making a significant, life decision that the directees would experience more clearly "movements of spirits" for which they would need the Guidelines for Discerning Spirits. Thus our theory was that directees would come to know experientially what these guidelines and discernment of a decision meant.
                    Just as Ignatius wrote the text of the Exercises as if it were to be given "From Outside In" rather than "From Within" we directed the Exercises "From Outside In".
                    Texts on Scripture and the Spiritual Exercises -- as books in general -- were not available at the time of Ignatius and so directors had to explain things to the directees in a way that they would easily remember the appropriate instructions. The text of the Exercises were intended as a handbook for the director not for the directee. Here were structures we did not follow. 
                    Since we wanted some of our directees to be familiar with the actual text of the Exercises and to associate certain words and phrases of the Exercises with their experience, we gave them a copy of the Exercises to use as they progressed through the retreat. 
                    Was this a good approach? For many yes; for some no. How do we know that? We know that from paying attention to those directees who returned to make our spiritual-direction, training workshops. We noticed, that those who came from centres where they had been directed almost exclusively from the "From Within" approach, even when they had received a very deep and profound experiences of the Exercises, could not easily relate their experiences to the technical words and text of the Exercises.

13.         The term, Disposition Days, has been employed at the Guelph Centre of Spirituality to denote the preparatory phase before the Exercises proper begins.  Though there is daily personal spiritual direction in this phase, there are also presentations on themes that fit the general spiritual/cultural needs of the directees. 
                    Traditionally, over the years, in the closed, directed retreat setting, there were always two to three days of preparation on themes implied in the Principle and Foundation. Since the early 1970s, the Disposition Days usually take five to seven days. 
                    For an outline of the original Disposition Days created in the early seventies, under the leadership of John English click here. 
                    By the late seventies the number of disposition days had been reduced and some social justice themes were inserted in the Spiritual-Truth presentations. By the mid-eighties other Spiritual-Truth themes were used:

• Shame and its consequences in terms of our need for spiritual healing;
• Our communal Responsibility for our planet
• God communicates God's Self through our personal histories. By paying attention to our histories we become aware of their blessedness and discover them to be a salvation history.

14.        The Appropriation Days (AD) allow directees to come down from the mountain before they leave the retreat-house setting. Over the years these days were always considered to be important. 
                    Feedback  from directees who had not done something like the Appropriation Days (AD) indicated  how essential they were. Directees who went back without such a time of debriefing took a long time to readjust to a reality so different than what they felt during the thirty days. It takes time to settle back into ordinary living after such an intensely structured experience. One needs a buffer zone.
                    But more important, days of appropriation begin a necessary level of learning after the experience of such intense prayer. Experience without time for reflection leads to lost learning. Experience must pass through a time of reflection if one is to be led to an understanding of that experience and if one desires to make intentional use of that experience in the practice of daily life or in ministry to others. 
                    Only with the knowledge and appropriation of our interior consciousness, we come to appreciate who we are as human beings and what is true and good. This certainly takes place when a spiritual director helps a directee to notice and to reflect upon what is going on in his/her prayer and life experiences. 
                    For the first few years after the Institute first began, we tried to run something like the Retreat Directors' Workshop (RDW) as a way to achieve this appropriation. That was too much! Though people need time to reflect in order to appropriate, the RDW was too intense and  too soon! So we separated this RDW experience and proposed it for a later time. (John English's book Spiritual Freedom grew out from his presentations during these first few years.) So we instituted a more relaxed reflection time immediately after the thirty days. 
                    The structure and content of  the AD differ slightly from year to year depending on the skills and insights of the retreat team of directors. However the basic elements and intent remain as follows:

• The over-all structure attempts to respect the basic learning pattern:  experience -- reflection -- understanding.
• Time for private, prayerful reflection on one's own experience of a focused part of the Exercises.  During the AD there would be at least six to eight times of such prayerful reflection. The exerxcise would have been something like: What were your experiences during such and such a part of the Exercises? Of all these experiences choose one or two that might be helpful to share with others in your group.
• Sharing of some of one's salient experiences within this focused context in a small group setting. The purpose of this is to allow one to notice and understand that everyone's experience is different and that the different experiences expressed are all indicated by the same religious language. Before one can understand one has to differentiate. For example: 
• Jane experiences consolation one way, Bill another way, Dorothy another way -- but it all can be named consolation; or another example,
• Bill has a very auditory approach to Gospel Contemplation and has very little visual material while Dorothy has a very visual approach and yet both are doing Gospel Contemplation.
• After each group sharing a presentation of a little bit of theory/theology/spirituality of the part of the Exercises which was the context for the sharing.
• Some holiday time.
• Some fun.
• Use of the Awareness Examen as a key instrument for ongoing discernment in daily life.
• Something about Discerning Decisions.
• Though most of the AD is carried out through facilitated group and private work there is some time available during which one can debrief with one's guide.
• Liturgy done by the different sharing groups.
• Communal atmosphere.

16.         The First Week does not usually develop in a straight line with one aspect merging into another the way this happens in the other Weeks of the Exercises. The development is usually bumpier no matter what prayer pattern is used. Often It develops as an uneven unfolding of a variety of movements until, over the days of the First Week, the grace begins to emerge. Thus everything becomes a repetition of everything else. So the way I understand it, after proposing the First-Second-Fifth-Exercise dynamic for a second time, the rest of the Week is a way of doing the Third Exercise. Again it strikes me that, in terms of the decision-making perspective of the Exercises, the Third Exercise is more important than the others because it is through this Exercise with the Triple Colloquy that often those hidden disordered tendencies appear which will have influence on the decision making process and from which the directee will need freedom. Besides the Third Exercise is itself a repetition of the First and Second [62] and, by the use of my approach, even of the Fifth.  The Fourth Exercise seems to be a more focused and analytical version of the Third [64]. There are many different approaches in practice to using or not using this Exercise. My own approach is to use it only if more careful analysis is required and then I use it in the manner suggested in Orientations Vol 1 (click here).