First Week Of The Spiritual Exercises                          Chapter 9

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Chapter Nine

Practical Questions About The First Week
Signs Of Readiness For The Second Week
Extending The First Week
Introducing Prayer Unit 9

1. What do you listen for as your directee talks about his experience of the Third Exercise?
        The same things that were mentioned in the last chapter; that is, concreteness, realism, growth in self-awareness, need for Repetition. Hopefully your directee is being very honest with God and himself and is working with the "stuff" of his life: values, aspirations, faults, virtues, interpersonal relationships, relationship to the world, etc. By this time you would expect to note some consistency and connections between his own personal themes. What you are hearing ought to fit with what you know of him thus far. Hopefully he has begun to make these connections himself because such connections manifest growth in self-awareness and freedom.

2. Should your directee be told to search for his basic disorder?
        Not necessarily. For some, this could be a helpful tool, but it is superficial. In many instances, looking for a basic disorder will not yield the kind of deep self-knowledge for which your directee should be disposing himself.

        The basic-disorder concept was popular in ascetical instructions several decades ago. At that time, directees were instructed to search for one root cause that was behind all the other manifestations of their faults and sins. I do not believe that there is one root cause in people's experiences of faults and sins.

        Though the concept of basic disorder is not present in the Exercises, the concept of disorder is. Notation [63] asks a directee to pray for an understanding of the disorder present behind his actions. This picks up one thread of the concept of disorder from notation [57] which instructed him to ponder his sins from the viewpoint of the disorder within them, even if there were no explicit laws against them. This thread refers to the disorder of sin.

        The other thread concerning the concept of disorder is in notation [16]. There you are given an instruction on how to help your directee when he becomes aware of an Inordinate Attachment. The example here explicitly refers to a disorder behind an attachment to something good. His attachment is inordinate because it is based on something other than an interior movement of God's love. This is the disorder of Inordinate Attachments. For Ignatius, any activity, along with the choices implied, is disordered when it does not proceed from the impulse of God's love [173], [174], [184].

        In the Exercises, there is no mention of the kind of basic disorder that is considered to be the root of all others. The closest idea to this concept is the image of a shrewd army commander who attacks us from our weakest side [327]. In classical drama, heroes come to their downfall through one tragic flaw. Often too, in our own experience of ourselves or of each other, we notice how one pattern of one weakness tends to be more dominant than others.

        If you prefer to use this concept, you ought to realize that it is merely a mental construct or an instrument meant to help one grow in self-knowledge concerning the mystery of evil that defies all comprehension. There is little use in going on a searching campaign to discover one's basic disorder because it doesn't really exist. A directee does not need to enter the Exercises journey to discover that most of his faults are rooted in pride! What a prayer guide and directee ought to expect is the kind of affective and freeing enlightenment which can come only through God's grace.

        By way of example, imagine two different directees. First, there is Joe who, tending to be quite programmatic, has little self-awareness. Joe goes on a searching campaign for a whole week and comes up with the different ways he has failed. He concludes that it must be pride that is behind his disordered actions and sins. Fairly happy with himself, he comes to you and says, "I finally found my basic disorder. I need to be in control; pride is behind everything I do!"

        Then there is Jean who has been growing in self-awareness since she began the Disposition Days. At first, she noticed how she succumbs to panic over small events which do not bother others. Then, she discovers that this happens when things do not turn out the way she anticipated. She notices also that when these anxieties surface, she splurges on new but unnecessary items for her wardrobe. As a six-year-old child, she used to hoard her dolls when she didn't get her way. She now recognizes that her present unnecessary purchases of clothes to ward off anxiety is a repetition of that very infantile pattern. As prayer guide, you have a sense that she is working with the stuff of her life. No doubt, some of this has surfaced from the natural processes that take place in the psyche of a person who has an open attitude to life. Perhaps this may be too psychological, but that is all right for now. Meanwhile she continues to pray for God's enlightenment while doing this introspection. She holds herself open to the possibility that God will juggle and combine some of her insights. Then in one interview, she comes to you and says, "This past week, God has shown me such great love, but at the same time, I have been appalled at how I have been so distrustful of God ... of my husband and of life itself! ..."

        What is the difference between Joe's "needing to be in control and pride" and Jean's "distrustfulness"? Joe's insight is no different from that of a person who sits at his desk and figures something out. Jean's enlightenment has the quality of surprise to it, with an affective dimension that is recognized as coming from God. This latter enlightenment touches a number of aspects of Jean's life. It is meaningful as she intuitively has a sense of its ramifications. There is a grateful quality about the discovery, and with it, there is a sense of God's presence.

3. How are the Graces of the Third Exercise usually experienced by directees? What do they "look like on the hoof"?(18)
        Each directee is going to experience these Graces differently, but there are some common elements:

        Note that the one word or one phrase used by a directee to describe his own sinfulness is not necessarily the root or basic disorder -- it is merely a deeply affective metaphor expressive of the interior knowledge proceeding from a moment of grace. At another point in time, God may reveal another word or phrase that will cluster around itself those personal experiences and choices he recognizes to be evil. The reality of his sinfulness still remains mystery, but through this enlightening grace, he receives the interior knowledge of it, and at least for now, he is somewhat freed from its effects.

4. What do you do when your directee does not seem to benefit from the Third Exercise?
        Supposing your directee has received some gifts he was praying for earlier, I suggest the following:

5. Should you move your directee to the Second Week if you don't think he has been receiving the First-Week graces?
        Theoretically, you should not move your directee onwards unless he has received at least some of these graces. However, when giving the Exercises as an instrument of formation, I would not hold a person back beyond two or three weeks. The reason is that the frustration of being stuck may do him more harm than moving him on. Secondly, the block preventing the reception of these graces may surface within the Second Week. Thirdly, the blockages could involve some barrier between yourself and your directee; perhaps both of you are too close to it at this point -- a question of not perceiving the trees for the forest.

6. How is penance helpful during the First Week?
        In notation [87], Ignatius gives the three reasons for penance during the Exercises journey. The third reason -- to seek and find some grace or gift the directee desires -- is the most significant. Penance is more of a gesture than anything. It is another form of prayer. Through some penance, the directee expresses to himself and to God, in some external way, that he desires the kind of openness he needs at this moment. It is a way of bodily manifesting his desire to remove any obstacle to love that might exist. It is important never to think of penance as bribing God to do what he wants; that would be adding obstacle to obstacle; namely, the obstacle of thinking that he can earn what he is seeking.

        The kinds of penance to choose are those which are more symbolic of a directee's interior desires and dependence on grace.(19) In other words, the kinds of penance which are symbolic, small and seen only by God are better than the kinds of penance about which he is liable to be proud! As Fleming comments, decisions regarding the use of penance follow the same principles involved in the decisions to change prayer postures from time to time. The directee does not make a change if God's grace continues to be operative in leading him. At certain times, penance seems to be called for, whereas at other times penance would add a jarring note to his prayer.(20)

7. What adaptations in material and method might be helpful for directees who seem stuck at the time of the Third Exercise?
        Sometimes, it helps to teach some form of the Jesus prayer as a part of the prayer exercise. Also it is helpful to use different scripture texts with the Triple Colloquy according to your directee's needs. Here are some examples that deal with sinful effects from one's own personal sin or from being sinned against:
 

Rom 7:14-25  I cannot do the things I want to do -- experience of helplessness.
Rom 5:1-11  We were still helpless when Christ died for us sinners.
Lk 8:26-39  Gerasene Demoniac -- experience of sin as being bound by an alien power.
Lk 16:19-31  Rich man and Lazarus.
Lk 18:9-14  Pharisee and publican.
Jn 4:5-42  Jesus and the Samaritan woman.
2Sam 11:1--12:14 David's sin, Nathan's allegory; David does not see his own sin -- You are the one.
Mk 7:14-23  What comes out of a person makes one unclean; evil intentions emerge from our hearts.

        Often, directees must deal with healing issues before considering sin issues. In our age of psychological literacy, we know so well how past hurts block significant memories. Usually when blockages are evident at the same time to both prayer guide and directee, the directee's psyche is ready to allow such memories to surface for God's enlightenment. A rule of thumb is that if the psyche needs to keep the memory repressed, the blockage would not be as evident to the directee. However, in some instances, this rule of thumb may not hold. Therefore, when you propose healing passages, the repressed memories may still not surface and the resistance may continue. In such situations, it would be better to move your directee forward. The memory might surface later in some other context or it may never surface. Remember this most important life principle: "Not everything deep in one's psyche has to be dealt with in this life!"(21)

        Often it is very helpful at this point to ask your directee to use guided imagery on a passage of scripture. A form of a guided imagery technique could be used with the Raising of Lazarus (Jn 11). Here you might suggest to your directee that he imagine himself bound like Lazarus in the tomb:

"Imagine yourself like Lazarus actually in the tomb; you are bound with long and strong bands of white cloth.... Feel them holding you back.... Each strip of cloth represents some aspect of your life which prevents you from being spiritually free ... or some aspect of your past experience that somehow still binds you.... Yes, you have been sinned against.... Be with it.... Imagine Jesus, the Risen Lord, coming, weeping, and calling you forth...."
        Such guided imagery can help in releasing those areas of your directee's life where he needs to be touched. But this approach should only be used with the type of person who has already shown signs that it would be helpful. It should not be used with persons who show some signs that it would touch off repressed areas of the unconscious that neither you nor he may be ready to deal with. When in doubt, don't suggest a guided imagery approach with such a specific focus.

        Less threatening, and often just as useful, is Gospel Contemplation. Here you merely suggest that your directee enter imaginatively into the gospel event without the specific focus above:

"...and if you find the gospel passage too difficult to use with your imagination, simply talk to Jesus about your difficulty and the feelings surrounding your difficulty.... But I wouldn't force it if I were you.... Try to be there. Or, at least, reflect about what would happen if you were there...."
Such an approach invites your directee to try, gives a wide variation of possibilities, and allows him a freedom that respects his readiness to go only to the depth to which he is able at this time.

        The following two examples show how such a use of Gospel Contemplation can be effective. These are examples of directees who are able to use their imagination without too much threat. Both examples use the story of the sinful woman who washes Jesus' feet with her tears (Lk 7:36-50).

        The first is Carl. He has served his diocese well in the past decade. His peers have often suggested to him that he enter the diaconate program in his diocese. Over the years, he achieved both success and honour by working in the various parish campaigns. He is a money-raiser and he is a money-giver. He has no pretensions. He has always helped those in less fortunate circumstances because he feels so fortunate in the good things of this life. He is a moral person. However, when he comes to pray for that interior knowledge of his sinfulness, the results have been quite bland. He admits that he "sowed his wild oats" as young man, but at this time in his life, he says, "I still struggle with the usual lustful imaginings and get upset with the sloppiness of my teenaged children.... Thank God I don't have any really big sins any more! ..." Last week, his prayer guide gave him the story of the sinful woman and suggested that he use the method of Gospel Contemplation:

Ca: I prayed twice last week on that Luke passage you gave me. I spent a great deal of time admiring how Jesus dealt with that woman.
PG: You were struck by that woman....

Ca: Yes ... I was.... I don't really know whether I would have as much courage as she did.
PG: Where were you in the event?

Ca: Oh, I was there.
PG: Yes, but where in the room? ... way in the corner? ... near Jesus?

Ca: Oh ... no ... Why, I was one of the guests.... (long pause) ... I was on the other side of the table from him.... The woman, she was at one end and I was at the other end.
PG: What about Simon?

Ca: He was talking with Jesus ... why ... close to the woman (said quickly).
PG: What did it feel like being at the other end of the table? ... (long pause)

Ca: I didn't pay much attention to that.
PG: Loving, perhaps? ... Peaceful? ... Anxious? ... Confused?

Ca: A bit fearful, I think.... That woman had something I don't have.
PG: She showed you a side of experience with which you are not familiar.

Ca: That's right ... and ... I was sort of ... embarrassed ... like the Pharisees.

        So this leads into a whole discussion about a stance towards life of the self-righteous, good person who thinks he can earn his way into heaven. With that, the prayer guide sends him back to prayer with the Triple Colloquy suggesting that he ask for that interior knowledge of his Hidden Disordered Tendencies which interfere with God's love in his life.

   Susan represents a similar example. She has a problem seeing herself as a real sinner. She was past president of Women Aglow and was frequently mentioned publicly for her role in the founding of a new, L'Arche group home in her region. When she recounts what happened during her prayer on the same passage from Luke, the prayer guide notices that she was somewhat in the event, but watching as if from a far corner of the room. Earlier in the interview, she indicated how irritable she had been during the week. This is not usual for her; except for the occasional stressful situation, she finds it very easy to be poised, polite and political with everyone. The discussion that follows finally leads you to ask:

PG: But why didn't you kneel down with the sinful woman or ask her to take her place?
Su: But why should I? ... I'm not like that woman!

PG: But you have helped a lot of people like her over the years.... What were your feelings towards her?
Su:: Well, I knew that she was very sorry for her sins.

PG: She certainly must have been to do that. How did you feel towards her?
Su: I felt ... (somewhat confused and a little defensive) ... well, I guess I don't know.

PG: Let's try to get hold of it.... Let's pause for a few moments and try to get hold of this. How did you feel standing there, watching and knowing that you were not like that woman?
Su: (after a longish second pause) ... Ah, I guess a bit out of it, awkward perhaps.... She didn't need my help.... I felt sorry for her.

PG: You felt awkward and sorry for her ... like you do with the people in the L'Arche home? ... Sympathetic perhaps?
Su: I don't really know.... No, not sympathetic....

(The dialogue at this point leads the prayer guide to suggest that Susan make Repetitions on this Lk 7 passage.)
PG: Bring your awkwardness back into your prayer and be with it. Express it to Jesus. Wait there until you experience a sense of completion. Keep using the Triple Colloquy during each exercise.
(Next week Susan comes back with a big smile on her face.)
Su: You know I have been struggling with something for two weeks now. I think you sensed it all along. It surfaced in those Repetitions. I didn't tell you but I didn't want to make them.... I actually look down and despise those persons I am kind to! No wonder my associates have felt uneasy working with me. I am not compassionate at all.... I have always been very smug in everything I do.... I cried ... and I asked Jesus for his forgiveness. I also asked Mary for her forgiveness. The Triple Colloquy has become very easy now!
8. What are some issues that commonly block the reception of the First-Week graces?
        Most issues that lie behind a directee's difficulty during the First Week are connected to some aspect of a directee's refusal to accept his creaturely condition -- issues that deal with limitation, dependence, control of life, etc. Most issues, however myriad their forms, attempt to prevent God from being God and try to reduce life from mystery to problem. To understand the reason for a directee's struggle, it is helpful to ask yourself some of the following questions:

a) What false theological assumptions seem to be operative in my directee? This question may surface issues such as these:

b) How does my directee try to control life? God? me as prayer guide? friends? This question may surface insights into his system of control such as these few examples:         In order to discover how your directee controls life, you will need to take into account some of his characteristics you have observed so far -- the way he preserves his self-esteem, the kinds of images or phrases he constantly repeats, the way these characteristics create barriers for him in prayer. In noting how your directee defends his life, it is important that you be free from projecting your stuff on him. In other words, you need to be free from interpreting your directee's experience according to the issues that were present behind your own experience of sin awareness. Just because you were in need of healing does not mean that your directee is in need of healing. Just because anger or emotional abuse happened to be part of your ways of thinking about your own earlier experience does not mean that your directee has to come to terms with his anger or forms of abuse. Just because you used to deny your feelings in your life does not mean that your directee is denying his feelings. Where you were helped by being challenged to focus more precisely on some aspect does not mean that such a challenge will benefit your directee. You have to be free from the "spiritual therapy" that helped you when you were on the Exercises journey.(22)

9. What are some of the signs that your directee is ready to enter into the Second Week?
        Two or more of the following "typical" experiences would be a sign that your directee is ready for the Second Week:

10. How do you introduce Prayer Unit 9?
        Often directees resist praying the Fifth Exercise and prayer guides resist giving it because the imagery is thought to be medieval. Remember that the imagery of the Fifth Exercise -- such as "weeping and gnashing ... eternal fire ... flames" -- is biblical. We ask directees to use their imaginations on other biblical images so why should we not ask directees to use them here. In ages past, the fear of being condemned to hell along with the literal belief in its existence prevented directees from entering into this exercise. In our present age, the cultural disbelief that eternal loss is even possible may present a hurdle both for the directee and for you.

        Always remember that the Fifth Exercise is an exercise on God's faithful protection and kindness. This is beautifully expressed in its last sentence [71]; namely, "I shall also thank God for this, that up to this very moment God has shown God's self so loving and full of mercy towards me." The loving mercy that Ignatius refers to is like God's protective care for the Israelites while they were being led out of Egypt with the pillar of fire. This exercise disposes your directee to appreciate what he is `being saved from.' You hope(23) that your directee will receive an overwhelming appreciation of how God has been nurturing him all along the way. Hopefully he will realize, on all the levels of his being, how he needs God even more than he can imagine, not only for his continuing growth in love, but more for his ongoing responsibility in cooperating with others in the establishment of God's household through his conscious choices.

        In introducing Prayer Unit 9, listen to your directee's experience of the f) period from the previous week and note how he has related to the material -- with apprehension? willingness? docility? avoidance? fear? misunderstanding? Help him where needed. Sometimes the difficulty he has encountered may be a helpful Desolation which is a typical prelude to the hoped-for grace. Sometimes the difficulty is a useless Desolation due to some simple misunderstanding that can easily be corrected. The following are examples of some useful comments a prayer guide might make:

        Then you might suggest an alternate way of entering into this exercise: "Take one of your disorders that we discussed last week ... for example, that under-the-surface resentment towards your brother which you had forgotten. Remember you discovered how it has been influencing many of your reactions to and decisions concerning your fellow employees. Do you remember talking about that? ... Well, now, what would happen to you if your resentment were allowed to grow without correcting it? You know that incident of teasing you mentioned. What would have happened if your partner at the job took it the wrong way? And if then you reacted against him, what might the consequences be? Now taste it (pause); smell or taste the reaction (pause).... Take this hidden resentfulness and with your imagination see what would happen if you let it get worse, and worse, and worse.... Now hear it (pause), smell it (pause), taste it (pause).... Now you are imaginatively in hell. That is what, at this very moment, God is saving you from!"(24)

        For the d) period of Prayer Unit 9, suggest the Fourth Exercise. Different directors have different theories about its use and the suggestion placed here in the d) period represents just one of the approaches for the Fourth Exercise.(25) Some directors do not propose this exercise at all. Others make very little distinction between the Fourth and the Third Exercise. Others use the exercise only if there has been such an emotional experience that the directee feels the need to spend time, as it were, catching his breath. When mature persons experience their personal reactions too intensely, they find it appropriate to distance themselves somewhat from the overwhelming situation and use some technique to understand and judge what has been going on.

11. How do you extend the First-Week process when someone is not ready to enter the Second-Week process?

Here are some suggestions:

12. How do you extend the First-Week prayer material if you judge your directee to be in transition in which the First- Week process is coming to completion and probably will before your next session with him?
        The scripture texts conveying the images of Jesus as the "good shepherd" and the "bread of life" are helpful for this. Here is a sample listing of these and other themes which harmonize with both the First- and Second-Week themes:
Jn 10  I am the good shepherd.
Ps 23  God is my shepherd and gracious host.
Ps 121  God is my personal guardian and protector.
Ezk 34  God will personally lead as a shepherd.
Jn 21:15-19  Feed my lambs.
Jn 6  I am the bread of life.
Ps 103  Kindness and mercy of God.
Eph ch 1-3  God's saving love throughout history.
Jn 1:29-34  Behold the Lamb of God -- my Benefactor.
Jn 8:12  I am the Light of the World.
Jn 12:31-36  When I am lifted up, I shall draw all to myself.
Jn 15:1-17  I am the vine; you are the branches.... You did not choose me, I chose you.

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Complete section Chapters 7 through 9
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Endnotes For The First Week

18. Thank you, George Schemel, S.J., for that phrase along with so many of your other helps in understanding the dynamic of the Exercises.

19. Perhaps all that your directee will need is a few suggestions on your part and he will know for himself what would be a suitable penance. Some suggestions might be: visiting a home for the aged, removing the snow for an older couple in the neighbourhood, reading or not reading the editorial pages of the newspaper for the week, etc. If your directee is from the Roman tradition, you might even suggest one decade of the rosary while kneeling with arms outstretched.

20. Consult David Fleming, S.J., Draw Me Into Your Friendship, p.75.

21. Myrna M. Small, Mystery, Psychology and Common Sense (Guelph, Amadeo Press, 1991), p.35f.

22. Sometimes a prayer guide focuses on an obvious defense mechanism of her directee and she attempts to deal with it like a dog chewing on a bone or like a heat missile seeking its target. Such an approach can be devastating in the sense that it can cause transference and countertransference. We must always remember this truism: What is most obvious to us in another person is the least obvious to the person himself! I believe that, on a psychological level, some of the last things we deal with in life are the very aspects that seem so obvious to others.

        Jesus said something about trying to take the match-stick out of your neighbour's eye and not dealing with the log in your own eye! It is always a safer approach for a prayer guide to deal with these issues by letting them go and paying more attention to the directee's agenda and to his own models of self-understanding. If something is surfacing in prayer that you perceive to be connected to such an obvious defense mechanism, it is always important to suggest a spiritual perspective that gives freedom for your directee's psyche to avoid it if he is not ready to deal with it.

23. I do not believe that the intention here is that your directee should work up a fear of hell in himself. The issue behind the Grace, expressed in notation [65], about the remembrance of the pain of hell, is reminiscent of the difference between `imperfect and perfect contrition' in the Roman Catholic catechetical tradition. I think Ignatius puts these two Graces together because he intends that this exercise be used in a variety of ways such as that expressed in notation [18], and in other ways; for example, teaching the basic catechism, evangelizing with the basic Christian message, preaching a special revival series.

        In the Latin Vulgate version of the Exercises, there is an additional note added to notation [71] which suggests that further meditations on death and punishment for sin might help during the First Week. But for directees of notations [19] and [20], this note does not fit the emerging interior dynamic which moves toward the expected grace expressed so well in the last sentence of the prayer exercise before the Colloquy that ends the First Week. It may fit some evangelizing and preaching situations. It seems to me that this added note is also an example of how Ignatius envisaged that the First-Week text be used for persons with different needs in a variety of settings.

24. Thank you to John E. LeSarge who helped me develop this example.

25. Different approaches to this Fourth Exercise are given in the revised edition of my Orientations, Vol. 1, p.130.
 

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