The text⁽¹⁾of the Spiritual Exercises is not always consistent in its use of words to denote its various sections and parts. For someone giving the full Thirty Days according to notation [20], it is often difficult to know exactly what Ignatius intends in terms of the number of days to spend with a certain phase or Week of the Exercises. It is even more difficult for those who are just beginning to direct the Exercises, particularly if they are coming from a Christian background that is different from the Ignatian tradition.

         What complicates the understanding of the text even more is the fact that every use of the text is an adapted use of the text ( confer [18], [19], [20], [72], [129], [133], [162] ). Ignatius constantly instructs us to adapt the material of the Exercises to the needs of the one making them. But in order to adapt the Exercises appropriately, spiritual directors should understand, as clearly as possible, what certain words and instructions mean in the literal text⁽²⁾. My purpose here is:

First, to convey, as clearly as I can, what the text intends by the use of such words as: Week, Day, and First Exercise, Second Exercise, Third Exercise, etc.;

Second, to indicate how one might adapt, as closely as possible to the literal text, these same instructions for a thirty-day experience in a retreat-house setting for those who intend to use the Exercises in their future ministry⁽³⁾.

         For those who intend to use the Exercises in their ministry, it is important to experience the Exercises as closely as possible to the literal text. If one does not know -- both intellectually and experientially -- what the text means in its primary intention⁽⁴⁾, it strikes me that one would not know how to adapt it.

         There are several charts in this article and the following legend will be needed to understand them. You may prefer to scroll back and forth as needed; or you can click above each chart for a separate window which you can resize  according to your need.

         The first table here indicates the first six days of the month of which five days comprise the First-Week phase. Now look at the 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 under the First-Week heading. The layout proposes one accepted interpretation of Ignatius' intention; namely, that the director is to give each of the five Exercises of the First Week in each twenty-four hour period. Thus, on each day⁽⁵⁾ of the First Week, the director is to propose the First, the Second, the Third, the Fourth, and the Fifth Exercise. This same pattern is proposed on each of these five days.

          On the sixth day of the month, there is a break day, called a Day of Repose (DR) in some places, during which the Kingdom Exercise is to be given for two periods of consideration.

          The following chart illustrates another way⁽⁶⁾ to interpret Ignatius' instructions for the layout of the First Week:

According to this interpretation, the retreatant is asked to pray on the First Exercise for the first day of the First Week, on the Second Exercise for the second day of the First Week, etc. Each of these Exercises represents the prayer material for one full day of prayer. Hence, on each of these days, the second, third, fourth and fifth prayer periods become Repetitions flowing from the Exercise assigned for the day.

          In the Second Week of the Exercises, remember that Ignatius refers to "days" in a slightly different way than days of a month or days of a week. I name these Day 1, Day 2, etc., for each retreat day of this Second-Week phase. These are indicated by the italicized numbers --1, 2, 3, 4, etc. -- on the green background.

         In the Spiritual Exercises, twelve Days are devoted to the Second Week. The first three Days cover the Infancy and Hidden-Life narratives⁽⁷⁾. Day 4 is devoted to the Two Standards and Three Classes; this introduces the nine Days devoted to the Public Life of Jesus. Although Ignatius presents the material as outlined in the chart above, he suggests many variations and adaptations.

          On each of the first three Days of this Second Week, he proposes two different exercises followed by two Repetitions and finally the Application of Senses -- again five one-hour prayer periods. On the first of these three Days, he proposes two new, complete explanations (NE) -- the Incarnation and the Nativity -- which are models for the rest of the Second Week. In the chart, I use NS for new scripture material (the scripture passage itself or material from Ignatius' points on the scripture passage [261]-[312]). On Day 4 he proposes that the Two Standards be done twice with two Repetitions and, for the last period of prayer, the exercise called the Three Classes of Men. During the rest of the Second Week, he proposes only one new prayer exercise⁽⁸⁾ (based on one scripture passage) per day, and three Repetitions followed by the Application of Senses at the end of the day. With respect to the Three Degrees of Humility (3D), it is difficult to know exactly where Ignatius intends it to be placed. He calls it a consideration and wants the retreatant to reflect on it during the day [164]. He doesn't spell out exactly where during the public-life material it should be done. Some directors give the Three Degrees in place of a Repetition. In the chart, I placed R/3D on Day 7 to represent where the Three Degrees of Humility might take the place of a Repetition.

         According to the accepted tradition in giving the Exercises, the transition day is a Day of Repose. This transition is not in the Exercises text.

          The above chart shows the Third and the Fourth Week according to the literal Exercises. Notice that there are seven Days devoted to the Third Week. As well, notice that Ignatius refers to each of these seven Days in notation [208]. The suggested pattern is the same for each of these six Days; that is, two new scripture passages at the start of a 24-hour period of prayer followed by two Repetitions and the Application of Senses. On the first of these Days, as at the beginning of each of the other Weeks, Ignatius gives the points for two complete prayer exercises -- the Last Supper and the Agony in the Garden -- to establish certain perspectives for the rest of the Week.

          On Day 7 the retreatant is instructed to pray the whole passion in either one or two periods of prayer. The rest of the time is given over to a Holy-Saturday-type experience -- no fixed prayer material, simply a period of quiet.

          The Fourth Week is interesting because Ignatius assigns only four periods of prayer each day instead of the five periods as he did in the earlier Weeks. The other interesting feature is that three of the four prayer periods represent a different Resurrection appearance [227]. During the Fourth Week, no Repetitions are proposed and the Application of Senses is made over all three. As well, Ignatius does not use the term Day as he does in the Second- and Third-Week sections.

          Also notice in Ignatius' proposed prayer pattern for the Exercises according to Notation [20], the Contemplation to Attain Love⁽⁹⁾ and the Principle and Foundation⁽¹⁰⁾ appear to be outside the thirty-day framework.

           The adapting of the literal framework of the Spiritual Exercises to the needs of individual retreatants is explicit in Ignatius' instructions given in the text of the Exercises itself. The history of the Exercises demonstrates how in practice adaptations were made ever since Ignatius' time. Even further adaptations are necessary now when directors give the Exercises to individuals in a group setting in a retreat house. Remember that there were no retreat houses in Ignatius' day and that Ignatius and the early Jesuits gave the Exercises according to notation [20] only to individuals -- not to individuals in a group setting. In fact, the giving of the Spiritual Exercises according to the personally directed method in such a setting is a relatively recent development. Therefore, it is important that directors agree on a certain structure when guiding people one on one in the context of a group setting so that the liturgies, the atmosphere of the retreat centre, and the Days of Repose are, more or less, similar for the community as a whole.

          For more than 20 years, I was part of a team at Loyola House in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, that used this framework within a 40-45 day Institute⁽¹¹⁾. Everyone on the team followed a similar structure, but there was always a great deal of adaptation within this overall structure because of variations in theory, understanding, practice, and the needs of the individual retreatant. However, we wanted to stay fairly close to the literal structure and text of the Exercises because we were hoping that some of our retreatants would be able, after further training, to use the text and structure of the Exercises in their own ministries⁽¹²⁾.

          The following chart shows the overall structure of the Institute which in more recent years has become formalized into "The Forty-Day Institute":
 

The Institute Disposition Days (13) Break Spiritual Exercises proper  Break Appropriation Days (14)  6 days 1 day  28½ days 1½ days   6 days

         When the individually directed Spiritual Exercises began with the first May-June Institute in 1969, most of the retreatants had never made a directed retreat and most of them were not used to expressing their interior experience of prayer to anyone. Thus, we began the Institute with a directed retreat of 5-7 days followed by a full Day of Repose before the Spiritual Exercises proper.

          From about 1973 onwards, these preparation days were called Disposition Days (DD)⁽¹³⁾. The DD were intended to prepare the retreatants for the individually directed experience of the Exercises; otherwise much time during the Exercises experience would be taken up with "playing catch-up" and valuable time would be lost from the intended experience itself. The Principle and Foundation was dealt with as part of these DD.  If you would like to see what the first set of Disposition Days was like, click here.

          Since we first began to use the DD, there has been much development in the DD theory and practice. Now, most retreatants come to the Spiritual Exercises after they have made many shorter indiividually directed retreats and having dealt with many of the issues that were salient back in the early seventies.

          Given the above context, the following charts represent the pattern that I used in applying, as closely as I could, Ignatius' framework.

           In the structure above, you will notice that on the very first day of the Spiritual Exercise proper (after the DD and Day of Repose), I generally gave the First, the Second, and the Fifth Exercise⁽¹⁵⁾ followed by two Repetitions. On the second day, I repeated the same pattern, but, in the place of the Repetitions, I usually gave the more focused Third Exercise (which explains Repetition, along with the Triple Colloquy, in a more focused way). Thus, during the rest of this First Week, every prayer exercise became a form of the Third Exercise with close attention to the inner development of the retreatant's experience⁽¹⁶⁾. Furthermore, at times, I would emphasize the part(s) of any of the five First-Week Exercises that helped to foster the grace or movement which was becoming evident within the retreatant. I gave the Fourth Exercise only when I thought it was necessary according to the retreatant's need.

          Then followed a Day of Repose on which the Kingdom Exercise was given for two periods of consideration.

          On Day 1 of the Second Week, I gave three new prayer exercises (NE) -- two on the Incarnation and one on the Nativity -- with two Repetitions. For the next two Days of the Hidden Life, I used two new scripture passages (NS) followed by two Repetitions and the Application of Senses. Notice that I introduced the Application of Senses on Day 2. From that point on, I usually followed Ignatius' literal pattern except that I gave ten days to the Second Week rather than his twelve. However, if it seemed to be more helpful, I gave a second, new scripture passage in place of a Repetition (R/NS). The Second Week was followed by a Day of Repose for the retreatants as a community.

         In the retreat-house setting, the team gave the Third and Fourth Weeks in 9^1/2 days. We planned that half of the time would be devoted to each of these two Weeks, without a Day of Repose separating them. We did this so that we could lengthen or shorten either the Third Week or the Fourth Week according to the retreatant's experience and not interfere with the atmosphere for the community. Nevertheless, as Ignatius suggests in notation [208] of Day 7, for the final prayer periods of the Third Week, we gave the whole Passion.

         As in Ignatius' framework for the Fourth Week, only four prayer periods were assigned on each day -- there were no middle-of-the-night prayer periods. As well, instead of assigning a different Resurrection appearance for each prayer period, we gave part of the Contemplation To Gain Love, a new scripture passage, or a Repetition. After two prayer periods on the morning of the tenth day of this Third- and Fourth-Week phase, the Exercises proper came to a close.

          Then, after a day-and-a-half holiday, the Institute continued. Its purpose was to help the retreatants to reflect on their experience and to articulate it in such a manner that they would be able to appropriate it as their own. Hence, this part of the Institute was called The Appropriation Days.