The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola

In today’s society a lot of emphasis is placed on maintaining physical health. Although this focus is important, practicing Spiritual Exercises may have greater incentives for our earthly and eternal lives. Apostle Paul wrote to the young pastor Timothy and admonished him by saying, “Bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come” (1Tim 4:8). Exercising our spiritual senses is vital to discerning good and evil, so that we can navigate in a world where evil is called good and good is called evil (Hebrews 5:14). St. Ignatius of Loyola, who founded the Society of Jesuits, developed Spiritual Exercises consisting of meditations on Scripture, prayers, contemplative practices and imaginative mental exercises. They were produced “to help the exercitant to conquer himself, and to regulate his life so that he will not be influenced in his decision by any inordinate attachments.” In the monotonous yet fast-paced lives we live in, people often spend little or no time with God. The Internet, social media, technology, entertainment and narcissistic tendencies can divert our focus away from God and slowly erode our relationships with Him. Contemplative prayers help us to engage with God as we reflect on our deficiencies and desire His grace and power to change. Our engagements with the Lord are often reduced to a quick prayer as we scurry off to work or a glance over the pages of Scripture to maintain our Bible reading goals. Due to a lack of self-reflection on our true spiritual states and negligence in our prayer lives, we have greater potential to make bad choices in life. These poor choices ultimately deter us from fulfilling the will of God and cause needless pain and agony through their consequences. Therefore, the Spiritual Exercises taught by St. Ignatius, if practiced, can deepen our personal relationships with God by leading us to humbly acknowledge the need to overcome personal sin, so that our choices will enable us to pursue His purpose. 

The quality and depth of our relationships with God will often determine how successful we are in fulfilling His will. Many hindrances will try to damage, divert or destroy our desire to accomplish the purpose for which we were created. St. Ignatius summarized mankind’s goal by stating, “Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul. All other things on the face of the earth are created for man to help him fulfill the end for which he is created.” The salvation of our souls is essentially having the opportunity to live with God in His kingdom where we will worship, serve and praise Him through all eternity. Therefore, we should carefully desire and choose only the best things in life that will help us gain entrance into God’s kingdom.  

St. Ignatius created these Spiritual Exercises to help us become self-aware of our sins and errors. Ignatius echoed the cry of Jeremiah as he lamented the destruction of Jerusalem: “Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord” (Lamentations 3:40). First, we should examine our own lives, and second, let God search us and show us our mistakes. David prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24). This two-fold examination is essential to remove any evil tendency that could destroy our relationship with God and divert us towards the paths of unrighteousness. Ignatius instructed that as soon as we arise in the morning, we must resolve to protect our lives from any sins that we struggle with. Ignatius wrote, “He should ask God our Lord for what he desires, namely, the grace to remember how many times he has fallen into the particular sin or defect, and to correct himself in the future.” These contemplative practices were designed to help believers monitor their daily and weekly improvements. 

I appreciate one of Ignatius’ exercises which consists of making a general examination of the conscience to terminate sin through a five-step method: firstly, express gratitude for the grace and favors we have received; secondly, ask God for knowledge of our sins and for grace to overcome them; thirdly, carefully examine and keep an account of our thoughts, words and actions from the moment we awake; fourthly, ask pardon of God for our failings; and lastly, resolve to amend our lives with the help of God’s grace. Greater knowledge and sorrow for our sins will benefit us to effectively eradicate the evil behaviour through God’s grace.

St. Ignatius also warned of Satan’s subtle devices to trap Christians and cause them to fall deeper into sin. He identified Satan’s snares of worldly riches, honour, and pride as being the three initial sins that lead to all other vices.  If these vices are not removed from our lives, they can hinder our decisions and allure us away from God.  Fortunately, St. Ignatius also provided us with a remedy for these vices. He advised us to desire poverty instead of riches; contempt instead of worldly honor; and humility instead of pride.  Humility is the key to our relationship with God, because He resists the proud but grants grace to the humble to overcome sin (James 4:6).  

God has given us free will to make choices that will help us develop intimate relationships with Him and attain everlasting life. St. Ignatius stated, “In every good choice […] the direction of our intention should be simple. I must look only to the end for which I am created, that is, for the praise of God our Lord and for the salvation of my soul.”  Our aim should be to serve and love God, while not allowing the things He created for us to enjoy, to deter us from the eternal salvation of our souls.  I also found St. Ignatius’ exercise on decision-making to be personally beneficial for my daily choices. He outlined four rules of making wise choices, so that we can fulfill God’s will for our lives.  First, the love that motivates us to make a choice should come from God. Second, consider an unknown person to whom we would give advice to and ask ourselves if we would do what we proposed to them. Third, if we were at the point of death, think about the form or procedure that we would employ in making this choice. Finally, contemplate standing before God on Judgment Day and consider whether we would make the same decision.  In the course of a day, we are confronted with many choices, both significant and inconsequential. However, if we are not aware of our own weaknesses and evil tendencies, we can slowly sabotage our relationship with Christ and suddenly find ourselves drifting from His will.  

Despite the necessity and advantages of contemplative practices and imaginative mental exercises, there arises a danger in being obsessively focused on sin rather than on God. We must maintain a balance when engaging in self-reflection by following a God-conscious approach involving admiration of His greatness and promises. If not, we can easily become overwhelmed by our struggles with sin and Satan and fail to see our great Saviour Who is always there for us. St. Ignatius said, “Here I will ask for an intimate knowledge of our Lord, who has become man for me, that I may love and follow Him better.” Even the Apostle Paul encouraged us to think about the noble, lovely, just and pure things of life (Philippians 4:8). I have personally experienced greater love and motivation for doing what is good when I am compelled by God’s love rather than solely a desire to avoid sin. Through the knowledge of the law, we recognize sin and the depravity of our hearts (Romans 7). However, by trying through our own strength to do what is right, we often fail and become more helpless and miserable. Fortunately, we have the love of God and His infinite grace to overcome sin and receive the free gift of eternal salvation. 

In conclusion, the Spiritual Exercises taught by St. Ignatius have very useful practices for our technological and attention-deficient generation. The spiritual discipline of being still and knowing God is evaporating in our era (Ps 46:10). I have found that pursing instant gratification is far more popular than rectifying errors and shortcomings. Unfortunately, this desire only draws us away from God and His purposes by producing foolish decisions. Practicing these daily contemplative exercises with a balanced God-conscious perspective will serve to enrich our spiritual walks with the Lord and help us to grow in hearing His voice and doing His will.   

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