You have now completed all Four Weeks of the Spiritual Exercises! During these last several months you have covered the following:

From Principle and Foundation:

  • Your image of God
  • God’s love for you
  • Your relationship with other human beings and creatures/creation
  • Inner freedom
  • Discernment of spiritual influences that pull us away or toward God (consolation and desolation)
  • Emotions and the spiritual Life
  • The Examen

From First Week:

  • Cosmic, global, and historical dimensions of sin
  • Personal sin
  • God’s mercy
  • Inner freedom and discernment (continued)
  • Longing and praying for transformation (global and personal)

You have also been introduced to different types of prayer:

  • Examen (continued)
  • Traditional prayers (e.g. Anima Christi)
  • Preparatory prayer
  • Praying with the body
  • Praying Scripture with the senses
  • Triple Colloquies

From Second Week:

  • Imagination and the spiritual Life
  • Anticipating the Kingdom
  • Getting to know and admire Jesus
  • Two Standards (to whose authority will you submit?)
  • Discerning the spirits
  • Humility and simplicity
  • Inner freedom (continued)
  • Making decisions

You have also been introduced to these practices:

  • Reading Scripture with the Senses
  • Reflecting on Art for the Soul
  • Imaginative Meditations
    -Contemplation of a Heroic Leader
    -Incarnation Contemplation
    -Meditation on the Two Standards
    -Three Types of People Meditation
    -Three Kinds of Humility

From the Third Week:

  • Sorrow and compassion for Jesus’s suffering
  • Spiritual practice of empathizing with others
  • Coming to terms with one’s own suffering and death
  • Greater willingness to suffer hardship for the sake of advancing God’s good work.

Also this week:

  • Imaginative contemplation
    -Bethany to Jerusalem Contemplation

 From the Fourth Week:

  • Joyful celebration of life
  • Getting to know and experience Jesus post-resurrection
  • God’s good gifts to us
  • Spiritual gifts
  • Loving and union with God
  • Grateful service to others

Also this week:

  • Imaginative contemplation
    -Contemplation of Jesus’s Appearance to His Mother

This week, take some time to reflect on your experience of the Fourth Week, as well as the Spiritual Exercises as a whole. Look back over your journal and/or other sign posts. Ask God to bring to the surface what is most important for your spiritual process.  As you reflect, keep prayer at the center (not just an intellectual or meditative review). The goal is always connection with God.

Reflections on the Fourth Week

  • What emotions and desires arise as you reflect on your experience of the Fourth Week?
  • What stands out to you the most? (e.g. Recurring patterns? Specific images or Scriptures?)
  • In what ways has your imagination been shaped during the Fourth Week?
  • What is something you have discovered about who God is from your encounter with the Holy Spirit?
  • What practical ways have you decided to return God’s love and gifts by serving others?

Reflections on the Spiritual Exercises

  • What has this experience of going through the Exercises been like for you? What stands out to you the most?
  • What has prayer been like for you during these last several months? What have you heard from God?
  • What is your image of God at the end of the Exercises compared to the beginning? What is your image of Jesus and the Holy Spirit?
  • How are things going with practicing spiritual discernment and decision-making?
  • What concrete actions is God inviting you to take?
  • Are there particular areas you want to spend more time on? Any places where you are struggling?
  • What do you hope for as you conclude the Exercises and incorporate your experience going forward?
  • Are there others you know who might benefit from going through the Spiritual Exercises as well?

Ignatius of Loyola hoped that by the end of the retreat you would know God’s love deeply and return God’s love in such a way as to be love to others. The Exercises are not only for personal enrichment; they are especially about shaping the way you move in the world. They are about imbibing and imitating Jesus so as to use your gifts to help others. This is why discernment and decision-making are so integral to the Exercises: active love involves making concrete choices on a daily basis. Do you feel your experience with the Spiritual Exercises has achieved its purpose? Talk with your Spiritual Director about your reflections and practical next steps.

Love is a daily commitment and process—not something we someday “arrived at” and no longer need to nurture. The journey continues beyond the Spiritual Exercise.

Closing Prayer
O God, may my love for you ever increase and may I know how wide and deep is your love for me. Guide me in the next steps as I finish the Exercises and continue to seek you and your purposes. Empower me by your Spirit to love and serve others on a daily basis in concrete and specific ways.