The Second Week Of The Spiritual Exercises The Complete Section Chapters 10 through 14 of Orientations Vol 2: Part A From this point onward, I depart from the format of a running commentary that I used in the preceding chapters. By the time directees reach this point on their Exercises journey, they have begun to move far more uniquely than either in the preliminary or in the latter phases of the Exercises. The following image will help to explain this. When people enter some of the more interesting national parks of North America, they approach through gates leading to an initial area with a communication centre welcoming them to the park. Larger parks may have a central pavilion here to help visitors become familiar with the park. Information is available about parking areas, picnic areas, washrooms, telephones, hiking paths and other features. For people who want to hike, several unique paths are usually laid out. Some paths are straightforward and leisurely. Other paths wind around a variety of landforms. Other paths present greater challenges -- close to high banks of a river or through a densely wooded area. Some paths might lead through inviting caverns. In some parks, past a mid-point along the way, these paths converge on some interesting feature. After this point, the paths may become fewer in number leading away as they circle around the park and end quite close to the point where the paths initially began. By analogy, the Exercises journey is like a journey through such a national park. The Second Week is like a section of the park with different paths with their special features corresponding to the unique needs of the hikers. As the Second Week ends and moves into the Third and Fourth Weeks, the Exercises become like the last portion of our park. The exercise, Contemplation To Gain Love, is like the return to a point close to the entrance. Up until now, each chapter with its practical comments coincided with one prayer unit. From this point, I continue the practical comments but with a different format. Each chapter now deals with a cluster of prayer units indicated in the chapter heading. Then at those points in the commentary that a new prayer unit is likely to fit, I indicate the new unit and its general content in a box.
> C hapter T en Some Perspectives On The Kingdom Exercise Different perspectives concerning the Kingdom Exercise inevitably affect the different ways of proposing the Second Week and vice versa. Often the way we view the Kingdom Exercise affects the way we understand the text of the Exercises in general and apply Ignatian spirituality in our present cultural setting. In the closed retreat according to notation [20], this Kingdom Exercise has come to represent the material for pondering that directees are given for the day of rest after the First Week is over and just before the Second Week begins. Some commentators and many directors of the Exercises understand this exercise as a kind of Principle and Foundation for the rest of the Exercises journey. Just as the P & F is related to the Exercises journey as a whole, the Kingdom Exercise is related to all of the exercises from this point onward. The Kingdom Exercise is connected to the decision-making process and the Election. which, in turn, are crucial to the understanding of the perspective from which the Exercises text is written. The Kingdom Exercise is the kernel of all the exercises of the Second Week which are cast in the theme of responding to a call to follow Jesus. The Kingdom Exercise is supposed to mirror a directee's interior desires at this point in the Exercises journey. As such, it can function as a tuning fork to check the quality of generosity in a directee's heart. Throughout the Exercises journey, it can also function as a predominant musical theme which keeps recurring throughout the whole of the musical work. By now, it is expected that a directee has received a deep-felt sorrow for his sins and has experienced God's overwhelming love saving him now from the destructive forces in his own heart. It is frequently expected that, as it was for Ignatius, a directee's response will be one of gratitude and generosity filled with desires to serve. When you consider the text of the Exercises from certain points of view, and when you recall the experiences of certain types of directees, such expectations may be appropriate. Here is a listing of the different perspectives which give these insights validity: A thematic and cognitive understanding of the Exercises text; The frequent experiences of directees who are in the Call Mode in the closed retreat setting of notation [20]; The life and times of Ignatius of Loyola; A similarity of the directee's archetype to the archetype that influenced Ignatius; The Kingdom Exercise images the charism of the Society of Jesus; (Historically, most of the commentators giving insight into the meaning of this exercise have been Jesuits.) A male spirituality. Theoretically, therefore, the expectation is that your directee has experienced God's overwhelming love saving him now and that your directee's response is analogous to that of Ignatius in his personal conversion story. And so it is with many directees whose journey coincides with several of the perspectives listed above. Nevertheless. when you attend to many directees' actual experiences of the Exercises journey both in the notation-[20] and -[19] modes, many of the variables implied in the perspectives listed above are not verified. Therefore, it is not surprising that the experiences resulting from doing the Kingdom Exercise often do not measure up to the theoretical assumptions of prayer guides and directors of the Exercises. With this in mind, here are different approaches from which you can choose to propose this exercise. Classic Approach(1) In some ways this is the simplest approach. When the First Week comes to an end, you would instruct your directee to ponder the Kingdom Exercise prayerfully for his daily prayer exercise on the three or four days before your interview. This is the context suggested in Supplementary Prayer Unit 1. You would encourage your directee to apply the parable to his situation by using the example of a charismatic person he finds inspiring, one who could capture his imagination and allegiance. Then you would suggest that, if he cannot make the offering towards the end of the Kingdom Exercise [98], he formulate his own personal offering expressive of his own desires at this time. This approach presumes that after the First Week the directee is definitely in the Call Mode with an archetypal energy similar to that of a warrior Queen or King. Mythic Approach I have been using the mythic approach for some years -- sometimes with surprising success, sometimes with frustration! In some ways, this is a more difficult approach because it requires your directee to use symbols and imagery which he probably has not been using in any conscious way. Coming from a more technological culture of our computer age, the directee would be asked to create something out of the energies that have been within him all along below his consciousness. However, when done properly, this approach can be more rewarding because it has the power to evoke a directee's heart-felt desires just as the Kingdom Exercise evoked Ignatius' heart-felt desires with the myth of the king [91]-[98]. The exercises that you might propose to your directee are found in Supplementary Prayer Unit 3. The theoretical explanation behind this mythic approach is discussed in Chapter 25. The goal in this approach is that your directee express in a personal myth his innermost and often less-than-conscious overarching symbol(s) that give energy and meaning as he confronts his future living in God's love. What is the story, parable, image, or myth that captures his way of cooperating with others in the fulfilment of God's desires for humankind? This approach presumes none of the cultural and ideological variables listed above. Nor does it presume that your directee is in the Call Mode. It respects where the directee is spiritually situated at this point in the Exercises journey and the personal culture and archetype that your directee brings to his prayer. Even if your directee were in the Call Mode, this approach can enhance the dream of his heart. I find that many directees in our culture are not in the Call Mode by the time they finish the First Week. The sign of this is the way they make the Gospel Contemplations on the Incarnation, Nativity, and the Early Years of Jesus before his ministry. They enter into them from the position of their own personal growth and healing rather than from the position of how they can better cooperate with others in the development of God's realm. They enter these gospel mysteries primarily from the stance of their own personal growth and brokenness; not primarily from the stance of the brokenness of their environment. A Combination Approach I have chosen to present the Kingdom Exercise according to an approach that attempts to bring together several issues that are, more often than not, present in our culture. In order of priority, these issues are: 1) The Healing Mode which continues well into the Second Week; 2) The mythic approach which is more in keeping with a directee's personal archetype; 3) The logistics of the church calendar if a directee begins the notation-[19] Exercises journey in September or October. This would place the material proposed for the Incarnation and early life of Jesus around the Christmas holiday season. The design of Prayer Units 10-15 facilitates some necessary adaptations for the inevitable interruptions. Though not in the Exercises text, my design(2) respects both the intent of the Kingdom Exercise and the practical reality of many directees. Hence, after the First Week, it moves directly into the Incarnation Exercise followed by the exercises on the early life of Jesus. I give more time to the early life of Jesus than a student of the Exercises text might expect. Only after these exercises on Jesus' early life, do I present the Kingdom Exercise and, then, with the mythic approach. If you would prefer to use the classic approach, consult Supplementary Prayer Unit 1, p.261f. If you would prefer to use more creativity for the mythic approach than that suggested in Prayer Units 10-15, consult Supplementary Prayer Unit 3, p.265ff. For a greater understanding on the use of myth, both in the Kingdom Exercise and in ongoing spiritual direction outside the Exercises journey, consult Part B, Chapter 25, "The Kingdom Exercise And The Use Of Myth In Spiritual Direction," p.349-358. C hapter E leven The Incarnation -- Conception, Birth, And Childhood Of Jesus Comments For Prayer Units 10-14 Prayer Guidance And Gospel Contemplation This section begins with our foundational Christian belief that God became human in Jesus -- the Incarnation. We should keep in mind that the Incarnation does not refer only to the moment of the human conception of Jesus but also to the whole reality of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. The historical way by which the early church began to enunciate the belief in the Incarnation did not begin with a knowledge of the historical moment of Jesus' conception in Mary's womb. It began with the eyewitness accounts of Jesus' public life, of the disciples' experience of Jesus' death and Resurrection, and of the early Christian church's reflection which has been codified in the early Christian creeds. This mystery of the Incarnation is expressed beautifully in the ancient Christian hymn about how God emptied God's self to become human (Phil 2:1-11). Our belief is also interwoven with the mystery of God as Triune. Not only has God become fully human in Jesus, but it is the second person of our Triune God that is the person of Jesus.(3) The overall Christian worldview is both incarnational and trinitarian, at once immanent and transcendent. It is a worldview basic to Christianity and particularly stressed in Ignatian spirituality. The owning or appropriation of this worldview is important for both you and your directees. For directees in the Call Mode, this worldview is important for the decision-making process so that they will make "correct and good"(4) choices more in harmony with God's overall vision and movement of creation rather than for some lesser goal and objective. For directees in the Healing Mode, this worldview, appreciated appropriately, can assist a realistic acceptance of their limitations and brokenness which is significant for their personal-growth processes. In addition, this worldview is important for you as a prayer guide in your work of helping your directees interpret their prayer experiences. The relevance of this worldview to discernment will become more evident later in this manual.
> Features Of Prayer Unit 10 Incarnation Exercise. A meditative approach helps to establish the context for the Gospel Contemplations that follow.
> When you introduce Prayer Unit 10, emphasize the First Prelude of the Incarnation Exercise [102]: "... In the First Prelude, note how our God is unfolding God's love.... The title, Trinity, is the great historical way by which we Christians have attempted to grasp both God's personhood and mystery and the multiple ways God desires to relate to us -- creating, redeeming, sanctifying...." At some point, it may be helpful to read the instructions together. For exercises a)-c), suggest more of a meditative approach, a reflection that combines thought with the listening of the heart. Without too many instructions, encourage the use of imagination in prayer for d)-f) exercises. Why a more reflective prayer method for the first three exercises on the Incarnation? This is helpful to establish the overall and ongoing context for all the subsequent prayer exercises on the life of Jesus. This is true even though the literal text of the Incarnation presumes an explicit use of the method of Gospel Contemplation. However, directees seem to lose the impact and meaning of the Incarnation Exercise when they struggle to re-establish the Gospel-Contemplation method with this material. I would suggest that you spend time stressing this method only when you introduce the next prayer unit. Here you may want to engage your directee in a discussion around some of these questions: "... How do you image God's relationship to our human activity in the world? ... How do you image God's concern for the life of the planet itself? ... How do you understand your own role with respect to God's concern at this time in human history? ... In what ways is God present or absent in the world? ... In what ways do our human activities, along with ourselves personally, need saving? ..." Help your directee re-image the notion of salvation as a communal need as well as a private individual need. You can do this by introducing the notion of God's dream for the world. One of the motifs of this dream is in the gospel of John where Jesus prays for us to be one as he and his Father are one (Jn 17). In Jesus' prayer, we get a glimpse of the dream in God's heart. God desires that God's own inner life be made manifest among us. The intimacy that God experiences in God's self is a primordial symbol of how we are called to live in mutual cooperation and respect with our companion human beings and with creation itself. Then explain the meaning of intimate or deep-felt knowledge which is essential in the Grace being sought. For the same reasons given above, Prayer Unit 10 enunciates this Grace differently from the Grace enunciated in notation [104] and in the rest of the Second Week. In the Incarnation Exercise, suggest to your directee that he pray for an intimate knowledge of how God has made a choice to fulfil the dream of God's heart through Jesus' conception. Invite him to enter into the yearning of God's heart by asking for an intimate knowledge of the Trinity's deep desires for our planet and ourselves. In fostering your directee's growing awareness of God's dream and desires for the world, you are encouraging him to appreciate more deeply his own deepest desires and dreams. Hopefully this will be expressed in some form by Prayer Unit 15 where he will be encouraged to develop his own personal myth. Thus, as he releases his imagination with the mysteries of Jesus' early life within the context of God's dream for the world, the foundation for the mythic approach to the Kingdom Exercise is being laid. Before introducing Prayer Unit 11, listen for some of the following aspects of your directee's prayer experiences from the Incarnation Exercise on the dream of God: How has he attempted to comprehend the dream of God? How has this dream been involving for him? If he is in the Call Mode: How is he relating the questions concerning his need for decision-making at this time in his life to God's dream for the world through the mystery of Christ in the Incarnation? Discuss those preliminary issues of call and/or decision-making that he will need to begin to pray over more intentionally. Consult the section, "Walking Around The Question," in Chapter 27, pp.373-376, 383ff. If he is in the Healing Mode: How has he attempted to grasp the relationship of God's dream, implemented through the story of Jesus' conception, with his own life issues? Here are some examples: Mary's unexpected pregnancy intersects with God's dream. Mary's dream is shattered and shifted by unexpected circumstances, yet fulfilled differently. A directee's own personal brokenness is related to the world's brokenness. Correct Use Of Imagination In Gospel Contemplation Also note the manner in which your directee has or has not been able to use his imagination. If he is using Gospel Contemplation correctly, that is, if he has entered into the mystery of the Annunciation passage, then simply point out that he is doing Gospel Contemplation and that this will be the key method that he will be invited to use most of time on the Exercises journey. Note whether he is in Consolation or Desolation. If he is in Consolation and if he recognizes what has been happening in prayer and has a basic understanding of how it fits for himself, then there is no need for `interpretation' at this point. Just propose the next prayer unit.
> Features Of Prayer Unit 11 Nativity Exercise. This is a more practical place to give a teaching on the method of Gospel Contemplation and on the Grace.
> If your directee has not been using his imagination correctly in d)-f) exercises of Prayer Unit 10, it might be time to give some instructions on the use of imagination and its importance in the Exercises journey. However, for a directee who cannot easily do Gospel Contemplation, too many instructions may interfere rather than help. For directees who are definitely in the Call Mode, the purpose of the exercises on the early years of Jesus is to learn better how to do the method of Gospel Contemplation before entering explicitly and intentionally into the decision-making process. As notation [162] indicates, facility or the lack of facility to do Gospel Contemplation is one of the reasons given for shortening or lengthening the number of weeks assigned to these exercises on Jesus' early years. If you want to explore Gospel Contemplation, consult Chapter 23. Here is a short summary of some points from that chapter that may have relevance for you here: The best place where Ignatius gives a very clear approach of this method is the Nativity Exercise which is featured in Prayer Unit 11 [110]-[117]. Note what the method of Gospel Contemplation is and what it is not. It is the use of imagination on a text of a gospel event of Jesus' life. It is not the `steps' in the Ignatian `model.' The Exercises text presents only one model of the method. Do not confuse imagination with only image-making visually or pictorially. Everyone has imagination and can be present somehow to a past event through memory in various ways -- some people imagine through feelings, others through hearing, others through picturing, others through a combination of these. You can explain this method in many different ways.(5) Explain the Grace being sought. Here are a few ideas that might help: This Grace will be used for all the Second-Week Gospel Contemplations. Deep-felt knowledge means experiential and real as opposed to merely notional knowledge -- as real as the knowledge of a parent of one's own child, or of long-time lovers, or of best friends. It is both affective and effective; it is a deep-felt knowledge that is expressed in the decisions of one's life and the actions that flow from them [230]. This deep-felt knowledge implies intimacy which is manifested by a deep respect for each other's differences but in a context of mutuality [231]. The following of Jesus is not the following of some past historical ideal, but the following of Jesus living now by the work of the Spirit in the context of the directee's present history. This following is expressed in his discerned decisions and in the actions that flow from these. For a directee who is more in the Healing Mode, this following of Jesus is expressed in the intentional choices he makes to take concrete steps which foster his growth in the acceptance of his true self -- concrete steps which imply the embracing of his life as it is, not as he would like it to be. For a directee in the Healing Mode, you will certainly have to give some instructions on Gospel Contemplation and the Grace. After all, these will become helpful instruments for his healing. However, you may need to do much more work in listening to him at ever-deepening levels -- the different aspects of his story and the unresolved feelings about his past personal life which affect the way he makes choices and follows Jesus now. When a directee feels safe enough to allow the gospel stories to engage his imagination, unresolved issues surface. The stories of Jesus' birth, infancy, and early life may touch off memories that have been affecting his present life. Usually these memories are from the area of the psyche just below the conscious level. In the Exercises journey according to notation [20], the text suggests three days on the early life of Jesus. For the Exercises journey according to notation [19], this could translate into three weeks. However, Healing-Mode directees may need more time -- even longer than the five weeks suggested in this manual. Prayer Unit 11 invites the directee to use the Application of Senses. Do not spend time introducing this until you discover that your directee is doing both the Gospel Contemplations and Repetitions correctly. In a later session, perhaps in the next couple of weeks, you may judge that a teaching on this method will be helpful.
> Features Of Prayer Unit 12 The Naming of Jesus; The Visit of the Magi; The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. This might also be a good time for a teaching on the Application of Senses. The interpretation and discernment of Gospel Contemplations can only follow after the directee has learned how to do Gospel Contemplation.
> > Why is Gospel Contemplation difficult for some directees? Here are some typical difficulties a directee might manifest: Fear of giving up control on some level: conscious or less-than-conscious fears, unresolved conflicts such as personal-relationship issues that need to be resolved, etc.; Belief that he has no imagination and unaware of how he is constantly using it; Too many distractions; Some confusion and false assumptions about Gospel Contemplation: Imagining the gospel story needs the creativity of a movie director and has to progress as a story line does, Lack of appreciation of the nature of dreaming and of how Gospel Contemplation is `awake-dreaming' on scripture; Difficulty with accepting Jesus as truly human -- not taking the Incarnation seriously enough; Belief that Gospel Contemplation is not for him because he prefers centering prayer.(6) Generally many directees have difficulties because they are typical products of our scientific culture. They give more credence to conscious and controlled thinking rather than to the realities that arise from their spontaneous and ambiguous imagination. At times you need to teach your directees the value of allowing distractions to surface in prayer.(7) Distractions are not always distractions; there are some advantages in allowing them to surface with God: Unresolved conflicts get resolved. `Healing of integration' and `healing of meaning' take place.(8) Directees begin to face issues which God's Spirit or their own psyches have been nudging them to consider. Directees are liable to experience prayer more deeply and to resolve important concerns and issues for their lives. Gospel Contemplation And Prayer Guidance There are many facets involved in the art of guiding Gospel Contemplations. If you think through carefully all the facets in the guidance process and list these according to the chronological order in which you are likely to do them, they break down into these three basic activities -- instruction, interpretation, and discernment: Instruction 1) Is your directee using his imagination correctly both passively and actively? Passively he should be allowing his imagination to flow in a spontaneous manner; actively he should be remaining within the ambience and sense of the gospel story. 2) Is he asking for the Grace and how? 3) Is he allowing his real life to be affected by the gospel story in some way? 4) Has he allowed himself to be part of the story in a spontaneous manner without too much self-monitoring? Interpretation 5) Then note how he enters the story -- the manner in which he takes part in the mystery. Is he his own age or is he another age and what is the significance of this? Is he outside looking in or does he interact as a participant in the gospel event? In this interaction, does he dialogue with or does he "talk at" the persons in the story while just thinking about what their responses could be? 6) After all of this, you still need to discover how he is affected in his real life. Is there some connection between his personal life story that you have heard thus far and the awarenesses, trends of feelings and scenarios of his prayer? The "imagination logic" of the prayer in time should reveal itself as fitting into the "logic" of his personal life story. Discernment 7) Following the above, you need to note how central Jesus is in his Gospel Contemplations. 8) Ultimately what you are doing is trying to recognize whether what you are hearing is an expression of Consolation or Desolation: If your directee is in Consolation, leave the movement alone [15]. If you recognize that your directee is experiencing Counterfeit Consolation or Desolation, help him discern appropriately. If you are not sure whether the Consolation is authentic or counterfeit, let the movement be and wait. Any counterfeit aspects will generally become more evident as the movement is allowed to unfold. When we use the word discernment in a more generalized way, we imply all the above facets together. When we use the term discernment more technically, we primarily denote activities 7) and 8), particularly as they affect the decision-making process. However, you cannot discern Gospel Contemplations unless you do activities 1)-6) listed above. Furthermore, with Healing-Mode directees, most of your time will be spent in these first six activities. Perhaps the chart below will help pull together some of this discussion. The chart illustrates how the discerning context shifts as a directee moves through the Second Week. The arrow in the diagram illustrates the flow of the Call-Mode directee's interior experiences as it passes through the various contexts of the Exercises. The variety of shading in the arrow indicates how the directee's experience is affected as he moves through the different contexts. The columns show how the prayer guide's role shifts as discernment, more strictly speaking, is required.
> > FROM more of a healing/identity** context with the interpretation of Gospel Contemplations: Is the directee -- — in or out of the mystery? — close or far from Jesus? — up or down with respect to Jesus and the other persons in the event; that is, younger, older, his own age, etc.? — realistic or unrealistic in bringing his personal life experiences into the Gospel Contemplation? — consistent or inconsistent with the graces received thus far or with what you know of him? — in Consolation or Desolation? |  | TO more of a call context of the Second Time [176] with discernment more strictly speaking: Is the directee -- — in Consolation or Desolation? — in true Consolation or Counterfeit Consolation [331]? — receiving the experience like water on a sponge or water on a rock [335]? — experiencing Spiritual Freedom or counterfeit freedom? Is the directee's response part of the Consolation Without Cause or did it come after the reception of that Consolation in the Afterglow [336]?
> > Use Of First Set Of Guidelines and through the above there often takes place: — Left-over healing; — Development of readiness for a decision; — Appropriation of being a loved sinner; — Growth in the ability to use Gospel Contemplation; — Putting on the mind and heart of Jesus; — More acceptance of himself and his personal history; — Rudimentary practice in using Guidelines for Discerning Spirits in day-to-day living |  | Use Of Second Set Of Guidelines and through the above there often takes place: — Some awareness of the important touchstones of directee's personal history that can help to recognize freedom and present call; — Consciousness of deceiving forces in directee's interior experiences; — Development of readiness and Spiritual Freedom; — Discernment of the Unconfirmed Decision; — Consolation Without Cause; — Grace of Confirmation in the decision-making process; — Familiarity with and ability to use of Guidelines for Discerning Spirits.
> ** A directee is in touch with his `identity' when he knows deeply that he is a loved creature, and a saved sinner -- and this awareness is living and empowering because of his personal relationship with Jesus. Consult the Glossary.
> Features Of Prayer Unit 13 Flight into Egypt; Slaughter of the Infants; Jesus' Boyhood before Age Twelve. Continue to monitor whether the directee is making the Gospel Contemplations appropriately. As required, interpret and discern the Gospel Contemplations. This is a good time to monitor how the directee uses the Application of Senses. With a Call-Mode directee who has come into the Exercises journey with a significant issue around which a choice needs to be made, now is the time to deal with the preliminaries of the decision-making process if you have not yet done so. Confer the section, "Walking Around The Issue," in Chapter 27. With a Healing-Mode directee, this is a good time to deal with the memories of past wounds that affect his adult day-to-day living as a mature Christian. Confer Chapter 24, "Guiding Directees In The Healing Mode During The Second Week."
> When you introduce your directees to the early life of Jesus such as in Prayer Unit 13, remember how the experiences and the events of Jesus' early life mirror those of real people in human history. The trauma and fear involved in escaping the slaughter of the infants would have left scars on anyone. Living in a foreign land away from one's extended family would bring with it some of the inevitable self-protective dysfunctions that any political refugees might develop. Many directees have roots in immigrant and refugee backgrounds. Many are living and working with people who have been displaced from their birthplaces. One would hope that the graces of this part of the Exercises journey would encourage a directee to embrace the pain of his own past more fully and find within it the seeds of hope for the future. As explained more fully in Chapter 23, the Application of Senses is another form of Repetition through which the directee is passively absorbed by some aspect of the mystery to which he has returned. Sometimes you can give certain images or use certain phrases to communicate the "how-to" of this method: "Let the mystery penetrate you like a person soaking leisurely in a bath tub ... like listening and being carried by a very beautiful melody ... or fragrance ... or sunset. Taste Joseph's faithfulness ... enter into Jesus' trust in Mary." Sometimes it is helpful to share one or two of your own experiences of the Application of Senses with your directees. Remember that the use of the word `senses' in this method is more by way of analogy. Ignatius' meaning is reflected in biblical phrases such as: "O taste and see the goodness of the Lord," and "Your law is honey to my lips." The tasting and seeing are beyond the veil of the material senses of tasting and seeing; they are deeper tasting and seeing -- with the heart, with the soul. In Ignatius' model of the Application of Senses in notations [121]-[126], he suggests that we "taste the virtues," not the food they eat; that we "smell the divinity," not the stable's straw and scent of the animals; that we "touch the place" where the persons sit or stand, not the persons! This should not be confused with smelling the animals or feeling the warmth of the swaddling clothes or the cold of the evening or the bumping along of the donkey or holding the baby which belong more to the category of Gospel Contemplation. These latter examples are usually not the profound and receptive passivity that Ignatius envisaged as being the outcome of the process of Repetition in the method he names as the Application of Senses. At the end of Chapter 23 there is a reflection exercise, with three different Reviews of a directee's prayer, to help you distinguish Gospel Contemplation from the Application of Senses. Discovering One's Personal Myth Once your directee has developed a facility with Gospel Contemplations and has begun to use the Application of Senses, it may be helpful to draw his attention frequently to the development of his own personal myth. He can do this by paying attention to how Joseph and Mary probably had to re-interpret the events of their lives. Both Joseph and Mary had been looking forward to the typical life and routine of a small village when Mary became pregnant and when the topsy-turvy situation of the census forced them to move to a strange region at the time of Jesus' birth. The circumstances and birth of their child was unpredictable. After Jesus' birth in a strange environment, further complications and unexpected events along with the fear of violence forced them to flee by night into a foreign country. Their understanding of what was happening in their lives and the unfulfillment of their dreams for the future needed to be adapted by shifting their personal paradigms. They would have had to re-vision their own situations and develop a new personal way of imagining how their lives might unfold into the future. If your directee is like the lawyer in the hypothetical examples given in the reflection exercise at the end of Chapter 23, it might be helpful later in the decision-making for your directee to get in touch with his operative myth to check whether it is still valuable or to discover a new emerging one. Myths and dreams, whether they are conscious or less-than-conscious, influence decisions. To be in touch with one's operative myth(s) facilitates the gift of Spiritual Freedom in the decision-making process. If you desire to encourage this approach, you may want to read Chapter 25. On Dealing With Healing Issues However, your directee may be dealing with feelings and issues that leave no space for developing his personal myth at this moment in his life. Frequently by this point in the Exercises journey, particularly with a Healing-Mode directee, past wounds and deep yearnings begin to surface. Some examples might include: feelings of abandonment accompanied by incapacity to relate very significantly with others; a sense of inappropriate shame; an anxiety of not performing well enough; etc. Such directees experience wounds that need to be healed. Their stories often indicate repetitious attempts to recapture missed experiences that, theoretically, would have taken place in the best of all worlds. Their wounds interfere with their ability to embrace life fully and, consequently, with their more complete following of Jesus. Our psychologically literate culture offers us a multiplicity of concepts to understand and deal with some of the issues of our wounded psyches. Among these concepts are toxic shame, addictive behaviours, co-dependent relationships, adult child of the alcoholic, dysfunctional family of origin, etc. Many of these concepts can be combined with the techniques of the Exercises to facilitate a directee's inner healing. Chapter 24, "Guiding Directees In The Healing Mode During The Second Week," deals with this more completely. When such experiences begin to surface in a directee's prayer, a prayer guide, influenced by her own unconscious needs, unwittingly may discount her directee's experiences. This can be done in many less-than-conscious ways such as when she projects her own stuff on her directee; or when she unwittingly denies what is being expressed. A more complete listing, with a brief explanation of ways we can trivialize, is given in Chapter 24. By this point in your work of prayer guidance, you might use that listing for your own Awareness Examen. Is it always beneficial for a directee to deal with memories that surface in Gospel Contemplations? Not always. Much depends on your own level of self-awareness and skilfullness as a prayer guide and on your directee's readiness. Certain signals will indicate this readiness and give you confidence to rely on the techniques of the Exercises as the directee brings such memories forward into the Gospel Contemplations. The faith context of meaning and the personal presence of God during the Exercises journey may empower him to face the pain of his past.
> Features Of Prayer Unit 14 Jesus is Lost and Found in the Temple; Jesus' Teen Years; Jesus' Years as a Young Adult.
Chapter Twelve Jesus In His Public Life And Mission -- The Beginnings Comments For Prayer Units 15-18 General Remarks On Discernment Introductory Remarks If you have followed the structure suggested in this manual and if you have not made use of the adaptations of the Kingdom Exercise as suggested earlier and in Supplementary Prayer Units 1 and 3, you will now be finishing the events Jesus' life before his public ministry. By now your directee probably will: Know how to do Gospel Contemplation well and would even have experienced moments of the Application of Senses; Have some idea of what it means to be in Consolation or Desolation along with some sense of how he gets into Desolation; Be relating intimately with Jesus; Be individualizing the general Grace "to follow Jesus more closely" according to his unique circumstances. Probably he will also be desiring to know how he should carry this out and what choices he needs to make. Also by this time, in all likelihood, you will have judged whether or not he is in the Call Mode. Your directee may even have begun to make some attempt at re-dreaming his own dreams in the light of God's dream. In any case, I am assuming that he is ready to look at Jesus' mission and, hopefully in the light of that, to discern his own unique mission. And so he is ready to enter into the mysteries of Jesus' public life and mission. ---- Towards Prayer Unit 15 And The Kingdom Exercise ----
Features Of Prayer Unit 15 Kingdom Exercise; Jesus Leaves Home; Jesus' Baptism in the Jordan River.
The Kingdom Exercise presents Ignatius' image of Jesus revealing God's dream for the world. The themes of this exercise give the context for the Gospel Contemplations on Jesus' public life: Call to labour in companionship with Jesus; Call to highest Spiritual Poverty; Call to act against one's Sensuality and one's `false self.' Hopefully, by attending to Ignatius' personal image/myth transformed in Jesus, your directee will be more disposed to hear God's call during this Exercises journey. You may need to reread Chapter Ten and consult Chapter 25 (p.349f) to gain further insight into Ignatius' personal myth of the Kingdom. Because this is featured in Prayer Unit 15, your directee may need more time than usual to complete this unit. Note how the different exercises of Prayer Unit 15 encourage your directee to develop his own personal myth. If he has not already begun to do so, gently encourage him to consider doing this: "You may not be able to come up with your own personal story but be open to it and at least try to discover what image or dream captures you at this time.... When you are walking towards the Jordan with Jesus, talk this over with him. Listen to him telling you about his dreams and tell him about your dreams...." Draw your directee's attention to the offering of the Kingdom Exercise. If he senses that he cannot make this offering at this time, suggest that he write out his own personal offering. Suggest that your directee bring into all the prayer exercises whatever practical decision-making issues he may be aware of at this time. General Remarks On Discernment Since your directee is now making the Gospel Contemplations on the Public Life of Jesus, there are some further comments on Consolation and Desolation that might be relevant at this point. On Peace And Consolation Whenever you listen to the experiences of the Gospel Contemplations during each prayer unit, note how your directee relates to Jesus. You can recognize Consolation by the quality of intimacy with Jesus in the directee's prayer exercise and the quality of freedom in his daily life. Even if there is struggle or pain in the exercise, the texture of the experience is in consonance with notation [316]. Your sense and intuition reverberate like a tuning fork with a harmonious sound. The texture is like a drop of water on a sponge [335]. The free-flow of the Contemplative Attitude is in evidence. The focus is on Jesus. Even though the directee may be taken up with someone else in the mystery, you recognize that Jesus is still present and this presence makes a difference. As with human intimacy in general, the directee is not afraid to be himself. He is engaged in the prayer exercise with his real "stuff." Consolation can be expected to affect a directee's handling of day-to-day life situations. The ability to choose to be more serene in the midst of fast-changing family and work situations is one of the manifestations of consoling prayer: "By their fruits you will know them."(9) However, this quality of Consolation in daily life does not imply freedom from external stress. Human creativity presumes stress of a certain kind. Prayer guides sometimes mistakenly associate inner peace with external equanimity. Often inner peace may manifest itself in external equanimity, but a more reliable sign of inner peace is an acceptance of what is. Our psyches are like bricks of Neapolitan ice-cream with different coloured layers. Inner peace is like one of the layers; another layer may be a layer of stress. We can experience upset about something at one level but, at the same time, be basically peaceful on another level. However, like melting ice-cream, the peaceful layer might melt into and have an effect upon the layer of stress. In other words, Consolation from one's prayer exercise often helps a directee to be more responsive and less reactive in the midst of impinging situations. Another sign of inner peace is a more or less habitual awareness and ability to judge the fluctuations of Consolation and Desolation in one's heart and to make choices accordingly. Hopefully the Exercises journey will so help a directee to experience this that he will grow in the ability to judge Consolations and Desolations in his day-to-day living. As a prayer guide, you can observe this growing ability when your directee begins to recognize the Graces being sought in daily situations and events, rather than expecting their reception only during the prayer exercises. Some Thoughts On Incipient Desolation The beginnings of Desolation often do not immediately look like Desolation at all. Here are some examples: The directee's prayer just repeats the story line of the gospel passage that was used in the exercise. As you listen to his report of what went on, you probably get bored! During the prayer experience, the directee seems to have spent all his time making applications of the gospel passages to his own life. The directee has been able to enter the gospel story but has spent his time focused away from Jesus. Earlier when the directee was learning how to do Gospel Contemplation, we could consider this to be a sign of not making the Gospel Contemplation properly. But by this time in the Exercises journey, this phenomenon represents a beginning type of Desolation or Consolation from the Bad Angel [331] which we can call Counterfeit Consolation. The directee is making the Gospel Contemplation well, is able to enter the story, but Jesus has turned his back on him. Here, it is not so much that Jesus has turned away from the directee, but that the directee has noticed it. It has become a question for the directee. This can actually be Consolation but, by not understanding that this could be a call to deal with some issue in his life, the directee can easily move into Desolation. We can name these beginnings Incipient Desolation. The reason why these phenomena are hard to recognize as Desolation or as its beginnings is because the directee experiencing them seems to be happy enough and appears to be getting something out of the prayer exercise. Given time, these beginning forms of Desolation usually become Desolation in the more recognizable ways described in notation [317]. In closed retreat settings, a prayer guide may decide to wait until the directee begins to experience this more recognizable Desolation. If time for this desolating symptom to unfold itself is given, this is usually a better way for a directee to recognize and learn how to deal with these things on his own. However, in the setting of the notation-[19] Exercises journey, this may not be as appropriate; the process may take too much time and the intensity of the Desolation may be less noticeable. How do you help your directee handle Desolation at this time in the Exercises journey?(10) At this point, it is usually important to help your directee recognize his experience as Desolation and then engage him in discussion of what it might mean. Together(11) you try to isolate the issue behind the Desolation. For Healing-Mode directees, this work of isolating the issue can become God's way of training the directee to handle his compulsions and fears not only during the Exercises journey but even later. Consult Chapter 24, "Guiding Directees In The Healing Mode During The Second Week," p.330ff. The three suggested reasons in notation [322] and the spiritual therapy of notation [319] establish a general approach. You can use them quite literally. Note the warning in notation [319] that the directee not make any change but stand firm in the decision to which he adhered in the preceding Consolation. With that instruction, Ignatius presumes that the directee is in the middle of a decision-making process. However, changes in certain aspects of the prayer exercises and his daily routines may certainly be appropriate: Change posture during the prayer exercise. Notation [76] suggests experimentation until he finds the Grace he is seeking. Change from Gospel Contemplation to more of a reflective approach [319]. When a directee is upset and in Desolation, it is often impossible to use his imagination freely. Sometimes all he can do is to read, reflect, and pray vocally. Stay faithful to his time commitment for the prayer exercise and extend it a little [12], [13]. Change in doing or not doing penance [82]-[84] or in his style of eating [210]. For the directee of notation [19], this principle of experimenting can be done by changing some activities of the day over which he has some control: answering the phone, watching television, going to bed on time, etc. Remember that the basic psychological principle behind the Exercises according to notations [19] and [20] attempts to bring harmony between body and spirit. We do what we can to dispose ourselves for a grace that only God can give. The observation within notation [319], "much examination of oneself," may not work for those directees who, when things go wrong, either obsess or fall into addictive behaviours. For them, it would be far better not to argue with the temptation by trying to figure its source when they are in a downward spiral. Rather, it would be better to take notation [325] literally by refusing to make an analysis which would further the obsessive fears or anxieties. Later when the desolating experience has subsided, this type of directee may be able to analyze what has been going on. In order to help your directee understand the issues that triggered the desolating experience, you may have to draw from many possible scenarios at the back of your mind. For example, perhaps the directee: Is resisting something that the gospel event triggered; Has distanced himself from a specific challenge or enlightenment that the Spirit is trying to give; Does not appreciate Jesus' relationship to the Father; Has trouble appreciating how human Jesus is and/or does not accept something about his own humanity. Often what a directee is dealing with in prayer is a reflection of what he is dealing with in day-to-day living. Therefore you could be asking yourself: "What are the similarities between the difficulties my directee experiences in daily life and those surfacing in his Gospel Contemplations?" ---- Towards Prayer Unit 16 ---- Where We Are Going And Why When your directee started to use Prayer Unit 15, he began the Public Life and Mission of Jesus, the overall theme of the major portion of the Second Week. If he is still developing his personal myth significantly, you may need to give him more time on this unit. But if developing a personal myth is not something that you judge to be fruitful for him at this time, simply move ahead with the next prayer unit and encourage him to include his image for the future and/or his dreams in the Gospel Contemplations. What you introduce and what you emphasize will depend on what you are hearing and the next little step that your directee is being invited to make. As indicated in many different ways elsewhere, the map needs to be adapted to the terrain and not the terrain to the map! And so, by now you should be adapting and departing from the materials suggested in these running commentaries. This manual, however, has been written from the perspectives(12) of Learning-Formation and of the Exercises as an Instrument of Decision-Making for a directee in the Call Mode. These perspectives will be more evident from here on.
Features Of Prayer Unit 16 Jesus' Temptations in the Desert; Jesus Announces His Mission in the Synagogue and Is Rejected; Introducing the Two Standards Exercise. With this unit, you could include some of the Five Steps in the decision-making process.
A Call-Mode directee, who has come into the Exercises journey with a significant issue around which a choice needs to be made, should continue to deal with the preliminaries of the decision-making process during the interview with you and later in his prayer exercises. With Prayer Unit 16, you will be giving the Two Standards Exercise. Give the prayer material without too much explanation [2] so that your directee will grapple with the literal text and discuss it with you in the next interview. However, you might stress: The Graces to ask for in the Third Prelude [139] and in the Triple Colloquy; This prayer exercise is written in the context of Ignatius' culture and that your directee should try to understand this from the perspective of his own culture; There are two parts to the exercise of which the second -- the standard of Jesus -- is the important part and should be given more emphasis than the first; How Ignatius intends that a directee continue to engage his imagination in this prayer exercise even though it is a meditation; That your directee reflect upon the meaning of Actual Poverty and highest Spiritual Poverty in his own unique circumstances. Listening to Prayer Unit 16 After your directee has completed Prayer Unit 16, help him notice his own reactions and responses to the Two Standards Exercise. What are his "riches and honours" [142]; that is, the attitudes, approaches, things, etc. which he needs for his false security and by which he bolsters his false self? These are traps and some of them are like Temptations Under the Guise of Light [332] because he keeps on being caught by what he thinks are useful riches. Hopefully, as the Exercises journey has been proceeding, you have been able to help your directee notice those traps or deceits present in his prayer exercises and life experiences. ---- Towards Prayer Unit 17 And Two Standards Exercise ---- Where We Are Going And Why By this time some directees will have explored the specific way God is calling them in their life. Now is the time in the Exercises journey to deal with this more intentionally. As a help to do this, the Exercises present us with the Two Standards and the Three Classes. Chapter 26 explains how and why these two particular exercises are an important part of the decision-making process.
Features Of Prayer Unit 17 Two Standards Exercise; Jesus Teaches the Beatitudes; Introducing Three Classes of Persons. The Triple Colloquy is used from now on. With this unit, you could include some of the Five Steps in the decision-making process.
We have been using different lenses, contexts or structures in the Exercise journey: the events of Jesus' life, the dream of God, the Guidelines for Discerning Spirits, some basic psychological insights, the directee's personal history, etc. The lens through which Ignatius now asks the directee to consider his experience is that of the standard of Jesus. The first part of the Two Standards Exercise is intended to help your directee become free from Deception in the decision-making process and in his consequent choices for Jesus here and now in the Exercises journey. There are different categories of Deception: a) Temptation to sin always involves a Deception; a person chooses to accept the temptation because of some perceived good or advantage. b) Hidden Disordered Tendencies involve a Deception; often they are subjectively perceived as helping one gain security, status, etc. [62], [63]. c) Being dominated by an Inordinate Attachment involves a Deception; the object to which one is attached appears to have some advantage to the one who is attached [16], [154]. d) Temptation Under the Guise of Light is the Deception of spiritually mature and generous persons. They usually perceive the more obvious deceptions contained in any movement towards a), b) or c) almost immediately. However, with the Temptation Under the Guise of Light, they are deceived by some seductive idea or thought which attracts them, by appearing to be in harmony with their generous and loving desires [332]. It is their goodness that is used to deceive them. The categories above differ from each other according to subtlety. The particular type of Deception that the exercises on the Two Standards and the Three Types of Persons address is c) above. However, because good people unwittingly weave a life tapestry spun from some threads of Lucifer's standard, Ignatius is especially concerned about the d)-type of Deception throughout the Exercises as a whole and, particularly, during the Second-Week decision-making process [10], [328], [332]. The image of the Two Standards is a medieval image of two warring factions of knights in full armour on horses. Each group was led into battle by a knight carrying a large flag or standard. Once the hand-to-hand combat began, the two factions became almost indistinguishable as the knights from one side inevitably were mixed up with the knights from the other side. In this mass confusion, an onlooker would hardly be able to distinguish which knight belonged to which standard. Through this image, the Exercises attempt to convey how good and evil are often intertwined and that it is often difficult to distinguish one from the other. In notation [141], Lucifer is pictured as issuing a summons to innumerable demons and as scattering them "... some to one city and others to another, and so through all the world, not omitting any provinces, places, states, nor any persons in particular." In other words, no one is untouched by the enemy's temptations. This is the same truth that Jesus gives us through the parable of the weeds mixed up with the wheat. The Two Standards Exercise is not an exercise concerning a choice between the standard of Satan and the standard of Jesus; it is way of entering more deeply and following more radically the standard of Jesus.(13) Directees become very aware of Deception when they learn to recognize how they go into Desolation when the enemy enters their fortification by the weakest side [327]. Here are some examples of traps that may have already occurred or are occurring: Over-analyzing and making sure, and thus preventing oneself from a more spontaneous, intimate and mutual relationship with God; Seeking consolations rather than the God of consolation; Laying plans and doing something special for God without taking into account one's own evident duties and talents [14]; Pretence that one is too insignificant to respond in any responsible way; Fears in exercising or letting go of responsibility ... possessiveness ... protectiveness ... lifestyle; Needing always to be significant. When You Give Prayer Unit 17 As you continue to discuss the Two Standards Exercise, hopefully your directee is making connections between the traps he has already experienced and/or recognized and the prayer material for the coming week. In this way the awarenesses from the Graces of the Triple Colloquy of the First Week -- namely, the influence of the world on one's Hidden Disordered Tendencies -- may have some connection with his present prayer experiences. Since most directees tend to focus so much on the problematics and negative aspects of their lives, it is wise for both you and your directee to spend more time with the second part of the exercise which distils the basic characteristics (in terms of Ignatius' era) of Jesus' call to discipleship.(14) The Exercises text instructs the directee to use the Triple Colloquy during each prayer period from now on at least until the end of the Second Week. When you explain the prayer exercise on Jesus teaching the Beatitudes, instruct your directee not to turn this material into an Examination of Conscience. Here the directee is being asked to continue with Gospel Contemplation -- to listen, see, feel, and be present while Jesus is giving his teaching to his listeners about what it means to be a disciple. Introduce the Three Classes of Persons without much explanation: "... Pray on this during the f) period and we'll talk about its meaning next week." Listening To Prayer Unit 17 After your directee has completed Prayer Unit 17, listen to his interior reactions and movements with respect to the Two Standards: Find out what things your directee learned about himself -- his riches? his habitual traps in life? the ways he might be deceived in the decision-making process? Note whether the Triple Colloquy is becoming concrete and what desires seem to be emerging. Note whether the Two Standards Exercise had impact. Are his desires related to his character and life or are they unrealistic or discontinuous with what has gone on before? If there is Desolation in reaction to the standard of Jesus, it could be the Desolation of the challenge of discipleship or the Desolation of some Inordinate Attachment. Perhaps he needs to pray for ongoing freedom as suggested in notation [16] or [157]. Such reactions can be a sign that your directee is dealing with something significant. Note whether there is any unfinished business that needs Repetition; if so, adapt the material as you give the prayer unit. Sometimes the suggested additional scripture readings from the previous prayer unit can help you make this adaptation. Note whether any significant items surfaced from the Three Types of Persons Exercise. If nothing, ask a question or two, something like: "How did you react to the Three Types of Persons Exercise? ... How do you see the three types as relevant to where you are now? ... What class of persons are you in now? ... Why do you say that? ... Perhaps you could pray that exercise again but now with respect to such-and-such that you have been mentioning in the past few weeks." ---- Towards Prayer Unit 18 ----
Features Of Prayer Unit 18 Discovering Material for Decision-Making; The Three Classes of Persons; Call of the Apostles; Call of Peter. With this unit, you could include some of the Five Steps in the decision-making process.
Please note how the Grace enunciated in this prayer unit differs from the general Grace of the Second Week. The purpose of Prayer Unit 18 is to help surface the material that needs to be considered before the decision-making process is begun. Remember your directee may have started the Exercises journey without some issue requiring a decision. However, he still needs to inquire how God is calling him now in the concreteness of his ongoing personal and private life. The experience of the Exercises would seem to be wasted unless your directee has somehow incarnated it into his life. The formal decision-making process may not involve issues around changing of one's state of life, which is the main example used in the Election. Instead, it may involve some other significant material. Your judgement will depend on your initial covenant with your directee. If he has entered the Exercises journey with the desire to experience and understand Ignatian spirituality, and if you are giving the Exercises with the formation paradigm in mind hoping that your directee not only have a good experience but be able to use it later after the Exercises journey is over, then it may be important to confront the issue of conscious decision-making with him even at the risk of setting up some misunderstanding or resistance.(15) Hopefully, the actual experience of consciously discerning a decision during the Exercises journey will give the directee a felt understanding for the discernment of a decision so that he will be able to use discernment in the future. This follows the formation paradigm which is the context of this manual. If the Exercises are to be a useful instrument in the directee's ongoing life in the private, public, and more societal spheres, he must understand the spirituality of the Exercises from a decision-making perspective -- the standpoint from which Ignatius wrote them. Is it too much of a generalization to assert, from common observation, that most people resist making consciously discerned decisions? We humans make decisions all the time and in so many different ways but less frequently with conscious and intentional discernment. Implicit in being human is the ability to make choices and everyone has developed his/her own style for this process. Being accustomed to making decisions automatically, many people resist bringing their own modes of decision-making to reflectively discerned consciousness. Many relegate prayerfully-made decisions to the private sphere of life. Hence, most directees consider discernment as applying only to the private sphere and, then only, to larger situations such as a career change brought about by external forces such as a shift in the economy, a mid-life crisis, a need to make a living, etc. If, at this juncture, you recognize that this prayer unit will not benefit your directee, then adapt it or skip it. However, it may still be important that your directee deal with the material on the Reformation of Life [189] discussed in the next chapter. You may need to refer him to notation [189] at this time. As always, it is more important that you and your directee deal with what has been emerging in prayer rather than imposing on the Exercises experience the need for some decisions which may or may not be supported by God's grace. In other words, some decision may logically fit at this time but God may not be granting the grace for it. You may hope that some decision should be made on such-and-such but the such-and-such may not be surfacing within your directee's prayer experience. As prayer guide, you can suggest that he look at such-and-such, but you must always respect his own response to your suggestion [15]. You might introduce Prayer Unit 18 by reading the theme and the Grace with your directee and giving some needed explanations. Here are some suggestions: "The imagination exercises during the a) and b) periods can be a real help in clarifying for you what items or matters in your life with God that may need some discernment. In the a) exercise, note that the person you imagine before you is a person exactly like yourself who has gone through an experience similar to your own during this Exercises journey, with the particular insights and graces that you have received thus far. What kinds of data would you recommend that this person look at? ... Perhaps that is the very data God is asking you to look at. Please make sure that you do this exercise in a prayer context using your imagination ... as the exercise thus directs you!" ... or ... "Over the past few weeks, we have been discussing that some decisions may need to be made in the area of such-and-such. You can use these two exercises in a) and b) to check that out." If fitting, draw your directee's attention to notation [157]: "If you find that you resist looking at some data or you experience that you are not free when you are challenged by them, then pray the note [157]." If your directee is already involved in the decision-making process, you will need to adapt this prayer unit and continue to foster the process that has been taking place. Consult Chapter 27, "Decision-Making And The Five Steps." Listening To Prayer Unit 18 After your directee has prayed Prayer Unit 18, you will be listening for his reactions to a), b) and c). Hopefully a) and b) exercises helped to surface the material which he needs to enter into the decision-making process, and hopefully c) indicates his readiness. Here are some questions you might be asking yourself: Does he have the dispositions of the Third Class? How was he affected by the prayer material on discipleship? Is he still praying the Triple Colloquy which is to be used during every prayer exercise throughout the Second Week? Has the request for "highest poverty of spirit" taken on more concreteness? What are the emerging threads that need to be taken into account for the decision-making process? C hapter T hirteen First Phases In The Decision-Making Process Prayer Unit 19 Three Kinds Of Humility Where We Are Going And Why If you gave your directee Prayer Unit 18 to pray over, it was probably because of one or more of the following: He was not yet working on the preliminaries of a decision; He did not judge that there was any need to make a decision and he required something to surface that need if it were really there; He felt the need to make some decision for Christ but was unclear as to the questions that he needed to look at; You were following this manual too slavishly; You wanted him to have a good experience of discerning a decision so that he would understand, more deeply and from experience, what the Exercises are about so that he will be able to use them in his daily life later. We are now moving or continuing to move in the decision-making process. If your directee has arrived at this point either because he was already working on the preliminaries of the decision before now or because of Prayer Unit 18, some of the following comments may be very useful. As prayer guide you will need to read and refer to Chapter 27, "Decision-Making And The Five Steps: Theory -- Process -- Procedures." Helpful Questions On Facilitating A Directee's Readiness To Discern A Choice On clarifying the general problem -- What do you do when the context or general problem that requires some solution or decision is so confused that the precise issue seems buried with a wealth of secondary issues? First, realize that confusion often happens when significant material that requires decision-making begins to surface. Then, begin to engage your directee in a conversation which helps him talk out the matter in order to isolate the primary issues from the secondary issues. If your directee needs to do this at home, then you might encourage him to do this during a couple of prayer periods in the coming week. One way of doing this would be to have him generate on paper all the possibilities that occur to him and then, later after a little prayerful reflection, strike out what appear to be secondary or non-essential. What do you do when you hear a what-should-I-do-about-something question, such as: "How should I engage more effectively in political life?" ... or ... "What studies should I take?" ... or ... "I need to grow in the art of listening and handling meetings. What's the next step?" Explore whether any concrete possibilities have been emerging. Brainstorm together the possibilities and start to generate these on paper. Then suggest that he continue this at home with some significant persons and bring it to prayer. Perhaps he will have to investigate more facts before any key issues can be determined for the possibility of discernment! On prioritizing the issues involved -- What do you do when the context contains several essential issues? Help your directee prioritize the issues by trying to isolate the key issue that either contains the other key issues or comes logically or chronologically prior to the others. On the other hand, if several key issues seem to have equal importance, then suggest that your directee line them up in order of preference. If there appear to be too many items that need decision-making, then have him prioritize and choose the first three. On keeping an eye on consistency and realism -- What do you do when the material your directee brings forward for decision-making does not seem to harmonize with what you have perceived to be emerging in the past couple of months? Discuss this with your directee. Perhaps you will have to suggest that he spend another week trying to discover the proper matter for decision-making at this time of the Exercises journey. Ultimately, however, you must go with the prayerful perceptions of your directee. Hopefully the material for decision-making that emerges: a) Has something to do with his present state of life; b) Has emerged out of his prayer; c) Is consistent with the graces he has already received; d) Is in the realm of the possible; e) Is focused on the cooperation with others in harmony with God's designs. "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." When no significant material has surfaced -- What do you do when no significant issue for decision-making has surfaced from your directee's prayer? Suggest that he pray for enlightenment on this matter. He can return to the prayer material of the last prayer unit. On the other hand, he could move to the next prayer unit and spend some time within the prayer exercises themselves investigating where and how he is called to be a better Christian. You could give him the directions on the Reformation of Life contained in notation [189]. You could ask him to update the material with such topics as: relationships in and outside the family, work, ministry, political involvements, reading, recreation, gifts, money, stewardship, prayer-life, television watching, use of periodicals, possessions, lifestyle, volunteer work, parish involvement, etc. Perhaps you could give him the Guidelines for Distributing Alms [337] and ask him to apply the principles contained in them to some of the above topics. In other words, you would be asking him to develop and make practical a way of life for the near future.
Features Of Prayer Unit 19 Wedding Feast of Cana; Cure of Centurion's Servant; Healing of the Woman with a Hemorrhage; The Three Kinds of Humility. With this unit, you could include some of the Five Steps in the decision-making process.
As you introduce Prayer Unit 19, give your directee the Exercises text on the Three Kinds of Humility. Suggest that he spend one prayer exercise on this in the f) period during the week and that "... in the next interview we'll discuss this together." On the other hand, if you sense that it would be more helpful, say a few words of introduction about the Three Kinds of Humility. Remember the following points which are explained more fully in Chapter 26: a) They are not steps on the ladder of perfection. b) They are moments of response. Remember the First Kind is a very generous way of responding -- for some, it means martyrdom. c) They will help to judge your directee's level of freedom and the deeper desires of his heart now in the present. You might want to choose alternate scripture texts on Jesus' public life that are more suited to the needs of your directee at this time. Generally whenever you make adaptations, choose concrete events rather than discourses or parables so that your directee will be able to use Gospel Contemplation.(16) If you do make shifts in the prayer pattern, continue to value the use and need for Repetition. Incorporate the decision-making step or phase that your directee needs at this point. Chapter 27 explains the Five Steps and shows how to incorporate them into the decision-making process. Listening To Prayer Unit 19 After your directee has done Prayer Unit 19, you will listening for the experience, desires and understanding emerging from his prayer on the Three Kinds of Humility with the Triple Colloquy. What level of freedom has he received? In theory, a directee is ready to make the actual decision and complete the Election when his affectivity is in harmony with the Third Class of Persons and the Second Kind of Humility. A gauge of a directee's interior freedom is the presence of a real desire for the Third Kind of Humility. However, in practice, it is only in the actual working through of the decision-making process and the actual making of a choice that the experience of Spiritual Freedom is received. How is your directee relating to Jesus in the Gospel Contemplations? Over the past weeks has there been any significant way that his relationship with Jesus has shifted: From less human to more human? ... From less closeness to greater closeness? ... From greater enthusiasm in following Jesus to less enthusiasm? ... From Desolation to Consolation? ... From Counterfeit Consolation to true Consolation [316], [331]-[334]? ... From a hectic quality to a quiet quality? ... From a drop of water on stone to a drop on a sponge [335]? If you have noticed such a change in his experience, this may have some bearing on the decision-making process. C hapter F ourteen Prayer Units 20-22 Observations On Second Set Of Guidelines For Discerning Spirits Where We Are Going And Why By this point I am taking for granted that you are in the heart of the Second Week of the Exercises. Your directee is praying over the mysteries of the public life and mission of Jesus. He is using Gospel Contemplation while, at the same time, incorporating some aspect(s) of the decision-making process. Also I am taking for granted that the need for `interpretation' (discussed in Chapter Eleven) of what is going on in the Gospel Contemplations is lessening but that the need for discernment (in the strict sense) is increasing. Hopefully your directee is moving ahead in Consolation and you are allowing his Creator to deal directly with him [15] as you are discerning that the Consolation remains authentic. Also, I am taking for granted that your directee may be needing the Second Set of Guidelines for Discerning Spirits around this time. Because the path for each directee becomes unique with so many variables in this part of the Exercises journey, a running commentary, if it is to stay true to the dynamisms of the Exercises, cannot describe what is needed in your unique circumstances. Therefore, the materials offered in this running commentary will be far less detailed and far less programmatic than they have been. You may need to consult Part B, Sections III and IV of this manual, particularly Chapters 26 through 29, far more now perhaps than you have already done. The Many Faces Of Counterfeit Consolation The first face is really the Incipient Desolation described earlier in Chapter Twelve. As mentioned before, the directee may seem to be happy enough with this Incipient Desolation. He still has an ability to pray and there is a felt presence of God; but, left to its own dynamic, there will likely be a growing arduousness, distancing, or boredom within the prayer. For example: A directee is pleasantly involved with learning lessons when he should have been involved in the story; or Jesus walks away from the directee in the prayer exercise; or The directee walks away from Jesus in the prayer exercise; or Jesus turns his back on him. The second face would more likely fit notation [331]. There is an ability to pray and the directee experiences God as present. The prayer is free-flowing enough and unaffected, BUT: There is no evident relationship with Jesus; and/or It seems to be going nowhere. The prayer guide's inner reaction is probably one of being bored. A prayer guide feels like saying, "So what! Why are you telling me this?" The third face is the one designated in notations [331]-[334]. This face is manifested more frequently when a generous directee is filled with a sincere enthusiasm and desires to follow God's call. It manifests itself when he is making decisions. There is an ability to pray with a felt presence of God. The directee experiences intimacy with Jesus. The prayer is free-flowing enough and it is sincere, BUT there are some dissonances: There is a certain frenetic quality that is part of it [335], like a drop of water on stone rather than on a sponge; and/or It leads to something distracting or less good. For example, as the directee is beginning to accept an emerging decision [332] while, at the same time experiencing a heart full of love for God, he is being led to plan without God; and/or In time, it weakens the soul -- headaches, tension, irritability in his daily public world at home and at work between the times of the prayer exercises [334]. With respect to these three faces, the Second Set of Guidelines for Discerning Spirits instructs a prayer guide to help her directee to: 1. Notice the deceits that are emerging in the experience. 2. Analyze the beginning, middle and end; that is, how they began and how they developed to the point where he recognized the Deception. (Usually the Deception is connected with his own goodness, exaggerated gifts or unwitting weakness.) 3. Understand the pattern of the temptation. 4. Make a written journal entry about his understanding of this pattern. 5. Exercise watchfulness because this same temptation will often follow a similar pattern in the future. It is often advisable for you to wait until the movement becomes a little more evident as when the temptation rears its ugly head or is detectable by "the serpent's tail." Here are two examples: In one prayer exercise, a directee is filled with gratitude and desire to serve God in a simple lifestyle and feels very free that this is where he is being led. Then after several other prayer exercises, he ends by planning how he can convince others how worthwhile this is. Jesus is no longer in his prayer. The directee shows signs of over-enthusiasm. The prayer guide notices that there has been a movement in her directee that started -- the beginning -- with a desire to be rejected with Jesus. In conjunction with this movement, he was led -- the middle -- during one of the Gospel Contemplations, to include something that he thought would be more desirable. Two days later -- the end -- he became upset in a significant way about being misunderstood at the office [333]! A fourth face of Counterfeit Consolation [336] takes place almost immediately after a direct Consolation from God, i.e., Consolation Without Cause. This experience will often show effects similar to the other counterfeit forms above. Sometimes it is accompanied by a type of loving anxiety, being upset or distraught. This kind of "upsetness" is different in quality from the anxiety of Desolation, described in notations [315] and [317], and is consistent with a stance of generous love. Yet it is disharmonious with the direct experience of God's Consolation that has just happened.(17) The advice for the prayer guide is outlined in notation [336]. It is important to distinguish the actual thoughts of the authentic direct Consolation during the moment it was being received from the interpretation after it was just received in the time of the Afterglow. Therefore she has to help her directee distinguish between: a) Thoughts during the actual receiving of the Consolation Without Cause; and b) Thoughts and interpretations immediately after the actual receiving of the Consolation Without Cause. Thus, the prayer guide is to help the directee distinguish what was actually given from what he immediately interpreted after the reception of this Consolation. Introducing Prayer Units 20 And 21 When you introduce the next prayer units, continue to incorporate the decision-making step(s) or phase(s) that your directee needs at the time.
Features Of Prayer Unit 20 The Three Kinds of Humility; Jesus Confronts the Pharisees; Jesus Confronts the Temple Marketeers. With this unit, you could include some of the Five Steps in the decision-making process.
Features Of Prayer Unit 21 Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand; Jesus Walks on the Water; Jesus is Transfigured. With this unit, you could include some of the Five Steps in the decision-making process.
Approaching The End Of The Second Week Thus far you have been guiding your directee through the Second Week and are approaching the mysteries of Jesus' public life and mission which are directly connected to his passion and death (Prayer Unit 22). By going to the home of Mary and Martha and to Lazarus' committal services, Jesus intentionally decides to let himself be caught by the religious leaders; he signs his own death warrant. Further, these three passages are filled with symbolic meaning. In the raising of Lazarus, the full passover mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus is revealed. With the anointing at Bethany, Jesus is being prepared for his own burial. The entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem symbolizes the underlying meaning of his mission to the people. Read Chapter Fifteen to help you reflect upon your directee's readiness for the Third Week of the Exercises. If you judge that your directee is not ready for the Third Week, you may want to spend more time on the mysteries of the public life of Jesus which come prior to those in Prayer Unit 22.
Features Of Prayer Unit 22 Raising of Lazarus; Supper at Bethany and the Anointing; Entrance into Jerusalem. With this unit, you could include some of the Five Steps in the decision-making process.
Endnotes For The Second Week 1. William A. Barry, S.J., Finding God In All Things: A Companion to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius (Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 1991). Chapter 5, "God's Dream for Our World" (p.66ff), is a good, easy-to-read explanation of the Kingdom Exercises as myth and is very helpful in explaining the role of the Kingdom Exercise in relationship to the Second Week. Barry deals with the use of the Kingdom Exercise with the classic approach which encourages the directee to enter into Ignatius' myth of the King. 2. This creative approach of placing the Kingdom Exercise after the exercises on the early life of Jesus was first suggested to me by John English, S.J., for the "ad hoc" situation of giving the Exercises to individuals as part of a large-group, training program in the early 1980s. We wanted to harmonize the prayer material with the church calendar. As we were moving into the Christmas season, we discovered that many directees needed to spend more time on healing issues (surfaced during the First Week) and were not ready for the Kingdom Exercise. But they were able to deal with these healing issues with the Gospel Contemplations which were associated with the Nativity season. 3. In Roman, Anglican, and Orthodox theology, Mary is the mother of that person who is God. 4. The decision-making process within the Exercises is called the Election which means "choice" [175]. The model used by Ignatius is based on a choice of a state of life involving a permanent commitment -- marriage, some form of religious calling such as the priesthood. In other words, Ignatius uses the example of a directee's determining of a life-calling as the context for developing the principles for the decision-making process. He seems to view everything else as being `Reformation of Life'[189]. A good, sound, well-discerned Election can be referred to as a "correct and good choice" (as in Puhl's translation). A correct choice is not necessarily a successful choice in the future. It implies that, given the data the directee has while in the process of discerning, his choice was the most loving and spiritually free choice he could have made at the time. 5. A very useful way of explaining Gospel Contemplation is in my revised Orientations, Vol. 1, pp.37-39. However, I have discovered that some people take its encouragement for passivity too literally. 6. Occasionally during the Exercises journey, particularly when a directee is not involved in discerning a significant decision, Gospel Contemplation, as a method of prayer, may not fit his needs at this time in his life. The methods of the Exercises are made for the person, not the person for the methods of the Exercises. Like other created things, the prayer methods of the Exercises must be used inasmuch as they help, and not used inasmuch as they hinder our praise, reverence and service of God [23]. 7. Not too long ago (certainly in the first half of this century), this would not have been considered good advice. Distractions were considered an imperfection and signs of Inordinate Affections because they took the directee's total attention away from God. It was believed that, in prayer, the conscious mind had to be riveted consciously on a God who was more transcendent than immanent. 8. Consult the section, "The Healing Connection" in Chapter 33 of this manual, p.520ff. 9. John F. Wickham's article, "Ignatian Contemplation Today," in The Way Supplement 34 (Autumn 1978), shows that the fruit of Gospel Contemplation for the contemporary directee often does not manifest itself in a societal way as it did in the time of Ignatius. This article has been reprinted more recently in The Way of Ignatius Loyola (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1991), edited by Philip Sheldrake, S.J., p.145ff. 10. The issue here deals with Desolation, whether evident (as described in notations [315] and [317]) or less apparent. Also, the answer assumes that your directee has already used Gospel Contemplation well; this means that he has been able to allow the story to touch his real self. The assumption is that he is no longer in the phase of learning how to use this method. 11. Together is key to everything on the Exercises journey. You are not a "guru" with the magical, intuitive answer. The dynamic of the Exercises implies that you and your directee work together. The directee knows the Grace being prayed for and thus has the final say as to what may appropriately help him be disposed for it. 12. In this manual consult the Introduction to Part A; and Chapter 30, "Different Perspectives In Understanding And Using The Exercises," especially pp.461-466. 13. The habitual manner in which the directee relates to God and avoids the deepening of this relationship can become more subtle as the Exercises journey progresses. The Hidden Disordered Tendencies, illumined by the Third Exercise of the First Week, become more elusive in the "riches" of the Two Standards and the Temptation Under the Guise of Light during the decision-making process. Perhaps you have been able to note with your directee some relationship between the way he has got into trouble in doing the prayer exercises and the ways he is likely to get into trouble in his day-to-day living outside the prayer exercises and after the Exercises journey. For illustrative cases and a more explicit discussion of this point, consult Chapter 29, section C. Everyone has a different capacity and need for self-awareness and the particular correlation between the manner of handling the prayer exercises and the manner of handling life may be too subtle for your directee at this point. 14. What would be a distillation that would fit your directee's culture? 15. When resistance to explicit decision-making occurs, you should monitor your own resistance to this. Are you discovering in your directee what you resist for yourself? 16. Don't be misled by the Second-Week notation [161] which proposes both the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus' Preaching in the Temple for the directee's prayer exercises. The technique of Gospel Contemplation is intended here, too! The directee is to pray these by being present with Jesus as Jesus is teaching or preaching and not succumb to the temptation of turning the exercise into an analysis of each beatitude. 17. Mary, before the empty tomb (Jn 20:11), is a good example of the kind of "upsetness" that comes from a heart-filled generosity and love. She cannot understand what has happened. Here it is a question of misinterpretation, not having the facts. Her distress does not flow from disordered affectivity the way Desolation does. She is desolate, but not in Desolation. Go to Table Of Contents Of Orientations Volume 2