The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius
An invitation to deeper prayer, discernment, and friendship with Jesus.
The Spiritual Exercises are a guided journey of prayer and discernment designed to deepen your relationship with God, help you recognize God’s presence and movement within everyday life, and become more attentive to how God may be inviting you forward.
What Are the Spiritual Exercises?
The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius are an invitation to encounter God more deeply within the reality of your own life. Through Scripture, prayer, reflection, discernment, and spiritual accompaniment, the Exercises help us become more attentive to God’s presence, recognize our deepest desires, grow in friendship with Jesus, and discern how we are being called to love and serve.
Guided by Befriended by Jesus: The Ignatian Spiritual Exercises by Dale Gish, participants enter into a thoughtful rhythm of prayer, Scripture, reflection, and journaling rather than simply learning about prayer.
A Journey of Prayer & Discernment
The Spiritual Exercises unfold as a personal journey with God. Rather than following a rigid curriculum, participants are invited into themes that deepen prayer, relationship with Jesus, and attentiveness to God’s movement in their lives.
Receiving God’s Love
Recognize life as gift, explore your deepest desires, and become more attentive to God’s presence, even within suffering and difficulty.
Grace, Mercy & Forgiveness
Encounter God’s grace and mercy with greater openness, honesty, and trust.
Friendship with Jesus
Grow in the desire to know, love, and serve Jesus, accompanying Him through His life, suffering, love, and Resurrection.
Gratitude & Service
Discover a deeper sense of gratitude, abundant life, and the ways you may be invited to love and serve God’s Kingdom.
Seeing Jesus Through the Gospels
Like a portrait created from many different artists, each Gospel offers us a distinctive perspective on Jesus. Together, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John invite us into a fuller encounter with Christ and ultimately into the deeply personal question:
Who is Jesus to me?
Composite portrait of Jesus from the August 15, 1988 cover of TIME magazine. Conception and digital construction by Tom Bentkowski.
A Rhythm of Prayer
The Spiritual Exercises invite you into a thoughtful rhythm of prayer that becomes part of everyday life. Each movement offers space to receive God’s love, pray with Scripture or other material, reflect on what arises, and become more attentive to your relationship with God.
Prayer may include asking for a particular grace, spending time with Scripture, speaking with Jesus in colloquy, and reflecting or journaling afterward.
In Ignatian prayer, grace is the particular gift or deeper desire we ask God to receive during a movement of prayer. Naming this desire can help us become more attentive to what we are truly seeking and how God may be meeting us there.
Grace
These practices help make the Exercises a deeply personal and relational experience of prayer.
A colloquy is a heart-to-heart conversation with Jesus speaking openly as you would with a good friend while remaining attentive to what may arise through prayer, emotion, imagination, or the senses.
Colloquy
Spiritual Accompaniment Along the Way
The Spiritual Exercises are not meant to be navigated alone. Spiritual accompaniment offers a regular space to reflect on your prayer, notice what is stirring, and discern how God may be moving within your experience.
Rather than directing your experience or providing answers, Megan accompanies you with prayerful attention, thoughtful questions, and discernment as the journey unfolds.
Begin When You Are Ready
You do not need to wait for a particular semester or program date to express interest.
If you feel drawn toward the Spiritual Exercises, we can begin with a conversation about where you are in your spiritual life, what is drawing you toward the Exercises, and whether this journey may be right for you.