Thursday, November 3, 2011

For Those Engaging In Prayer In Daily Life: The Director of the Exercises

I find the following advice from James Skehan’s book Place Me With Your Son to be helpful:

Ignatius suggests that the “director of the Exercises, as a balance at equilibrium, without leaning to one side or another, should permit the Creator to deal directly with the creature, and the creature directly with his Creator and Lord” (The Spritual Exercises, Annotation 15). For Ignatius, therefore, God himself is the director. Nevertheless, the human instrument may explain the process of the Exercises, give instruction in prayer, assist in discerning the various spirits, validate the exercitant’s graces and propose further matter for prayer [N.B. the exercitant is the one making the retreat].

Perhaps the most important function of the director is to require of the exercitant a certain accountability in prayer, and so lessen the distortion that can come from the evil spirit and confirm those graces that come from God. A conversation with one's spiritual director will help to discover which of the following modes of accountability is best for you:

1. One may invite a trusted and respected person to be a director in the full sense--one who will assume responsibility for all the functions assigned by Ignatius to the director in the Guidelines or as they were originally called, "Annotations."

2. One may continue to hold regular meetings with a spiritual director, but the conversations focus on the progress of the Exercises in Everyday Life and are more frequent than they would be in ordinary circumstances.

3. Two exercitants [people making the retreat in daily life] may meet with each other every other week in order to engage in spiritual conversation about the Exercises and to share with each other how God has been leading them in prayer. In this mode each partner, not strictly the director of the other, agrees to be accountable to the other in helping to discover God's ways.

4. Small groups of exercitants, generally ten or fewer, agree to meet regularly so as to share with each other what has been happening in their prayer, and thus act as instruments of God's grace for one another as they engage in the Exercises . . . .Additionally a private meeting with one's spiritual director from time to time helps provide valuable insights to progress. This mode commonly results in the formation of a post-retreat prayer [or meditation] group . . . .

5. One may make the Exercises privately, setting aside an hour each week to review the graces granted by God and to keep some record of the various movements of the soul.

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