Protestant Spiritual Exercises

Protestant Spiritual Exercises

A profound call to Christian discipleship. An intensive course in Christian faith. A creative freedom to serve God that is deeply grounded in Scripture. These are ways to describe Sacred Listening, James L. Wakefield's adaptation of the classic Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola. Central to the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), the Spiritual Exercises is a manual used to direct a month-long spiritual retreat. Now adapting these time-honored Exercises specifically for Protestant Christians, James L. Wakefield encourages readers to integrate their secular goals with their religious beliefs and helps them reflect on the life of Jesus as a model for their own discipleship. Combining scholarship with classic forms of spirituality, Sacred Listening will interest church leaders and lay Christians who want to deepen their faith.

Although oriented primarily to those less familiar with them, this book offers fresh insights for those experienced in the 'Spiritual exercises.' It includes explanations of their dynamics and correlations between the events of Ignatius' conversion experiences and certain aspects of the 'Exercises.' The meditations on the Kingdom and the Two Standards are viewed from the vantage of contemporary culture. Thus the medieval model of the lord-vassal relationship and the male-dominated imagery are illuminated with the help of insights from Jung. Deeper psychological insight into dying to self in our attachments and desires is linked to our contemplations on the suffering and death of Jesus. The suitability for lay people to make the 'Exercises' is suggested in their adaptation to an open setting of daily life. Finally, a developing personal encounter with Christ in the present is delineated as central to Ignatian spirituality.

A reissue of a classic Christian text from the founder of the Jesuit Order. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyla is the core work of religious formation for members of the Society of Jesus, the single largest religious order within the Roman Catholic Church. For four and a half centuries in many thousands of editions in all languages, The Exercises have embodied fundamental spiritual principles essential to authentic Christian living. The mystical insight informing Ignatius's own relationship with God—which he distilled in The Exercises—is that the divine love of God is providentially present in all the details of our existence. Here Ignatius shows how the faithful can be joined to God in all things, according to the Jesuit motto, Ad majorem Dei gloriam, "For the greater glory of God."

A seminal influence in Christian spirituality since first publication in 1548, this contemporary translation by Michael Ivens, a noted authority on the text and author of the best-selling commentary 'Understanding the Spiritual Exercises', provides a definitive translation for the beginning of the twenty-first century.

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, (composed from 1522-1524) are a set of Christian meditations, prayers and mental exercises, divided into four thematic 'weeks' of variable length, designed to be carried out over a period of 28 to 30 days. They were composed with the intention of helping the retreatant to discern Jesus in his life, leading then to a personal commitment to follow it. Though the underlying spiritual outlook is Catholic, the exercises are often made nowadays by non-Catholics. The 'Spiritual Exercises' booklet was formally approved in 1548 by Paul III. To this day, the Spiritual Exercises remain an integral part of the Novitiate training period of the Roman Catholic religious order of Jesuits. Also, many local Jesuit outreach programs throughout the world offer retreats for the general public in which the Exercises are employed.

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