IGNATIAN SPIRITUAL EXERCISES TRAINING (ISET)
2023-BLOCK FOUR – SESSION 35
CONSOLIDATION
[00:00:00] Adri-Marie: Hello everybody. Nice to see your faces. It is session 35. You have given 35 Mondays this year thus far. How wonderful. How wonderful. So [00:01:00] take a moment to just take in the faces on the screen on our second last gathering. Just take a moment, and then I’m going to hand over to Annemarie.
Annemarie: So, I hope those of you who were celebrating Thanksgiving had a really special time and welcome into this space of prayer. I invite you to sit in whatever way makes you feel most able to pray and most comfortable, Whatever moment in your day you are in; whether it’s the beginning of your day or coming towards the end of it [00:02:00] or somewhere in the middle, just to allow yourself to let go of whatever it is that you have been busy with. Become fully present now, in this moment, with this community, allowing yourself once more to become conscious of the God who is with us in this moment and in every moment, but to become aware of how God is looking at you now.[00:03:00]
I’m going to read part of a very familiar story, and then I’m going to lead us in a short moment of gospel contemplation on that story.
Now that very same day, two of them were on their way to a village called Emmaus. Seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking together about all that had happened. And it happened that as they were walking together and discussing it, Jesus Himself came up and walked [00:04:00] by their side. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He said to them, What are all these things you are discussing as you walk along? They stopped; their faces downcast. Then one of them, Clopas, answered him, You must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these last days. He asked, What things?
They answered all about Jesus of Nazareth, who showed Himself a prophet, powerful in action and speech before God and the whole people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed Him over to be sentenced to death and had Him crucified. Our own hope had been that He would be the one to set Israel free, and this is not all.
Two whole days have now gone by since it all happened, and some women from our group have [00:05:00] astounded us. They went to the tomb in the early morning, and when they could not find the body came back to tell us they had seen a vision of angels who declared He was alive. Some of our friends went to the tomb and found everything exactly as the women had reported, but of Him they saw nothing.
Then He said to them, You foolish men, so slow to believe all the prophets have said, was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer before entering into His glory? Then, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, He explained to them the passages throughout the scriptures. that were about Himself.
When they drew near to the village at which, to which they were going, He made as if to go on, but they pressed Him to stay with them, saying, it is nearly evening, and the day is almost over. So, He went in to stay with them. Now, while He was with them at table, He [00:06:00] took the bread, said the blessing, He broke it and handed it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him, but He had vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, did not our hearts burn within us, as He talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us.
So, I invite you now to allow yourself to see the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. [Pictured posted] to smell the air, [00:07:00] to feel its temperature, listen to the sounds you can hear around you.
Be aware of the rhythm of your walking alongside your companion on the road. How does your body feel?[00:08:00]
What are you wearing? How do the clothes feel against your body?
What have you packed with you to take on the journey?[00:09:00]
As you walk along the road, notice what you are thinking. What feelings are strongest in you?[00:10:00]
You sense someone coming up alongside you and your companion. He remarks on the weather and then asks, What are you talking about as you walk along the road? Allow the conversation with the stranger to unfold, sensing a deep, holding, listening presence, a gentle curiosity.[00:11:00]
What do you share about the death of Jesus and perhaps about other deep losses and disappointments? Allow yourself to share your heart as you walk along the quiet road.[00:12:00]
What does the stranger say in response to what you share?[00:13:00] Listen and allow His words to penetrate your heart.[00:14:00]
What begins to become clearer as you are heard,
as you are accompanied along the road?[00:15:00]
Later, as you recognize the stranger at the shared meal as Jesus, you reflect back on the experience of the journey and say, did not our hearts burn within us as we talked along [00:16:00] the road?
I invite you to recall now with gratitude the burning of your heart as you are accompanied by Christ and by those who have walked alongside you and the burning of your heart as you accompany others along the road of the exercises.
Just take a few minutes to be in touch with that experience.[00:17:00] [00:18:00]
Loving and gracious God, we thank you for those burning heart moments, those deep experiences of consolation on our journey and on the journeys that we accompany others on. As we come together again to continue to [00:19:00] deepen our understanding, our knowledge, our false sense of the journey, we ask that in this moment too, our hearts may burn within us. We make our prayer trusting in your goodness and in your unfailing love. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Adri-Marie: Thank you, Annemarie. Friends. we are not going to do multiple repetitions and reviews like Ignatius suggests in a day, a week, but we are [00:20:00] going to do something of a gentle review of the walk of the exercises tonight, and we’re going to co-remember the road.
So, before we go into this road, I’m gonna really use the analogy of companioning somebody on the road or going on a great hike for multiple days. I’m going to need a little bit of help in the room just to let me know who’s particularly fond of hiking. If you can just give me a wave. Okay, some hikers in the room. All right.
If you could do me a favor and just write in the chat favorite places to hike; maybe even favorite mountains, even if you haven’t climbed them, that’s also okay or maybe you’ve gone on a pilgrimage. I’m [00:21:00] willing to say, I’m sure there’s a few that’s done the Camino perhaps. Or maybe a few have seen much a picture or have walked the road of Ignatius. So, do me a quick favor and let’s just get a sense of the walking in the room or the favorite mountains that you have.
We can have a quick see—the Camino. Yes. Let’s see some more in the chat—Canadian Rockies. Heard so much about them. Ah, the Rockies, Colorado, Drakensberg. Yes. Zion National Park. Yosemite and Mount Mitchell and Assisi. Ah, they’re coming through now. I like it. California, Mount _______?, Machu Picchu, Pyrenes, Ultra Trail. Wonderful. [00:22:00] So Bittersweet Mountains. Oh, I’m liking this so much with cows. I like it. Thanks, MaddyChristine with the cows.
So, we’re going to stay in that imagination, and I’m going to recap the exercises as if we’re going to climb a mountain and have a backpack and all. We are going to be somebody’s Sherpa or guide within this mountain. It’s a beautiful journey. It’s one soft kind of Kilimanjaro type thing or Machu Picchu top. It’s a grand event. It’s not something you do just tomorrow because you feel like it. It’s something quite once in a lifetime even. Sometimes you might even decide to climb another mountain, do the exercises again, but it will be totally different. So, it will be like a different mountain.
[00:23:00] We are the folks, the guides, that are walking with folks on these mountains and going on this long journey. So, if I had to recap the journey, and please, the symbols I might use might not resonate, so you just don’t worry about it. You’re going to see what does resonate because we’re going to crowd source later.
In the beginning, the disposition days are really like your prep days. It’s kind of the practicing, getting ready, make sure you have the right shoes, going on a few trail walks. You don’t just start walking; you will injure yourself.
So, you have to have some disposition of preparation. If you happen to get somebody that’s super fit, Hey, then you can get closer to start walking, but you still have to make some agreements on why are we doing it? Do we have [00:24:00] capacity? What will be our rules of engagement? You have to also say who’s going to guide who; kind of get the rapport going. There are some ground rules beforehand and a kind of a bit of a getting fit for the walk.
Then I would say the Principle and Foundation is like the ground base, the home base before you start walking. It’s there, you can see the mountain. You want to really linger long enough to make sure you have the things in your backpack that needs to be there at the base of the mountain. That is the PNF. It’s the gathering, the getting ready, the lingering. You’re really almost there. You’re gonna start tomorrow. You’re gonna start. This is already a start. It’s your first overnight at Base Camp.
Then you start walking and will you, have it? There’s quite a hill on the first bend. So, we’re not scared of hills. Hills—that’s how you get to [00:25:00] the top. It’s part of the walk. It’s maybe a little bit of a rocky territory because you might use one or two words and your exercitant might be like, what?
What about angels? I’ve never thought about angels in my life. You might go a few rocky paths, but it’s this broad road still, and you’re walking a little bit ahead guiding the walk. You’re kinda like keeping your balance in this first hill, because it’s the balance between belovedness as sinners. It’s a territory where you really want to keep your balance. You want to see, oh, all right, there’s an edge there, and all right, we’re going to work with it. So, you’re really awake as a guide in this time. Look, you never should fall asleep as a guide, that’s not going to work, but you know what I mean.
So, this first hill starts quite broad, and you have these five exercises from the angels and Adam [00:26:00] and Eve and me bound as a sinner or the river, if you adapted and it’s this broad societal view of attachments and things that makes us less free to a more specific.
So, as you’re walking up this hill it’s becoming narrower and narrower. The path is just becoming almost like a little bit of a single track where this person really finds their way. What are the things God is showing me to be more free? You also watch out for all these little detours that possibly can happen; things that might look like a path, but it’s not really a path. You’re just discerning the way as you’re going up this little first road.
Then you get to this beautiful bridge, as you sometimes do, and this bridge is called the Call of the King. And you’re like, yes, we made it up the first hill; let’s pass over this bridge of the Call of the King, and [00:27:00] you are going to adapt it as this bridge. Just a bit of awe, of hey, wow, I’m crossing over into a different season, and as you cross this bridge, you have this view. You know sometimes you can walk and then suddenly you have this view. You have this beautiful view like the trinity that viewed earth and decided on the incarnation. Let’s go.
Watching the earth. It’s the incarnation and then the nativity and you enter this magical little bush. You can’t really see creatures and it’s this hidden space that you haven’t ever discovered—this hidden life of Christ. You walk them through, and it’s a little bit, I’ve never been in a landscape like this before, filled with awe and wonder, the hidden life of Christ.
As you get out of there, there’s a little bit of a waterfall [00:28:00] baptism, and after this baptism, you see this opportunity to take a shortcut. The two standards are really about the two roads. The one way looks a bit long and maybe less different and the other one just looks like another shortcut to the top.
We’re going to evaluate, is this shortcut a good shortcut or does it just look like a shortcut that’s going to get me in trouble? That’s really the two standards. The one looks good; what are the different strategies and just again, choosing the road that will get us to the good view and give us the most enjoyment.
Then we’re getting used to walking. So, we’re walking along this beautiful road. There are open meadows and then it changes, and you’re just getting to know your companions and you’re getting to know yourself and the type of [00:29:00] person you are as a hiker. There’s three types of people and you can be one of those three types. As you walk along, suddenly, it might be that you, as the person making the exercises, gets to choose or discern the path. Sometimes there is something like an election in this opening meadow rhythm part of the story, and we’re climbing these in the second week. I
n these meadows, it might be that you come on a crossroad. And then, we as guides, we sit there with them until the road becomes clear. Others keep walking and the road kind of makes sense as they walk. So not all folks are going to get to this big crossroad; some folks are going to make the road by walking.
Then of [00:30:00] course, just in case we don’t quite know in terms of choices, there’s always this exercise called the Three Humilities to help us gain a bit of courage when we see, there is a real hill again ahead. This last bit of mountain to climb, and again, it’s not bad to climb; that’s how you get to places. That’s how you get to the view.
This last climb. Interestingly enough, you actually want them not to walk next to you. You maybe want to walk a little bit behind them and see them walk with Jesus; kind of making the road. You’re starting to take a bit of a—I won’t say a backseat, but it’s a two person track there. It’s really them walking with Jesus up this third mountain and you want to make sure that they really [00:31:00] stop for water before this mountain and stop at the water points of this mountain.
This mountain is going to hurt at times. You might even get to a cave there at the top, a little tomb day cave. And that cave might just feel like, why did I even do any of this? But then in the morning, the sun may rise, and they might see the view from there. Even as they climb up that mountain, now and then they’ll look up and see the beauty of the consolation of that third week.
In the fourth week, it takes your breath away. You put your bag a little bit down, or you may be just too tired. That joy comes slowly. You feel the pain in the muscles and the joy is a different kind of joy, but maybe it’s a breathtaking joy. But there’s something about [00:32:00] the journey—a permeating-ness of a peace, permeating-ness of a togetherness—ahhh, the journey.
Then of course, you want to really make sure they get off the mountain safe. At this stage you don’t want them to go so fast down the mountain that there’s some injuries. Some people say going down mountains is much harder on the knees than up. So, we want to just gently go down the mountain—not do a roll down. Then we have this beautiful contemplation of divine love that just helps us to slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly go down the mountain.
Now, I must tell you in the time they are at with the exercises, because it’s becoming so popularized, you might meet people on your way. I’m going to steal a story of a friend of [00:33:00] mine that walked the Drakensberg. He took a group for three or four days and the fourth day, they really literally just made it for sunset at the top. They were exhausted. They had days of climbing. Next moment, “click, click click,” somebody is coming with a helicopter. Ta da! They land there at the top, climb out, take a selfie on the helicopter and go out. Maybe we might encounter people who said, I read the exercises book, so I know what it’s about and that’s also okay. They also got a view.
They also got a view of the mountain, but perhaps transitioning into this, what is the preparation for being a giver of the exercises; it is really having this full appreciation of the full gift of really what Ignatius meant. [00:34:00] And some folks in today’s time, it’s okay if they do it in groups or read the book or self-guided, there’s going to be many multiple expressions.
But I think there’s a deep invitation, particularly for this group, as you really prepare to be really a lifelong guide. That’s now the beauty of it. This is now a lifelong ministry—to be a keeper of perhaps receiving the baton of what Ignatius intended it to be.
So, I’m going to run you quickly through what I think could be good for your own preparation and to put in your backpack to just keep the analogy going. Then I’m also going to pass the baton to my colleagues. So, in general preparation to be a companion or a Sherpa or a guide, it is generally good to know the basics well, it’s good to have your little Ignatian book in your bag. It’s just a [00:35:00] good thing; that’s your roadmap.
Make sure you have a version, and whichever version you choose, just pick one. Nobody wants to go up a mountain with 10 books in their bag, right? So, choose a version you feel you want to try out; try it out and start sussing out other sources. Sure. Especially the first few times you’re not entirely fit yet. Don’t book 10 books in your bag.
Pick one and keep that source. Get to know it. That’s your guide. That’s your road book or your map and your compass. Keep your own fitness levels and capacity in check. So, if you’re out of it, don’t take up a new person just because you’re excited. It’s good that you’re excited but just keep your own fitness levels in check. Learn to rest.
Look after your own equipment and hiking shoes. It’s not good to walk with somebody who has also broken shoes, and you have to borrow your sleeping bag for your guide. No, we look after our own [00:36:00] things. Your own spiritual life remains your own responsibility. Have appropriate emergency numbers; have somebody you can call if you feel stuck on the mountain. Maybe a supervisor or a colleague you met here but keep learning. That’s how we prepare.
And just as we want in their preparation days, we’re checking for openness, generosity, desire, foundation of love—those things must be in our bones—generous in spirit, our own openness. Are we curious and open to what the spirit is doing in that person versus my own thing on them? Do I have a fresh revelation of my belovedness?
Now, things to put in my backpack. I must first apologize in a moment. I wrote week one, week two. It shouldn’t say that. It’s not a classic language. It should say first week, [00:37:00] second week. So, I apologize. I’ve made that thing a few times. So, it should say disposition days, first week, second week in your notes. Okay, so just pretend it does. Cool.
In the disposition days, you are helping your person find the right gear—the backpack. They might have a backpack. They might have already prayed the Ignatian way. Maybe not at all. Then you’re going to have to be like, all right. These are good walking shoes. Let’s try out this walking shoe. Here’s a walking stick. Here is how the examen works. Depending on your person and their fitness level in the Ignatian way of prayer, that’s what you’re going to do in disposition days. You’re going to just very gently expose them, help them fit their shoes, walk on different terrain.
learning to trust you as a guide. They learn how to pack their backpack because the heavy stuff can’t be at the top, then they fall over. So, they have to learn the [00:38:00] rhythm of prayer of the day. That’s what I mean by learning how to pack the backpack, because that backpack is going to be the rhythm of the day going forward.
So, in your backpack in disposition days, please pack your guide hat. So, we have many hats. Most importantly, we’ve spoken about it. Don’t pack your therapy hat. Don’t pack your teacher hat. Don’t pack your counselor hat. Pack your spiritual companionship hat. Pack the right hat for your trip.
Pack obviously your map. Your Ignatian guide whether you use Iven’s or Fleming or there’s many sources. But pack it and know where the water points are. What I mean by water points is those are the graces. The graces are where you get the [00:39:00] water.
As I say, you need to pack your own sleeping bag and bread. What I mean by that, your own journey is truly to keep that going, your own bread to eat. You’re going to sometimes share bread with them, but you need to have your own bread. I use bread because for those who know the work of the Linn’s, they have this beautiful book on the examen called Sleeping with Bread.
It’s just this concept of the reflection prayer—the consolation to return to in your own life. For the disposition days, you might want to pack a little mirror. That is just a symbol of the image of God. So, you might want to just now and then think, Oh, all right. If they look in the mirror, what do they see? What do they see about who God is? You want to really pay attention to that little mirror in the disposition days. You want to make sure there’s a [00:40:00] full water bottle before you start walking, and that means their beloved-ness. You want to make sure that water bottle is full, that beloved-ness water bottle.
And in the disposition days, you want to make sure your pen and paper is close by because they’re going to give you some clues about who they are, their personality, how they view God, their life story, some clues perhaps for later. Perhaps things that are important to them. You might even hear things like they are visual or more auditory. Keep your pen and paper close. All right, backpack for the first week.
Nothing worse than somebody running up a mountain. So, keep the pace going in first week. Keep it slow, because what happens in the first week is they might want to get rid of extras that they packed. Nothing worse than having a heavy, heavy backpack. That’s really what the first week is about—getting rid [00:41:00] of the excess so we can be more free. So, they might be shedding something so what do you need to have in your backpack? They might get some blisters. So, you might have a little bit of a first aid kit there.
You might attend to some of the wounding. You might just slow down a little bit and say, all right, where do we need to attend to? Are we walking the right pace in the first week?
You might want to have a translation dictionary with you. What I mean by that is you want to learn their language. if you use the word sin, what does that mean for them? What is the word they would use? You want to really make sure that translation dictionary is there with you so you can learn their language. Stop at the words, and what does that mean to you? And what is the effect on you? Where have you experienced it?
Most importantly, probably you want to have a bit of a night lamp with you. [00:42:00] The little night lamp or a little torch is the thing for discernment. For week one, you want to have the rules of discernment just nearby. That little night lamp—it’s not for you to memorize them so much and have them nearby, and as they talk, “Oh, which rule is it now?” It’s just about keeping them near so that you can recall and recognize So, do not forget those rules of discernment as a torch.
In week two this is where people are starting to make friends with each other. We’re helping them and Jesus to have a good time making friends with one another. You want to notice and appreciate, and you want to get the imagination going. In your own backpack, you want to have some binoculars to really notice the small details. You want to stop when they stop. You want to notice the small, little flower. [00:43:00] If they notice a small little flower; you want to stop—appreciate.
Truly what is really also important here is you want to remember packing your matches because there’s nothing better than a campfire for community under the stars. And what I actually mean by this is, it’s really a symbol of the colloquy. The fire is a symbol of the colloquy, the fire under the stars.
In week two, you just want to keep that match nearby. They’re going to light their own fire. Jesus probably already lit the fire, and we can just go and sit there. But it’s about just checking what’s happening in the colloquy. There’s beautiful community happening already, but we just want to know just what’s happening there in the colloquy.
And there again, you want to keep close to the water points, which is the grace. You just keep coming back to the grace. You want to fill [00:44:00] that water often; it can be filled very often there in the second week.
For the third week, sometimes we know that you can have some unexpected weather. It doesn’t mean that this is necessarily going to be dramatically hard for them, but it is a hard grace to pray for so what you want to have in your backpack is an extra sunblock, perhaps, if the sun is a bit hot, and also an extra raincoat because you might have to sit out in the rain with them a little bit.
You want to really make sure that they do not miss the water point. Sit by the grace and fill their water, and I really want to make sure we get this, that it’s living water. The grace is giving us living water. Just fill our tanks again with the grace, and maybe you want to keep a little bit of an extra energy bar in your bag, just in case—meaning like a bit [00:45:00] of an adaptation if you feel the energy’s not working, if you feel the energy’s waning, perhaps a little bit of an encouragement to stay—an energy bar. We’re not going to skip this part of the road. We’re going to keep going.
Also, an encouragement at this stage not to carry their bag. It is very important that they must carry their own bag. They might even volunteer to carry Jesus’s bag, because that’s really what we’re also suggesting. So, we’re going to let them do that and not grab that bag from them to fast. We are going to make sure we might have in our bag, just in case, some communion—just some communion in case the moment might be appropriate, or we want to point them to the communion.
In week four, this is again where we actually just want to say, let’s put [00:46:00] down our backpack for a moment and just take in the view. Let’s just take in the view. Yeah, and you know what? There’s always this person when you walk in a group that saves their very, very special sweet for a special time—a little special snack. That little special snack that we’re gonna take out is this Contemplation of Divine Love and we’re gonna make sure we enjoy it. It’s a special snack that we keep for there and basically there we take out our camera and maybe on the walk down every now and then just commemorate the moments of the photos that we took along the way.
So, on this road that we’ve used so much beautiful Ignatian language, I want to make an encouragement on your own soles, not on your [00:47:00] soul, but maybe on your sole of the shoes that you’re going to wear; to write maybe in the lining or on the bottom, let the creator deal with the creature. As you are walking with them, you just keep that so close to your body. Let the creator deal with the creature.
A final encouragement from my side before I ask Annemarie and Trevor and Russell, maybe about what else can we put in our backpacks. If you feel you get lost on the mountain with your person; if you feel you get a little bit lost with your person/ wait for the dawn. Just wait for the daylight, wait for the consolation, wait, return, persevere, be alongside. The consolation shows the way; [00:48:00] follow the path of consolation. If that doesn’t work, phone your emergency number and remember you are not guiding alone. That’s probably the more important thing to know. There’s another guide actually walking with you.
So, at this stage, I want to ask Annemarie or Trevor, or if Russell is with us. I just can’t see his screen at the moment. What would you add to your backpack of being a guide? Is there anything else you would add?
Annemarie: Some of the things I would add, I’m not sure if I have a concrete way of expressing, but maybe other people will have a thought about what could represent it. I think I would always want to pack my reflected-on experience, just of having accompanied other people. So, as I journey with [00:49:00] people, when I get to the next person that I’m accompanying, it’s packing in the experience of what has been learned from reflecting on the journey with other people.
I think I also would like to pack my willingness to be surprised, because it’s just such an exciting thing that you never quite know how this particular journey is going to work out. I like to take that with me—the willingness and almost the excitement around knowing that there’s going to be something unusual or surprising or different, maybe always about the journey.
I would definitely pack chocolate and energy bars. I know you mentioned the energy bars, but I do feel that chocolate is essential for life basically, and for the exercises journey. I guess chocolate for me would represent a sense of joy, a sense of a lightness, a joy that can be brought into that space as [00:50:00] well at appropriate moments along the way.
I think also something about my intuition—my gut sense—as someone who’s accompanying others. Where is that? I would want to bring that with me because I think that that for me is somehow infused with a God-given knowing that I can’t always explain with head knowledge, but there’s just a strong sense about something, and so I would want to make sure that’s tucked into one of the sleeves of my backpack.
Adri-Marie: Yeah, lovely. Love that. Thanks, Annemarie.
Annemarie: Oh, a reflective vest. That could be interesting, Heather says.
Adri-Marie: Yep. I like it. Thanks, Heather. Depending
Annemarie: Depending on my experience.
Trevor: I feel that I’ve got inner panic trying to find symbols that haven’t been used yet, but I think every symbol has been [00:51:00] used. I was just thinking so maybe I can just put in a few words. I think that whenever I lead someone through the exercises, I create a folder and when I look at all the different folders, all the folders are always different. It’s never been the same, and obviously there are some obvious common denominators of the material, but the way in which they have been put together. Maybe it’s a little bit of that element of surprise that Annemarie was talking about. I’m always wondering what this particular folder is ultimately going to look like with this person. So that for me is my own disposition of, I wonder what this folder is going to look like.
I think what I’ve [00:52:00] found really helpful, and you’ve hinted at some of them Adri-Marie. I always find the annotations very, very helpful. I tend to really marinate my own mind and heart in the annotations that they can really become part of who I am as a giver, and particularly the annotations related to giving.
Then I just always want to remind myself, and again, it’s been alluded to in so many different ways, that first and foremost, somehow in giving the exercises, I want to approach the exercise giving as a listener. I want that to be my overall posture on this particular journey with this person. I really would like to be a listener to their experience, to their life, and to their prayer.[00:53:00]
Adri-Marie: Yeah. Thanks, Trevor.
Russell: A lot of things have been said already; maybe just to add two things. I love the imagery, Adri-Marie. I think that’s fantastic. I’ve done some hiking and sometimes you can be walking, and I remember walking recently in Montserrat, for example, and you focus on the path and the gradient of the path and there’s something to be said about—just stop and look out at everything—don’t get too stuck on the path itself but just take in everything. You sort of hinted at that.
The other thing is, and you’ve hinted at this as well, this whole idea of the weather. You don’t know, it could rain some days, it could be blisteringly hot, it could be very windy, and we have things to help us in that, but I also want to say, just enjoy it because that different weather is all part of the experience. So don’t think, Oh my God, today it’s raining. What am I going to do? Everything’s going to get wet or Oh my God, [00:54:00] it’s so hot today.
Just enjoy, because that’s going to be part of the experience. If you want to go hiking, if you want to do this, all these things are going to happen at some point or another. And you know what? That’s the reality of it. Just enjoy it and stay there in it. You don’t have to try and avoid it or think, okay, it’s raining. I chose the wrong time of the year to do this. We’re in it so we just we keep on the journey,
Adri-Marie: Yeah. I love it. I love it. So, just to mention my imagination when I see these maps or guidebooks that we put in our bags. It’s like we have these water points, but people are going to find their own unique way of getting to those water points. Those water points will be the graces and there are some stops that they are going to stop at and those [00:55:00] are the key exercises. So, it’s good for us to know what happens at those stops, and to familiarize ourselves with particularly those stops.
I’m going to offer you the reflection questions for your time in your group, and thanks Annemarie. It’s typical as I gave you many questions. So, work with those who speak to you. They in three categories around just about today—What has felt important about today?
And the second category is if you have any outstanding questions about the exercises that you want to ask. today to this group, You may have this practical question that still isn’t clear. That’s the second category.
And the third category is about just an appreciation for your mental group, because you’re not going to be in that, this is the last time you’re going to be in the mental group. So, if there is [00:56:00] something you’d like to say to one another as you’ve been now with one another for half of your journey so perhaps also mention something within that time.
Then right at the end when we come back, I’m going to invite each of the mentors to tell me the one thing that you think is truly important to put in your backpack and it could be anything. You can repeat something that’s been said. I want to get each mentor’s voice also in this space about what would you recommend for a backpack. Just maybe one thing to remember even if it has been mentioned.
So, we’re going to start with the mentor voices as we come back. Have a good break.[00:57:00]
[Comfort Break & Small Groups]
Adri-Marie: You definitely have that look of people being pulled out of their conversations. You have that look. I’m sorry about that.
So, I’d love to start this time together with hearing the mentors’ voices; perhaps just something that they would offer to remember to put in your backpack. Whichever mentor would like to go first, we would love to hear your voice.
Anne: All right. I’m going to be a bit of a rebel. I’m going to say what I would leave out of my backpack, just as a different thought. I would definitely leave my watch at home. I wouldn’t take that with me. I think that symbolizes me not looking at the time it’s taking but rather paying attention to how the person is walking.
noticing rather where we need to go slowly, or climb over rocks, or wade in the water, or even retrace our steps. So, that’s me.
Adri-Marie: Leaving our watches. Thanks, Anne. Kathi?
Kathi: Okay. My image doesn’t really work, but just to offer it; I would bring a stethoscope, and what I mean by that is just [00:59:00] deep listening—listening to the Trinity, listening to the other person, to their life and their prayer, and listening to myself. What are my reactions?
So, a stethoscope focuses in on one thing, so that’s where it doesn’t fit, but deep listening. In one of my reading groups, we’re reading the book Holy Listening by Margaret Gunther. I’m finding that really, really helpful just how to listen, and I’m leaky. I have to keep input and keep learning. So, listening.
Adri-Marie: Love it with your stethoscope. Thanks, Kathy.
Doreen: I’ll go next. Thanks. I would say trust the tour company that got you together. God knew that this directee was for you. You’re the right person for them. You don’t need to try to be somebody else, another director, one of the instructors with their style. Just use the gifts God [01:00:00] has given you, whether it’s music, art, poetry, stories, your understanding of biblical passages and trust that you’re not going to mess up what God has begun. Then you don’t have the power to do that. Just trust God in the process.
Adri-Marie: Thank you, Doreen. Packing some trust, and I thank you for the reminder that we need to guide as ourselves. We need to guide as ourselves,
Becky: I’ll go. I’m going to take a little bit from you, Adri-Marie, and I’m going to change it a little bit. I would say to take a double-sided mirror, and what I mean by that is so that when they look in the mirror as a companion or a guide, what do they see when they look in the mirror? Do they see their belovedness? Who do they see who they are? I think this is [01:01:00] absolutely essential and to watch that move and change as we climb up the mountain.
But the other side, I actually feel in some respects might be a little more important, and I have found this sometimes is. When they look at that mirror, what is their image of God? What is the image of God that they see in the mirror? Because that changes everything and how they behave and how they think. I have even experienced with one, if not two, how sometimes the grace was stuck if I could say that because their image of God was misshapen so that the grace could not flow. So, having that mirror and watching their image of God change and broaden and deepen [01:02:00] as they climbed up the mountain. I think I would I like them to carry a double-sided mirror with them.
Adri-Marie: Lovely. We’re backing a double-sided mirror. Thank you, Becky.
MaddyChristine: I was going to say, I think of myself a little bit like Winnie the Pooh. He sings himself a song, but his song is a part of God moving and it’s a part of us responding to God moving. So, the song in my heart for me calms me, energizes me, leads me, and it sets my pace, and then the song changes as I sing to myself, and God sings to me.
My relationship is a reflection for them. If I’m in peace, I’m companioning someone peacefully. If I’m full of excitement, enthusiasm, then my song oozes and I’m very unaware of whether I’m actually singing a song out loud or whether it’s [01:03:00] just in me. My connection between my inner and outer world is sometimes not very good.
So sometimes I’m actually out on the trail singing out loud, and sometimes it’s just so loud inside me, it seems like I’m singing it out loud. So, I think to be aware that our being really is—I think Trevor always said that—your greatest gift that you bring is you having experienced the exercises. So, for me, it’s that song that is with me and God and becomes with me and the other.
Adri-Marie: Thanks. We need Winnie the Pooh.
Tracy: I think, for me, it’s just a repeat of a lot of the good words that have already been said, but I just picture this compass that leads me towards all the good food and all the good views, and it’s moving towards the graces. But then, when I get to the [01:04:00] graces, it’s using the five senses to savor them and to soak in them and just to be with and not be in a rush to get to the next thing.
Adri-Marie: Yeah. Thanks, Tracy. I’m just having a look. Carolyn isn’t on the call. Oh, wow. It’s like she knew I wanted her. She’s in the waiting room. That’s unbelievable. That’s quite cool. I might give her a second to land before I pounce on her. Carolyn. Hi! You don’t even know, your timing was so amazing. I was saying, am I seeing you on the call? And then suddenly you appeared. That was amazing; well done. Our plan worked. [01:05:00] I wanted to actually offer you an opportunity to say if there’s something perhaps you would recommend for us packing in our backpack for the road.
Carolyn: Yeah, I was thinking about that and it’s funny, the first thing that came to mind and maybe someone’s already mentioned this is just to make sure I’m always refreshing my own practice of the examen prayer, just as a sort of basic thing to have along with me—that my own daily application of the discernment of spirits and keeping my noticer alive as a guide as well. That’s the benefit.
Adri-Marie: Yeah, keeping your own practice of the examen alive, helping us to discern; there’s very few things like it. [01:06:00] Yeah. Thanks, and great timing. Thank you for being with us in the shadows and just being somebody we can rely on in this time too.
I wonder if there are burning questions. I want to start with those to give you just a bit of an opportunity. If there is something you just need to know; you cannot finish this course, you still need this question to be answered. It feels very important to you. Is there a question like that in the room? You just want to double check or just get input on again? I just want to honor if there’s any real burning questions in the room or semi-burning, or smoking? [01:07:00]
Annemarie: Would you want to say something there, Elizabeth?
Elizabeth: I had a question. I’m wondering what advice people can give about when to give the exercitant literal language or a modern translation. I’m using Father Tetlow’s materials and often the kind of main sheet has some scriptures and then one of his handouts, which I know is his adaptation of one of the main parts of the exercises, but the retreatant doesn’t really know that, and Protestant retreatants never veer from the scriptures. If they have a little bit of extra time, they might. So somehow, I’m wanting to say, wait, this is really [01:08:00] important; more than you would discern from just a handout that seems like an extra,
Adri-Marie: So, when to give the actual literal text? Y
Elizabeth: Yes, or a modern translation of it. One translation or another. Yeah. Thank you.
Adri-Marie: Yeah. Great. I’ll give a short stab at it and then I’m going to pass the baton. I think when we start a journey with somebody, I think it’s really important to explain what this journey is and where it comes from, so they always understand that this is part of such a long tradition of people doing it. This is where it came from. I think it’s truly important to keep it in the beginning, to set the stage so that we can [01:09:00] bring Ignatius in especially on the key exercises.
And this is where we are different, but I usually just try out some of the original language first and see how it’s received, and then one can always give a repetition in a different way. Sometimes you get a clear sense from the start that this person, and I’m not sure if I’m going to say an appropriate thing now, but I think if a person has a certain maturity, they don’t get triggered just all over the place anymore.
They can have an appreciation for many people’s walk with God and that sometimes language seems to be different. But sometimes people do get triggered by language and I think we always want to use whatever is helpful. I always would like to honor that this is the spiritual [01:10:00] exercise of Saint Ignatius and this is where it comes from.
So, I’m saying to stay close to the origins at times, just to see how that lands. In my context, it’s just often the English is just too complicated. It’s usually already second, third language speakers and it becomes more about the English than about the text, so whatever is helpful, but I want to hold that true to the text and adaptation close.
I experiment with it a little bit in the beginning and with explanation. That’s why I think Fleming is sometimes helpful because you get two versions next to each other. So sometimes you can even give both and say, read and see how it feels and let’s start from there. But now I want to be tag—Annemarie, Russell, Trevor. Thank you for that question, Elizabeth. [01:11:00]
Annemarie: I would tend to do something very similar. More and more when I started giving the exercises, I tended to do the Tetlow sheets. That was the way I was given them so that was how I began. In more recent years, I’ve really come to appreciate the richness of the text.
So, my first way of doing it would always be to offer the original text and to talk the person through it a bit. So, I wouldn’t just give the text without kind of mediating it with a little bit of explanation, not too much, because remember the annotation say don’t over go overboard on that, but a little bit of explanation. Then if they come back and there are blocks or it’s a struggle, then I would say, well, let’s try this adaptation.
So, I would start from the text and then adapt from there if needed, unless I had an absolutely clear sense that this was going to be really unhelpful [01:12:00] for somebody, in which case, there’s always an exception, but my general principle would be to do that.
Liz: Do you just Xerox off Fleming or what do you do? Do you give them Fleming’s book or what do you do?
Annemarie: I tend to give them a photostat of the page that I’m using out of Fleming or out of Ivens whichever text. But sometimes, someone has said, I’d like to buy my own, in which case that’s great, but I encourage them then not to read ahead.
Adri-Marie: And perhaps, Elizabeth, if your question also originally was, would you give somebody, Draw Me into Your Friendship book? That’s, for me, very rare and it’s like a weird book that doesn’t make sense if you don’t have a guide.
Perhaps some people do it, but that’s not my preference because I like to create a new sheet with extracts in [01:13:00] it or copy it like Liz asked. But you build up resources. I think you can see how it sometimes plays out in something like Kathi’s resource. You can see, oh, that’s the page with the original text and this is the page with some more adaptations. It is hard work guys. In the beginning it’s hard to find your way but remember there’s only one first time. That’s the great news. There’s only one first time to try and find your way and just try one and find your way and then if it doesn’t fit, try another one.
Russell: I found that especially with the retreat in daily life, I tend to be a little bit more eclectic. So, when I was given the exercises, we used the book. We were given the text, and we used the book. I was never really given Tetlow.
Sometimes I’ll give people the text. Sometimes I might use something to supplement that from Tetlow. Other [01:14:00] times I might give them the text on a sheet that I’ve prepared and maybe specific scriptures on that, that I think is relevant for them. Yeah, I tend to be a little bit eclectic when it comes to that. It depends on the person. It really does but, I found that Fleming is a great resource.
Once when I did give someone a Xerox copy of Fleming, the mistake I made was I gave them the original translation and his contemporary one, and the person got all stuck into the difference in language and missed the boat. So, you just need to be a little bit careful of that as well when you’re doing that, but you learn from that. When the person came back, I realized, okay, I won’t do this again.
So, it does take time because suddenly if you say, okay, I’m going to prepare a sheet for the person. That sometimes takes time to put together, but once you’ve done it, you’ve got a store of these things. Because I’ve been eclectic, sometimes I’ve got a couple of sheets and then other things I don’t have because I’ve used something else from Tetlow or [01:15:00] whatever. Maybe it’s best just to prepare something as well and then you’ve got a store of them as Adri-Marie says. Annemarie knows me and there are sheets all over the place.
Adri-Marie: Trevor kind of referred to that folder of each person being so unique. I tell you; you think you know what that person is going to move on to and they will come to your session and if you pre prepare sometimes, it’s a thing you just put it right back on the shelf. Sometimes they go somewhere else, and you need to stay so it takes time to get into that rhythm of,–you might prepare something already for this session, but usually you prepare and give them something after the session. Trevor, do you want to weigh in on this?
Trevor: I’m just aware that the dispositional days give me an opportunity to get to know the person quite well, because we are not using any text really of Ignatius [01:16:00] during the dispositional days. It may be informing what I give them, but they’re not really using the text. And I think for me, often the Principle and Foundation is quite a critical moment.
So, I tend to take a little bit of time about maybe looking at the PNF and introducing it and talking a bit about language and often their response to the Principle and Foundation gives me some sense of how they may relate to the text as we continue. So, I do think that the Principle and Foundation is quite a critical moment because it’s that first moment really of engagement with the text.
Adri-Marie: How is that, Elizabeth?
Elizabeth: It was so helpful. Thank you all. I really appreciate it.
Adri-Marie: [01:17:00] And listen, if you look around and others just look so calm and they know what they’re doing, don’t worry. It’s just a facade. Nobody really knows in the beginning. Okay. Honestly, if you feel a bit overwhelmed, it’s fine. It’s really fine.
One little side tip is picking just one little bit paint by numbers version so you can see how they do it.
And you’re like, okay, I’m going to try it and then you adapt it as you go. After a while, you can start comparing resources and you feel like, Oh, I know where the two standards more or less go and this one places it there and this one here. Then you can start feeling a bit more relaxed. I just want to really normalize feeling a bit overwhelmed in the beginning. Like did I not choose the right one? These guys talk about Tetlow all the time and that guy, I don’t even know the book they’re talking about. That’s also normal.
[01:18:00] That’s what mentors are for or one of us. It’s just really okay. There’s so much and so many resources. Just start with one and find your way a little bit. Then if you feel a little bit steadier, bring another one in for comparison and see how they do it. Then, your repertoire grows. Nobody’s really super confident in the beginning.
And then I really just want to say, always remember the person walking with you is much more nervous than you. They’re feeling way more vulnerable. They’re talking about their life every week when they see you or every day. They’re feeling much more vulnerable than you. All right. Burning questions. [01:19:00]
Nada: Thank you, Adri-Marie. So, I’m not sure if this has been discussed sometime during the past year.
Adri-Marie: That’s okay.
Nada: The I’m just looking for the wisdom and past experience of people in the group on how to navigate a time when you need to put the journey on pause. For example, Christmas is coming up and in my particular situation, I’ve got family that’s coming and so it’s very difficult for me to plan and keep a rhythm in that way.
So, I’m open to suggestions and I would love to hear what people’s experiences are in this event.
Adri-Marie: I think first thing I would say, and I think I’ve heard Annemarie [01:20:00] teach me this. I am just saying that sometimes what we need, our exercitant needs also, and that God is orchestrating that timing sometimes for us.
So, it’s okay sometimes to just simply say to your exercitant, look I can’t meet every week for the next three weeks, or maybe even start and ask them first, what is the next three weeks looking like for you? Start the conversation and it’s okay to say it will be hard for me to meet in person the next three weeks.
The biggest thing to navigate is a big season like Christmas, just to talk that through with your supervisor in terms of where you are in content to create a bit of continuity. So, you don’t want to be mid-week three or mid-week one, you want to have a bit of a [01:21:00] landing that can linger. That’s the most important part, not to be breaking up the critical week one or a week three. That’s typically not ideal, but to create a bit of a lingering. It’s a perfect time for repetition. Always as Ignatius suggests, keep the examen close and keep the grace close. So let them sit, continue with the grace, continue with the exam and those two kind of keep the rhythm.
Sometimes if you’re not able to meet, it might still be good for them to email you something about their experience. If they are continuing full day every day with their prayer, so that almost you do receive something from them, or you might just send a text or to create a contact point.
Usually, a big season like Christmas or Thanksgiving that was just happening, usually there’s a little bit of a lull. Just keep the [01:22:00] examen close and the grace close is the general advice. Annemarie, Russell, Trevor?
Annemarie: I guess my two strategies would be offering extra material along the same line so to stay with something with repetitions. In most of those places, you can offer additional material that’s on the same line, and that just means that people will stay with the same material a bit longer or it can be sometimes offering a kind of sense that we’re going to pause and we’ll pick this up again, getting them to go back and reconnect with what was going on before the pause. So, like we’re going to take a break for these three weeks over Christmas and then we’ll come back and remember where you were in that process, do a bit of a repetition and then continue on. It’s not ideal, but it’s not a train smash. [01:23:00] God works with what’s the realities of our lives, and we can trust that God will hold what needs to happen with that person.
You don’t want to be having a break all the time, but now and again, if you need to negotiate that, it is possible. You just have to try and think it through a bit.
Adri-Marie: Trevor and Russell, do you want to add something?
Trevor: Maybe Nada, and this has already been said, but I find it quite helpful just to keep on my own mental landscape, the word dynamic—the dynamic of the exercises. I don’t want the dynamic to get lost. So, the question I think I find myself wondering with is how best to support this person where they [01:24:00] are in the dynamic of the exercises at the moment. And how do we just keep that dynamic alive given the realities that maybe we are in, which may demand a pause or whatever. I just find that word dynamic quite helpful for myself.
Adri-Marie: How’s that Nada?
Nada: Very enlightening. Thank you so much.
Adri-Marie: You’re welcome. MaddyChristine.
MaddyChristine: This may be a little bit a repeat of what we’re talking about. My retreatant couldn’t meet and had spent time with the week, and she canceled and then said, Hey, will I just move on? I was reluctant for her to go to the next week when we hadn’t really spent time together. Is that what you would suggest we do because she’s excited to [01:25:00] move on to the next week and yet we’re not meeting. I offered for her to repeat, but I just wanted to make sure that is what most of you would do as well.
Adri-Marie: I want to jump back to Trevor’s word of dynamic and also about where they are in the exercises. It’s very different if a person misses or could not attend a session within the territory of week two to maybe do another one or two gospel contemplations. But I think regarding key exercises, and some of those tricky uphill’s, I would want to stay with your first word to say, you are reluctant, and then I would want to say, all right, tell me a bit about what you’re feeling in your body there.
I would learn to also trust you as a giver of—all right, what is that intuition telling you? [01:26:00] I think that I would want to honor that reluctance and say, all right, what is that about? Is it just about are the graces met? What is going on in the dynamic? It’s good to do some repetitions. Maybe offer an audio version or an image or sitting a bit longer, or maybe one additional text sometimes, but it really is about where they are in the exercises. That’s where the resource of Veltri sometimes can be helpful because Veltri sometimes in the weeks at the bottom says additional texts, which takes them still within that week’s movement. It doesn’t take them away. You want to keep track of exactly where they are at that time.
This is why we have supervision—to discern what are you sensing? Where are they in the exercises? And between that, that’s really actually where we [01:27:00] determine—one time it could be totally fine and another time we’d want to rather pause and linger longer. Colleagues, anything?
Annemarie: I think when we’re talking Ignatian weeks, as in moving from first week into second week or second week into third week or third week into fourth week, I wouldn’t want to do that without having seen the person, because I want to know, has the grace been received? You don’t want to move someone on and then you realize clearly the grace hadn’t been received because it messes with the dynamic. It doesn’t work then. So, I think in that kind of critical thing of, is the person ready to enter into the third week or whatever, I would want to have a conversation with them. If not face to face, at least to have some information that allows me to know whether the grace has been [01:28:00] received. Even if it’s a phone call or an email that I really feel I get a sense of what’s going on, but I wouldn’t want them to continue without me having a sense of, has the grace been received?
Trevor: I would just add to that a little bit, Maddy, Christine, has the grace been received? Now, there’s a new grace and sometimes it’s worth spending a little bit of time really exploring what the new grace is going to be. I think that necessitates some interaction rather than a person just moving on.
Adri-Marie: MaddyChristine, how is that?
MaddyChristine: Yeah, that’s helpful. I also never thought about Trevor suggestion of if we’re [01:29:00] missing a week to have something in writing at a minimum is also a good idea. I didn’t think of that. This person is still in disposition days and so, I feel we’re still getting to know one another. There’s so much about image of God—her living in guilt—so, that’s why I was really careful. It’s even helpful for you to say you had an instinct, you had a response to her wanting to just move on. So, that’s a good moment to pause as I am sensing something. So yeah, thank you for giving space to this.
Adri-Marie: You’re welcome. I want to very gently start landing this session 35 episode, but I do want to honor if there’s a real burning question. If we had more time, I would have [01:30:00] loved to hear more things that came out from your backpacks and your own journeys, what came up for you there.
This is the last time Russell will be with us, so I do actually want to ask Russell to perhaps pray for us in the end, if that’s all right, Russell—just for us to bring your voice in again. But Annemarie, I wondered if you wanted to say something about next week. .
Annemarie: So, next week we are going to have a time of sharing a little bit of what the grace of this course has been for each of us, and to maybe do that by bringing a symbol—almost as we did a mirror image of our beginning, the journey where we laid the altar as you’ll remember on the very first time that we came together.
So now, as you’ve been through this journey, we invite you to reflect back. What is it that has really stayed with you, that has changed you? What is the [01:31:00] symbol that reflects the grace that has been most powerful for you in this process so that each of us can have a moment to share that and to explain why it is that we’ve chosen the symbol that we have.
Bring something that you want to share on the screen or to hold up to show us, and we’ll give a space for each person to share something. We also invite the mentors if they would like to share something to do so as well. We’ll make that space.
Then what we want to also do is we’ll have a little bit of time just to talk about practicalities of things like, how you finish up your practical, how we’ll continue to support you with supervision, etc. so those kinds of things so that you know the kind of way forward beyond our last meeting because obviously the course continues until you’ve finished with your person and the exercises.
You just got to the point of having handed in your last assignment, but there are a couple of people who’ve had very important [01:32:00] events in their lives that have meant they’ve had to have an extension some kind so I just want to talk about the practicalities of holding life beyond our actual meetings because we continue as a community of givers of the exercises and to just talk a little bit around that and how we continue to keep each other in mind and in prayer. Those are the two components of what we’re going to be doing next time.
We may not use all the time. We might finish a little earlier next time, but we can’t promise that, but don’t be surprised if we do. We may not use the full amounts of time next week. So that’s where we are, unless there’s anyone who wants to add anything, or anyone from the team that I might have forgotten. Thanks to Russell and we’ll miss you next week.
Russell: Thank you very much, Adri-Marie, Annemarie and Trevor. Everybody, it’s been good to be with you this year [01:33:00] and exciting. I think this is only the beginning of the journey. Hopefully the journey is going to help you to accompany and encounter many people that are seeking the Lord.
To end with, I’m very enthused by Adri-Marie’s image of the backpack. I just think it’s such a great one on so many levels. So, I’m going to invite you just to look at that image of a backpack. [He puts a picture on the screen of a backpack.] We’ve really made a journey together this year, a journey in ourselves, a journey as a community, a journey with others, and as we look at that backpack, I want to use it tonight as a symbol of all that we’ve put in there this year, and just to look at that backpack with gratitude, and maybe to allow whatever image is with you at the moment [01:34:00] as you look at that backpack—any feeling, any word—just to come into your consciousness. Then we just take a few moments in silence to be grateful.
So, Lord, as we come to the end of the session tonight, we give you thanks for this journey that we have made, for [01:35:00] what we have collected to put in the backpack of life as givers of the exercises.
We’re grateful to you. We’re grateful to Ignatius for this wonderful gift. We’re grateful to one another for our time together of learning, of sharing, of taking and giving.
We pray that you continue to bless us and inspire us as you did Ignatius,[01:36:00] so that with this pack on our backs, we too would be able to set the world ablaze with the spirit of your love in the sharing of this wonderful gift of the spiritual exercises.
We make this prayer as we do all our prayers with deep gratitude in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen.
I think Adri-Marie’s backpack would have probably been a much more colorful one than mine, but I like that one because it’s simple. So, I wish you all the best. Hopefully our paths will cross at some point again, and I hope that you have a blessed week [01:37:00] ahead. God bless you all and thank you.
Adri-Marie: Thanks, everyone.