The Content and Structure of the Second Week

IGNATIAN SPIRITUAL EXERCISES TRAINING (ISET)

2023-BLOCK TWO – SESSION 21

THE CONTENT AND STRUCTURE OF THE SECOND WEEK

[00:00:00] [00:01:00] [00:02:00]

Annemarie: Welcome everyone. Good to be with you, and I hope that wherever you are in the world that you’re either not too hot or not too cold. Seems we’ve got lots of extremes going on at the moment, one way and another. We are going to hand over to Anne to lead us in a time of prayer and reflection. Thanks Anne.

Anne: Hi everyone. I have lit a candle for us—just reminding us of the light of God, and I’ll [00:03:00] keep that burning while we pray. So, if you’d like to switch your video camera off and settle yourselves for this time of prayer.

Just take a moment to settle yourself. You may want to move into a more comfortable position. It is helpful sometimes to just drop your shoulders, relax your hand, and then to notice the rhythm of your breathing. Without changing it, just to notice it; notice [00:04:00] any sounds that are in the room with you or outside.

Become aware of them, and then slowly let them fade. Notice what thoughts are going around in your head, in your mind; are they all over the place?

Notice [00:05:00] them; be aware of them, and then slowly let them fade. Notice what emotion is present in you right now. Maybe you want to place your hands on where you sense this emotion in your body and then let the warmth of your hands soothe this space.

Be still.[00:06:00] Be silent.

Turning your eyes toward the one who loves, cares, and holds you; feel the beloved’s gentle, compassionate, and love-filled eyes upon you.

And then as I read the words of a poem called The AVowal [00:07:00] by Denise Levertov, notice what draws you, how God is connecting with you, as you notice the word or words in the poem.

As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky
and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them;
so would I learn to attain
freefall, and float
into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace.

[Read again]

Draw near to God and share your thoughts and feelings. [00:09:00] [00:10:00]

As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky [00:11:00]

and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them;
so would I learn to attain
freefall, and float
into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace.

We ask, dear beloved one, that you grant us the grace of a felt sense of your presence with us tonight, as we learn, as we wonder together.

So, when you’re ready and gently back into the room, and we’ll know that you’re there when you turn your video back[00:12:00] on. Amen.

Annemarie: Amen. Thank you, Anne.

Russell: Thank you, Anne, and good day to everybody. It’s good to be with you again. I was doing a little formation workshop today at another church where Christelle works. So please have mercy on Christelle. It’s the second time today she’s got to listen to me. I think that’s a big penance. Sorry about that.

What we want to do today is to look, as you would have seen from the outline, at the second week the content and the structure. This is not going to be the only input on the second week. We’re going to look really at the content and the structure. There are still inputs coming on the key meditations and the election. We’re going to zoom into those.

Today, we’re just trying to look at the second week as a whole, [00:13:00] and unpack some of the content and the structure of the week. I want to begin, as you’ll see on the outline there, with a little recap. Trevor gave us a nice bird’s eye view of the second week last week.

So, to remind ourselves, first of all, that the second week is about the call to discipleship, that right from the beginning of the second week, it’s Christocentric. We know, if you look in the exercises, number 104, what we are doing in this week is we are seeking an interior knowledge of our Lord. That’s what this week is about. We can only love what we know, and we can only know what we love. So, remember that this week is about discipleship.

Trevor spoke last week as well about the colloquy, just to remind ourselves that we also get introduced here into the triple colloquy. And [00:14:00] then the grace that we’re asking for; once again, knowing the Lord Jesus more intimately so that I can follow him more closely. In this week as well—and I’m going to say a little bit about this later on—we enter into as well a different mode of praying in the imaginative contemplation.

The second week is also the week of election. We’re trying to get to know the Lord more intimately so that we can follow Him, and we follow Him by making a choice, discerning the choice that will lead to me being able to follow Him more personally. There’s a kind of personalization as well that is happening in this second week in the election.

I was reading an article recently, and it talks about the second week is leading us to our transfiguration. We’ve seen the disfiguration in the first week, [00:15:00] and now in the second week, it’s opening it up so that we can see our own transfiguration. And the second week is inviting us to give of ourselves generously and wholeheartedly, to give as the Lord Himself gives, or as we read in the gospel, to give everything—to lose our very selves for the Lord.

So, what is the content of the second week? First and foremost, it’s about the mysteries of the life of Christ that’s drawn from the gospels. You will remember that in the first week, there were no gospel passages per se that Ignatius gives in the exercises. The narrative of the first week; there’s maybe three main narratives there. The fall of Lucifer, the fall of our ancestors, and the fall in our own lives and Ignatius gives us meditations to consider that.

Now, we’re going to dive straight [00:16:00] away into the life of Christ, and he draws a lot here on the Gospels. The second thing we have, in terms of content in the second week, is these so called Ignatian meditations—the meditation on the kingdom, the two standards, the three classes, and the three degrees of humility and as I said, we’re going to look at all of these in another lecture, but just for our purposes today, that’s part of the content of this second week.

The triple colloquy is introduced with the two standards, which is on day four of this second week, and we’ll talk a little bit about that as well. That’s something else that we see happening in the second week. And then, of course, the second week is about election and the material for election and that which leads us towards making a [00:17:00] decision, making a choice, making an election of how we will respond to the Lord.

You’ll see that I’ve drawn on a summary, a line there from what Michael Ivens says in his book, The Spiritual Exercises. He says, “through this material, the exercitent is drawn into a double process. First, ongoing growth into the true life taught by Christ. And second, the process of seeking and finding and responding to God’s here and now word. i.e., the election.” I think that’s very helpful for us as we begin to consider this second week.

Let’s just look at the outline of the second week in the structure, in number three there. So, the second week begins with that kingdom meditation, The Call of the King, and then we have the Incarnation Meditation, and the Nativity, and [00:18:00] then we have Infancy Narratives, and then we have what we call the Hidden Life, and I’ll talk a little bit about that as well later on—The Hidden Life of Christ.

Then on day four, we have the two standards, and with the two standards, we also take a shift. Everything before that, The Incarnation, The Nativity, the Infancy Narratives, The Hidden Life—that’s where Jesus is growing up. Jesus is maturing and developing. Then we have the two standards and after the two standards, we then turn to the public life of Jesus. On day five, we begin to contemplate the public life of Jesus and that is also infused with the work of election that we are moving towards.

I want you to notice a couple of things in the week. The first three [00:19:00] days, Ignatius really tries to help us establish a pattern for prayer. He talks about two contemplations, followed by a repetition, the resume, and then the application of senses. There’s a movement in the day that goes towards a greater simplicity and also to a greater assimilation and he’s quite specific here. He gives it in point form and we’re going to look at those just now.

I think there’s also a fertile tension here because we want to try and encourage people to try and enter into this as best as they can, and Ignatius lays down very specifically what he wants people to do, but we also have to be a little bit flexible because some people may find that a bit challenging, may find the directness of this quite challenging. And yet, what Ignatius is trying to do is help to set this [00:20:00] up in such a way that this pattern will develop, and we will be able to enter into the mystery of Christ’s life so that we can come to know him more intimately.

I think it’s important that we try as best we can to help people to assimilate the pattern that Ignatius gives, but just be aware that some people may find this quite challenging, and therefore some adaption may need to take place. The golden rule, of course, with adaption is we can adapt things, but we can only adapt them when we know what we are adapting. We have to be very clear about the way that we do that.

I want to say something about those words, repetition, resume, and application of senses. When we talk about repetition, we’re not talking about going back to those contemplations and doing them all over again. The word repetition in English can [00:21:00] maybe mean that we go back and repeat what we’ve done. But rather what Ignatius wants us to do is to go back and to go to those particular moments or inner movements that happened, that we noticed that were important. so that we can deepen those moments. So, we’re not going to repeat everything, but going to go back to what was important for us, what was what we were drawn to.

A nice way of putting it, I think, is we go back to the meditations, or we go back to the contemplations, and we stop where there’s a sense that the water is flowing—where the water is flowing. Some parts of the prayer may be dry, and every now and then there’s a part of the prayer where the water flows, where there’s something that’s going on. And so, the repetition is to go back to those moments in the prayer.

Then he talks about having a time of [00:22:00] resume—resume. What’s that? It’s really spending a few moments, spending a time in prayer, looking at the cumulative insights that we’ve got from the prayer that has happened that day and I would say in a way. this is a little bit more mental. It’s like summary of the proceeding exercises. It’s summarizing my collective insights from the prayer in that day, from those contemplations, and also from the repetition. it’s putting this together. It’s seeing what the important strands are. It’s summarizing what was important.

And then finally he talks about the application of the senses, and this is meant to be a much more passive way of praying. It’s going back to that again but it’s going back to try and taste, to try and feel, to try and touch the experiences of the day and [00:23:00] allow them to settle more deeply—those experiences in prayer that were important for me. Allow myself to be soaked so to speak in what was important so we’re not trying to reason it or to explain it or to work it out. We are going back in this time of application of the senses to try and feel it. I think the image I have is it’s like the sun going down when everything becomes gentle, when everything is quiet, when everything is still, when everything is restful, and I just watch what was important in the day. I savor those important moments of the day, and so we’re going back and we’re savoring those important moments of the prayer.

Now, when I say it’s also a movement to greater simplicity, so we do the two contemplations, we have the repetition where we go back to what [00:24:00] was important and maybe even once we come to the resume that has crystallized a little bit more, we notice something else. Then eventually we come to the application of sensors where we are really feeling, touching tasting that which was most important for us and allowing it to settle a little bit more deeply. So, in a way, there’s also a simplification in the day that hopefully in that simplification is also leading to a greater assimilation of the content, coming to know the Lord interiorly, coming to know the Lord more deeply.

Now we can talk about the Ignatian day number five there. That’s really the setup that Ignatius is offering us when we talk about the instructions that he’s giving. He’s saying that first of all, we have a mystery [00:25:00] of the life of Jesus. So, for people doing it on a 30 day, that would be at midnight. So, the contemplation on the incarnation will be done at midnight. And then at dawn, we have another mystery—so, the Nativity, so we’ve prayed the Incarnation, we’ve contemplated the Incarnation we then contemplate the Nativity at dawn, and then he’s inviting us to the Repetition of Prayers one and two in the late morning.

So, there’s another prayer period. He’s pushing it up. He’s going up a gear. He’s asking us in the second week to do five prayers a day, and then the resume early, late afternoon, early evening. Then finally, before one goes to bed, the application of the census, so you see there what he’s trying to do. There are two contemplations, two contemplations, then the repetition, then [00:26:00] the resume, then the application of senses. And that’s how the Ignatian day is going to work.

Let’s zoom in a little bit and let’s look at the second week a little bit more closely now. So, the first two days of the second week, as I said, Ignatius gives a lot of support to help the person, the retreatant, get into the experience.

He begins the second week—number 91 in the spiritual exercises with the Kingdom meditation. If you’ve got the text in front of you, you’ll see there quite clearly Number 91, Number 92, Number 93, Number 94, what to do. He’s going to do that even more as we move into these [00:27:00] contemplations on the life of Christ right at the beginning. But curiously, after that Kingdom Meditation, you’ll see there, number 100—so he’s got the content of the prayer—he talks about during the second week, also in the following weeks, he says, it might be profitable to spend occasional periods in reading from the Imitation of Christ, the Gospels, or the lives of the saints.

So right at the beginning of the second week, he’s also saying reading material might be important. But we have to be careful here as well, because some reading material can be a distraction or undermine what is happening. And so, Ignatius suggests that at times appropriate reading material might be helpful. This probably comes, I think, from his experience in Loyola while he was convalescing, and he was reading and he started to notice the effects [00:28:00] of the reading on him.

So, what we want to do when we consider that, because he doesn’t really give too much instruction. He mentions three things. He says the Imitation of Christ, the Gospels, or the lives of the saints. If the person is going to read, we want them to read something that should arouse the same feelings as the week. In other words, generous self-giving, knowing the Lord, loving the Lord, and following the Lord more closely.

The rule of thumb I would say, for reading there, is that any reading should help the person to make the exercises better. It should help them to enter into the exercises more fully. We must be very careful that the reading doesn’t become a distraction. I think the same for people doing that in daily life. It could be that they’re going to watch a movie, for example, is the movie going to help them to do this? Or is it going to distract them [00:29:00] from where they are in the exercises?

So just as the director, to be aware of that, Ignatius offers this; it can be helpful, but it also might be a distraction. The director has to help the retreatant, the exercitant to see what would be good for them. And if we go there to the beginning, Ignatius suggests three preludes, three points, and a colloquy. I want us just to look at this, so we get a sense of the structure here and remind ourselves of the structure that he is inviting us to.

So, first of all there, Let’s go to number 102. I want you to notice something in number 102. Can somebody just read number 102 if they’ve got the text at hand?[00:30:00] Anybody? Okay. Thank you, Liz.

Liz: The first prelude is to bring up the narrative of the thing which I have to contemplate. Here it is how the three divine persons look at all the plane or circuit of all the world full of men and how seeing that all were going down to hell. It is determined in their eternity that the second person shall become man to save the human race. And so, the fullness of time being come, they sent the angel St. Gabriel to Our Lady.

Russell: Thank you. So, first of all, just notice there the subtle change that happens in the language Ignatius uses. He talks about contemplate, huh? “I am to contemplate.” So, there’s a change [00:31:00] that’s taking place, and I think we can easily—in the first week he talks a lot about meditations—he’s now talking about contemplation, the movement to contemplation.

You’ll notice there in number 103; he talks about imagine as well. Imagine. It is a composition by imagining the place. So, notice what Ignatius is doing, and this continues through the week as well. There’s a movement to see how God is in our reality. He starts there with what Liz read for us about the three divine persons looking down, but immediately he steps into this idea of the incarnate God in our reality and that’s what we’re doing. We’re trying to become disciples of Jesus Christ, the incarnate God. And then he tells us to start [00:32:00] as well, right at the beginning with the usual preparatory prayer, which is number 46.

Then he has these preludes. Now, the first prelude, the second prelude, the third prelude—the first prelude is the history; the second prelude, the composition of place. Then the third prelude, asking for the grace—Number 104. And if we can just read Number 104, if somebody’s got their text to hand. Thank you.

Reader: The third, to ask for what I want, it will be to ask for interior knowledge of the Lord, who for me has become man, that I may more love and follow him.

Russell: Thank you. That’s going to be the grace of this week, the grace that we are seeking. [00:33:00] Notice there as well, how there is a shift in the prayer.

In the first week we’re looking more at a kind of purgative prayer, and I think something was said about this. And then now, in the second week, we move to more of what we call an illuminative prayer. And right back in number 10 of the exercises, Ignatius hints that this will happen. So, I think it’s quite important for us to see as well that there’s a kind of shift in the prayer that is taking place.

He says there in number 10 that when a person is performing the exercises in the illuminative life in the second week rather than the purgative life, which corresponds to those prayers of the first week. So, there’s a shift taking place there as well. We are now wanting to identify with Christ, to be illuminated by Christ, to come to [00:34:00] know the mind of Christ.

Then Ignatius sets up three points, and we’ll see this again as well. I want us to look at these three points because we’re going to see them come up again and again in these exercises. So, if someone wants to just read for me the first point there, which is number 106. Thank you.

Reader: The first point is to see the various persons. And first, those on the surface of the earth, in such variety, in dress as in actions. Some white and others black, some in peace and others in war, some weeping and others laughing, some well, others ill, some being born and others dying, etc.

Russell: [00:35:00]Thank you very much. Last week, we spoke a little bit about the question of imaginative contemplation, but look what Ignatius is doing here in the first point. He’s asking us to see the persons and look how he’s laying that out. He’s giving quite a lot of detail to try and help us to try and evoke the imagination—to see the diversity in dress and behavior. To see that some are white, and some are black, some at peace, some at war, and so forth. To see. To see.

So, the first point is those seeings. To see these, to see the persons, then to see the divine person, then to see and then to see our lady. That’s the second day where I stopped you.

I will see and consider the three divine persons. And then finally, I will see our lady and the angel greeting her. So, this idea of seeing and look at what he’s doing, how he’s trying to help us to get into the imagination.

And then let’s go to the second [00:36:00] point, number 107 there, if somebody would just read that for us. I’m just a bit conscious of time to read everything, so I’m going to just cut you off when you’ve read what I want you to read. Thank you.

Olga: The second to hear what the persons on the face of the earth are saying, that is how they are talking with one another, how they swear, and they blaspheme, etc. And likewise, what the divine persons are saying, that is, let us work the redemption of the human race, etc. And then what the angel and Our Lady are saying, and to reflect then so as to draw profit from their words.

Russell: Thank you. The second point there—to listen, to observe, to listen. So, he is inviting us to see, and then he is inviting us to hear. See how he’s using the senses here, to listen to these different voices, to listen to the people, to listen to the divine person’s voices, and then to listen to Our Lady, the Angel and so forth. [00:37:00] Once again, look at what he’s doing and how he’s trying to get us into the imagination.

Okay, the third point—if somebody would just read the third point; we’re not going to read the whole thing, maybe just a couple of lines there.

Gavin: The third point is to watch what the persons on the face of the earth are doing; for instance, wounding and killing one another and going to hell, etc. And in the same way, what the divine persons are doing, namely bringing about the sacred incarnation, etc.

Russell: Thank you. So, there again, to consider or to watch; to consider is the translation that I have. There again, to observe, to consider what is going on, to see [00:38:00] the differences in relationships in the imagination, to see the differences in these relationships.

And then he, in point number 109, and I think there is a mistake on the sheet that I gave you, and I apologize for that. The colloquy is not 110, it’s 109. Ignatius invites us into the colloquy that should be made—”that I will think over what I have to say, first of all, to the three divine persons, to the eternal word, to our mother, and beg favors according to what I feel in my heart, that I may better follow and imitate our Lord who in this way has become a human being.”

He tells us what we ought to do. We ought to think about what we want to say, but notice he goes a little bit deeper. It’s not just a kind of devotional saying, but that contemplating is hopefully helping us to become just as the Lord [00:39:00] becomes human. So, we are being invited to become.

What we contemplate is happening in us. What we contemplate, we become, and so he wants us to talk from that space, not just merely from a devotional space, but the God that identifies with us and we being invited to contemplate so that we can identify with Christ. He’s really calling us into a deep conversation there, a deep colloquy. As Meister Eckhart says, “the colloquy is like the eternal birth of the Son of God in our soul.” That’s what he’s really wanting us to do. Okay.

Then we go to the second contemplation, the Nativity, and notice it’s the same. You’ll see the structure there on the sheet—the first prelude, the second prelude, a composition of place asking for the grace. Again, the seeing and the observing, the listening, [00:40:00] and the considering, and he also says in the Nativity “to behold and consider” in the third point in number 116. and maybe we can just read that because I think that’s also got theological overtones to behold. He says the third point, “this is to behold and consider what they are doing.” For example, journeying and toiling in order that the Lord may be born in the greatest of poverty, to behold, to consider.

Then he asks us for the repetition of the first and the second. He gives the instruction there; the third contemplation will be a repetition of those first exercises. So, number 118, he tells us it’s a repetition. And then in number 120, he talks about the fourth contemplation will be a repetition of the first and the second contemplations. Then the fifth one, so that [00:41:00] resume, and then the fifth one is the application of the senses in number 121 there.

Then in number 127 to 131, he has some notes to help us there in the second week. He talks about a number of things there and I’m going to say something about that just now. He’s trying to give us some guides, some aids as we direct people in the second week. Then we go to the second day. He talks about the presentation in the temple and the flight into Egypt. That’s number 132—the presentation of Jesus in the temple, the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt.

So, you’ll have the two contemplations. You’ll have the repetition, the resume, the application of the census. Third day, same thing—how Jesus was obedient to Nazareth and how they found him in the temple—Number 134.[00:42:00]

Then we get to the fourth day. But I want to just say something at the end of the third day. So, notice how, in these first three days, he’s inviting us to pray by the pattern that he’s trying to establish. And hopefully, after we’ve done this a few times, we get into that pattern.

I said I would say something about the hidden life, because these contemplations are all about the hidden life. The scriptures give us very little about the hidden life, and that’s also why I think Ignatius is trying to give us as much detail as possible, to try and help us to use the imagination, to use imaginative prayer.

Now, I know sometimes there’s some anxiety about making this up, and it came up a little bit last week as well in our class. But I think, once again, just to remind ourselves that we have to trust God to reveal what [00:43:00] God wants us to know and so encourages us to be open to the spirit and whatever experience of the hidden life that the Lord is going to give us, that the Holy Spirit will reveal what God wants us to know.

I also think it’s important because often people begin to connect with Jesus as they relate to Him. as a child and as an adolescent. And so, we connect with children and with adolescence in a different way than what we do sometimes in the adult world. So, the sense of how Jesus grew up and became an adult and matured is important, and I think as well, Ignatius is inviting us to try and to connect with Jesus.

And hence as well, the imaginative contemplation. because so often that connection is different. But I think too, that this hidden life of Jesus is important because in some sense, that’s the [00:44:00] ordinary life of Jesus. The Lord Jesus meets us in the ordinary. He meets the retreatant in the ordinary of their lives. I want to make a connection there as well, that the ordinariness of this young man who’s growing up and whatever the imagination evokes about him growing up and so forth. connecting as well with the ordinariness of our own lives.

Then we get to the fourth day and there from number 135, there’s an introduction to the consideration of the states of life. There’s just an introduction. And then we go into the two standards, number 136, which is clearly an important exercise because Ignatius is going to ask us to make this contemplation four times.

And after that as well, we have on the fourth day the three classes of persons, and it says it should be made as an aid towards embracing what is better. So that’s what happens [00:45:00] on the fourth day. We’re going to come back to that in another lecture, but just so that we get the structure on the fourth day, we have the two standards.

And then from the fifth day, we continue to contemplate Jesus’ life. We’ve now stepped into the public life of Jesus and notice what Ignatius does from number 158. He invites us. He proposes that we only pray with one mystery each day from number 159. So, on day five, he says the baptism, and also just after that number 15 on the fifth day where he talks about the contemplation will be departure of Christ, our Lord from Nazareth for the River Jordan. Notice there too that there’s something else that he says which I think is important—Number 160. If somebody could read that for us. [00:46:00] He’s going to ask us to do this for the rest of the time as well. Number 160. Somebody? Number 160?

Melanie: The particular examen after dinner and after supper will be made on the faults and negligence’s about the exercises and additions of this day, and so in the days that follow.

Russell: Ignatius is asking us to make an examination of the prayer as well, twice a day—our faithfulness in regard to the prayer. He’s asking us to do the one mystery each day, and then he’s saying, I also want you to do an examination, but I want the examination to be done on the prayer, on my faithfulness and so forth, what I notice what is happening in regard to the prayer. [00:47:00]

And then we go through. We have Jesus going into the desert on day six and day seven, we have the call of Andrew and others. Day eight, we have the sermon on the Mount. Day nine, Christ our Lord appearing on the waves of the sea. You’ll see them all there—Number 161. Day 10, Christ our Lord preaching in the temple. Day 11, the raising of Lazarus and then Day 12, Palm Sunday.

Now, Ignatius gives flexibility in the second week as well, that the second week can be lengthened.

It can be shortened. We can add some contemplations and so on and so forth. So once again, the question of adaption is also always lurking for us when we are giving the exercises.

And notice if you go—and this is one of the things with the book sometimes that can be a little bit confusing. You don’t have to go there now, but notice that from [00:48:00] 261, so that’s after the fourth week of the exercises. Ignatius gives many more mysteries in the life of Christ; other mysteries that can be used in the life of Christ. He gives them there for the infancy and the hidden life and then he gives a whole lot from 273 on the public life of the Lord.

So, there’s also a flexibility that’s brought that’s in that second week. You’ll find those in those notes that I referred to as well from number 127. So, 127 to 131, he helps us. He gives us a guide as to how we might adapt, lengthen, shorten, and so on the second week.

We want to contemplate the life of Jesus, and I’ve said this a number of times, to know you more clearly, to love you more [00:49:00] dearly, follow you more nearly, as is what Ignatius says. We also want to get insights, not only into Jesus, but also into ourselves. Remember this is also all moving towards the election as well.

So, by contemplating the life of Christ, by coming to know Him more intimately, He’s also inviting insights into ourselves, and our own lives. In a way, He’s trying to help us before the election to put on the mind and the heart of Jesus so that we can make a good election. I think what’s important as well in the second week–what’s essential maybe—is to look beyond the external words and the actions of Jesus in the gospel, because what we are trying to do is to know His mind and His heart, His thoughts and His feelings.

Notice all the time we’re trying to get into the [00:50:00] affective as we pray through the second week. We know a lot of stuff in our heads, but Ignatius is really trying to help us to get into the affective space, to know His heart, to know His mind, to know His thoughts and to know His feelings.

Once we’ve prayed that and we get to day 12 to Palm Sunday, you will then notice that we move into the time of the election and we’re going to spend some time as well looking at the election. From number 165 there, he asks us to begin to enter into that space of election. He gives us the three ways of being humble, an introduction in 169 to the election, some considerations. He gives us three suitable times for making a sound and good election from number 175, the first method, the second method and then also to [00:51:00] amend or to reform one’s state of life. And that brings us really to the content in terms of the structure, the end of the second week.

Now, we don’t immediately say, we’ve made the election, so okay, boom, we’re going into the third week. No, we continue for a number of days after that, to pray also with the life of Christ, living with the election that has been made, but we’re going to zoom in on that in another lesson so I’m not going to go into that now.

Hopefully that just gives you an idea of the structure that right at the beginning, those first two contemplations, Ignatius really gives us a lot of instructions to try and help us to get into the imaginative contemplation, to get into a pattern of prayer and then he asks us to continue to do that as we walk with the Lord through the rest of His hidden life, but also with His public life. [00:52:00]

So, in conclusion, a couple of things, I think there in number 189, Ignatius says something towards the end, which is very helpful—“For everyone ought to reflect that in all spiritual matters, the more one divests oneself of self-love, self-will, and self-interest, the more progress we will make.” I think that’s the paradox of the second week—to become our true self. To become our true self is in a sense to lose ourselves. To receive means that we have to give first.

So, we’re watching the Lord, we’re watching how Jesus does that, how Jesus is His true self, and we’re being invited as we get to know Jesus more intimately to give of ourselves as we move towards their election. [00:53:00] And I think there’s real Eucharistic overtones of the way that we are moving. Just as Jesus will say, take and eat, take and drink. So, in the second week, we’ve been asked to generously give of ourselves as you make the election so that we can follow Christ wholeheartedly, and so that sense of the true movement towards the true self is to lose oneself first. And where are we losing one? We’re losing ourselves as we know the Lord more intimately and move into the election so that we can receive fully.

The grace of the second week; Trevor spoke a little bit about that last week. There’s a metaphor I want to use. I think the grace of the second week is perhaps the clarity on what we offer, and this comes after the election. This is where this is [00:54:00] all moving towards. Maybe the metaphor is our election is the work of preparing bread. That we are gathering all these different dimensions as we move with Jesus, as we come to know Him more deeply, know ourselves. As we prepare ourselves to follow Him more closely, it’s kind of like we are baking bread; we are putting all the ingredients in there. And then when the bread is ready to be given to feed others, that’s self-giving. That’s the grace of the second week, that our bread is ready, and it’s a movement as well towards what happens at the end of the exercises—“take Lord and receive all,” etc. The second week is helping us as well, not only to make an election to follow Christ more closely, but it’s also helping us to assume the consequences of the [00:55:00] election. the consequences of offering ourselves.

And that’s what’s going to happen in the third week. Just as Jesus enters into a passion, so we’re going to be asked as well, what will our passion be? His was the way of the cross. What is the cost going to be to us? So, there’s a lot of different dynamics that are happening all at the same time as we move through the second week; that we’re getting to know the Lord more deeply, getting to understand ourselves, understand how more fully we can follow the Lord, choosing how we’re going to do that, being ready to do that, and then moving finally into the third week once that bread is ready, once the work has been done.

I’ve just got about two minutes left. I was saying to Anne Marie earlier, this [00:56:00] week is quite a lot. There’s a lot to cover here, and we jump a little bit back and forth in the text, because it’s not laid out exactly perhaps as we would do it. Not to be too confused, the important thing is just to have the overall structure in our minds, and then we can begin to dig down more deeply into each one of these. The overall structure of right at the beginning where we have the kingdom meditation. Then we enter into the infancy narratives, the hidden life of Jesus. Day four, we have the two standards. Then we enter into the public ministry of Jesus, and all of this is moving us towards the election, which will come later on. And once we’ve made that election, then we have further time for prayer and for that election to be confirmed. That’s the structure of this second week that [00:57:00] we move through.

I think I’m going to leave it there. I’ve got a few other things, but I think I’ve thrown out quite a lot. There are some questions that I’ve put on the bottom of the sheet for you to take, to reflect on your own experience of doing the second week of the spiritual exercises, maybe what resonates with you, or might seem different, or even at odds with what you heard from me today.

Maybe what stands out for you, maybe there’s some clarity, maybe an insight, maybe something that deepened or maybe something that you learned. And what are you still wondering about? What are the questions that you have about the second week; remembering that we’re still going to continue to unpack a little bit more this second week of the spiritual exercises.

Annemarie: Thanks, Russell. We’ve got the questions up on the [00:58:00] chat there as well. So, we’ll see you guys in 15 minutes. A quarter past the hour.

Russell: Welcome back everybody. I hope you had a good discussion. And as usual, we open the screen now for maybe something you’d like to share, a reflection or a question or something that you noticed, something from your own experience. Anybody’s free [00:59:00] to kick off.

Vivianne: We were just curious, Russell, if you might be interested in drawing out some sort of overarching chart that would help us to understand the mysteries of these movements in a more pictographic way for us that are less intellectual and I know art might not be your primary means of communicating, but just to help us understand the large movement, but perhaps that’s something that’s coming. It seems that we understand there’s the idea of there being the call and then the private life of Christ and then the two standards and then the public life. We all expressed how we would love a graph or some sort of a large resume of this.

Russell: A [01:00:00] picture. I won’t offer to do poetry or pictures. Okay. Let me try and paint with words. So, I think, first of all, we move into the second week, and the second week, the focus changes to Christ and to following Christ, to discipleship, and we mustn’t get too locked into language around private life, hidden life, things like that.

So, what we’re trying to do is follow the life of Christ, and in so doing, come to know Him more intimately so that we can follow Him more closely. We’re really looking for a heart knowledge of Jesus, a heart knowledge of Jesus, and we do that by praying through the life of Jesus, starting at the Nativity and moving right through the life of Jesus to the end of his public ministry, where we have Palm Sunday, which Ignatius has there as the 12th day.[01:01:00]

The first part of that is really the years before Jesus’s public ministry. But what we’re trying to do is pray through the whole life of Jesus in the second week, so that we can come to know Him more deeply.

The two standards that come on the fourth day, we’re going to deal with that. Those meditations, the first one, the Call of the King, right at the beginning of the second week on the fourth day, the two standards and then the stuff around the election, we are going in the following weeks to unpack that a little bit more, but if you want a picture—we are looking at the whole life of Jesus, and we’re trying—maybe as an image—to through the prayer to comb through the life of Jesus, or maybe even to be a little bit more like detectives to try and find out as much as we can about Jesus, but not just so [01:02:00] that we’ve got a head knowledge, but so that we’ve got a heart knowledge and that we are moved in our hearts. And that’s what we’re trying to do through the second week. I don’t know, am I painting a picture with words?

Annemarie: Russell, I think we do have a visual picture somewhere in our files, so I’ll see if we can track it down and send it to people as well.

Russell: Somewhere in your files. I don’t.

Annemarie: Yes!

MaddyChristine: And we were thinking Adri-Marie probably has something since she shares it often.

Adri-Marie: Well, I have a broad overview that I can quickly show you. Is that okay, Russell?

Russell: Yeah, go for it.

Adri-Marie: So, I don’t know if this is what you’re referring to, but this is more of the whole of the exercises. I know for my own self I also think of a broader picture, but that’s not [01:03:00] necessarily perfect or anything; it just says where things fit. So, I don’t know if that could be helpful. I can share it, but that just shows where things fit. But, perhaps Vivianne, if you’ve got the vision, yeah? I trust in Vivianne’s skills.

Vivianne: Oh no, you don’t. What I did want to say is that we all found we had a deep experience of what you’re describing because the grace works and does what it does, and now we’re just wondering, as stewards of the mystery, how do we become able to disperse this in a way that—because you said we can’t adapt something until we understand it. So just for us to have an appreciation of kind of the behind the scenes of it will be helpful. We all experienced a very personal understanding of Christ’s life in our group, so that was good. I’ll ponder if the Lord guides me to an artistic representation of it. Adri-Marie [01:04:00] Marie. Thanks.

Russell: But I think what you said there Vivianne is quite important. We all had this experience, so I think the experience is there and what we’re trying to do now is just look at it in terms of being able to offer it to others, but that doesn’t mean that our experience gets lost. It’s hopefully building upon our experience. And the other thing that you said there as well about that somehow the grace works. I think if we’re faithful, as faithful as we can be, the grace will work.

So don’t get too caught up about adapting stuff or knowing it. I’m not suggesting that you have to know every word, but I’m just saying, once again—and I think we said this right at the beginning—that we are able to adapt things, but we need to know what we are adapting, and we need to know why we are adapting. We have to be conscious of that. And sometimes even in our own experience, things were adapted for us. So maybe in the way that I presented it tonight, straight from the text [01:05:00] is not necessarily the way that it was given. It wasn’t given to me exactly as it was in this text, but I think it’s important to understand the way that it is given here and once we’ve done that, and from our own experience to see then how we might help somebody else as we journey, as we accompany them in the exercises. As for the visual picture, I don’t think I’m the best person to try, but maybe Vivianne, we could have an art competition and see who can come up with this.

It’s just about that visual diagram, Annemarie if you can find it, and then Adri-Marie, if you could send that. I see Kathi’s asking if you could send that.

Trevor: And Russell, maybe just to state the obvious, and this is my OCD speaking, that each time we [01:06:00] refer to a day, we are referring to a day within the 30-day context and within the 19^th Annotation, a day always works out in terms of a week. So, the pattern of a day gets spread through the week, that journey to simplification, etc. happening near the end of the week.

Russell: Thanks Trevor. That’s important, and most of the people that we’re accompanying would be doing the retreat in daily life, if not all. So, it’s important that that’s clear. Anybody else? [01:07:00] Maddy.

MaddyChristine: I think I’ve mentioned this many weeks ago. I’m looking back at my week two. Again, it’s clear that I received grace upon grace. I felt like today was a lot and a little bit confusing. It took me a while and going to my books to understand that you were talking about a day that it actually meant means like a whole week. And I’m understanding a lot more now about what it is that I am doing.

The tension that I feel with my retreatants is that I feel like I want to explain what I never knew. So, we talked a little bit in our group, like I did receive the grace, so did my director really need to explain more? So that’s what I am constantly playing with, with my retreatants. I

was explaining to our little group too, that I tend to make up documents [01:08:00] and then I sit with it to see, is this helpful? So far, I’ve sent my retreatants a document about like what their prayer time looks like, because that was a mystery to me. I understood it when I was finished. Oh, there was actually a way of doing this. They felt it was helpful.

So, in terms of repetition, which I replace that word with revisiting which I like a lot better, but I want to make a document about why that is important, because I feel that I missed the importance of revisiting. So maybe you can speak more about my tendency to now want to reveal more, but how much should I let a retreatant really unfold for themselves, right? To fall in their own mystery.

Russell: I think there’s a big tension in that. I do think you point to attention. So, I want to say that [01:09:00] I guess my first reaction to what you’re saying is we give people what they need to have and kind of allow the creator to deal with the creature.

I think maybe just take a step back from that first, because I’ve heard now twice about maybe things being a little bit complex. Remember, what we’re doing here is we’re studying the exercises in order to try and understand them better so that we can help other people move through the exercises.

What we’re studying here, we’re not going to obviously, as you point out, go and give to everybody, but this is for our own deeper understanding of the exercises, the dynamics of the exercises etc. So, in one way, the study that we’re doing is to help us to have a much deeper understanding of the whole process that will enable us to guide others to get the most out of the process.

That does not mean [01:10:00] that we have to go and give people everything that we’re studying here. But at times, it may be helpful, as you say, to give people something. For example, the question of repetition and the word that you used there, I think that’s helpful because it is a confusing word in English. Repetition means we go back, and we do the same thing. If you said to someone, let’s repeat that, They’ll think you’re doing the same thing, whereas that’s not what Ignatius means, but that’s the word that’s in the text. So, I think at times like that, it may be helpful so that someone gets the most out of the process.

But on the other hand, I also think we’ve got to be very careful about giving people stuff all the time, which can interrupt the flow of the Creator dealing with a creature and the spirit at work. So, in my sense, there’s always going to be a tension there. I would err on not giving people more, but if they come back and [01:11:00] I see it might be helpful, then maybe to say, okay I’m going to give a little bit of an explanation here.

The first time I did the exercises, we were given absolutely no instructions. We were given a sheet every day, and there were times even where I think that it was such a little bit that we were given that it kind of became unhelpful. There’s that side to it as well. But I think someone who’s engaged and accompanying somebody else, and this is the kind of stuff we’re watching for—what might be helpful for this person at this time? And when might I need to just back off and let the spirit work and let the Creator deal with the creature.

So, I guess one could call it a fertile tension. It’s always going to be there. It’s always going to be there. But maybe for me to say as well, that if I impulsively think I have [01:12:00] to give more because maybe this person will get less just to remind ourselves as well. Well, actually that’s maybe the time I need to step back because I’m being a little bit impulsive because I want God to be working with this person.

Annemarie: Russell, can I add something?

Russell: Yeah. Trevor, Annemarie, Adri…..

Annemarie: I really agree with what Russell just said. Two other dynamics that I think might impact. The one is personality type. I think that for some people, they benefit more and feel safer when they have more information and more structure and more of a sense of what’s happening.

For other personality types, that’s not as important. I also think there’s something about where are you in the exercises? So, in the disposition days, and as you’re leading someone into the process, and even at the beginning of the second week, when the way of praying changes quite a lot, you might want to give a little bit more in terms of helping the person get [01:13:00] into the prayer, a little bit more information, a little bit more scaffolding.

When they’ve got the hang of it, you kind of just rather let them be. And I think particularly when you get to the election, you want to be careful not to give too much that might get in the way of that process. I would tend to give quite a bit of help in the early days, and as the retreat unfolds become more and more, let the creator deal with the creature kind of thing. So, I think those are just two other aspects that might play into that tension.

Adri-Marie: This makes me think a lot about how we present gospel contemplation to people. For some, it’s ideal to almost just work with the imagination. You don’t really add lots of things to it. [01:14:00] But for some, it’s quite hard to just enter into that. So, we sometimes give aids or an audio contemplation. So, for me, it feels like a similar dance, whatever is helpful for the person we are guiding. I think what could really be helpful is to just, as you start guiding people, whatever source you choose to have as your main source, there are some of the texts that just help a little bit more in terms of, this is first; this is second; this is third. I think someone like Veltri really helps with that for a first timer. I cannot recommend Kathi’s material enough in terms of helping just guide our way into sometimes giving something or at least have something to give as an option in contemplative language, if you feel it’s needed to give something more. [01:15:00]

It is just helpful to know what is out there so whatever core text you choose to guide from, just perhaps have maybe one parallel to know that those two options at least are quite helpful sometimes into those little things extra that you might give in terms of a definition or here’s the outline of prayer.

Russell: Thanks, Adri. Trevor.

Trevor: Just a very small addition. I think the one bit of real helpfulness of Veltri’s material is not only does he perhaps offer you a kind of basic text but he also—I think it’s in orientations one—gives some reflection on how to approach the session with some—this might be a helpful question to ask in the session or this may be a helpful resource to offer.

So, he’s [01:16:00] helpful both at the level of offering an outline for doing it, but also in terms of preparing us to enter into a particular session. And even if one doesn’t use his basic outline, I think one can still use the way he prepares us to enter particular sessions along the way. I find him very helpful.

Angela: I was just going to affirm that with what Trevor was saying. I have been using Kathi’s material but needed a little bit extra help on preparing me, and so I’ve been reading Veltri, and the two together are working very well for me. So, thank you for affirming that, Trevor, cause [01:17:00] I’m finding in Veltri, the language that I need to understand, even if I’m not saying it to my retreatant, it’s really helping me prepare. And yet I find that Kathi’s material is meeting my directee, who needs that very creative and sweet space.

Russell: Thank you. Adri-Marie says Joe Tetlow has also got some excellent material and can be another alternative.[01:18:00] Okay. Diana.

Diana: I just have a clarification question. You used the word assimilation in the movement of the week. Can you explain that more? Maybe I’m just reacting towards the term. If there’s another word that could be used instead of assimilation.

Russell: Okay. Yes. I spoke about the prayers and the application of the senses that there’s a movement towards assimilation. So, what would be another word that I [01:19:00] could use? There’s a movement towards that becoming more part of me. There’s a movement that what I’m praying through, the mysteries that I’m praying through, that they are sinking more deeply into me, that there’s a movement towards that.

By going back, by doing the repetition and then the resume and then the application of senses that they are becoming part of my very self. Does that help? Is that a helpful way of putting it? I don’t know if somebody else has another term for assimilation.

Annemarie: I was thinking integration captures something of it, maybe, but it maybe doesn’t quite capture the simplification of it. That’s also important.

Russell: Yeah, thanks. Trevor.

Trevor: Maybe something like Jesus Christ, that He begins to rub off on me a little bit. Some of the contagiousness of His life [01:20:00] and there’s a kind of rubbing off on me and He begins to affect me deeply in the way I see and feel and think.

Annemarie: Maybe interiorization. Yeah.

Russell: I think if we had to go to the scriptures or Paul’s “putting on the mind of Christ.” [01:21:00] I think that’s also partly what I mean by assimilation; that I am taking on the mind of Christ, that I’m seeing, that I’m thinking, that I’m acting, through the mind of Christ, the way that Christ would.

Trevor: I really valued your quote Russell from Meister Eckhart of the birth of the eternal word in the human soul. There’s a sense of Christ’s birth in himself in my life, I think could be another kind of assimilation. [01:22:00]

Russell: Your own experience of the second week, can you touch into some of this stuff? Does some of the stuff help? Can you see the overall content and structure? How was your experience of that?

Heather: Russell? I just love the hidden life of Christ, because that’s where your imagination could actually just—well, it did just go wild. We know nothing. I mean, did He play pranks on His friends? Did He perform miracles and tease them? I just love that. Just imagining what He was like as a youngster. When I think of my brothers and what they did to me; [01:23:00] I wonder what He was like, teasing you and yeah, I just love that. I must say. Thanks.

Russell: It’s true. We have very little information. They talk about the carpenter’s son, in the gospel. I don’t know, when Joseph was working there, did He knock things over? Did He fiddle with the glue? Whatever else and it is true. It is really a fertile place for the imagination. Ignatius gives a lot there. He really tries to help us to get into the imagination I think, in those points that he offers, to look, to see, to observe, or to behold, and so forth.

Heather: You know, if you think about it, when you’re busy with friends and you’re creating, there’s such beautiful chatter that goes on and I wonder if when He was creating with His dad, I wonder what kind of conversations He had with him.

Russell: Thanks, Heather.[01:24:00] Melanie.

Melanie: Yes, as I reflected on my experience of the second week, when I started, my director told me that, you make the exercises, but you continue to reap their benefits three to five years later and that has been my experience. Particularly as I reflect right now on this topic of the second week, the richness of Jesus becoming three dimensional to me in the second week, rather than just words on a page that I loved but using the gospel contemplation in my imagination. Noting that He was fully [01:25:00] human, and He experienced things and being fully human, how can I identify with that and notice how He responded to similar situations that I might be experiencing.

And I think the other piece from the second week, it really started becoming embedded in my experience was recognizing that I could have these conversations, these colloquies, and rather than thinking about things, I could actually talk about them, called prayer with Jesus, with God and so that and the question, What do you need from Jesus? That also became a very rich question for me in the second week that continues to be part of how I pray. Yes, I keep spiraling around and things become deeper and deeper as I live out the exercises I made three years ago.

Russell: Thank you, Melanie. That’s my experience as well. It’s [01:26:00] not just a moment in time, but it’s Ignatius in the Exercises begins a process in us that just keeps moving, that just keeps moving if we’re attentive to it. And that idea of being able to talk the way that He helps us in the colloquies, to talk to God. Yeah, in my experience, what I learned 25 years ago when I first did the exercises in terms of relating to God and those colloque, it set up a whole new relationship in a way with God for me.

So, thank you for that. I think that’s so true. And that’s why, we begin the exercises, but in a way, we never end them. They keep going; they keep going. People say, “Okay, when do they begin? When do they end?” Well, they begin, but they never end. It’s the journey of life. Yeah. Thank you, Doreen.

Doreen: Just a quick comment. They say that we as humans [01:27:00] are communication 70 percent is nonverbal and it seems like the imaginative contemplations give us a chance to look at Jesus as nonverbal communication, and really get to know who He is by His inflections, by His body movements, by who He touches and how He touches, and that’s profoundly changing to me to see Jesus in that way.

Russell: Thank you. I recently had an experience. I don’t know how many of you have seen that series on YouTube; I think it is called The Chosen. I’ve sorta been watching that in bits and pieces. Awhile back, in the first series, I think it is, there’s one with Jesus and children, and there’s a thing where he’s—if you want historical data about Jesus and the Gospels, you’re not going to get it there— but the images that it gives us, it’s just so wonderful. There’s a picture of these children talking to Jesus while [01:28:00] he’s kneeling next to a river, brushing his teeth. I’d never thought of Jesus brushing his teeth before, which led me one day in prayer to just wonder how many other things I still don’t know about Him. I was like, okay Jesus was human. He brushed his teeth, but that’s never crossed my mind before, and just where the imagination can go with that. It’s just incredible.

Annemarie: Russell, I think we might have to Bring it to an end at this point.

Russell: Sure, wherever you are, I can’t see you, but I can hear you.

Annemarie: Okay, great. Thanks so much for that. I just want to make an announcement and then we’ll hand over to Adri-Marie for the closing. Just to say that for the next three weeks, we will be on break. So, I hope that you will have a good rest and holiday and time to assimilate and integrate and interiorize and grow into this the space. [01:29:00] Don’t forget though, that you have an assignment due.

Thank you for the last assignment. I was very, very happy with the assignments that came in for the first one and your next one is due at the end of July. So please go back to your sheet that we sent you out at the beginning and you will find the questions there if you haven’t already. I encourage you to make a start on that if you haven’t already, and we will see you again on the 14th of August. So, we hope that you’re going to have a good break. Adri-Marie.

Adri-Marie: I invite you to give a nice big sigh, exhale out. This marks the ending of really a first part of the year so, Exhale. I want to encourage you to just for a moment, perhaps close your eyes, [01:30:00] acknowledge where we are in this journey. We’ve already done 21 sessions.

And then, for a moment, imagine yourself on one of your favorite benches, or imagine perhaps a beautiful bench in a beautiful place, with Jesus sitting next to you, being together,.01:31:00]

As you are sitting together on this beautiful bench, in a beautiful place, could you perhaps hear Jesus calling you His friend?[01:32:00]

You are the one in whom God dwells and delights. Amen.

Russell: Thank you everybody. We shall see you again on the 14th of August.

Footnotes

Conversatio Divina

The Content and Structure of the Second Week

The Content and Structure of the Second Week

Click here to download Introductory and Session 21 materials.