IGNATIAN SPIRITUAL EXERCISES TRAINING (ISET)
2023-BLOCK ONE – SESSION 5
Adri-Marie: [00:00:00] Good morning! Good afternoon! Good evening! Good very early morning for some, but it is wonderful to see you together. I must tell you; it is an absolute pleasure as I see the screens go on and the faces pop up and it’s so much fun that it’s a little bit less like stranger danger than before. So, I’m going to hand over to Vivianne tonight to start us off with some prayer. Vivianne, over to you.
Vivianne: Thank you, Adri-Marie. Welcome to this space and I’m going to give you a moment before I share my screen to invite you to remind your [00:01:00] body, your soul, your mind, and your heart of this wonderful revelation by Thomas Scott, My Lord and my God.
So, I want you to just breathe that in. Breathe it into your head, down into your neck. My Lord, my God.
Down into your chest if you feel tightness. Breathing, my Lord, my God.
Over your heart, lungs, down into your digestive system. My Lord and my God. Into your arms and hands, whatever you’re holding and touching, and how you’re holding and touching. My Lord, my God.[00:02:00]
Down into our hips and the parts of us that are full of life, into our legs, our muscles, knees that bend, my Lord and my God,
Into ankles that fold and bend, feet that feel all the little sensations. Down even into our toes, wiggling them and crying out, my Lord and my God.
I’m going to tell you the story, [00:03:00] the love story of a shepherd, in my own words, as I’ve come to know it. You can turn your video off if that helps you, but it’s good to be in your company. I’ll share a screen afterwards that will have Psalm 23 so you can continue to sit with it and notice what part of it your heart grabs, what part of it your mind grabs, your shoulders feel, your stomach hungers for, but let me just tell you this story as I’ve come to know it, and then I’ll let you sit with it. Let’s begin.
We have a shepherd father, crazy in love with each of his little fuzzy ones. All our needs are met [00:04:00] because we’re in his flock. He opens up gates that our little hoofs could not open, and he guides us into spaces that have all the things we need, most of all, him.
There’s quiet water; there’s bright, fresh grass. It is so welcoming that we’re able to put our fears to rest and lie down. He says, come, follow me, [00:05:00] and surprisingly leads us into a space where our senses fail us. We can’t see.
The neatest thing is that we don’t feel the normal sting of fear and death. Why? Because he’s guiding the way, accompanying us. We stay close by the shepherd’s side and find the valley leading us somewhere new.
He went ahead of us; he prepared a party table with food that he made—your favorite things—more than you could [00:06:00] eat all at once. There’s place for lots of people, even the folks that normally would make you feel threatened and there’s enough food for them too.
He calls everyone’s attention to the fact that he is putting oil on our forehead, giving a little speech—this is my special one. You, I did this for you and as the oil drips down to the tip of your nose, and off the end, you look down. You see a cup, and it’s overflowing too.[00:07:00] You have a good life. It’s full. You can’t even hold it all.
Tag, you’re it, he says, and he starts running after you. You can’t escape him—His mercy, His goodness, His love is running after you, and you give yourself to him and say yes to forever of this game of tag.
[Shares Picture]
Let you sit with this and see where [00:08:00] the Lord is inviting you to see, to taste and to feel his goodness.[00:09:00]
Silence [00:10:00]
Perhaps you’re noticing sensation in a part of your body that is responding to this invitation of knowing and being with God. I just invite you to say yes, maybe even whisper that out loud; yes.
And now, even though you’re muted, I invite you to tell the story of Psalm 23 with me, so your mouth can participate, and your ears can hear the goodness. We’ll just read it off the screen here, slowly. [00:11:00]
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you [00:12:00] are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely, goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Yes.[00:13:00]
Adri-Marie: Thank you, Vivianne. Hmmm…I almost just want to linger longer there, and this is such a beautiful example of the Ignatian saying, “always the more.” This specific psalm, “always the more.”
So, friends, where are we? We have done some introductions. You’ve listened to the story of Ignatius. We’ve spoken about the purpose of the exercises—and a small encouragement, to kind of get those words in our mouths, in our hearts and our heads, because a lot of people are going to ask you, “What is it?”
So, the purpose of the exercises—we’ve [00:14:00] looked at the dynamics last week—kind of this beautiful life force. This thing, the rhythm—kind of listening to something behind that’s happening—this grace that’s building on grace. So today, we’re going to talk about different ways to make the exercises and just to let you know what’s coming, because you might have questions after today, but it’s coming soon, we’re going to talk about annotations soon, which is Ignatius’s little notes for us—some top tips from Ignatius himself. We’re going to talk about disposition days. How do we know somebody’s ready for the exercises? We’re going to still talk about resources. Do you give them? How do you choose them? What is out there, etc. So that’s coming. But today is talking just about the different ways people can make the exercises.
My encouragement early on for you would just be that at some stage during this training you’re going to [00:15:00] think, did I really make the exercises? Because at some stage they’re going to be a meditation or somebody’s going to do it in a different way and you’re going to be like, did I even do it? And I just want to normalize that from the start, that at some stage you’re going to feel it. Okay? Not just that you rewrite the exercises when you did it; you are now also part of the creative team. So, we’re going to talk a little bit about that later.
I want to encourage you today to really remember that the exercises are a gift of the 16th century, of this beautiful person of Ignatius, this movement of the friends of Jesus’ goodness, but it was also written a specific time. So, if you hear a language today that goes like, “Ahhh;” that’s okay. All right. It was written in a specific context. So, I want to precursor that already for you today.
Then I want to invite you [00:16:00] today to really pay attention to where you’re feeling the movement, the draw, invitation, because we’re going to talk about different ways to make the exercises and maybe there’s some curiosity that comes up for you when we explain different ways, and maybe you could experiment there with us. And also there, just if there’s a word or two that maybe in the original text that doesn’t gel with you properly, just make a gentle note. If there’s stirrings of the spirit, as always, we make notes, we take it to our own direction, etc.
So, to start off I know it’s very typical to kind of think about making the exercises in one of two ways. One, an enclosed retreat, a 30-day retreat, and one in everyday life. So typically, we often speak about it this way. So just for a point of interest, I would love it just to see who in this [00:17:00] group made it in an enclosed 30-day retreat. If you can just raise your hand and keep it raised so we can just see; I want to see all the faces. Great. All right. And who of you would consider that you made it in everyday life? If you can give us a wave. All right, good. And who feels confused? All right, if you weren’t able to raise your hand or you’re not sure, that’s also okay. You’re our other category, we’re going to talk about that soon.
I just want to check, Elizabeth, have you raised your hand for one or do we already have a question? Okay. All right. And same with Doreen then. Hi, Doreen . All right. Thank you for that everybody.
So [00:18:00] I wanna start by saying we are gonna really look at three of the little notes that’s called annotations in our book today. So, if you can find them, we’re going to look at the 18th, 19th, and 20th annotations—the little notes. That’s right in the beginning and I’m sitting not at my home, so I forgot my book. So, later I’m going to ask somebody to just give us a page number although I have the text in front of me.
So, I want to give you my own little notes before we start. We basically have annotation 18, 19, and 20 that we’re going to look at together today where Ignatius writes a little bit about ways to make the exercises, so we’re getting to those. Basically 19 and 20 is in its fullness and 18 is something special.
So, my own little [00:19:00] notes for today are for you to really hold fast for this interplay, this dance, the whole time for when we are giving the exercises between faithfulness and adaptation. The whole time we are making this dance, and Ivens calls it “the dance between flexibility and faithfulness.” And I love that.
Now, what to be faithful to? We are faithful to this beautiful rhythm, to this dynamic of order of things that Ignatius put aside. We know that there’s disposition days. There’s a PNF, there’s a week 1, 2, 3, 4, contemplation of divine love. So, we stay faithful through the totality, kind of to the heart of the exercises that Ignatius put together. So, no matter what happens—how we adapt it—we remain [00:20:00] faithful.
So, adaptation comes in when a person perhaps struggles to pray in a specific way, or some of the language kind of doesn’t gel with them, which kind of resource we use, perhaps their availability of time. Those things really play with adaptations, but you’re going to speak about adaptations still for such a long time, throughout the training and the exercises. So, we’re going to try and just lift out some of the basic ways today, and from there, remember faithfulness and adaptation, the interplay. So just to kind of get a grasp of what we need to be faithful for or to, It’s an important point, I think, to get to know the text of Ignatius, so we can get to know the fiber, the meaning of it, and that’s why we’re going to stick close to the annotations today and speak from there. All right.
A [00:21:00] little side note. Look, we all strive to be very mature Christians, but you do find that at times you feel in your heart, now you know what, I think this way to make the exercises is much better than that way. We strive to be quite mature, but sometimes those kind of things creep in. So let us practice today to being open and not attached to a specific way and see what we can explore and be curious about.
There’s no one way that is particular and above another. It’s about this faithfulness and adaptation. And that brings me to my other little note, before we delve into annotation 20, is I want you to really pay attention today that even in the annotations how Ignatius writes the whole time of he just wants whatever will be helpful, whatever will be profitable for that person.
Let’s [00:22:00] try and see how we can find a way to meet the person where they are, be curious with what God is doing with them. So again, this faithfulness and adaptation, you’ll see, and I’m encouraging you to, when we read the annotations to just see if you can see something of Ignatius’s heart cheering us on, to just be like, Oh, however we can find a way to be that could be helpful for this person. It’s just this heart of inclusion that I keep reading when I see some of the text.
All right, so friends, let’s dive into annotation 20. I’m going to ask for a volunteer to read for us so we can get some other voices in it. Annotate, the little note number 20 is about the 30-day enclosed retreat.
Now before I let us read, I must tell you the story that I have this friend who’s, he’s not particularly into a type of [00:23:00] spirituality and he always thinks—he’s like, “what are you doing with these retreats?” It’s the weirdest thing. What do you mean retreat? The only thing when I hear retreat, is I literally hear, “RETREAT!” like in a war setting and then everybody must return and get out of battle. So, I must say from now, I actually do have a little bit of a giggle even if I used the word retreat, but you know, Ivens even says this about the 30-day retreat. It’s not about forgetting society or that I am now suddenly just taken out and not in reality. It’s about a stepping back. It’s about this opportunity to create a bit more space for deeper relations so that I can be sent back into this reality, this beautiful opportunity to make God’s kingdom reality. So, with retreat, it’s never about this escapism. It’s about this [00:24:00] deeper connection to return, even with a deeper connection, even with a re-ignition of this kingdom in reality.
All right, so I wonder if I could ask for a volunteer for us to read. Annotation 20. If I don’t have a volunteer, I might pick on a mentor. Oh, thank you, Liz. And you’re welcome to read it in Fleming’s text or in Ignatius’s translation, whatever is in front of you.
Liz: Okay. Do you want me to do the contemporary reading or the literal version?
Adri-Marie: You can pick for us tonight.
Liz: Okay, I’ll do the contemporary in Fleming.
Ordinarily, if we want to give ourselves over to the movement of these exercises, it is most helpful to go apart from what usually surrounds us, both [00:25:00] friends, family, job and recreation, and our usual places of home and work. There are many advantages which come from the separation. For example, if we are so intent on responding ever better to the love of God, wherever it will lead us in our life, we will find the kind of quiet in which the movement of God in our life becomes all the more apparent.
Our mind will not find itself divided over many cares, but rather it’s one concern will be to follow the lead of God. In a similar way, our powers of loving too will be focused for this period of time solely upon God and the response, which we will be able to make is all the more intense and intimate because that a man for such a response is so single.
Adri-Marie: Ah, thank you, Liz. [00:26:00] Thank you. So, there’s something, and again, I’d encourage you to read the original text from the older versions, just for a little bit of a sinking in, a soaking, but Ignatius writes a few things about this original way. So, it started off as 30-day retreats, although there is definite evidence of retreat in daily life, but this was the main way that it was led. It basically started with the main day and enclosed retreats. So how does one do it? Basically, it works out a little bit more to 34 days or so, because sometimes it’s about a day or two in the beginning to help us settle in and prepare, and a day or two in the end. And then we should always remember that when Ignatius talks about a week, It’s not a physical 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 days and then 7 days you must stay in it.[00:27:00]
Remember it always has a flow of its own. So typically, week 2 is a little bit longer in general. So, you basically follow the flow and every single day on a 30-day retreat you’d have 4 or 5 prayer times, and it always goes from quite active prayer to a bit more towards the end, towards repetition. There are other beautiful things that’s worked in, for instance, a midnight prayer.
So, there’s a little bit of a different dynamic when it comes to the 30-day, because it’s so—it’s kind of this beautiful time capsule that you’re held. And there are some chill days because it is a silent retreat. You really have to make sure somebody who wants to do a 30 day is ready for it.
You can imagine having a few pre conversations. It might be a good idea if they’ve gone on long retreats before, otherwise I think they will stretch something and hurt themselves. [00:28:00] You know, it’s like running a marathon without ever doing any five kilometers in the meantime. So, it’s similar, you know, it’s exercises.
So, it’s a really deep discernment for a readiness of something of such tremendous time and input. It’s a silent retreat, but there are some days that you get to be not silent. Those are called repose days. Now, generally 10 days into the retreat and on repose days generally some of the retreatants can go maybe for a meal or for a longer walk together and have a bit of a chit chat and just for a little bit of a “ahhhh” and the second repose days usually come after the second week.
And a third, almost a natural repose day, is that tomb day. Just for a little bit of lifting of this dynamic. A person on a 30-day retreat will see their director every single day. You can imagine from a [00:29:00] director’s side, I wonder what’s feeling inviting to you. I wonder what’s feeling like “ooh” to you.
So, what are the good stuff that Ignatius says there in his little note? Why is this a good thing? What are some of the advantages of making it in this specific form? First, he basically just says, it’s actually quite special because you have such a particular focus. I love how he says it.
It’s almost like it gladdens God that it gives that amount of time. Again, it’s not like above the others, but it is just an unbelievable benefit of focus and almost this, that it really works towards profit.
The second one is there’s no distractions. There’s a whole heartedness about it. And you can really give all your energy into this. There are no other demands being made on you. If it’s an enclosed retreat, very often you don’t even have to cook. What a gift. Sometimes it’s—again retreats can be different, but usually it’s at a [00:30:00] retreat center. It’s a place away, and even Ignatius states that it should be not your home, in a different home. So even in the early days, sometimes it was, you kind of stayed at a different home. So, it’s not the regular, There’s no regular distractions, demand on your life, you’re isolated. And this isolation, the third benefit he basically then says is, there’s something beautiful in our aloneness, this isolation, that enables us in a particular way, especially over an extended period of time to really access something about our Creator.
And I think all of you who’s gone on a longer retreat I think would resonate with this. There’s something after a while of a sinking in; you’re just connecting to the Creator in a little bit different way now that you are so isolated. And he even mentions that it’s almost like the gifts that you can receive then is almost so beautiful because there’s [00:31:00] actually no other inputs. It’s just this beautiful interchange.
All right, pause. That is the 30-day retreat. What’s beautiful about being part of a group like this is that you can check in with folk who maybe have done it before, if that is something that draws you. Of course, you get supervision; in a time like the retreat as a giver, you always get supervision.
What makes it difficult? What are some of the challenges of the 30 day? Mostly it’s a big amount of time and there are very, very few people that can actually take that amount of time out from the current responsibilities or the phase of life just doesn’t allow for it. And you don’t want this driving in and out thing. You really want a person to be in an enclosed retreat away from the distraction. It’s a real, real [00:32:00] retreat. So very few people are part of perhaps a religious community where that is possible, and then of course there is a cost element usually involved if you’re in a retreat space of 30 days. So those are some of perhaps the limitations; it’s very often quite just practicalities and to find a director that has the same amount of time that for 30 days as a giver you meet them.
All right, so switching over. That’s annotation 20. We’re going backwards—you know, forwards but backwards in the numbers on the annotation. I want to first speak to you about an alternative for kind of the 30-day retreat enclosed.
What has developed over time is this retreat in stages. So it can be, you do the feel of the 30 day, but you do it [00:33:00] either in two sets or in three stages. You can imagine then an enclosed retreat, you do the full day of prayer, four or five prayer times; it goes quite from active prayer to a little bit less active prayer, of course the examen daily, seeing your director daily, and you do the full feel of it, but then you take a break.
And then in hopefully not too long—we won’t ideally wait another year or something—but maybe a few months on, you can do another set. So perhaps in the two, if you do it in two sets, you would typically do disposition days, week one, a bit of week two, take a break. So that was a full number of days, perhaps about 14, 15 days.
Take a break and then another set or you can do it in threes and typically if it’s done in threes, people will do the introduction or disposition days in [00:34:00] week one in one set—maybe eight days or a bit longer if you have to get to 30. So around 10 days or so and then a break. A second set is just the second week and typically a third set would then be week three and week four.
So, you get this idea and then in between of course you’re thinking like, oh where does the dynamic go? But that’s a little bit of an adaptation and therefore we always encourage people to keep going with the examen. You might leave them with a grace. You’d have to be quite discerning with just the type of prayer they keep themselves busy with in the in- between times.
So, what are the advantages of having something in stages like this is you have bit of extra time to in between just let it soak into your life. So, you would know, so much is [00:35:00] happening in those days that it almost just put a pause into it and allows for a bit of integration, a bit of living it out, a bit of extra reflection on and perhaps some repetition and just going back and soaking in and to continue living the themes that have surfaced from one of the parts. And also, one of the advantages is just simply it’s a little bit more doable to go perhaps on three 10- or 11-day retreats than one set of 30, 35 days retreats for an individual. So that is really just—you can see a little bit of an adaptation of the way to make it.
So, we’re moving on to the 19th annotation. The 19th annotation is typically for those who raised their hands that said I did it in daily life. And again, I’m going to ask for a volunteer for somebody who’s ready. It’s those folks who made it just in [00:36:00] daily life. In the 16th century, they actually called it the “open exercises,” and although it wasn’t popular or anything at all, there was a little bit of evidence that it wasn’t the primary way to make it, but that Ignatius perhaps adapted it to this way of making the exercises, especially for folks who was maybe in public office.
Ignatius had this thing about multiplying so he would even enjoy taking folks through the exercises that he knew were in quite prominent places that affected a lot of people. He enjoyed that multiplication effect, so I have a curiosity in me if that’s perhaps the thing that even gave even him this idea of adaptation. There are also beautiful examples if you read some of the evidence–some of the directories—that’s also like little notes. There’s one woman—and women also guided [00:37:00] in the exercises and she became quite sick.
So, she felt the only thing that she could do still—and sorry her name is leaving my memory now—that she can still give the exercises. So, the people came to her. Just a beautiful adaptation and she did it as she could. So, let’s read the 19th annotation. I wonder if there is a person that is keen, and you are welcome to read either of the text for us. Yay, Melanie.
Melanie: I can do it.
Adri-Marie: Thank you. Melanie.
Speaker 6: I’ll continue with the contemporary.
Adri-Marie: All right.
Melanie: We may be retreatants of suitable talent and proper disposition whom the director determines to help through the full exercises. It carried on in the face of normal occupations and living conditions for the extent of the whole retreat.
Truly, it is a retreat in everyday life. [00:38:00] As retreatants, we should determine, along with the director, the amount of time possible each day for prayer so that the director can divide up the matter accordingly. If an hour and a half can be secured daily by us, the retreat could progress slowly with almost a single point providing enough material for such a consistent prayer time.
For example, in the first exercise of the first week, each single example of sin might provide the matter to be considered in prayer for that day. So too, in the mysteries of our Lord’s life, we may find it helpful in our retreat in daily life to return to the same mystery for three or four days in succession.
Adri-Marie: All right. So, what are we hearing? How does it work in daily life? You put together at least an hour and a half aside; at [00:39:00] least an hour for one set of prayer, and then the examen. So, 45 minutes to an hour and the examen, and you see your director once a week. So, whatever happened in a full day at a 30-day enclosed retreat now happens over the process of one week.
So, whatever happened in a full day, the same dynamic, quite a busy prayer, then almost going into repetition, but we’ll get to that format of prayer. So, the same format of what happens in a day now happens across a whole week for a person, except they go about in every single daily life. They still have demands on them. They have lots of people roles to still be faithful in. So why on earth would a person choose to do it in daily life? Well, one advantage is you get to integrate the whole time, and I want to use an example that Russell [00:40:00] used last year and I hope Russell that’s okay.
Russell said that his novice master said that whatever happens in prayer happens in life and whatever happens in life happens in prayer. So, you almost have this dialogue that sometimes even the imagination speaks to something that currently is happening to that person. So, it’s almost this interplay of dialogue, this dance with the dialogue between my regular every single day life, what is happening, and then prayer. So, it’s like this, again, a braid.
And why would we do it again? it’s just a bit more accessible. It’s easier perhaps to say, I can give an hour 20 every single day than go for an extended time on a retreat. It just makes it a bit easier. There’s a little bit more integration and interplay.
The thing is what makes it hard [00:41:00] and sometimes perhaps some of the downsides or the challenges is it can be that it is quite intense for a long time. Life can happen, you know. It typically happens between nine months to nine to twelve months and here I must make a big note that it’s not again a race, so you don’t do it better if you do it in nine months and you don’t do it worse if you do it in 12 months. It takes as long as it takes, because you are rewriting it. Your life is unique. You might have a big thing that happens to you in the middle of it. You might have a loss. You might have to move. And as givers of exercises, it’s quite a thing to guide somebody in daily life because you have to work with it.
There’s quite a lot of adaptation that happens in this [00:42:00] time because life kind of comes in and out the whole time. So, just really listen the whole time for that—is the dynamic still there? Is that fire still going? The demands of daily life can be so high often. I don’t know what you find, but it’s actually quite rare in today’s time to have people with a regular “regular.” I don’t often meet people who have a regular prayer time between 30 minutes to an hour already in place. So, we as directors, it’s part of our job to help them get fitter so that they’ll be able to sit for that amount of time. Because again, we don’t want any muscles pulled. It’s quite a thing going from 10 minutes to an hour overnight. So, we just want to be gentle.
Sometimes again, we have to be so discerning. We’re going to talk about this in due time, about if the person’s ready, if the desire is [00:43:00] strong, because in daily life you’re continuing for about a year, so if the desire wasn’t strong in the beginning, and we’ll at times have to take them back to that desire, it can fizzle out or dilute a little bit, if the desire or perhaps the reason for making it wasn’t as clear.
The last challenge that sometimes can happen is. in daily life, in general, a person could be part of a community that works through a specific liturgy. As you can imagine, they might be in week two, or let’s take an example, they might be going towards week three, and it’s almost Christmas time. So those are big things that interplay. So as givers of the exercises, that’s why we have supervision. So together with your supervisor, you can say, Oh, all right, liturgy wise, this is almost a part of a community, but especially if they’re leading a Christian community, you can [00:44:00] imagine that they are preparing sermons the whole time or material, and that could be linked material, but they’re actually in the resurrection or— you understand what I mean. So, it’s for us to hold the dynamic and that can sometimes play in a little bit. But there are ways to do it and that’s why you are also part in supervision.
Sometimes what people do in daily life, and this is something I’m also very fond of doing, is doing one part in an enclosed retreat. So, a few days. I’m particularly fond of doing week three in an enclosed retreat. So, you do exercises in daily life and then you ask the person perhaps if they have availability—and again, each person is unique. We’re encouraged to meet them where they are and then we basically, in that time, run an enclosed retreat. Again, the dynamic of four or five prayer times meeting daily and then you click over [00:45:00] again to the daily dynamic. Some even do week one in enclosed retreat. That also works quite well. But again, that’s where it’s beautiful, where there’s adaptations.
All right folks, we are going to Annotation 18. And Annotation 18 is, all right, so, if they perhaps can’t do it in that intensity, then what? So here, I want you to give Ignatius a little bit of the benefit of the doubt and remember, he wrote in a specific time. So, I wonder who would read for us, Annotation 18. Thank you, Olga.
Olga: We should be aware that the spiritual exercises are meant to be adapted for us by the director who takes account of our age and maturity, education, [00:46:00] potential, and talents. The director decides what exercises would prove useless or even harmful to us retreatants because of our lack of physical strength or natural ability, as well as what exercises would benefit and perhaps challenge us when we are properly disposed and endowed.
The director may discover that at this particular time of life, we have neither the ability nor the desire to go beyond what is ordinarily described as the exercises of the first week. So too, the director should make the judgment whether the full exercises would be profitable to us at this time.
Because the exercises are a limited instrument through which God can work, we should be aware that this retreat method does not seem to suit everyone, sometimes because of a lack of appropriate talents, perhaps because of a certain personality makeup, or because God does not draw a person to respond through the structured method of these exercises.[00:47:00]
Adri-Marie: Thanks, Olga. That was a very good contemporary version of the 18th annotation because if you guys go to the original text, you would see it’s a little bit stark on the eye and the heart. Ignatius literally talks about illiterate and uneducated folks that can’t be taken through the exercises.
And that, it’s a bit like, ooh, all right, Ignatius, calm down. What on earth are you meaning? So, I’m glad, Olga, that you read that version for us because Ignatius is trying to say in Annotation 18 that Hey, it is not a cookie cutter thing. It’s not the ultimate thing and at times it’s not the right thing at the right time.
I want to use that analogy again of if somebody [00:48:00] is used to not running; you’re not going to ask them to immediately run a marathon. You’re going to just start a little bit with some warming up, the idea of running, see if it fits. There are many ways to grow and what Ignatius is saying to us in the 18th annotation is really that whatever will be to the profit of somebody or that ever will be helpful. And even, he uses words like uneducated or illiterate because in the very specific context at that time it was words that we used and understood or it’s about having the capacity to hold all of this.
I don’t know about you, but I really grew in the skill of talking about my inner life. That’s something I had to grow into. It’s quite a thing [00:49:00] to learn; not every person has it. So, I think he’s saying here, please don’t go on an immediate sprint. Take it slow, and for some folks, it’s not the right thing at the right time, and it might never be the right time for that intensity. So, he’s actually trying just to say, Hey, be very, very, very discerning. Perhaps just take somebody to week one. You’ll see at the end of the little note, that’s what it gets to. He also says, if the desire is low or the capacity is low, don’t harm them. Don’t put too much on the person. It’s not our agenda.
It’s always meeting them where they are. Don’t overwhelm, don’t burden. It’s about almost saying, we never go Hey, Kathy, I’m going to guide you in the 18th annotation. It’s not like that. We don’t speak like that. You don’t have to; you don’t bring that [00:50:00] Ignatian language into it.
It’s about perhaps learning some Ignatian basics. There are many ways to do it. In South Africa, there are weeks of guided prayer. There’s something called Hearts on Fire that the Jesuit Institute does. They also have something called Tseletza, I’m sure you’ve gone perhaps on some introductory Ignatian retreats. Sometimes it could be with somebody you’re already seeing in spiritual direction, and you basically just start working in some slow Ignatian principles. Like act of the presence, praying a grace, the examen. You almost do just like a version. You can even maybe have one or two of the exercises, but you’re not doing the full exercises for somebody. So, you could see he must have experienced so many different things that he would, was in the end saying, I think I need to make a note of this and say to people, Hey, it’s not always the whole thing. [00:51:00] Sometimes, be very careful, be very discerning, either stay faithful to the whole thing or just adapt it, but there is such a thing as not making the full exercises; and it’s okay to stop with your person if the energy runs out. Please don’t ever feel the pressure, oh my goodness, I started, I must finish.
Ignatius is saying to us, Do not burden. Do what’s helpful. Sometimes the desire isn’t there. Work with them. In today’s time, there’s lots of books out there. Kevin O’Brien has a book; I’ll write it for you later—The Ignatian Adventure. Larry Warner has a book, Journey with Jesus. James Martin has a beautiful book, Learning to Pray. So sometimes even reading a book, working with that can be a version of the 18th Annotation. So, I’m checking the time, so I’m going to have to run fast for the last little bit, so bear with me. [00:52:00]
The exercises can also be done in groups, but here we really need to hold faithfulness and flexibility. It’s about not a group all moving at the same pace. We know of one person who is a part of the Jesuit Institute, Puleng, who did it in a community she’s part of and she literally gave prayer and then on a Saturday sat for four, five, six hours with a whole group individually guiding folks, listening in. So, they’re still individually guided because the key to the exercises is adaptation according to where the person is. Perhaps the grace comes quickly for the one, and the one wants to linger longer on the exercise or there’s a repetition involved.
So as the giver, they are still guided individually. It’s not about, all right, this week’s prayer is done, let’s move on. [00:53:00] So in groups, often we would find, and this kind of links into the other way of making it, especially in the online one, that it’s almost become popular to almost work through the book—let’s say, The Ignatian Adventure as a group, and that could be very wholesome and we share our learnings, et cetera.
But the key thing that we are learning here that makes it the full exercises, the 19th or the 20th, is that you have a guide, a giver of exercises, a director, that’s listening in on many other things. We can feel if the grace is being met. We are listening to the discernment of spirits. We’re listening to the dynamic. We’re in supervision. We adapt exercises.
And often if I just do it a little bit as a self-study—you’ll see I’m jumping a little bit to that online version. Sometimes there’s things available online where you almost do the exercise and then you click and then you can do the next [00:54:00] one. If it’s unguided, it can still be helpful, but it becomes a paint by numbers and the exercises are not paint by numbers. Your giver is co listening with you. around dynamics that you could miss. I could think, oh, well, that Grace was met, and I don’t even see the resistance that I bring into the room. I’m just like, oh, no, I don’t want to pray that text. Let’s just move on. Whereas a director will keep you perhaps in a place.
So, you’ll see there are versions available such as that, but you’ll see that’s where we wonder a little bit about it because the Ignatian way is to do it with a spiritual director that’s co listening to all kinds of background things and as we progress, you will learn what are those things we are listening to and listening for in each of the exercises.
So there used to be a preached [00:55:00] retreat. So same thing applies. It actually came out of a problem that there’s so many people wanting to become Jesuits that they just said, okay, there’s too few directors; let’s just preach through it and everybody together—sometimes even up to thirty people but there was at the second Vatican Council in 1960, there was a bit of a shift. They said, go back to the founders. So even now and today, in Jesuit terms, now you would see people are not again, necessarily for the preach retreat or recommended as the full way of doing the exercises because again, there’s no individual adaptation. There’s no guide that’s specifically there listening to the movements with you.
Then at times you’ll see people mention an eight-day Ignatian as the exercises. That came from an annual revisit of the exercises. So basically, It’s almost like a commemorating it, but the way it’s done, [00:56:00] it’s almost to squeeze the full 30 days into eight days. And again, maybe Russell can comment later on that in the question and response time on an experience he’s had around it. But again, the Ignatian way is just, let’s give it some space. There’s a dynamic; let’s keep faithful to the full process. And then again, the role of the director comes in.
As closing, and then we need a break. I wonder what is coming to you—if any of the different ways are maybe tickling you. I want to come back to this faithful, to the fullness of the exercises, so we’re not jumping. We’re not cutting anything out. We stay faithful, but we also discern where is that person? How much? What can they do? What’s best for them? Is it two blocks? Is it just daily life? [00:57:00] I’m going to come back to something Trevor said or says—it’s a home cooked meal”—so the exercises are not a paint by numbers. It has some ingredients that the typical recipe will have in, but it remains a home cooked meal. So, the full faithfulness to the weeks, but also a bit of adaptation. Perhaps a part enclosed.
All right. Yo, that was a lot. I think we are going to take a good break. I might just have to be reminded until what time, could we make it 18? Yes, Annemarie?
Annemarie: Yeah. So, if we just take a 15-minute break and if we come back at 18 minutes past the hour, that will be great. And Adri-Marie, will you put the questions in the chat that you’d like people [00:58:00] to reflect on?
Adri-Marie: Yes, a full 15 minutes and that second question is about what other ways of making the exercises do you feel curious about? That means other ways other than the way you made it. I hope that makes sense. See you in 15.
[Break]
Adri-Marie: All right. Welcome back, everybody. We hope there was some good conversation and good wanderings and stirrings. We will attempt to get to some of them but just remember there is still a full year with lots of time to wander together and some co creation together. So, I’d love to start this particular time before we get some questions or wanderings or sharings—just to ask each of my co [00:59:00] facilitators about how they go about it. Just to get some lived experience also into the room. So, I’m going to ask Annemarie and Brenda and Trevor each and obviously Russell to each maybe share how do they usually go about it? Are there particular ways of giving the exercises that they enjoy? And perhaps even if there was a felt difference for them between one or the other. Just the time to hear some lived experience from co facilitators. All right maybe I could nominate—Annemarie, I wonder if you want to start us off.
Annemarie: Sure, I’ve had experience giving the exercises in the 20th annotation, so a 30-day enclosed retreat. I’ve done that a number of times in different places in the world. And I’ve given the exercises—this 19th annotation retreat quite a [01:00:00] lot too. And the 18th annotation, but I’ve never done the exercises in stages. I’ve never had a chance to see how that would go.
I think that in terms of my own personality and the way that I enjoy working, I really love the intensity of a 30-day retreat. There’s something very powerful about going into that very focused space with people. And I think because I’m often juggling a lot of different things, I find the 19th annotation is quite challenging to have to really put aside everything else and focus and get into the kind of the dynamic and the mode.
Whereas if you’re directing or accompanying say four people through the exercises in the 30-day retreat, that’s all you’re focusing on. You’re just thinking about that. And there’s such a gift in being able to do just that. That’s a real luxury. And I think it’s one that’s going to become more and more rare and [01:01:00] more and more of a luxury as these things get more and more expensive.
But there’s something amazing also about being able to see how the dynamic unfolds in a way that doesn’t get as easily unsettled by other things that are going on in the environment or by the everyday things. There’s something about the dynamic flowing in a way that’s clearer to see very often in the 30-day retreat. And it’s an experience. It’s almost like being on retreat oneself because you go into that intensity. And I believe that Ignatius is actually said that if Jesuits are giving a 30-day retreat like that with a number of people, they don’t actually have to make their eight day retreat that year because it is such a sense of almost catching that depth of retreat space as you’re accompanying someone in 30 days.
The thing that I really love about the 19th annotation, and I [01:02:00] think it’s an equally good way to make the exercises, but just in terms of as a giver, is that very often you give the exercises in the 19th annotation to someone you’ve already been journeying with for a while, and often you’ll continue to journey with that person for some time after the exercises. I’ve had quite a lot of people where I’ve had a long-term direction relationship, and kind of in the middle of that direction relationship is the experience of the exercises. And there’s something incredible about watching seeds that were sown in the time of the exercises germinating in that person’s life as they move into the weeks and months and years to come. Whereas often in the 30 days, you don’t get the opportunity to see how it’s lived out in the world and how the things that began in the exercises journey consolidate and deepen in that process going forward. So, for me, there are different [01:03:00] advantages, different joys as a person, accompanying people in those two different kind of modes of operating.
I love giving the full exercises because there’s something about the intensity of that process and the dynamic whether it’s in the 30 days or in the everyday life. But there’s also something exciting about the 18th annotation because often it’s people who’ve never really had the experience of tasting what a relationship with God is like and it’s that first “A ha moment” of I can actually have a relationship with God that people catch often in the 18th Annotation and that’s its own joy. Yeah, that’s just maybe a thought or two from the side of my own journey.
Adri-Marie: Thanks. Anne Marie. Thank you. Russell, I wonder if you want to share.
Russell: Thanks, Adri. I’ve done the exercises twice in the 30-day enclosed retreat format, [01:04:00] but I’ve never given them in that format. I’ve only given them in the 18th annotation, the retreat in daily life and I think it would echo a lot of what And Marie has already said about that so it’s difficult for me to make a comparison in terms of the giving but certainly in the receiving of them in the 30-day thing, it is quite intense. That’s all you do. It’s pretty focused.
In the giving of them, it’s been very interesting because the times that I have, it’s been people who have lived very busy lives. One was in a corporate space; another one was working in the in a media space, and it was just amazing to me how—because if you’ve done them, sometimes, us Jesuits can be a little bit purist—and so, I thought is this really going to work like the dynamic of the 30 day? But it was incredible to me how it did and how once we got into a rhythm with the person and the prayer. What Annemarie said there about the one person will say that the experience of the exercises [01:05:00] was, even though they’d been kind of Christian for most of their lives, it was only when they had done the exercises that they felt they really had a personal relationship with Jesus, or they started to develop a personal relationship with Jesus.
I discovered so many different resources. So, one of the things I relied on when I did that was Tetlow’s, Choosing Christ in the World. But as we moved along, I think the flexibility—what you said earlier about the 16th century saint, and he leaves us this gift, and yet it can be applied in our own context in such a powerful way that it does bring about a big change for people in their relationship with God and just the way that they orientate their lives. So, I found that to be quite remarkable and it’s amazing to me how always the dynamic of the exercises, no matter what form people are doing them in, whether it’s enclosed or in daily life, the 18th annotation, in what form the dynamic of the exercises works. If [01:06:00] we just allow it to unfold, the dynamic, it works. It’s incredible how—I don’t know, grace or whatever just kicks in—and it works. And that for me has been something remarkable to witness with the people that I have journeyed with when they’ve done the exercise in the 18th annotation.
I don’t want to repeat a whole lot of what Annemarie said. As the director, because I was doing two other jobs at the time of one of the people, I found that to see the person regularly, I found that at times to be quite taxing to get our schedules together because the person was also doing this corporate job and yet yeah, it was just an amazing experience. And I think that thing of almost living through the exercises again yourself was also something that I felt strongly, as I journeyed, as I accompanied somebody else.
Adri-Marie: Thank you, Russell. What Russell just said made me think of—you think life is going to happen with them, [01:07:00] but it happens with us also and this is where the mystery kicks in. And sometimes it’s almost just in sync, whatever you need and the person you guide needs almost—sometimes you’ll find that you’re going through a rough time, and they perhaps just say, I need an extra week also. There’s this beautiful mystery sometimes that play over this longer period of time.
Russell: Sorry. I said 18th and I mean 19th annotation.
Adri-Marie: Yes, the 19th annotation of daily life, the full one. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Russell. Trevor, if you can hear us. I wonder if you want to share some of your experience.
Trevor: I can hear you. I’ve just switched off my camera just to keep connected. I think my own history was doing it in 1990 and then from—I would say about 1994 or five, I [01:08:00] think every year since then, I’ve taken through the exercises two to three people. I want to underline everything that’s been said so far and perhaps add that not to underestimate the time commitment in giving them in terms of preparing for each session, the supervision around giving the exercises, I think it amounts to a huge commitment. And I’ve just needed always to be very careful about that and not to over promise and under deliver as it were as a giver of the exercises.
I had the wonderful privilege last year of leading someone through the 30-day enclosed retreat and that was my first time ever to do that, and that was a profound consolation experience for [01:09:00] me getting a front row seat of grace at work in the life of a person and certainly deepened my appetite in that direction.
Adri-Marie: Thank you, Trevor. That’s, I think, an exciting appetite and Brenda, I wonder if you share your experience.
Brenda: Thanks, Adri-Marie. So, for me it is the 19th annotation. The responsibilities of my life mean I can’t or so far, I haven’t been able to do, make the 30 days or accompany anyone. But as you were asking the question, what struck me is the different ways that has happened.
The 19th annotation has happened over the years. When I first started, people were coming in to see me in my study and I probably had one person at a time. [01:10:00] Now we’re using the internet and I’m accompanying people from different parts of the world, which is really such a joy. At the moment I’ve got three people in pretty much the same place from different continents and that’s such a joy to just see how God moves differently. I have used the sort of—some of it is enclosed, particularly the third week and that has worked when myself and the retreatant can be in the same place at the same time. That’s really helpful.
I’ve also almost had to break the 19th annotation into blocks when people have had stuff going on in their lives so we’ve adapted that way—kind of done as you would do in stages in an enclosed retreat. We’ve had to do that in daily life. And that’s also worked—you pick up the dynamic and have a couple of weeks of recap. And so, for me at the moment. one day a week is directing the exercises.
There’s [01:11:00] another joy that I just wanted to name, and that is I’ve got some folk in ongoing direction with me who’ve made 30 days in closed retreats. So being able to pick up with them as they come out and just journey and hold the graces and what they’ve received is also a joy to be aware of that.
So, the range; I’ve also accompanied people in shorter retreats who are in the middle of 19th annotation in daily life and have come on a short retreat and I’m trying to pick up and hold the dynamic in that enclosed space when I’m not their exercises director. So that can also be quite interesting.
Adri-Marie: Thanks, friends. We have about 10 minutes today for some question and response. I don’t want you to feel pressured regarding the time and please [01:12:00] also know there’s still a long time we have together and before you are starting in any way. Those questions won’t go amiss. So, if you have a burning question, please do let me know.
I’m going to start with Denise because she indicated. And do perhaps put them in the chat but don’t feel limited by the 10 minutes. We’re going to share wonderings or questions and let’s see how many we get to. Thanks, Denise.
Denise: Okay. Sorry. It’s trying to unmute. I think I have even more wonderings now. I was really intrigued with the idea of doing them in stages and just wondering also the practicality of a director. [01:13:00] If I say I’m directing someone at a retreat center, how does that work? You just go with them to like a retreat center and you each get your own room, and you meet and then, how does that work?
And then also, how breaking the 30 day. retreat into stages. So, what if there’s any comments on that?
Adri-Marie: Thanks Denise. Look, the practical part really is where even a lot of adaptation on our side is needed. Some are connected with retreat centers and can get it at a good price. Some do the exercises for free for others and see it as even their tithing. Some ask for a specific price to cover costs. Some say it’s a self-catering, so there are real practicalities that we’ll get to, but that’s where I really want to just encourage you to be yourself [01:14:00] also as a director, to find out how to be faithful towards the weeks and the guidance that Ignatius gives us, as well as what seems good, and even practical from your side as well. It is important in an enclosed retreat to then, as far as possible, see them also in person. You don’t have to be there the whole time but those details, sometimes it’s a good thing to have them supervision and being able to suss it out.
You don’t want to ever break a dynamic, so you won’t stop in the middle of week three. For instance, so as those graces build on one another, you want a cycle to finish. So, as we progress through the exercises and the training, you will get a better sense of those dynamics and perhaps where is there a good pause place for [01:15:00] those gaps if that makes sense. Somebody wants to add something.
Annemarie: Maybe to also just put in that mix that often when the exercises are being done in stages, retreat houses advertise it like that. They will say stage one will happen at this part of the year, and then there’ll be a six month break, and then we’re going to have the retreat at stage two for 10 days, and they will try to make sure that the same director, because they will have people on these staff, will accompany the same person throughout the process because they hold the memory of what happened earlier in the retreat.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen in practice because someone might resign or die or whatever and then you had part of the retreat with one director and the next part might end up being with another director which I think is one of the disadvantages of the retreat in stages potentially.
Also, they would tend to [01:16:00] do principle and foundation and first week in one block, then a break, then the second week, and then as Adri-Marie was saying, the third and fourth week, or one piece. So that would normally be the kind of way that they would break it up. I think it’s much more difficult if you are a lone director who’s not employed in a retreat center trying to make exercises in stages work.
I think that as Adri-Marie says, you have to be quite creative if you want to do it that way with someone and there are ways to make that work, but I don’t think that’s been commonly done very much until now. The whole situation is evolving the whole time. We’re constantly looking for new and better ways of adapting to the circumstances of our lives and how things are shifting.
But it does have the advantage of people not having to take a huge block of leave all in one year. Whereas, if you can do it over six months of the last year into the six months of the next [01:17:00] year, you can often manage that more easily. So, yeah.
Adri-Marie: And Denise, if there’s an inkling or a stirring in you, we look forward to seeing how that plays out and for you to add to our learning. Some more wonderings.
Diana: I have one.
Adri-Marie: Thanks, Diana.
Diana: As the exercises have become more popular, or they’re slowly becoming more known and popular, I’m coming across these programs that have been designed to be very efficient. They’re done in groups. You hardly ever meet with a spiritual director one on one, and I’m just wondering what would be a gracious way of responding to that? I have a reaction. I’m just like, it’s kind of robbing yourself of the full experience. At the same time, it’s also [01:18:00] maybe giving a taste for people. So, I struggle with that tension. What would be a helpful response when I encounter that?
Adri-Marie: Yeah. Thank you for that. I think there’s always this thing when something becomes popular and how it’s then spoken about, et cetera. So, I think it’s a wonderful thing that so many more people are getting trained as givers of the exercises.
So, I think each of us, if you think about the circles of influence in our lives could perhaps just be an alternative voice. I think I’d be curious on already the fruits that’s maybe happening even through those programs. And then perhaps just through our own witness to say there’s more.
One can sometimes see that even as maybe an expression of 18th annotation and say, hey, there’s even more. So perhaps there’s an appetite at some stage to [01:19:00] make the full exercises that is actually guided by a giver of the exercises. So, I think be curious on how God is using it, celebrate it and then just that hey of the more—of the more. I think if you feel something really deep that this is really not Ignatian, that’s also okay to share what you experience as what is Ignatian. I think our task is keeping true to the source as, and I wanna really encourage all of you to go and read the annotations in its original text, and then again, an adaptation just for us to really soak in and even learn in our understanding. Trevor? Russell? Annemarie? Brenda?
Brenda: Adri-Marie, I [01:20:00] think the thing that stands out for me is people are longing for the gifts of the exercises. So, one of my current exercitants may have used O’Brien’s book twice, on her own and then came looking for someone to accompany her. And so, groundwork was done and the fruit of that is there but for them, the gift of having an accompanier is what stands out at this point of the journey, that someone to reflect back. So, it’s like seeds that then bear fruit in different ways, that more that you’re speaking about.
Adri-Marie: Thanks for that, Brenda, and I’m actually, in fact, also guiding somebody at the moment that just with a group of friends worked through the Ignatian experience and also literally just responded because he knew a giver of the exercises that said to him, Hey, if you want an even fuller experience, there’s more.
So, it’s beautiful for me even to be amazed [01:21:00] of this “always the more” that Ignatius always talks about. So, it was a recent experience, but there’s now, the fullness is just even more full now that he’s been guided in it.
Friends, I’m aware that it’s almost quarter past, so I’d love to actually hand over to Gary, but I don’t want us to miss any questions because I know this can be quite practical.
If you perhaps have some wonderings, please do put them in the chat. hold on to them or tell them to you mentor so we don’t lose it. And also, just to affirm, it’s going to work itself out. So, this is about also noticing, hey, this is maybe a way, and it needs to be practical for yourself as well as the person that you’re guiding. All right.
Annemarie: Adri-Marie, I don’t think that Avo is with us yet, unless I’m mistaken.
Adri-Marie: Oh, is that so?
Annemarie: So, maybe we’ve got [01:22:00] time if anyone else has a thought or a question.
Adri-Marie: All right. Will you have a lookout for me Anne Marie if you see him join? Yes,
Annemarie: I’ll keep a lookout, yes!
Adri-Marie: Unless Gary, you want to say something to us?
Gary: Oh no, no. I was going to say the same thing.
Adri-Marie: Great. So, we’ll wait for Avo to join. All right. So, anybody who had a wondering, now’s your chance.
Shirley: I have a wondering. I just had the experience of going through the exercises where the directors took two days for each week, and they were spaced about four to six weeks apart and they took a group through. Yeah, everyone had an individual director that they met with twice, like one on each day kind of thing per session. And I was also going through the 19th annotation at the time, and it felt like there was a lot that was missing and I’m wondering if that [01:23:00] experience that I had actually would be a catapult into the more that you were talking about, but I’m also wondering is that just another viable way of doing the exercises?
It just seems like you can adapt them a million ways. It’s my question. That’s my question. My comment.
Adri-Marie: Great. Yeah. Thank you, Shirley, for sharing your experience. This is what makes our conversational mental group so valuable is so that we can hear how each other and what they experienced.
I think I want to really come back to that faithfulness and adaptation. As we go along, we’re going to really get a deep understanding of the different meditations and their purpose and the text that can be given and so the fullness of it is 30 full days. So, I think that faithfulness to the embodiment of it all to keep to that, but I think to [01:24:00] the short, short versions can be celebrated can be 18th annotations but to distinguish for us we’d like this group to go guide somebody in the full exercises in this year. I see Avo has joined us. There’re many more things to comment on that but thank you Shirley for bringing that. So, I’m going to hand over to Gary.
Avo: Oh, and I’ll be very brief. Just want to say again; just so very delighted to be partnering with the Jesuit Institute of South Africa. This is remarkable training experience. Also, just delighted to be friends with Avo. Avo doesn’t need any introduction. I’m pretty sure for most of you, if you’ve visited the Conversatio site, anything that’s beautiful there or functional, that’s because of Avo. I have the great privilege of being in a small group with Avo once a week to think about the website.
It’s mostly a spiritual formation group in the last 5 minutes. We get around to some functional stuff. But so [01:25:00] anyway, Avo is going to introduce you to some ways that the website can enhance your experience.
Avo: Hi, everyone. Thank you, Gary. I’m assuming you guys are all familiar with conversate.org. Do you need me to walk you through that a little bit? Would anyone like an introduction to that or are you guys okay on that front?
Annemarie: I think that might be good, Avo because not everyone is connected in yet. It might be good just to start there briefly, if that’s possible.
Avo: Great. Okay.
Annemarie: Thank you.
Avo: Great. I think host disabled screen sharing.
Annemarie: He’s the host now.
Avo: Still can’t get on.
Pam: I think Adri-Marie is the host. [01:26:00] Okay,
Avo: I’ve got it now. Okay, great. Okay, so we’ll start with, you guys all see my screen? Okay, let me move this over here. So, we’ll start with, Conversatio. org. And Conversatio. org is a website that houses the voices of Dallas Willard, Ignatian spirituality, and ancient Christian spirituality. And Gary’s also done a good job over the last few years of gathering people who come from those streams, younger voices, and more modern voices who could add to that conversation.
The website is comprised of Articles, video and audio content and a collection of those as a series. When you first come to the website, and I’ll just reload it, so you get the full experience. [01:27:00] It’ll start like so and it’s this immersive kind of homepage and you flip through it like you would a magazine or some kind of a pub and it’s got the highlighted articles or video or audio content there that we want to feature on the home page. Here’s one on the spiritual exercises by Annemarie. And so that’s what the homepage is like. The rest of the website I’ll just show you. This is your menu up top. You’ve got your home; the meat of the website is in the curriculums and if you open that, it’ll open a secondary menu there.
You’ve got a library, which is a collection of everything that’s on the website. Then we’ve got a full section dedicated to Dallas Willard. At some point, we’ll have a full section dedicated to Ignatian spirituality. Then we’ve got meditations and conversations journal and the full editions of the conversations journal which is out of [01:28:00] publication, out of circulation, but we’ve been archiving them here. Just to go show you what a library page feels like and my internet’s running a little slow. You can see here all the different articles and videos; browse through. Here are some featured conversations journals you could see. And just for time’s sake. I’ve pulled up what a collection looks like and a collection is a series of content that’s been strung together.
So, here’s one on Hearing God by Dallas Willard and as you go down, you’ll see a brief intro and then you’ll see each episode or a session within that series called out in this format and listed. And if you were to click into 1, say, we clicked into the 1st 1 here, you would go to that specific session and just right at the top; if [01:29:00] it is a video series, you can just hit play and start playing that video. If there’s any additional information such as transcribed speech that would be down here, or if there’s content for you to download, that would be in this section here. And the reason I show you that the class you’re in right now is being recorded and archived as such, and it will be in this format.
If you wanted to search anything on the website, a really easy way is just to come here and, for example, let’s search gratitude. Just type any word and it’ll pull up anything that’s on gratitude. We’ve got a full meditation series on it. So that’s why it’s pulling that up. Maybe that wasn’t the best example, but if you go down, there’s other.
It’ll pull from the titles first, and then it’ll start pulling from the content, from the body of the article or how we’ve tagged it. [01:30:00] Another way you can search is by author. If you just click that magnifying glass and go to search by authors and you’ll see all the authors who have contributed anything on this website.
There are many. There’s Trevor. Okay. So that’s the website in a nutshell. If you wanted to do any more heavy duty searching, you could go to the index page and here you can sort by article or video or audio or collections. You could sort chronologically or alphabetically. So, you could do a lot more heavy duty searching/researching here.
Okay. So now I’m going to jump into the conversations class. I’m going to the Conversatio class. I’m going to log out here just so I can show you the full process. So, this is a secondary website. [01:31:00] And when you first come to it, this is the page you’ll see, but you’ll need to register. Just to make things easy on you guys.
I’m going to register all of you to the class and add you to this class. And you’ll be receiving an email. It might come from a different email address because it’s still in beta. And you’ll get a password and your username. And when you do that, just log in and I’ll have you add it to the class, but I’m just going to log in here.
And when you first enter into the website, it’s a very simple web app. You’ll have your name up here. You’ll see edit profile account and log out. You can edit your profile if you wanted to change your name or you wanted to [01:32:00] add a bio, you could do that. So, we go back to profile. Account settings—there aren’t many. You could change your password, or you can delete your account and change where you receive emails and all that.
Under classes, you’ll see my classes and all classes. So, I’m going to add you to this class already. The Ignatian Spiritual Exercises Training 2023. One thing I will say, and this is a design flaw and that we’re working through. Don’t ever click leave class because you’ll actually leave the classroom. And if you do, it’s not the end of the world. I could add you back in. But don’t click that if you’re logging off just. Close your browser window, and that’s all you need to do. You can send messages, or you could see who sent you a [01:33:00] message. Anyone who’s in your class, you’ll be able to message directly.
So, if I wanted to—I don’t know if Jean’s in this class, but if I wanted to say hello to Jean, I could just send her a message, and she’ll receive it next time she logs on. And she’ll see a little red dot next to her name. If she has received a new message
Now for the classes. When you see here, Ignatius Spirituality Exercises Training, 2023, that’s the class you’re in currently. There are four members. I’ve only added me, Gary, Pam, and Trevor, but there’ll be all of you in here.
You’ve got an intro to the class, right? Excuse me, right underneath the title. You can download the syllabus. If you just click that, it’ll pull up the syllabus here, which is the brochure. Currently you’re in Block 1, Sessions [01:34:00] 1 through Session 12. As we move farther into the class, you’ll have Block 2, Block 3, Block 4. Those will be added down here. So, if you click this, it is basically a link to the Conversatio site to your specific class.
This is a hidden link. So only you’ll have access to it through the class’s website. And when you come here, you’ll see the course introduction and the three sessions you’ve all sat through, which is The Life of Ignatius, Processes of the Spiritual Exercises and The Dynamics of the Spiritual Exercises By next week, we’ll add the class you’re in currently. So, you’ll see the fourth session or Session Five.
Just to click on one. So, if you click on one, you’ll see the course introduction here, [01:35:00] and if you press play, it’ll play the video. And there’s Russell. So, it’s your full class recorded. You can watch again.
Right below the video, you’ll see click here to download. Introductory and Session 1 materials. If you click that, it’ll download a zip file. Excuse me, and wherever you have that going, you’ll see all your material in there from that specific session. So, this one’s got a, looks like an email message, a PDF, and a Word document. So, all your material will be collected there.
Going back to our class, I think you’re going to be encouraged to interact with one another and there’s a message board here. This message board is public to your specific class. So, if I said, [01:36:00] welcome to ISET 2023 and then post; it’ll post that. You can also post links here and you could also post images. So, if I were to click the little camera icon, there’s Trevor, and you have to write a caption in order to post the photo, and I would post that. You click and it will post, or you can, if you change your mind, you can just X out.
Once you’ve posted something, you can like each other’s post, much like Facebook. You could comment on the post on someone else’s post; you could edit it or delete it. And when you see this members here, if you click that everyone who’s a member within your group, you could send a direct message to and that’s it.
Does [01:37:00] anyone have any questions? Oh, one last thing—notifications. You’ll see notifications here pop up if someone posted anything, or if you’ve received a message, you’ll see those notifications. You could mark them as unread, and they’ll disappear. You could clear all and they’ll all go away.
Annemarie: Thanks so much for that, Avo. That’s wonderful. It really is. Really appreciate you taking the time to come and show us what’s there and how to use it. I’m wondering if the best way is for people to just drop us an email if they have questions. Can they do that?
Avo: You could. Yes, send emails to info@conversatio.org and Pam will send me all your names and email addresses so I can add you to the class, and that should happen in the next day or [01:38:00] two.
Annemarie: Fantastic!
Gary: Just, very briefly, because I know we’re past the bottom of the hour. So, Avo, today’s session was the fifth one 1 so I think the fourth session will be posted pretty probably pretty quickly. It probably runs about a week behind it seems, but once it gets up and rolling it’s about 7 days before its current with the class that was most recent, and they’ll likely be something that goes out to everyone in written form that’s a little bit more descriptive as far as just your first time to go to the site and some things like that. Anyway, all that would be coming.
Annemarie: Thanks, Gary. And thank you very much, Avo. I know it’s early in the morning still on our side.
Avo: Not too early. It’s okay.
Annemarie: Thank you for making time to be with us. We may need to get you back once we’ve had a shot at it and seen how it goes. And then, in a couple of weeks, if people are still struggling, we might ask you to come back again for any specific questions. But thank you so much. [01:39:00]
Avo: Anytime. Thank you.
Annemarie: Really appreciate it.
Avo: No worries.
Annemarie: Bye. We’re just going to hand over to Brenda for one minute to end in a closing prayer for this evening. And thank you, Adri-Marie for leading us today.
Brenda: So, friends, let’s just take a moment to be still, to perhaps take a deep breath, and maybe there is one gift that you want to say thank you to God for tonight, or this morning, something that you’ve received—an inward movement, perhaps a hope, an anticipation. Maybe even some sense of what might be.[01:40:00]
So, God who comes close, thank you for the potential and the possibility that awaits us as we journey with others through the Exercises. Amen!