To the Band of Brothers: March 26, 2021

Good morning!

 

We finished up with Ignatian Week last week and I feel like I should have written a few more emails to you about the significance of those days. I know we have various images of St. Ignatius all over the school and several banners with typical Ignatian catchphrases like “magis,” “cura personalis,” and “ad majorem dei gloriam,” but we need to mention a little bit about the core of what it truly means to be Ignatian.

At the center of everything we do are the Spiritual Exercises. What, you may ask, are the Spiritual Exercises? Well, nothing more than the bread and butter of the Society of Jesus, the core of our spirituality, the center of our order, the fabric of our lives (and you thought it was cotton). They were the experiences that shaped and transformed the life of our founder St. Ignatius of Loyola and later shaped and transformed the religious order he founded and eventually everyone who has ever come in contact with the Jesuits.

The story goes that Ignatius, shortly after his conversion, was determined to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. On his way to Barcelona, where he was to board a ship heading East, he stopped in a little town called Manresa and lived as a hermit in a cave close to the Cardoner River for eleven months. This period of time was one of intense prayer and spiritual growth. He wrote all of it down and compiled what is known as the Spiritual Exercises. In the founder’s own words: “by the term ‘Spiritual Exercises’ is meant every method of examination of conscience, of meditation, of contemplation, of vocal and mental prayer, and of other spiritual activities.”

What has been handed down to us is a 30-day silent retreat broken up into four weeks where the young Jesuit examines his own life and contemplates the life of Jesus in order to do away with the things that keep him from being closer to God. Yes, you read right, 30 days in silence. You are probably wondering how on God’s green earth was Fr. Willie able to keep silent for so long? Well, it is amazing what one can do with the grace of God and the desire to be closer to Him. I also figured that if tens of thousands of other men, women, and children have given up their lives for the sake of the faith, I can give up a few weeks in silence.

In the life of every Jesuit, the 30-day retreat occurs in the first year of formation and then again in the last. But every year, for as long as he lives, a Jesuit is required to do an eight-day silent retreat. Needless to say, the experience is powerful and you learn so much about yourself and about God because the silence helps you confront yourself and listen. In a world that is so cluttered with noise so loud you can never hear yourself think, the Exercises are an oasis, a break, it’s a General Foods International coffee (celebrating the moments of your life).

Ask any Jesuit and he will tell you how that retreat experience is powerful. They will tell you of the awesomeness the experiences of prayer and contemplation are. I wholeheartedly agree. The other beauty of the experience of the Spiritual Exercises is that it bonds us Jesuits for life and sets us on mission. It is for this reason that Ignatius insisted that his men be referred to as los compañeros de Jesús, the companions of Jesus.

Auspice Maria,

Fr. Willie ‘87