Last semester in my graduate class on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, the professor required a few resources. One of them was the book The Spiritual Exercises Reclaimed, 2nd Edition: Uncovering Liberating Possibilities for Women co-authored by Elizabeth Liebert and Annemarie Paulin-Campbell. We utilized this resource alongside another commentary that contained the original text of the Spiritual Exercises (Understanding the Spiritual Exercises by Michael Ivens, SJ).
I was not sure what to expect when I started engaging with either of these resources. Truth be told, though I had recently completed the 19th Annotation of the Spiritual Exercises myself, I had never read the entirety of the original text of the Exercises. After all, the intention of the text was always for the person giving the retreat not the person participating in it. Now that I was training to guide others, however, the original text seemed of primary importance.
As I started reading through the original text and the accompanying commentary in the Ivens book, I came quite quickly to what I now know to be a common realization. Though Ignatius led women through the Exercises, they were written from a male perspective primarily with men in mind. Therefore, there were some moments of disconnect for me in the original text that I had to bring to prayer and contemplation.
My professor clearly recognized this as she planned the course and invited us to engage as well with the Liebert and Campbell book which took the original Exercises and offered perspective on how some of the movements or suggestions for prayer might be limiting for women. They then suggested some adaptations to help spiritual directors effectively guide their directees. As we engaged with the book, the class quickly came to the combined realization that the book was not simply helpful to those who were engaging women in the Exercises but helpful in general for bringing the Exercises into a modern-day context.
Many years ago, I taught an adult course on Spirituality, and through my preparations for it I learned why a spirituality in Catholicism might be called “great”. In essence, a “great” spirituality brought something new to light in the context of the historical setting it was in. In addition, a spirituality was named great if those that continued on the mission of the founder also continued to adjust and apply the spirituality to the current context. In other words, a great spirituality was one in which those that continued the mission of the founder “read the signs of the times” and made appropriate adjustments without losing the original essence.
In my opinion, Elizabeth Liebert and Annemarie Paulin-Campbell alongside many others engaged in Ignatian Spirituality are helping Ignatian Spirituality continue to be not only a “great” spirituality but an increasingly universal one. It’s also important to note that as they do so, they are being careful to stay true to St. Ignatius’s vision that came from his deep and loving friendship with God.
Some questions for reflection:
- If you are a spiritual director, what resources have you utilized to ensure different directees are able to connect with the Exercises?
- If you have been a directee during any version of the Spiritual Exercises, did you find any part of them difficult to engage with not because of the challenge of the prayer but because of a disconnect with the text or context? What did your director do to help?
- Does engaging with a text that seeks to explore challenges with the original text of the Exercises in a modern era and unpack and address those challenges excite you? unnerve you? confuse you? Consider why and bring it to prayer and direction for clarity of understanding.
