Fr. Jordan J. Orbe, SJ
November 18, 2015
The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola is meant to be life changing. Countless individuals have made the Exercises and undergone a deep conversion of mind and heart. Saint Ignatius intended it to dispose the person to be free from all disordered inclinations and to seek the will of God. One can only marvel at the way Ignatius codified his own experience of conversion into a manual that can be used to guide others. The entire Spiritual Exercises is “welded together in a psychological and logical unity.”[1] The prayer exercises are sequenced in a way that brings to the fore a profound interior movement. Each matter for prayer and the grace begged for in each section build from one to the other in an ever-deepening dynamic. Using some psychological concepts, we will attempt in this article to articulate how this dynamic unfolds particularly in the First Week of the Spiritual Exercises.
Entering the First Week
As the retreatant begins the Exercises, there is need to consider first the following predispositions that help one become receptive to the grace begged for in the First Week: a) a stable and supple sense of self; b) grounding in a basic experience of goodness and c) orienting one’s perspective following Ignatius’ foundations. It is crucial for the one giving the Exercises to sense where the retreatant is with regard to these aspects.
Basic predisposition of self. As Ignatius puts it in the introductory notes, it would be profitable for the one who is making the Exercises to enter with magnanimity and generosity towards God. Aside from this, there are certain psychological qualities that may also need to be ascertained in the retreatant. The first of these is a capacity for solitude and silence. Secondly, the retreatant must have some ability to notice and articulate inner experiences. And third, the retreatant must have a certain degree of receptiveness as opposed to defensiveness or closed-mindedness. These qualities are clear indications of a healthy, stable sense of self. They show that the person is equipped with a certain degree of self-awareness and not impaired by serious psycho-emotional baggage. If these are lacking, the retreatant may need more time to prepare for the Exercises. It may help to do some self-awareness processes and if needed, even counseling or psychotherapy.
Grounding in an experience of goodness. Aside from a deficient sense of self, another indication of non-readiness for the First Week would be a defective image of God.[2] “God is good” cannot simply be a philosophical or abstract truism for the retreatant. The best way a person can begin the retreat is by getting in touch with the experience of goodness, of generosity and gratuity, and of the reality of love despite pain, suffering and loss. This will hopefully lead the retreatant to a firmer acknowledgment of God as the source of all goodness, reinforcing the experience of a loving and trustworthy God. Theories of psychological development underscore the vital place of trust and security in optimal human growth leading to autonomy, identity, and integrity. Beginning the Exercises by grounding oneself in goodness fosters this sense of trust and security. It enables the person to confront sin without spiraling into unhealthy introspection or self-centered guilt and shame. The time leading up to the retreat may be considered as preparation days for the retreatant to dwell on scripture texts and reflections that highlight the goodness and generosity of God.
The First Principle and Foundation as frame. Yet another touchstone for the person’s readiness for the First Week is his or her response to Ignatius’ First Principle and Foundation.[3] This brief consideration is placed at the beginning of the Exercises, and is considered its “front door”. In this sense, we can take the First Principle and Foundation as a frame. In cognitive science, a frame is a psychological device used to offer a perspective by emphasizing certain things to influence subsequent judgment or decision. The First Principle and Foundation is the Ignatian vision succinctly articulated. It is deceptively simple and straightforward but within it are the key elements which set the whole dynamic of the Spiritual Exercises in motion: creaturehood (experienced as a sense of finiteness and vulnerability as well as the God-given potentiality to live out one’s purpose), freedom (one’s capacity for making choices according to real values) and desire (with emphasis on the purpose of one’s existence as the basis for wanting and choosing). It is important that the director allows the retreatant to spend time dwelling on this consideration to surface whatever is evoked. A sense of awe, gratefulness, and the beginnings of a true desire to generously respond to God are usually good indicators to move into the First Week.
Tracking the Grace of the First Week
When asked what grace is begged for by the retreatant in the First Week, some givers of the Spiritual Exercises may give this shorthand reply: “Shame and confusion for sin.” This is not totally inaccurate; it says so in the second prelude of the First Exercises (Sp. Ex. No. 48) and is intensified in the second prelude of the Second Exercise (Sp. Ex. No. 56). However, focusing solely on shame and confusion over one’s sinfulness does not fully capture the dynamic of the First Week. While the graces as articulated by Ignatius may seem to focus on negative affect such as shame, confusion, sorrow, abhorrence and horror, a closer reading of the text also reveals the positive experience at the core. Those who have experienced the First Week would be quick to agree. The point of the exercises is not merely to induce some kind of breast-beating, sackcloth-and-ashes remorse for one’s sin. We highlight three interior movements by which the primary grace of the First Week is made manifest in the retreatant: a) radical acceptance of self; b) gratitude; and c) openness to conversion.
Radical acceptance of self. Praying the First Week is an invitation for the retreatant to take a radical look at reality.[4] The points of the five exercises lead the person to unflinchingly gaze at the self that is weak and disordered, bearing the marks of a history of sin, immersed in a world of sinfulness, deserving of damnation and in dire need of God’s mercy. Yet immediately, the sinful self is also brought face to face with mercy embodied in Christ who hangs on the cross, dying for love of the sinner. The first exercise ends in a conversation with the crucified Lord. It is interesting to note that at no point in the First Week exercises does the retreatant beg for mercy and forgiveness. Of course, since this is already offered so concretely and completely by Christ on the cross! God knows and accepts the sinner as he or she is and offers love and redemption. This cannot but awaken in oneself a deep sense of worth, a radical acceptance that heals and empowers. Psychological literature is replete with evidence of how genuine change begins at a point of authentic acceptance of self and one’s condition. In the First Week, the retreatant comes to this as the result of God’s loving acceptance.
Gratitude. The apparent stress on the negative affective response ought not to eclipse the sense of deep gratitude that is at the heart of the First Week prayer. The gratefulness evoked in the First Principle and Foundation is infinitely deepened as the retreatant comes face to face with the mercy and love of God shown towards the sinner. Reading through the prayer exercises of the First Week, one is struck by how consistently the graces begged for (shame, confusion, etc.) end up in a declaration of thanksgiving (see for instance Sp. Ex. No.61 and 71). Clearly, the real point of surfacing our sinfulness and inadequacies in contrast to God’s goodness and infinite mercy is not to heighten our guilt and self-rejection; it is to awaken and deepen our gratitude.[5] Contemporary movements in psychology highlight the power of gratitude to enhance life satisfaction, mood and happiness levels. Studies have even established the effect of gratefulness on raising physical energy and relieving pain and fatigue in neuromuscular disease patients. Ignatius, ever the astute “psychologist,” recognized the value of awakening deep gratitude in the retreatant to move her or him towards a loving response. It is gratitude that moves the retreatant to ask “What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What ought I to do for Christ?”
Opening to conversion. The graces received in the First Week culminate in the retreatant’s experience of opening up to conversion. The experience of being accepted and forgiven frees the person from debilitating guilt and shame. The deep sense of gratitude that it fosters brings down defenses, making one ready to receive, to listen. More importantly it liberates and empowers one to embark on a reorientation of the self towards God, which is the essence of conversion. In this way, it predisposes the retreatant for the Second Week grace of knowing, loving and following Christ. In a striking way, psychologist Brendan Callaghan likens the First Week experience to the “unbinding of Lazarus”:
“Lazarus is freed from the corruption of the tomb and from the constraints of his winding-sheet. The person who repents is freed from the corruption of sin and from the constraints of self rejection…as any experience of growth in acceptance frees me for more effective living for others, so the grace of the First Week is a grace which frees for service.”[6]
The prayer of the First Week therefore is nothing less than opening the person to love. It is a movement from being otherwise locked in one’s own sinful unfreedom towards allowing God to enter into the core of one’s existence, molding one’s life and giving it meaning.
About the Author
Fr. Jordan J. Orbe, SJ is currently a doctoral student in Clinical Psychology (PsyD) at Loyola University Maryland. He is also working as a graduate student clinician at Loyola Clinical Centers in Baltimore, Maryland.
[1] Joseph Hitter, “First Week And Love Of God” in The Way Supplement 34, Autumn 1978, p. 27.
[2] Joseph Veale, “The First Week Practical Questions,” in The Way Supplement 48 (Autumn 1983), p. 16.
[3] Veale, p. 16.
[4] Brendan Callaghan, “The Unbinding of Lazarus: A Psychologists view of the First Week,” in The Way Supplement 48 (Autumn 1983)
[5] Charles M. Shelton, “Graced Gratitude” in The Way 42/3 (July 2003) p. 145.
[6] Callaghan, p. 65
Sister Maria Ligaya N.Valencia, RVM on November 26, 2015 AT 12 am
Quite an excellent and integrated background for presenting the First Week of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Thank you for sharing and making it available to those who give retreats in the Way of the Spiritual Exercises.
Best wishes and prayers.
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