INTRODUCTION
The purpose of the manual is to contribute to the learning and serious
conversation of those who accompany others on the inward journey in a variety
of settings which have some connection with the Spiritual Exercises. It
is also an attempt to establish the kind of conversation that we directors
of the Spiritual Exercises have when we discuss our craft with one another
in peer groups. During these conversations, there is always a mixture
of theory with practice, conjecture with profound insight -- and all this,
with open-ended wonderment.
Because this manual would be so bulky in one volume, I have divided the
material into two parts:
Orientations, Volume
2: Part A contains the first two sections;
Orientations, Volume
2: Part B, the last three sections.
Section
I -- Running Commentaries -- is written for the beginning spiritual
guide who is accompanying a directee through the notation [19] Exercises
journey for the first few times with some form of supervision. In
this section, to denote such a person, I use the term 'prayer guide'. Throughout
this section, I continually make reference to the relevant paragraphs of
the Exercises text and to other segments of this manual so that the prayer
guide can study and appropriate the contents and techniques of the Exercises
at the same time as he/she is guiding a directee on the Exercises journey.
Section
II -- Resources -- contains
materials that all spiritual directors, as well as the prayer guides specified
above, may find useful in accompanying directees during the notation [19]
Exercises journey and/or in many of its applications.
Section
III -- Further Theory And Practice -- with which Volume
2: Part B begins, is intended to further the understanding of the
Exercises and to give focal ideas for their applications in other areas
of spiritual guidance. This section is also written for teachers of practical
spirituality and for those spiritual directors who do not need the running
commentaries. It explores significant areas of the Exercises in the following
experienced-based and practical ways:
1. It relates the Exercises
text:
-- To the spiritual director's
own personal experiences;
-- To the directees' experiences
both during the Exercises journey itself and outside that setting.
2. It can be used in a
classroom setting:
-- References
are continually made to the Running Commentaries as well as to the Exercises
text. Thus students can get a "feel" for the way classroom theory might
appear in the actual guidance of directees.
-- Reflection and
study suggestions are given in each of these chapters to encourage
students to check the theory interactively against their own personal experiences
and judgements.
-- Connections
are continually suggested in order to engage the knowledge and wisdom --
psychological, sociological, cultural literacies, etc. -- which adult students
already possess.
Section
IV -- Ongoing Spiritual Direction -- deals with issues associated
with the general field of spiritual direction or mentoring and with the
uses and applications of the Exercises. Like Section III, it has been formatted
for use in the classroom with helps for study, reflection, and discussion.
In addition, it contains materials that will encourage beginning spiritual
directors to design their own programs and processes for their ministry
in a wide variety of settings.
Section
V -- Appendices -- is relevant for all the other segments of
the manual. This section contains:
A. Tool Kit
of helps for quality control in the ministry of spiritual guidance;
B. Glossary with
"working definitions" of key words and concepts used or implied in this
manual;
C. Index of study helps,
diagrams, reflection questions, cases;
D. Index of key terms
and concepts for the whole manual.
If you desire to investigate
further the context from which this manual is written, read Chapter 30.
There I make a number of distinctions which clarify my context more explicitly.
In addition, the distinctions elaborated in that chapter will continually
help you clarify many ambiguities which occur in discussions about the
Exercises and their applications.
The
Discourse Of Serious Conversation
This is not an academic study of the Exercises. My endnotes are not intended
to prove that my statements rest on the solid research of a written tradition.
Besides giving some of my sources, they are intended to further your reflection.
This is a manual which gathers into one place the wisdom that has emerged
from the experiences of practitioners of spiritual guidance who have shared
their experiences in conversations, collaborative meetings, seminars, and
practical workshops. The wisdom which it contains is that of a very rich,
living and oral tradition of Ignatian spiritual directors who have exercised
their art in many different contexts. The whole manual is written in a
simple style. Some segments may prove to be too simplistic; others may
be quite sophisticated and challenging. The manual may appear uneven and
multi-faceted -- from the down-to-earth and the how-to recipe through the
intuitive, seemingly unfounded leap to rather deep insights which can "satellize"
around themselves isolated bits of information that otherwise may remain
unconnected. For some of you, the style will appear undisciplined and annoying;
for others, it will be maieutic and harmonize with your more concrete or
hands-on style of learning.
On
Using This Manual
This
manual is not intended to be read from cover to cover, nor does
it manifest the same logical development usually associated with traditional
commentaries of the Exercises in the print medium. Except for the Running
Commentaries, one chapter does not flow into another according to some
overall deductive order. Every chapter of Part B can be understood on its
own, and so you will note a repetition of concepts which, even though developed
elsewhere, are relevant to the understanding of the individual chapters.
There are many cross-references within the manual itself and to the notations
of the Exercises. So how can you as a potential user judge its value for
your needs?
If
you are a teacher of spirituality or a trained spiritual director or a
supervisor of prayer guides, I would suggest that you look up your
favourite topics through the Index and the Glossary. Then choose one chapter
from the third or fourth sections and read it through along with its references
to the different segments of the manual.
If
you are looking for a handbook to train prayer guides as they accompany
directees on the Exercises journey, note particularly the fourth section
of the manual. It applies a prayer guide's learnings from the preceding
sections to many other settings outside the Exercises context. Also read
the material under the next heading.
A Word
For Beginning Directors Of The Exercises
If you are looking for a handbook to help you guide someone through the
notation [19] Exercises journey, this manual may be what you need provided
that you are not looking for a recipe for the entire journey. A
fixed program or recipe would be too mechanical. It would not lead you
to adapt the material according to the discerned needs of your unique directees;
nor would it empower you to trust your own hunches and judgements. A manual
that does not lead you to work on your own without it, is
not worth using!
The Running Commentaries, Chapters One through Nineteen, represent a more-or-less
detailed guidebook and map to help you accompany directees on the notation
[19] Exercises journey. Chapters One through Ten do so in a very detailed
fashion, but even in these chapters, you will encounter the encouragement
to depart from the program and to pay attention to the process that the
proposed structures attempt to foster. You will note very quickly that
the elements suggested may need to be expanded over a longer time or may
need to be left out because your directees do not need them at this time.
They may be in a different space from the one which is hypothesized in
these running commentaries. Over and over again, you will be encouraged
to adapt the map to the terrain, not the terrain to the map.
Some potential users may get frustrated by the intuitive logic that I use.
I
introduce new topics when prayer guides are likely to need them in the
process, but I give material to help develop a deeper understanding
of these topics only later when the need is likely to show itself as the
process unfolds. Thus, when I first introduce Desolation, I do not give
all the information on it in one place; I expand upon this term only when
more information is likely to be needed by a prayer guide and/or a directee.
If a prayer guide were to need more information than what is first given,
he/she is encouraged to go to the other segments of the manual by following
up on the references and looking things up in the indexes and glossary.
After Chapter Eleven, the running commentaries become skimpier, with fewer
instructions. Up to that point, I attempt to stay very close to the prayer
guide as a coach stays very close to a person learning how to swim. But
at a certain point, as any swim coach knows, there comes a time to prod
the beginner to swim on his/her own. Chapter Eleven represents this point
in the running commentaries. At this point I begin to pull back and encourage
the prayer guide to make judgements on his/her own. I do this by encouraging
greater use of Sections III which gives, in a more thematic way, the additional
insight and information that will be needed. My purpose is to wean the
prayer guide away from the program even more than I do in the first ten
chapters þ to nudge the prayer guide away from dependency on a detailed
program, which might unwittingly encourage a static, classicist-worldview
model, in order finally to move him/her to use the Exercises according
to his/her own intuition and judgement.
A Word
On Inclusivity
For practical reasons, in Section I -- Running Commentaries, I use female
pronouns for the prayer guide and male pronouns for the directee. In the
rest of the manual, I alternate the gender of personal pronouns; for example,
in Chapter 23, the spiritual director is male and the directee is female;
in Chapter 24, vice versa, etc. The scripture texts are not from any one
translation of the bible and some are from memory. I adapt them so that
they will be more gender-inclusive and immediately recognizable and useful.
In a similar way, I have adapted quotations from the Exercises by using
primarily Mullan's literal translation which I have modified with my own
words and phrases with an eye on other English translations, such as those
of Ganss, Morris, Puhl, E. Tetlow, etc.
I attempt to be inclusive in other ways. While taking for granted that
we need to understand the actual Exercises text with its technical language
and unique imagery in order to use it appropriately with others, I attempt
to make comments concerning its use from an ecumenical and inter-denominational
stance, and less from a "religious-order" viewpoint.
It would be almost impossible to make comments which are inclusive of other
cultures. My culture is definitely North American. This is quite evident
in the examples and the developmental worldview of the manual. However,
there are many places where I do question some of our North American assumptions
which may underlie the ways we do our ministry of spiritual direction.
Thank
You To So Many People
First of all, I thank John English, S.J., for
his constant witness, patience, insight and vision. Without him I would
never have come to love the Spiritual Exercises, appreciate their significance
and understand their theology and practice. Most of my ideas originated
with him. I remember the first prayer patterns that I developed in the
early 1970s, many of which were based on the significant scriptural references
he had recorded in his personal copy of the Exercises. He has always been
interested in the broad vision, and I have been privileged to receive that
vision with its consequent insights. John has been so generous in freely
sharing the abundance that the God has given him. As a result, I have been
able to grow many of the seeds that he planted.
To Rev. Jean Mitchell, a priest at St. George's Anglican Church here in
Guelph, I owe a debt of gratitude for her patient hours in correcting the
grammar and sentence structure of the manuscript and in digging out the
smaller units of insight from my own intuitive right-brain leaps.
To my Jesuit community, I owe a thank-you many times over for giving me
the freedom, atmosphere, emotional and financial support that made this
manual possible. Thank you also to the late Gordon George, S.J., for opening
me to psychological perspectives; to Elaine Frigo, CSSF, who read some
problematic portions of this manual and gave me very helpful suggestions;
to John LeSarge for teaching me to think in terms of mental structures;
to Jack Milan for his insights into social analysis; to Peter Oliphant
for his preliminary re-write and convincing nudge to finish this manual;
to Frank Whelan, S.J., for his constant support and nuanced suggestions;
to John Wickham, S.J., for opening my eyes to cultural perspectives.
I have muscular dystrophy and need attendant-care workers to help with
my personal care. Without their ministry during the past four years, I
would never have had the energy to complete this work. So thank you so
much to the whole staff of the Guelph Services for the Physically Disabled
and these attendant-care workers: Lisa, Linda, Cheryl, Janice, Angela,
Sarah, Jonna, Cathy, Melissa, Julie E., Veronica, Annelies, Dee, Branka,
Ashley, Leslie, Pam, Mary, Brandi, Helen, Julie P., Kim I., Kim M., and
Marta. Thank you also to Brother Gene McLaren, S.J., for his continual
help in physical care, in library search and in many other forms of thoughtfulness.
Thank you also to Christie Munro, my chiropractor, without whose care I
would not have been able to type this manuscript.
Thank you also to Kevin Bolianatz for some of the creative ideas behind
several of the designs in the manual; to Louise Nugent for helping with
the final execution of the designs; to Rev. Valerie Haines for her interpretative
designs in the prayer units; to Ruth McLean for her poems; to Provvido
Crozzoletto, MCCJ, for his helpful suggestions; to Tarcia Gerwing and Rev.
David Howells for their insightful aphorisms; to Alan Ray of Blue Iris
Multimedia Group for helpful recommendations regarding the format.
A
Blessing, A Prayer, A Hope
As you consult different
parts of this manual,
may you be encouraged to
reflect
upon your directees' prayer
and life experiences with God,
along with those of your
own,
in the light of the dynamics
of the Spiritual Exercises
and of the other areas of
knowledge that you possess.
May you find, in this process,
the wisdom you need to grow
in the art and understanding of guiding others
more deeply into the mystery
of God.
My prayer for you is found
in
Ephesians 3:17-21 and in
2Corinthians 1:3-7.
Go
To Table Of Contents Of Orientations Volume 2