The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius are written as a guide for retreat directors and spiritual directors to help individuals become more intimate with Jesus. As a result of our intimacy with and love for Jesus, we deeply desire to follow Jesus closely in our lives in all we do. Ignatius wrote the spiritual exercises as a result of his own conversion experience and his deepening sense of the presence and call of Christ in his own life. The exercises are organized around four weeks, as they were originally given, during the structure of a 30-day retreat. During the retreat, we pray through themes and images related to our relationship with God through love and sin, we follow Jesus in his public ministry through the passion and death of Jesus, and we join Jesus resurrected as he calls specially to each of us to serve Him and one another to build His ongoing Kingdom on Earth.

While the Spiritual Exercises are still offered at retreat houses during a 30-day retreat, the 19th annotation to the exercises is widely offered and includes daily prayer, and weekly meetings with a spiritual director. The 19th annotation generally lasts 10 months or so.

If you are interested in the Spiritual Exercises, please email the Faber Center.