Catholic Thought discussion

The second week of the exercises is The Call of The Temporal King where we are to contemplate an earthly King and the Divine King. After meditating on sin during the first week, the second week was a bit more enjoyable. There is a website called Ignatian Spirituality and from this site I learned that the first week of the exercises is purgative and the second week is illuminative. There is a lot to contemplate during this week. I enjoyed the meditations on Christ and I liked imagining myself in those scenes, listening and watching.

Thanks for the update Susan Margaret. The timing is just right here. I started presentation #4 of Fr. Gray of Georgetown. He summarizes the previous three talks saying the first week of the spiritual exercises is about the relationship between God and the one making the retreat. It’s about the prodigal son coming back to his father. The second week will deal with the humanity of Jesus and gospel presentations of that humanity as being both a revelation of who God is and revelation of what it is to be human.

Even though I went to a modified version of the spiritual exercises, I don’t think I fully understood them. The main thing I got out of the exercises was learning how important it is to have a daily hour of prayer and a daily Examen. After reading The Exercises and listening to Fr. Gray, I realize it is preferable to do the exercises with a spiritual director, especially when it comes to the discernment process. The second week is also about discerning one’s vocation in life or amending and reforming one’s current vocation. Fr. Gray points out in lecture #7 that the gospel scenes in week two are pivotal points of decision making in the life of Jesus. He also states that discernment is where you ask yourself, “Does this decision or action lead me to God, or does it lead me away from God?”

Susan Margaret wrote: "Even though I went to a modified version of the spiritual exercises, I don’t think I fully understood them. The main thing I got out of the exercises was learning how important it is to have a dail..."

I take the Georgetown lectures that you found as a key guide in better understanding Ignatius. I am, however, only at session #5. Overall with this help I think I am making a bigger crack at understanding what the Ignatian exercises are about but also realize that even with the “hour of power” each morning my efforts are far from the sort of internal pilgrimage that the Jesuits have in mind. An organized program with a director is no doubt the ideal way of going through this program. The hour each morning is important and valuable I think in the absence of something better. This probably wouldn’t happen however without a group interchange here so therefore a bulletin board with a common purposes such Catholic Thought is a huge step above solitary ruminations.

I came across “discernment” in session #4. Fr. Gray explains that Ignatius gives us a tableau of Christ versus Satan that is not in the Bible but it happens all the time. The devil sits on a throne of fire (destruction). Almost everything we touch has an ambiguity in its use. Cars, liquor, for example, can be good and useful or become destructive. Evil is always deceptive as it comes under the appearance of good. Discernment is, as you write, the choosing of appropriate good for you and being careful that you are not deceived here and now.

The second week is emphasized quite a bit by Fr. Gray, especially the fourth day. We have to be ready to proceed further into the exercises. You see the second week for what it is. We need to walk through the second week with the purpose of getting to Jesus as a friend, and personal discovery of the humanity of Jesus and of you. It’s not a relationship of obedience, servitude, following the commandments, performance but one of friendship.

Galicius wrote: "The second week is emphasized quite a bit by Fr. Gray, especially the fourth day. We have to be ready to proceed further into the exercises...."

I can see why Fr. Gray emphasis the fourth day of the second week. It is where we are to contemplate the Two Standards (Christ & Satan), engaging our intellect. It is also the day where we are to decide which of the three classes of men to whom we want to belong, engaging our will. I was looking over my notes that I took when I was doing the exercises with Fr. Ed Broom, and he gave the following biblical examples to help understand the three classes of men:

First class of men: The story of the rich young man who wanted to follow Christ, but he was a slave to his possessions and could not follow. (Mark 10:17-27)

Second class of men: These are the would-be-followers who place conditions on following Christ. The first is the story of the man who just bought a field and he needed to tend to it. The second is the man who just got married and the third is the man who needed to bury his father. (Luke 9:59-62)

Third class of men: The story of Matthew the tax collector who gave up everything to follow Christ. (Luke 5:27-29)

Father Broom stressed to us that we are not to put persons, places, and things above the will of God.

I wonder if my edition is abridged or if some of the exercises are at the end because I did not have the meditation on the three types of responses to Christ in my second week.

Irene wrote: "I wonder if my edition is abridged or if some of the exercises are at the end because I did not have the meditation on the three types of responses to Christ in my second week."

The three pairs of men are found after The Meditation on The Two Standards. They are under the heading of : THE SAME FOURTH DAY LET MEDITATION BE MADE ON THREE PAIRS OF MEN IN ORDER TO EMBRACE WHAT IS BEST. The men are discussed under the third Prelude.