The idea of the work is to help the exercitant to find out what the will of God is in regard to his future, and to give him energy and courage to follow that will. ❋ 1840-1916 (1913)
In their fullness they should, according to Ignatius 'idea, ordinarily be made once or twice only; but in part (from three to four days) they may be most profitably made annually, and are now commonly called "retreats", from the seclusion or retreat from the world in which the exercitant lives. ❋ 1840-1916 (1913)
However, though the method of St. Ignatius leaves the exercitant to think for himself, the author does not intend that the latter should use it without guidance. ❋ 1840-1916 (1913)
To obtain the desired result St. Ignatius uses only a few words, but these are so selected as to make a deep impression on the mind and, if seriously meditated on by the exercitant and fostered in his soul, will soon develop into powerful thoughts and become a source of great spiritual enlightenment and consequently of earnest energetic resolutions. ❋ 1840-1916 (1913)
We find in the annotations at the beginning, in the notes strewn here and there, in the rules for the discernment of spirits a real system of spiritual training, that makes adequate provision for the different states of soul of the exercitant, and warns him, or rather his director, of what is most fitting, according to the circumstances of the case. ❋ 1840-1916 (1913)
The author seeks only to raise the "exercitador" gradually to the contemplative life, whereas St. Ignatius leads the exercitant to determine for himself the choice of a state of life amongst those most pleasing to God. ❋ 1840-1916 (1913)
The Spiritual Exercises, the secret of Ignatius's success, are a series of considerations arranged, as he tells the exercitant from the first, to enable him to make a choice or election on the highest principals and without fear of consequences. ❋ 1840-1916 (1913)
This criticism was emphasized in the beginning by Thomas de Pedroche, O. P and arose from an erroneous interpretation of the fifteenth annotation, in which St. Ignatius advises the director not to substitute his own views for those God may have upon the exercitant. ❋ 1840-1916 (1913)
The eighteenth annotation forbids them to be given indiscriminately; without considering who the exercitant is. ❋ 1840-1916 (1913)
The second and third weeks lead the exercitant along the illuminative way. ❋ 1840-1916 (1913)
The four weeks of the Exercises acquaint the exercitant with the three degrees of the spiritual life. ❋ 1840-1916 (1913)
Ground before his eyes, during the consolation without previous cause the specific Christian mystery becomes Ground or horizon through transparency, and what was previously Ground or horizon (supernaturally-elevated and Christ-anointed transcendence) becomes Figure by directly dominating consciousness in a quasi-intuitional felt-knowledge in which the exercitant becomes pure openness and receptivity to his homeward-tending love. ❋ Unknown (1979)
The exercitant (under ideal circumstances) is guided through four weeks of meditations: the first week on sin and its consequences, the second on Christ's life on earth, the third on his passion, the fourth on His risen life; and a certain number of instructions (called "rules", "additions", "notes") are added to teach him how to pray, how to avoid scruples, how to elect a vocation in life without being swayed by the love of self or of the world. ❋ 1840-1916 (1913)
Again the priest, who explains the meditations, is warned to be most careful not to incline the exercitant more to one object of choice than to another (Annot. ❋ 1840-1916 (1913)
Exercises "in the hands of a director, and entrusts him with applying it to the exercitant. ❋ 1840-1916 (1913)
They do not, as has often been asserted, make the exercitant a powerless instrument in the hands of the confessor, nor are they a mystic flight to heaven, accomplished by means of a compulsion which intends a rapid advance in perfection by a mechanical process (Zöckler, "Die ❋ 1840-1916 (1913)
