Vincent's Reviews > The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius

The Good: can transform steadfast individuals potent meditations

The Bad: not a conventional read; a serious conviction is required to see it through

As Robert Gleason calls it, this book is "a complete guide and framework for achieving Christian perfection." The organization of the book is well-described in the introduction:

"The first week is designed to help the retreatant to purify his soul and put his life in order; the aim of the second week is to lead the soul to a greater knowledge and love for Jesus Christ; the third week is devoted to freeing the will from the psychological obstacles which stand in the way of a generous decision to follow Christ; and the fourth week is intended to purify the heart in the highest degree from false attachment to creatures, goods, or worldly ambition and honor."

While it is ideally for retreatants because they can devote time to these exercises, it can also be used on an individual basis. However, this is intended for people who have a serious conviction to model their lives in God's image. For all practical purposes, this book isn't for a single read-through, but rather to be used as a reference several times daily over the course of one to four months, depending on the spiritual progress of the "exercitant.

This is not a book you're just going to pick up, read, feel daunted about what is required, and give up. The effectiveness and powerful nature of the meditations hit you in such a way, that it fills you with zeal, and somehow gets you excited to perform the exercises on a daily basis. Obviously there is always some difficulty or reluctance when it comes to incorporating a new routine into your life. But you will feel the desire to remain firm and steadfast, to see this thing through to allow the Holy Spirit take a hold of you.

The book gives a brief history of the beginning of Ignatius' life and how he initially longed for worldly things. This is encouraging because it signifies that the Ignatian method doesn't merely work for superhuman persons of heroic virtue; it works for any person that has enough conviction to see these exercises through to the end.

To give you an of idea of the content, here is an excerpt of one of the meditations:

The second prelude is to ask God our Lord for what I want and desire. The request must be according to the subject matter. Therefore, if the contemplation is on the Resurrection I shall ask for joy with Christ rejoicing; if it is on the passion, I shall ask for pain, tears, and suffering with Christ suffering. In the present meditation I shall ask for shame and confusion, for I see how many souls have been damned for a single mortal sin, and how often I have deserved to be damned eternally for the many sins I have committed.

As you can see, St. Ignatius doesn't fool around. Historically, the Ignatian method has delivered results, and it's plain to see from his Spiritual Exercises that when one follows it today in a steadfast manner, he will most definitely be a changed man.