[easyazon-image align=”none” asin=”1594713782″ locale=”us” height=”160″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51bVRavvv2L._SL160_.jpg” width=”107″] Page 2: Michael Hansen, SJ – The First Spiritual Exercises
While the retreats are designed and described in such a way that they can be practiced with a spiritual guide or within a spiritual community, an alternative method of spiritual journaling is offered for an individual who for whatever reason requires or desires to practice the retreats as a solitary journey. This is referred to as the Listening Book, and it allows the individual to experience a version of spiritual direction through reflection on their own recorded experiences. “The original prayer experience in a spiritual exercise virtually always has much more in it than I might realize at first. Indeed most graces birth over time. So I listen with great care as I reread these words.”
Michael Hansen, S.J. has designed a guide to the First Spiritual Exercises that encourages patient repetition and continued practice. He is quite clear that you come to the retreats new each time, and the guide includes tips and practices that can enhance each return to the exercises. There is no expectation that you should employ all of his suggestions at once, striving for a perfect retreat experience, but rather that you incorporate new methods as you continue to build on your journey with the exercises.
The tone of The First Spiritual Exercises is very inviting, and it serves to make the retreatant feel at ease – that the guide is there to return to, and that the practice is a journey. There is a strong emphasis that the Spiritual Exercises serve to help us experience God’s grace, and that we should be gracious with ourselves as we learn to walk the Ignatian path. This is not a devotional. It is not the sort of book you read through once and store away on a shelf. Hansen has designed The First Spiritual Exercises to be an accessible resource you access time and again to enhance your experience of listening for God and experiencing the presence of the Spirit. The retreat practices, in turn, serve to enhance your experience of grace in your daily life.
Michael Hansen, S.J.’s The First Spiritual Exercises would be an excellent resource for individuals seeking a deeper spiritual practice, for spiritual directors and pastors, for small groups and faith communities. It is an approachable guide that can be applied to a variety of circumstances.
C. Christopher Smith is the founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books. He is also author of a number of books, including most recently How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church (Brazos Press, 2019). Connect with him online at: C-Christopher-Smith.com
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Thanks. It does sound inviting. It reminds me of 2 other guides to the Spiritual Exercises written by Protestant Evangelicals.