Knowra Spiritual Exercises Spiritual Exercises A structured guide to prayer, meditation, self-examination, and discernment written by Ignatius of Loyola. It organizes these practices into a sequence intended to shape spiritual freedom and commitment.
Ignatian contemplation : A form of prayer that imaginatively enters a Gospel scene through the senses and participates in its action. The Exercises use imagined Gospel scenes to engage attention, emotion, and response.
Ignatian spirituality : A Christian spiritual tradition shaped by Ignatius of Loyola, emphasizing discernment, reflective prayer, and finding God in all things. The Exercises are the foundational manual of this broader spiritual tradition.
Ignatius of Loyola : A sixteenth-century Spanish priest who founded the Society of Jesus and wrote the Spiritual Exercises. His conversion and spiritual practice shaped the guide's content and method.
Ignatian retreat : A period of prayer and reflection structured by the methods and themes of Ignatian spirituality. The Exercises are most commonly practiced through guided or adapted retreats.
The Cloud of Unknowing : An anonymous medieval English Christian text teaching contemplative prayer through loving attention beyond thought. It contrasts Ignatian imaginative engagement with a contemplative path centered on unknowing.
Examen : A daily prayer of reviewing experience, noticing feelings, and discerning responses in relation to God. The Exercises teach recurring self-review as a way to notice spiritual movements.
Principle and Foundation : The opening meditation of the Spiritual Exercises, which frames human life around praise, reverence, and service of God. It establishes the purpose and freedom that orient the rest of the sequence.
Manresa : A town in Catalonia where Ignatius of Loyola lived and developed spiritual practices after his conversion. Ignatius later associated formative insights behind the Exercises with his time in Manresa.
Thirty-Day Retreat : An intensive retreat following the four-week structure of the Spiritual Exercises, traditionally conducted in silence. It is the classic format for experiencing the complete sequence.
Lectio divina : A traditional Christian practice of reading, meditating on, praying with, and contemplating scripture. Both use scripture, but the Exercises organize it into a wider sequence of prayer and discernment.
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