Today we continue with some of Fr Doyle’s reflections on the Second Week of the Spiritual Exercises and his resolutions aimed at achieving the Third Degree of Humility. Once again, Fr Doyle’s words are very direct and succinct and there is little requirement for commentary and elaboration. The reformation of one’s life must be the work of every day, I should take each rule and duty, think how Jesus acted, …
Spiritual Exercises
October 27, 2024
What account shall I give of this resolution when I stand before my God for judgement? PRACTICE OF THE THIRD DEGREE. I. Accepto. I will receive with joy all unpleasant things which I must bear: (a) pain, sickness, heat, cold, food; (b) house, employment, rules, customs; (c) trials of religious life, companions; (d) reprimands, humiliations; (e) anything which is a cross. II. Volo et Desidero. I will wish and desire …
October 26, 2024
Following straight on the heels of the meditations on the Two Standards and the Three Classes of Men, we will today consider the Three Kinds of Humility. This is even tougher than the previous meditations! Fr Doyle completed this meditation on this day in 1907. Once again, we must remember that we are not necessarily expected to have the third degree of humility; or at least not just yet. As Ignatius …
October 25, 2024
We come now to one of the other great moments of the Spiritual Exercises – the Meditation on the Three Classes of Men. This is tough! It is likely that most of us would be delighted to belong to the second class of men. After all, the Second Class seem quite reasonable to us! Yet there are always further levels of sanctity to which we can aspire. Here is the …
October 24, 2024
We come today to the famous meditation on the Two Standards. This is one of the high points of the Spiritual Exercises. St Ignatius, the soldier, presents before us the battle between Christ and Satan. We must decide who we will follow. Here is St Ignatius’ text. It is worth paying particular attention to the tactics of the enemy, how he leaves no city or state of life unmolested, and …
October 23, 2024
Fr Doyle wrote the following notes on the “hidden life” of Jesus as a young boy and man in Nazareth. These reflections from the second week of the Spiritual Exercises which Fr Doyle completed around this time in 1907 are so direct and readily applicable to our own lives that they do not require any further comment or elaboration. During the reflection on the Hidden Life I got a light …
October 22, 2024
As part of the Second week, St Ignatius recommends a meditation on the early life of Christ. Here are his points for meditation on the Flight to Egypt. OF THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT First Point. First: Herod wanted to kill the Child Jesus, and so killed the Innocents, and before their death the Angel warned Joseph to fly into Egypt: “Arise and take the Child and His Mother, and fly …
October 21, 2024
As part of the Second Week of the Spiritual Exercises, retreatants meditate on the early life of Christ. One of these meditations is on the Nativity. Here is the text of St Ignatius: THE SECOND CONTEMPLATION IS ON THE NATIVITY Prayer. The usual Preparatory Prayer. First Prelude. The first Prelude is the narrative and it will be here how Our Lady went forth from Nazareth, about nine months with child, …
October 20, 2024
Today we start Fr Doyle’s reflections on the second week of the Spiritual Exercises. This part of the Exercises begins with a reflection on the call of Christ the King. Here is the text from St Ignatius: First Point. The first Point is, to put before me a human king chosen by God our Lord, whom all Christian princes and men reverence and obey. Second Point. The second, to look …
October 19, 2024
The Fruit of the First Week: I realise in a way I never did before that God created me for His service, that He has a strict right that I should serve Him perfectly, and that every moment of my life is His and given to me for the one end of praising and serving Him. I recalled with horror how often I have wandered from this my end, what …
October 18, 2024