the spiritual exercises: a heart-centered approach · 2013-02-26 · these spiritual guidelines are...

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The Spiritual Exercises: A Heart-Centered Approach

Presented by Fr. James Kubicki, S.J., M.Div.

THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES: A HEART-CENTERED APPROACH S T U D Y G U I D E

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Table of Contents

Program Summary ............................................................................................................... 4

About Your Presenter ........................................................................................................... 5

Conference 1: Going Deeper in the Spiritual Life ............................................................. 6

Conference 2: The Purpose of Life .................................................................................... 8

Conference 3: The End of Life ........................................................................................ 10

Conference 4: The Frustration of Life’s Purpose ............................................................ 12

Conference 5: The Conception and Birth of a Savior ...................................................... 14

Conference 6: A Hidden Life ........................................................................................... 16

Conference 7: What Was Jesus Like? .............................................................................. 18

Conference 8: Jesus: The Mercy of God.......................................................................... 20

Conference 9: The Passionate Love of God .................................................................... 22

Conference 10: Jesus Descends to the Dead .................................................................... 24

Conference 11: Jesus Blazes a Trail ................................................................................ 26

Conference 12: Take and Receive ................................................................................... 28

Suggested Readings ........................................................................................................... 30



Program Summary

Discover the power of the Spiritual Exercises through this inspiring retreat.

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits

(Society of Jesus), are a tried and true method for growth in the spiritual life.

Countless men and women have found inspiration in the Exercises throughout

the centuries.

These spiritual guidelines are the result of the months that St. Ignatius spent

in prayer and meditation in a cave near Manresa, Spain, and they also sprung

from his experience of discerning the various movements, both good and bad,

within his heart. Simply reading the Exercises, however, is of little benefit. They

are like a manual or “how-to” book—they are not meant to be read but made.

Now, you can join renowned spiritual speaker Fr. James Kubicki, S.J., on

an innovative Ignatian retreat, available in audio or video formats. Fr. Kubicki,

the national director of the Apostleship of Prayer and a widely experienced

preacher, uses a unique heart-centered approach to help you apply the Spiritual

Exercises to your daily life.

Through 12 conferences, Fr. Kubicki helps you execute the Spiritual

Exercises. These talks are not theoretical explanations of the various meditations

in the Spiritual Exercises, but rather reflections that will help you pray the

Ignatian Exercises following their four-week format: 1) the purpose of life and

how sin frustrates that purpose; 2) Jesus overcomes sin and shows us the way to

attain our purpose; 3) Jesus reveals His passionate love for us through His

Passion and death; and 4) Jesus rises from the dead and blazes a trail for us to

attain our ultimate purpose.

In this retreat, you will explore Scripture, personal anecdotes, and the

wisdom of St. Ignatius to arrive at a deeper spiritual understanding. Fr.

Kubicki’s engaging and down-to-earth style will lead you to a deeper knowledge

of the personal love of God and to a deeper level in your spiritual life.

Deepen your spirituality with the Spiritual Exercises today.



About Your Presenter

Fr. James Kubicki, S.J., M.Div., is the national director of the Apostleship

of Prayer. In addition to being a frequent guest on radio and television, Fr.

Kubicki is a popular conference speaker, retreat director, and parish mission

speaker. His areas of expertise include the Eucharist, the Sacred Heart of Jesus,

the Spiritual Exercises, and the practical spirituality of the Apostleship of

Prayer.

Fr. Kubicki has an M.A. from St. Louis University and a Master’s in

Divinity and a Theology Masters from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology.

His involvement with the Apostleship of Prayer goes back to his high school

days, when he first encountered the monthly leaflets with the Holy Father’s

intentions. In 1995, he became the Wisconsin Province Director of the

Apostleship of Prayer, and in 1997, he became a member of the Apostleship’s

national board of directors. He became National Director in 2003.

Fr. Kubicki was raised in Milwaukee. He entered the Jesuits in 1971 and

was ordained in 1983. From 1984-88, he served as Vocation Director and from

1995-99 as the Director of Formation for the Jesuits of the Wisconsin Province,

a seven-state region in the upper Midwest. From 1989-95, he worked at the

Sioux Spiritual Center, a retreat house for Native Americans in South Dakota.

During that time, he also served as Assistant Director of the Diocese of Rapid

City’s deacon and lay ministry formation program. From 2000-03 he was the

Assistant Director of Demontreville, the Jesuit Retreat House in Lake Elmo,

Minnesota.



Conference 1: Going Deeper in the Spiritual Life

I. “Put out into the deep” (Luke 5:1-10).

II. Enter a retreat like Peter—with humility and openness.

A) The Holy Spirit is the real director.

B) The retreat director, like John the Baptist, points to Jesus.

III. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius are our pointer.

A) They can be summed up in the words of an early Greek bishop, Diadochus.

B) “The measure of our love for God depends upon how deeply aware we are of God’s love for us”

(Diadochus).

IV. The importance of going deeper

A) John Paul II: This involves a person, not a program.

B) Benedict XVI: Christian belief is not so much a set of doctrines as a person.

C) 1 John 4:10: Our love is always a response to God’s love.

D) John Paul II’s proposal in Novo Millennio Ineunte

1) The high standard of Christian living

2) The art of prayer

3) Not going deeper leads to “Christians at risk”

V. The deepest we can go is to enter into the Heart of God.

VI. Our desire for the retreat: Ephesians 3:14-21



REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. Why are humility and openness necessary requirements for prayer?

2. Why does our love for God depend upon the measure of our awareness of God’s love?

3. What is the danger of not going deeper in our spiritual lives?

4. What words and phrases in St. Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians move you?



Conference 2: The Purpose of Life

I. The world’s view of the meaning of life is relativistic and nihilistic.

A) Victor Frankl showed that the human person needs a purpose.

B) St. Ignatius’ “First Principle and Foundation”: the “why?” of life

II. At the most basic level we know we are creatures; we are not God.

A) We try to be gods by always being in control.

B) Peace involves accepting the fact that we are creatures and not God.

III. Why did God make us?

A) To know God, not just to know about God

1) This knowledge is more a matter of the heart than the head.

2) This knowledge involves relationship and leads to love.

B) To love God

1) Made in the image and likeness of God who is Love, we are made by love and for love

2) We are made to love God, to enter into a communion of love with God

3) If we love God, we will love what God loves—all God’s children

4) This love leads to service

C) To serve God

1) Love is not so much a feeling but a choice and decision, an act of the will.

2) Love shows itself best not in words but in deeds.

IV. John Paul II: “Each person is unique, precious, unrepeatable.”

V. Benedict XVI: We are the result of a thought of God.

A) The thoughts of God are eternal.

B) God had us in mind from all eternity (Jeremiah 1:5).

VI. Saints Basil and Francis de Sales: God loves each one of us infinitely.

VII. Self-help books for success emphasize planning.

VIII. It is essential that we keep our ultimate goal in mind and plan accordingly.




1. In what ways do you try to be God and in control of your life and others?

2. What obstacles do you find to knowing the infinite love God has for you?

3. In what ways has your love of God led you to service?

4. How can you plan your day with your ultimate goal in mind?


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Conference 3: The End of Life

I. Another way of talking about our purpose or goal in life is to speak of our “end.”

A) “End” also means the conclusion of our earthly life—death.

II. The world avoids the very thought or mention of death.

A) Yet death is inevitable and the thought of it can give perspective to life.

B) Ecclesiastes: The world views life on earth as the only life and encourages us to live for the

moment.

III. The Christian view is very different.

A) Every year the Church puts death right in our face.

B) Psalm 90: Wisdom comes from keeping in mind that we will not live forever.

C) Looking at the end of life—both its purpose and death—can help in making major decisions.

D) It can also help us on a daily basis avoid sin.

IV. Jesuit Father John Eagan’s serenity in the face of death




1. What was your first experience of death?

2. Look back on your life. Are you generally happy and satisfied with it? Why or why not? What would you

need to change to find greater satisfaction?

3. Imagine that what is most important to you would be buried with you. What would that be?

4. What do you want people to say about you at your wake? How do you want to be remembered? Write

your obituary. Is this the way others will remember you?



Conference 4: The Frustration of Life’s Purpose

I. Love and sin

A) We are made for love—loving union with God and communion with all God’s children.

B) Love requires freedom, a free will.

C) History—our own and that of the human race—shows that we have used our freedom to reject

God’s love and plan for us.

D) This is sin, which frustrates our purpose.

E) The tendency is to view sin in legalistic terms and to see God as one who punishes.

II. God’s laws are not arbitrary or outside of human beings but are built right into us.

A) As material beings, we follow the laws of matter.

B) As living beings, we follow biological laws.

C) As spiritual beings, we follow spiritual laws: the moral code, the Ten Commandments

D) We are free to disobey these laws, but when we do so, we suffer consequences.

E) We are not punished for our sins but by our sins.

III. John Paul II on Psalm 51

IV. Three ways of looking at sin: an examination of conscience

A) Luke 19:1-10

1) Sin as “recycled hurt”

2) “Hurt people, hurt people.”

B) 2 Samuel 11:1-18: Objectifying other people

C) St. Augustine: Filling the longing for God with a substitute that takes away the hunger pains but

ultimately doesn’t belong there and doesn’t satisfy

V. Benedict XVI: Sin is “hardness of heart.” We need new hearts.

VI. God does not abandon us but promises in Ezekiel 11:19 and 36:26 to give us a new

heart.

VII. Examine yourself with the help of the Holy Spirit who is truth and love, not with the

help of the evil spirit, our adversary, who wants us to give up.




1. How have you been hurt or punished by your sins?

2. In what ways have you or do you recycle the hurt others have caused you?

3. In what ways do you objectify others, either for pleasure or seeing them as somehow less than human?

4. With what are you tempted to fill the emptiness in your heart with substitutes for God—possessions,

prestige, praise from others, success, power, relationships?



Conference 5: The Conception and Birth of a Savior

I. Faced with sin, we are tempted to be discouraged or to “lose heart.”

A) We need to “take heart”—to take the Heart of Jesus.

B) St. Paul’s ongoing struggle with sin as seen in Romans 7:13-25

II. The Savior’s Heart comes to us through the heart of a woman named Mary.

A) God prepared her heart from all eternity.

B) This heart is “immaculate”—free from sin—and “pure”—100% devoted to the will of God.

C) St. Augustine: Mary first received into her heart what she then conceived in her womb.

III. The Conception of Jesus at the Annunciation

IV. The Birth of Jesus

A) “Bethlehem” means “House of Bread.”

B) After his birth, the Bread of Life is placed in a manger.

V. St. Ignatius’ use of the imagination helps us to not only think about a Gospel passage

but to experience it, to move from the “head” to the “heart.”

VI. A mystery like the Incarnation can only be received in the heart.

VII. Love cannot be imposed and so God comes to us as a baby to attract our love.

VIII. Our imagination can help us appreciate that God emptied Himself and became a weak

baby in need of love and care.




1. Why is Mary essential to the story of God’s love?

2. What qualities of Mary do you need in order to give flesh to Christ in today’s world?

3. Why do we need to approach the mysteries of our faith more with our hearts than our minds?

4. Recall your experience of seeing and holding a newborn baby. Imagine going to Bethlehem and holding

Jesus. What feelings do you have?



Conference 6: A Hidden Life

I. Jesus begins life homeless and as a refugee.

II. In Nazareth, Jesus grows and develops in what is called the “Hidden Life.”

A) We tend to think of the redemptive work of Jesus in terms of the three years of active ministry,

teaching, and healing, and in terms of the cross and resurrection.

B) Every moment of Jesus’ life was redemptive, including work as a carpenter.

C) This is the “Little Way” of St. Therese and Bl. Teresa of Calcutta.

D) Jesus grew physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually.

III. Hebrews 2:14-18: Through temptation Jesus grew in compassion.

IV. Hebrews 4:14-16: Jesus was tempted in every way.

V. Hebrews 5:7-9: Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered.

A) Physical muscles need to be exercised in order to develop and remain healthy.

B) The virtues are spiritual muscles that require exercise.

C) The obedience of Jesus was perfect, but it also grew to a climax in a garden and on a cross.

VI. Misunderstandings about the virtues

A) “All or nothing”

B) Feelings versus acts of the will and deeds

VII. Virtues grow through challenges and temptations.




1. How did every moment of Jesus’ life give glory to God the Father?

2. How can every moment of your life give glory to God?

3. How are the virtues like spiritual muscles?

4. What are your temptations and what are the corresponding virtues that you are being called to exercise in

overcoming them?



Conference 7: What Was Jesus Like?

I. Jesus is the Word of God—God’s perfect communication about divinity and humanity.

A) We meet Jesus in the Word, the Scriptures.

1) Hebrews 4:12: The Word of God is “living and effective.”

2) St. Jerome: Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.

II. The grace we desire at this point in the Spiritual Exercises: to know Jesus more

intimately, to love Him more deeply, and to follow Him more closely.

III. By using the imagination to contemplate Gospel scenes, we experience them and move

from the head to the heart.

IV. We can go even deeper, imagining what was going on in the mind and heart of Jesus in

the various Gospel scenes.

V. The movements of Jesus’ heart

A) Matthew 9:36; 14:14; 15:32: Compassion and pity

B) Luke 19:41; John 11:35: Sorrow and grief

C) John 11: 33, 38 and the Cleansing of the Temple: Anger

D) Mark 9:9, 23: Impatience

E) Joy and laughter: Children climb all over Him and sinners invite Him to their parties.

VI. People are attracted to Jesus and want to be around Him.

A) He is “genuine,” completely Himself with nothing to prove.

B) He is firmly grounded in His identity as the Beloved Son of the Father.

C) This frees Him to love everyone and to be fully present to them.




1. How is prayerful Scripture reading unlike any other kind of reading?

2. Take a favorite Gospel story and imagine what was going on in Jesus’ heart.

3. What movements do you find there?

4. What made Jesus so attractive to people?

5. What gave Jesus the greatest thrill or pleasure?



Conference 8: Jesus: The Mercy of God

I. What gave Jesus the greatest thrill or joy?

II. We can imagine the pleasure Jesus received in healing people.

A) But Mark 2:1-12 shows the priorities of Jesus; He heals the spirit before the body.

B) This is confirmed in the parables of Luke 15.

C) The whole point of His life, death, and resurrection was to save the world by taking away its sin.

D) But sin continued after Jesus rose and ascended.

III. How does Jesus continue to have the pleasure of forgiving and healing people?

A) Acts 9:1-22: Jesus tells Saul that He and His Body, the Church, are one.

B) John 20:19-23: Jesus sends the apostles to continue His work and He breathes the Spirit upon

them to empower them to do so.

C) James 5:16: The early Church practiced the confession of sins and healing.

IV. It’s not natural to share our failures, faults, and weaknesses with another.

V. The Twelve Step Program shows how healing it is to admit the exact nature of our

wrongs.

VI. See the Sacrament of Reconciliation from Jesus’ perspective—the joy it gives Him to

heal us spiritually.




1. Imagine one of the healing stories in the Gospels. Why does it give Jesus such pleasure to heal?

2. Why are reconciliation and forgiveness a two-way street?

3. How do secrets cause shame?

4. How can you make sure that you see and experience the Sacrament of Reconciliation more and more

from Jesus’ perspective?



Conference 9: The Passionate Love of God

I. Love

A) God’s love is without measure.

B) The world uses the word “love” for all kinds of things.

C) Benedict XVI: Our definition of love begins at the pierced side of Jesus.

II. The Agony in the Garden: Jesus battles temptation, asks that “the cup of suffering”

pass, and surrenders to the will of the Father.

III. The Arrest and Trials

IV. The Scourging

V. The Mockery

VI. The Way of the Cross

VII. The Crucifixion

VIII. The Seven Last Words

A) “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Luke 32:34)

B) “Amen I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:41)

C) “Woman, behold your son. Behold your mother.” (John 19:26-27)

D) “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34)

E) “I thirst.” (John 19:28)

F) “It is finished.” (John 19:30)

G) “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” (Luke 23:46)

IX. His heart is pierced and blood and water flow forth (John 19:34).

X. The passionate love of God leads to the Passion.




1. How are some of the ways in which the world uses the word “love” really the opposite of love?

2. What went on in Jesus’ heart and mind during the Agony in the Garden?

3. How was the thirst of Jesus on the cross a spiritual thirst?

4. What do the blood and water that came from Jesus’ pierced heart signify?



Conference 10: Jesus Descends to the Dead

I. A Russian icon of the Resurrection shows Jesus descending to the abode of the dead.

A) The Apostles’ Creed

B) The Catechism of the Catholic Church #632-633

II. We go with Jesus the Victor and Consoler among the dead.

III. The Communion of Saints

A) The Church Militant, fighting the good fight on earth

B) The Church Triumphant

1) Images

2) Spiritual reading

3) Hebrews 12:1-2: We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses.

C) The Church suffering and being purified

1) 1 Corinthians 3:12-15: An image of purification

2) Hebrews 12:29: Our God is a consuming fire.

3) Pope Benedict XVI: Spe Salvi #47-48




1. Where are the areas of darkness, sorrow, and grief in your heart? Invite Jesus the Consoler to go there and

bring comfort and healing.

2. Do you have any unfinished business with someone who is deceased? Talk to that person or write him or

her a letter addressing those issues.

3. How can your prayers for deceased people bring peace to both you and them?

4. Which saints, official or unofficial, do you look forward to meeting or seeing again in heaven? What will

you say to them?



Conference 11: Jesus Blazes a Trail

I. The Resurrection of Jesus is central to our faith (1 Corinthians 15:14-19).

A) What do we mean by “resurrection”?

1) Not resuscitation of a corpse

2) A mystery, a cosmic event beyond human experience

3) Jesus arose with a glorified body.

II. Appearances

A) Luke 24:36-43: Jesus is not a spirit, not a ghost.

B) John 20:24-29: Thomas believes by touching the wounds of Jesus.

C) John 21:15-19: Jesus invites Peter’s love and sends him to serve.

III. St. Augustine: Jesus’ resurrection shows us our future.

IV. The tendency is to not think about heaven, but it is important to keep our goal in mind

so that we follow the right path to attain it.

V. Imagine the risen life of heaven.

A) St. Thomas Aquinas: Union with God, fulfillment of all desire

B) St. Augustine: No enemies and no sorrow at losing a friend

VI. The virtue of hope

A) The thought of heaven is not escapist, not an opiate.

B) John Paul II: We attain heaven only if we fulfill our destiny on earth.

C) We are on earth to learn to breathe the atmosphere of heaven.




1. Why does Paul say that “if for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of

all”?

2. How is the Resurrection of Jesus not the resuscitation of a corpse?

3. How is belief in the Resurrection important for your life on earth?

4. What do you imagine heaven to be like?



Conference 12: Take and Receive

I. The final exercise: “The Contemplation to Attain the Love of God”

II. A summary of the retreat

A) Ask for the grace to have an intimate knowledge of God’s blessings so that, filled with gratitude,

you may love and serve God.

B) Recall the gifts of creation and redemption, your own life, and supernatural life.

C) The “Suscipe” prayer: “You have given me all. To you, O God, I return it.”

III. While prayed at the end of retreat, this offering needs to be lived every day.

IV. “Eucharist” means “thanksgiving.”

A) In the celebration of the Eucharist, we remember God’s love and offer ourselves with Jesus to

the Father.

B) We live this offering in our daily lives.

C) Vatican II: The Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life.”

V. John Paul II’s call to go deeper and his encyclical on the Eucharist and the Year of the

Eucharist

VI. 2005: Synod of Bishops and “Sacramentum Caritatis”—the Eucharist is a mystery to be

believed, celebrated, and lived.

VII. The Apostleship of Prayer as a practical way to live the Eucharist

A) The origin and spirituality of the Apostleship of Prayer

B) An early member: St. Thérèse

C) Colossians 1:24: Our participation in Jesus’ sacrificial offering




1. How would you rank, in terms of importance, the gifts that you have been given by God?

2. Why is the Eucharist the “source and summit of the Christian life”?

3. What does it mean to “live the Eucharist”?

4. How does your offering play a role in the salvation of the world?



Suggested Readings

de Mello, Anthony, S.J. Seek God Everywhere: Reflections on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.

Image/Doubleday.

Gallagher, Timothy M. Meditation and Contemplation: An Ignatian Guide to Prayer with Scripture.

Crossroad Books.

Ganss, George E., S.J., ed. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Institute of Jesuit Sources.

Gawronski, Raymond T., S.J. A Closer Walk with Christ: A Personal Ignatian Retreat. Our Sunday

Visitor Press, 2003.

Hardon, John A., S.J. Retreat with the Lord: A Popular Guide to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.

Charis-Servant Books.

Mariani, Paul. Thirty Days: On Retreat with the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Penguin Compass

Books.

Ravier, Andre, S.J. A Do It At Home Retreat: The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Ignatius

Press.

the spiritual exercises: a heart-centered approach · 2013-02-26 · these spiritual guidelines are...

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