One Man's Journey

Ignatius Loyola wrote the Spiritual Exercises over the period from 1522 to 1524 as a set of meditations, prayers and mental exercises designed to be carried out over a period of roughly 30 days in a secluded setting or retreat. In "annotation 19" of his original instructions, Ignatius provides a model for completing the Exercises over a longer period, without the need for seclusion, which he referred to as the "Exercises in Daily Life." In late August 2011, Sister Joan Grace, of Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish in Ponte Vedra Beach, agreed to be my Spiritual Director for the Exercises. She explained that we would use as a guide the handbook written by Father Joseph Tetlow, the Di-rector of Montserrat Jesuit Retreat House in Lake Dallas, TX. I began the exercises on September 4, 2011. Almost every day thereafter, for more than nine months, I prayed, meditated and reflected on a passage from scripture or a "thought-piece" from the Tetlow handbook. As instructed, I recorded my thoughts, feelings, and reactions to each day's exercise in a journal. This is that journal.