St. Ignatius of Loyola and his method of prayer have influenced me greatly since the day I entered the Ursulines. As I look back now, I realize how much of my learning to pray was based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.

St. Angela Merici, our foundress, and St. Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits, were contemporaries; Angela in northern Italy (Brescia 1465- 1540) and Ignatius in Spain (1491-1556). I am quite certain they never met, though their spiritual journeys took them each to Rome and to the Holy Land. In many ways the charisms of these two saints seem to be similar – founding religious communities in response to the needs of the contemporary Church, alertness to God’s activity within them, deep respect for all of creation, recognition of a total dependence on God and offering of self to God’s way in their lives, encouraging their companions to private, personal prayer as a means of discerning how best to serve God, and a desire to return to God all one’s gifts, talents, and graces in order to be more fully at the service of our Lord, Jesus.

The more I minister with individuals in the Spiritual Exercises, the more I come to appreciate the richness which results from commingling the charisms of St. Angela and St. Ignatius. As I speak with directees about the various aspects or phases of the Exercises, I refer to Ignatius and my understanding of how he must have come to experience and value a particular point.

When I was a novice in the spiritual life, I thought there was a right way and a wrong way to pray; I thought I needed to be just like some saint, or just like Jesus in order to pray.What I learned through the Exercises and through listening to Ignatius is that there is no one way to pray. I learned, through my experience of the prayers of contemplation and imagination, that each of us is called to pray and relate to God in our own unique way.What becomes important is how we image God, how we know God, how we are in relationship with God.

My favorite way of praying with a scripture passage, a practice drawn from the Exercises, is simply to “walk into” the scene, to be present to everything that is happening. When I am saddened and stuck at the realization of my own sinfulness (or my unworthiness as I used to call it), I pray with the woman in Luke 7 who approached Jesus at the dinner to wash his feet. I hear Jesus admonish the party-goers who want to warn him about me, and my heart is strengthened by his response to them and to me. This method of prayer is one I recommend to retreatants who feel overwhelmed or overburdened by what they see as their shortcomings so they can discover that God loves them for who they are in their entirety – the good in them and their faults together as one whole.

Another part in my learning to pray is the nightly Examen, or Examination of Conscience. The Examen was part of my initial introduction to religious life, too, though I did not know it was from Ignatius, and I did not look at it as a positive practice. I kept looking for what I had done wrong, always putting the focus on myself. Now, fortunately, many more mature years later, I can appreciate Ignatius' emphasis on the Examen and how it can help us grow in awareness of God's presence in our lives.

The Examen is practiced simply at the end of each day.We review the day’s consolations, those times when God is clearly present in our lives and the things for which we are grateful.We review the day’s desolations, those other times that present difficulties for which we may not be grateful.We reflect on how to direct ourselves toward those things that console us and away from desolation.

Though I know I haven’t quite achieved it yet, I find in the Examen an invitation to “leave the past behind and with hands outstretched to whatever lies ahead, I go straight for the goal.” (Phil. 3:13) Most of the time, renewed in hope, I can emerge into the next day somewhat eager for what lies ahead!

A third part of my learning to pray is something that both retreatants and I have found beneficial: asking St. Ignatius for help. Often, when a retreatant is having difficulty with some aspect of the Exercises or with some point suggested for prayer, he or she will begin praying to St. Ignatius to help them. Recently, someone said, “I told Ignatius he has to be with me as I pray through this. He understands how difficult it is; he has to be with me!” These words resonate with me because I have very similar feelings about St. Ignatius and how he is with me. Specifically how he directs me closer to God through the methods of prayer that are part of the Exercises.What does Ignatius tell me?