Extended Ignatian Exercises
History of the Ignatian Exercises:
Over four hundred years ago, Ignatius of Loyola underwent a process of conversion that changed the course of his life. This account of his experiences and plan for sharing them with others became known as the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.
Although originally intended to be given as a 30-day silent retreat with an individual director, Ignatius realized that, even in his own time, many people could not absent themselves from their work and daily lives for such a long period. He suggested alternate formats in which the Exercises could be made. The Extended Ignatian Exercises (EIE), also referred to as the 19th Annotation, invites someone to pray daily and meet weekly with a director over the course of approximately 7.5-9 months.
The author and the Exercises may have been birthed in a different time, but the design of the Exercises is flexible enough to be adapted both to the person and the culture in which they are presented. The Exercises continue to impact individuals in a profound way.
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The Spiritual Exercises provide a process for:
• Integrating life and prayer
• Coming to greater freedom of spirit
• Deepening a personal relationship with God
• Finding God more deeply in all parts of life
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Praying the Spiritual Exercises requires the following commitment:
• People making the exercises generally spend 45 minutes to an hour of prayer each day
• Journaling about the prayer experience
• Meeting with a specially trained spiritual director once a week for at least eight months, to share with the director the past week’s experiences in prayer and daily life.
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The fee arrangement is determined by the director and retreatant. If a director charges $50 per meeting, and if you meet for 32 weeks, you will pay the director $1,600 for the EIE.
If this amount presents a financial hardship, many directors are willing to offer to meet on a sliding scale fee.
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The Ignatian Exercises is a prayer experience, not a scripture study. A reflective reading of scripture, as a way of prayer, is used to help encounter a loving God. The prayer experience follows the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus through the Gospels. Jesus’ own poverty, humility, and loving service reveal God’s self-emptying love. That means that there is no requirement that one have made a significant study of scripture before making the Exercises.
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Spiritual directors who have also completed the Exercises and taken additional training about leading someone through the Exercises are certified to take retreatants through the Exercises.
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If you would like help connecting to a director trained to lead the Extended Ignatian Exercises, please reach out to Sacred Ground’s office at info@sacredgroundspirit.org. We would love to have a conversation with you!
We can point you toward the spiritual directors in our community and on our website who are certified to lead people through the Extended Ignatian Exercises. Some of these directors are listed in Sacred Ground’s online listing of directors and note that they are certified to lead someone through the Exercises.
We also offer training to spiritual directors to lead someone through the Exercises. Those students need to practice leading people through the Exercises to receive their EIE certification and are available to meet with a retreatant. We can help connect you with someone looking for this experience.
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Sacred Ground typically offers an 8-week course on Directing the EIE every two years. After participating in this course, participants must lead at least two people through the Exercises with supervision in order to receive a Certificate in Directing the Extended Ignatian Exercises. We anticipate offering this course again in early 2027, but may do so earlier if we have sufficient interest.
If you want to receive information on the next offered course, please fill out this form.
“I had some hesitations regarding undertaking the Extended Ignatian Exercises (EIE). I wondered if the time commitment and resources required would be worth it. It was! The EIE turned out to be an integral part of understanding Ignatian Spirituality, the bible, and myself. Meeting with a spiritual director weekly (instead of monthly) cultivated a deeply trusting relationship in which I felt entirely comfortable sharing my musings, questioning, and growing edges. This prayer practice has made my faith walk stronger, generating a greater enthusiasm to cultivate my relationship with God and actualize my spiritual gifts in His service.”
— Julie C.