Welcome to the FSE Community School

Where you are the Mentor

The original way people learnt how to give the First Spiritual Exercises was by a Mentor, an experienced person to guide and teach the beginner. This is the way Ignatius and his early companions taught Jesuits and lay people. We invite you to become a Mentor.

Where you teach the music of the FSE

Does a topic here, or recent experience, remind you of something useful for others? Post it to us. It will be moderated, and given the sensitive nature of good teaching in spirituality practice, we reserve the right to edit or decline a post. If accepted, it will appear shortly.

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What Could I Offer?

1. It could be an insight into a part of giving an exercise – the introduction, desire, body of the prayer, conversation or use of prayer texts.

2. It could be an insight into a part of guiding spiritual conversation – the silence, listening, conversation or mini-discernment.

3. It could be an insight into how to invite, promote and advertise the FSE, or prepare a group of receivers for a retreat. Flyers and handouts attached.

4. It could be an application of the FSE that worked well in a particular church or spiritual tradition. Or well in an ecumenical or secular offering.

5. It could be a creative way to have the FSE collaborate with another ministry or organisation.

6. It could be a useful experience of giving the FSE to people in great need of healing, presence, freedom, affirmation, justice or acceptance.

7. It could be a way to take the FSE right to the margins of society, where hunger is the greatest and those rejected live.

8. It could be a single, memorable, startling statement that a receiver made to you that breaks open how the FSE works.

9. It could be the application of the FSE to a particular group that will help others giving to the same group.

10. It could be a number of single FSE exercises that are given in a powerful combination for short event.

11. It could be a creative use of other symbols, music, art or sacred action with a particular exercise.

12. It could be a unique program of FSE retreats for formal christian communities, e.g., schools, parishes, social services, catechetics, RCIA, adult faith formation.

13. It could be a particular exercise that worked to enhance and expand a presentation you gave.

14. It could be an FSE offering to a very large group that worked well, e.g., rally, conference or exposition.

15. It could be a pilot rewrite of FSE for special receivers, e.g., street people, prisoners, unchurched, street gangs, elderly, aboriginal people, refugees, handicapped, disabled, searchers, politicians, local leaders, etc.

16. It could be a application of the FSE for those the church has rejected, alienated or hurt.

17. It could be an application of the FSE to a particular culture and group of people from that culture. A change of something that would otherwise not work, be ineffectual or disrespectful to that culture.

18. It could be a translation of exercises into a language other than english.

19. Please let us know if you have another useful category to add to the above list.

REMEMBER YOU CAN ATTACH A DOCUMENT to your community school offering. This will help to flesh out your entry and give people a resource they can adapt.