How to Give Inner Peace in Service of God

To bear fruit in every good work

Be filled
with the knowledge of God’s will
in all spiritual wisdom
and understanding,

so that you may lead lives
worthy of the Lord,
fully pleasing to him,
as you bear fruit
in every good work

and as you grow
in the knowledge of God.

—Colossians 1:9–11

Please Note

Please do not read this guide if you have not yet received the Inner Peace in Service of God retreat or are in the middle of receiving it. The reason is simple, you are unique as is your relationship with God. The graces you will receive will be yours, personal to your desires and God’s personal relationship with you. So reading this guide, or comparing your graces with others, runs the danger of creating unhelpful expectations. This guide is for Givers of the retreat not Receivers. Thank you for your understanding.

Retreat Map

Week Two     Progress through relationship

Monday         Breathing in the Father

Tuesday         Breathing in the Soul of Christ

Wednesday   Breathing in the Spirit

Thursday       Breathing in the Creator

Sunday          Life in the Body of Christ

Week Four    Progress through service

Monday         Progress through the gifts of the Spirit

Tuesday         Progress through the gifts of the Body

Wednesday   Progress through the works of mercy

Thursday       Program for Life

Sunday          Service in the Body of Christ

How to Give This Exercise

The title of this exercise is “Delight and meaning in the Father,” It is day two, Tuesday of Week One of this retreat. The prayer texts, read in the preparation step, ground the content of each exercise in the gospels. The prayer method is the Prayer of Consideration. So the key to this exercise is the four considerations of each word: meanings, comparisons, relish and consolation.

The meaning of each word straightforward. Comparisons means comparisons that illuminate the word. So for the word ‘Father’, your receiver might compare God the Father to his or her own father, or fathers and mothers, or being a parent like the Father, or how different fathers love and protect, or the lack of a father compared to one present, or God as Father compared to God as Mother, and so on. Relish would be finding wonderful feelings, taste, tang, or delight in the reality of having God as a Father. Consolations means spiritual consolations, so joy, freedom, wonder, quiet peace, new hope, confirmation of choices, love, etc. in a relationship with God the Father.

And similarly for each word of the prayer. Discuss these four considerations with your receiver before giving the exercise.

As you guide your receiver in this new method, the longest pause will be after the instructions for praying each word and before the invitation to end by saying the other four prayers in the usual way. After a generous time for the four prayers, conclude by giving your receiver time to converse with God. Show your receiver the words of the five ancient prayers after this first exercise.

Ignatius adds the following instructions, “If I find in one or two words rich matter for reflection, relish and consolation, I will have no anxiety to go further, even though the whole prayer time is spent on what has been found. When my prayer time is up, I will say the remainder of the Our Father in the usual way. And then the other prayers as named above” (Spiritual Exercises 254).

Suggested Prayer Time: 20 Minutes
Preparation: 2 minutes. Opening Prayer: 1 minute. Desire: 1 minute. Prayer: 20 minutes. Conversation: 1 minutes. Listening Book: 10 minutes.

How to Give This Exercise

The content of this exercise is the four traditional prayers but the method of prayer is different. The instructions for the exercise are straight forward, with similar pauses to last week. In practice, it is important for your receiver to keep his or her breathing normal, neither deeper nor shallower than usual.

The method is to have your receiver discover a rhythm in their breathing and word prayer, so that the exercise is both contemplative and focused. She or he may find it easier to pray a sense phrase on a breath or one word on several breaths. The focus is the meaning of the word or the divine person to whom your receiver is praying.

Ignatius adds, “If a complete prayer time has been spent on one or two words and I want to go back to the same prayer on another day, I will say those one or two words in the usual way, and then begin the contemplation on the word immediately following them” (Spiritual Exercises 255).

If helpful to your receiver, a nuance of this exercise is to simply “breathe in” the Father. Here your receiver could breathe the Father into her or himself, or breathe inside the Father, a part of his breath. Over time, either prayer is profoundly life-giving.

Suggested Prayer Time: 20 Minutes
Preparation: 2 minutes. Opening Prayer: 1 minute. Desire: 1 minute. Prayer: 20 minutes. Conversation: 1 minutes. Listening Book: 10 minutes.

How to Give This Exercise

The title of this exercise is “Progress through the Fruits of the Spirit”. It uses the Prayer of Consideration. Your receiver may pray either the seven fruits of the Spirit or the seven gifts of the Spirit. The first, shown here, is better to teach your receiver this method.

Fruits of the Spirit

1. 1. Love
2. 2. Joy
3. 3. Peace
4. 4. Patience
5. 5. Kindness
6. Generosity
7. 7. Gentleness

Gifts of the Spirit

1. Wisdom
2. Understanding
3. Counsel
4. Fortitude
5. Knowledge
6. Piety
7. Fear of the Lord

There is a vast difference between knowing how to pray this exercise and doing that exercise. To cite The First Spiritual Exercises book, “it is as great as the difference between knowing how to pan for gold and doing it. Between knowing and desiring to find gold, searching for the right river, working hard to pan the gravel, with the same repetitive motions, accepting days of no result and then feeling the utter delight of finding what is sought,”

Four questions guide your receiver’s consideration of each gift. As he or she pours their memories, experience and desires into each question, it is crucial to spend half a minute with each one in turn. Similarly with the three questions in the fifth point of the exercise, Conversation.

The Particular Examen is made on the particular gift, sense, etc., chosen to practice each day.

Ignatius adapts, “if I find I am not much engaged with one (commandment) as I pray, there is no need for me to spend long over it. But according to how I live or desire each one, more or less, so I should spend more or less time in the consideration and examination of it” (Spiritual Exercises 242)

Suggested Prayer Time: 35 Minutes
Preparation: 3 minutes. Opening Prayer: 1 minute. Desire: 1 minute. Prayer: 25 minutes. Conversation: 5 minutes. Listening Book: 10 minutes.

Soul of Christ – Anima Christi

Soul of Christ, sanctify me.

Body of Christ, save me.

Blood of Christ, inebriate me.

Water from Christ’s side, wash me.

Passion of Christ, strengthen me.

O good Jesus, hear me;

within your wounds hide me.

Suffer me not to be separated from thee;

from the malicious enemy defend me.

In the hour of my death call me

and bid me come unto thee that I may praise you

with your saints and with your angels,

forever and ever. Amen.

(Jn 19:17, 32–34; 20:19–29; Rom 8:35, 37–39)

Come, Holy Spirit — Veni, Sancte Spiritus

Come, Holy Spirit,

fill the hearts of your faithful

and kindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit

and they shall be created.

And you shall renew the face of the earth.

O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit

did instruct the hearts of the faithful,

grant that by the same Holy Spirit

we may be truly wise

and ever enjoy his consolations,

through Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Acts 2:1–4; Jn 14:15–27; Mt 3:11)

Please note.  For greater depth in the content and dynamic of this retreat see the Manual  here.