Interview with Father Mark Rotsaert, Superior of the Center of Ignatian Spirituality and Professor at the Gregorian University of Rome Rome, March 14, 2014 (Zenit.org) H. Sergio Mora | 378 hits

Pope Francis yesterday observed the first anniversary of his pontificate in the silence of a spiritual retreat, accompanied by Cardinals, Bishops and priests of the Roman Curia.

Were they taking part in an Saint Ignatius Spiritual Exercises on the six-day retreat which ends today? What are these Exercises, written by the Spanish Saint? What meaning do they have for someone who has already chosen his state, such as a Religious? What is the role of conscience? Are the Exercises brainwashing? As a Jesuit, how has Bergoglio been able to accept the papacy? And, in the Ignatian agree contra, is there not a certain risk of Pelagianism?

To understand Pope Francis and this subject better, ZENIT interviewed a specialist, Belgian Father Mark Rotsaert, SJ, Superior of the Center of Ignatian Spirituality and Professor of the Gregorian University of Rome, as well as author of several books including Spiritual Discernment in the Texts of Saint Ignatius.

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ZENIT: What is a spiritual retreat? Were such retreats born with Saint Ignatius or did they exist before?

--Father Rotsaert: What at present are called Spiritual Exercises were born with Saint Ignatius, although retreats existed before, as did moments of spirituality, but they were not structured as those of Saint Ignatius. He wrote the Spiritual Exercises as the result of a twofold experience: a personal one of God, after his conversion in Loyola, while reading the life of Jesus and of the Saints, etc.; and the second while he was in Manresa, a Spanish locality where he stayed for some eleven months, an experience to help souls. Ignatius was still a layman, no longer a military man of the King of Spain, but in search of Jesus. So he went on to Barcelona and from there to the Holy Land. He wrote the Spiritual Exercises for preachers, not for those who heard them, because the Ignatian Exercises need the guidance of the preacher. They were not written to be done individually.

ZENIT: So, what are the Exercises?

--Father Rotsaert: They were something new that appeared in the 16th century. I have studied the topic and have not found any other works that do something of this sort. They last one month, four hours a day plus another hour at night. The originality lies in the pedagogical course, because this four-week prayer helps one to take a decision about ones life, the best for each one.

The novelty is the rereading of the prayer. After having prayed for an hour, one must do a rereading of what happened during ones prayer. Has it touched me? Has it given me joy? What emotion has it aroused in me? Because this interior motion is the way in which God speaks to us and the way to listen to Him. That is why the guide has to help one doing the Exercises to interpret positive moments of consolation and joy, which at the end of the retreat will suggest the direction to follow.

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The Pope's Retreat with the Curia, St. Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises and Conscience