Jump to Any Step (7 of 36 · Click to Expand All 36 Days & Exercises)
01. The Presupposition & How to Enter the Exercises02. Principle and Foundation03. The Daily & Particular Examen04. Meditation with the Three Powers on the First, Second & Third Sin05. Meditation on Personal Sins & The Exclamation of Wonder at God’s Mercy06. Repetitions of the First & Second Exercises with the Triple Colloquy07. Meditation with the Five Senses on Ultimate Separation08. The Call of the Temporal King & The Oblation to the Eternal King09. The First Contemplation: The Incarnation10. The Second Contemplation: The Nativity & Application of the Five Senses11. The Presentation in the Temple & The Flight into Egypt12. The Hidden Life at Nazareth & Finding the Boy Jesus in the Temple13. Meditation on the Two Standards & Second Week Rules for Discernment14. Meditation on the Three Pairs of Men15. Departure from Nazareth & Baptism in the River Jordan16. Christ Fasting & Tempted in the Desert17. The Call of the Apostles & The Wedding at Cana18. The Sermon on the Mount19. Calming the Storm & Walking on the Waters20. Sending the Apostles, The Sinful Woman Forgiven, Feeding the 5,000, The Transfiguration & Preaching in the Temple21. The Raising of Lazarus & The Supper at Bethany22. Palm Sunday: The Humble Entry into Jerusalem23. The Three Manners of Humility24. Making an Election25. The Last Supper, Washing the Feet & The Agony in Gethsemane26. Betrayal, Arrest & The Night at the Houses of Annas and Caiaphas27. Christ Before Pilate & Before Herod28. The Scourging at the Pillar, Crowning with Thorns & ‘Ecce Homo’29. Carrying the Cross & The Crucifixion30. The Descent from the Cross, The Burial & The Silence of Holy Saturday31. The Resurrection: Christ Appears to His Mother & to Mary Magdalene32. The Road to Emmaus, The Appearance to St. Peter & The Upper Room33. St. Thomas’s Confession & Breakfast by the Sea of Galilee34. The Great Commission & The Ascension of Christ Our Lord35. Contemplation to Gain Love36. The Three Methods of Prayer
Movement I · The First Week (Purgative Way) · Step 7 · Week 1, Exercise 5 & Discernment Rules
St. Ignatius of Loyola · Exx. 65–72, 313–327

Meditation with the Five Senses on Ultimate Separation — & First Week Rules for Discernment

Gazing realistically at the ultimate trajectory of a will closed in upon itself apart from God, giving thanks for the myriad times Christ rescued us from ruin, and learning the Fourteen Rules for Consolation and Desolation.

Assigned Scripture Reading (NIV) & Mystery Points

Scripture Reading: Luke 16:19–31 · Psalm 116:1–9 · 1 Corinthians 15:10

Luke 16:19–31 (NIV)
19“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ 25“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ 27“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ 30“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Psalm 116:1–9 (NIV)
1I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. 2Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. 3The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow. 4Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Lord, save me!” 5The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. 6The Lord protects the unwary; when I was brought low, he saved me. 7Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. 8For you, Lord, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, 9that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
1 Corinthians 15:10 (NIV)
10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

Points of the Mystery from St. Ignatius

Step 1 · Entering the Hour (2 Minutes)

Before You Start

Read Psalm 116:1–9. Stand a step or two from your place of prayer for an Our Father, remembering that you stand safely at the side of Christ your Savior. Pray the Preparatory Prayer (Exx. 46).

Step 2 · Orienting the Heart & Imagination (5 Minutes)

The Preludes

First Prelude · Composition of Place (Exx. 65)

See with the imagination the vast, airless enclosure of ultimate separation from God—what C.S. Lewis called the door locked from the inside by a human will that finally insists, ‘My will be done.’

Second Prelude · Asking for What I Desire (Exx. 65)

Ask for an interior sense of the tragedy of being separated from God, and an overwhelming gratitude to Christ who has delivered your life from destructive paths again and again.

Step 3 · The Body of the Exercise (30–40 Minutes)

How to Pray This Exercise & Master the First Week Discernment Rules

Spend the first 20 minutes on the meditation and Colloquy of Gratitude (Exx. 66–71), and the remaining 20 minutes studying and applying the First Week Rules for Discernment of Spirits (Exx. 313–327):

Part 1 · The Five Points of Ultimate Separation & The Colloquy of Rescue (Exx. 66–71)

Briefly let your five imaginative senses register what a life completely emptied of God’s light, peace, and charity becomes: the sight of darkness and consuming restlessness (Exx. 66); the sound of complaint, accusation, and despair (Exx. 67); the smell and taste of bitterness, tears, and remorse (Exx. 68–69); the touch of a fire that burns without warming (Exx. 70).

Then immediately move to the Colloquy to Christ Our Lord (Exx. 71)—which is the true heart of this exercise. Look back over your life at the moments of recklessness, blindness, or temptation that could have wrecked your soul, your family, or your faith, and give thanks to Him that He did not let you fall into ruin, but held you with such pity and mercy up to this very day.

Part 2 · Rules 1–4: Defining Spiritual Consolation & Desolation (Exx. 314–317)

As you conclude the First Week, learn Ignatius’s foundational vocabulary for the rest of your life:

  • Spiritual Consolation (Rule 3, Exx. 316): Any interior movement in which the soul comes to be inflamed with love of its Creator and Lord; or tears that move to love of the Lord; or every increase of hope, faith, and charity, and all interior joy that calls and attracts to heavenly things and to the salvation of one’s soul, quieting it and pacifying it in its Creator and Lord.
  • Spiritual Desolation (Rule 4, Exx. 317): All the contrary—darkness of soul, disturbance in it, movement to low and earthly things, the unquiet of different agitations and temptations, moving to want of confidence, without hope, without love, when one finds oneself all lazy, tepid, sad, and as if separated from one’s Creator and Lord.

Part 3 · Rules 5–9: How to Act in Time of Desolation (Exx. 318–322)

  • Rule 5 (Exx. 318): In time of desolation never make a change; but be firm and constant in the resolutions and determination in which one was the day preceding such desolation, or in the determination in which one was in the preceding consolation. Because in desolation the evil spirit is the guide, whereas in consolation the good spirit guides us.
  • Rule 6 (Exx. 319): Though we must not change our commitments, it helps greatly to intensify our activity against the desolation itself—insisting more on prayer (even one extra minute!), meditation, examination, and suitable penance.
  • Rule 9 (Exx. 322): There are three main reasons we find ourselves in desolation: (1) because we are tepid, slothful, or negligent in our spiritual exercises; (2) to try us and see how much we are and how much we let ourselves out in God’s service and praise without such great pay of consolations; (3) to give us true humility—knowing that it is not in our own power to summon devotion or tears, bust that all is pure gift and grace of God our Lord.

Part 4 · Rules 12–14: The Three Similes of the Enemy’s Tactics (Exx. 325–327)

Ignatius unmasks how the enemy operates so you can spot him immediately:

  • Like a bully (Rule 12): Weak when you face him squarely and refuse to yield, but ruthless if you begin to retreat.
  • Like a false lover (Rule 13): He wants his dark suggestions and shameful thoughts kept secret. The instant you bring them into the light—revealing them to your confessor, spiritual director, or trusted spiritual friend—he loses his power.
  • Like a military commander (Rule 14): He walks around the camp of your soul looking for the weakest wall (fatigue, pride, fear of scarcity, attachment to comfort) and attacks right there. Where is your weakest wall right now?
Step 4 · Friend to Friend & Looking Back (15–20 Minutes)

Colloquy, Post-Prayer Review & Repetitions

1. The Colloquy (5 Minutes)

Speak to Christ our Redeemer at the threshold between Week 1 and Week 2. Thank Him for washing, rescuing, and steadying you, and ask Him for the grace to follow Him now into His public life in the Second Week. Close with an Our Father.

2. The Post-Prayer Examen of Prayer (15 Minutes · Exx. 77)

After finishing the Our Father, remain quiet for ten to fifteen minutes (sitting or walking slowly) to examine how your prayer went. Ask: Where did my heart feel warmed, expanded, drawn to trust, or moved to tears (consolation)? Where did I feel dry, distracted, defensive, or negotiating with God (desolation or resistance)? Write down two or three honest sentences in your notebook.

3. Repetitions & Carrying the Mystery Through the Day

You have completed the First Week (the Purgative Movement). Take a quiet day of gratitude before stepping into Movement II: The Second Week, where your focus shifts entirely from your sins to the face, voice, and choices of Jesus Christ.

Primary Text · From St. Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises (Exx. 65–72, 313–327)
[316] Third Rule. The third: Of Spiritual Consolation. I call it consolation when some interior movement in the soul is caused, through which the soul comes to be inflamed with love of its Creator and Lord; and when it can in consequence love no created thing on the face of the earth in itself, but in the Creator of them all... Finally, I call consolation every increase of hope, faith and charity, and all interior joy which calls and attracts to heavenly things and to the salvation of one's soul, quieting it and pacifying it in its Creator and Lord. [317] Fourth Rule. The fourth: Of Spiritual Desolation. I call desolation all the contrary of the third rule, such as darkness of soul, disturbance in it, movement to things low and earthly, the unquiet of different agitations and temptations, moving to want of confidence, without hope, without love, when one finds oneself all lazy, tepid, sad, and as if separated from his Creator and Lord. [318] Fifth Rule. The fifth: In time of desolation never to make a change; but to be firm and constant in the resolutions and determination in which one was the day preceding such desolation, or in the determination in which one was in the preceding consolation.
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