The Spiritual Exercises from the Prayer Sheet

Spiritual Warfare

God calls us to communion with him. And our fundamental vocation is to live with him in full communion. But we live in a world where there are forces opposed to this vocation and this call. Sometimes these forces are our own nature, sin and the devil. The Church teaches us that life with God involves a constant struggle: the spiritual struggle (Gal 6:10–20). In the Old Testament, we see the people of Israel facing enemies on several occasions and fighting against them. Our main enemies are those who oppose our friendship with God and the forces that stand in the way of true life. I recall a priest who said that the wars of the Old Testament have spiritual meaning only when we compare them to the spiritual battle we must wage in our own lives. We often face problems and the difficulties of life, and we feel as though all this is preventing us from living our spiritual life properly, forgetting that all these problems are part of our spiritual journey. Many forget that they have a spiritual battle to fight. ‘The flesh is at odds with the Spirit, and the Spirit with the flesh’ (Gal 5:13, 25).

An example of spiritual exercises

Athletes train hard to be ready for competitions. Physical exercise is even necessary for good health, and Saint Ignatius of Loyola says that just as physical exercise is necessary for the health of the body, spiritual exercises are all the more necessary for the health of the soul. If you see someone growing in their love for God, know that they are practising spiritual exercises diligently. One cannot grow in one’s spiritual life without practising spiritual exercises.

Retreats

St Ignatius of Loyola popularised spiritual exercises in the form of retreats. St Ignatius’s spiritual exercises, led by the Jesuits, often last a month as a silent retreat. When you take part in a retreat, you practise exercises for your soul. You get up early, listen to the Word of God, meditate on it, pray and sing, share your experiences, receive the sacraments, and so on, for several days. That is why you will find that many people feel they have grown spiritually after a meaningful retreat.

The prayer sheet

The ‘prayer sheet’ is a spiritual tool used by the Word of God groups. This sheet contains recommendations for reading and action to help you live out the Word of God each day. These recommendations help you practise pleasing Jesus. They are also spiritual exercises. That is why we speak of ‘exercises in living the Word’. Anyone who faithfully carries out these exercises will gradually grow in their Christian life. There are people who, when they join a ‘Word of God’ group, genuinely want to make progress; they want to please Jesus, but wonder how best to go about it. Here is the way: practise pleasing him by living out the exercises from the prayer sheet; then it will become second nature in your life. That is why the prayer sheet is essential for all members of ‘Word of God’ groups and for many other Christians who use it. It enables you to undertake all kinds of spiritual exercises. Prayer exercises: often, getting up early to pray isn’t easy; it takes real effort. And when you fail to do so, you must strive and start the practice of waking up early again. Even conversing with Jesus isn’t always straightforward: at first you don’t know what to say, and you don’t want to remain in silence for too long. But the more you practise speaking to him, the easier it will become. During the day, you may find yourself distracted. It then takes an effort to speak to him and return to him. Intercession: this involves praying for others. Even though we have our own problems, we put them aside for the moment to pray for others. This teaches us generosity and combats spiritual selfishness. Love: this involves, for example, giving things to others: we part with something we owned; we spend our money out of love. It may involve paying a visit: we spend our time on it, and sometimes money on transport. Forgiveness: this is one of the most difficult exercises because it can cost us a great deal, but when we succeed, we become as God intends us to be. Humility: we do work that humbles us and we practise fighting against pride. Evangelism: it involves all-night vigils, preparing teachings, giving testimonies, saying things we never thought we’d be able to say in public, and so on. If anyone wishes to live out the spiritual exercises properly, let them take the prayer sheet seriously and they will see that they will make giant strides in their life with Jesus.

Asceticism

Generally speaking, the exercises are not pleasant and do not always suit us. Imagine a common exercise in daily life, such as a special diet. We like to eat this or that food, but because the doctor has said it is bad for our health, we do without it. But because we stick to it, we stay healthy and keep in shape. Some people will say they like to act spontaneously when a good desire comes from their heart; that way, they feel they are doing what is right. But the spiritual life is not as simple as that: often you will even have to do what you do not like, what you do not want to do. Jesus said, ‘Father, take this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what you will’ (Mt 26:39). The spiritual life is not based solely on inner feelings; sometimes it is even contrary to those good feelings. St John of the Cross spoke of the ‘night of the senses’ and the ‘night of the spirit’. If a spiritual act repels you, if you do not want to do it, if it is difficult, then live it out, and it will enable you to grow greatly. Such acts are true sacrifices necessary for those who wish to live out the spirituality of the Incarnation properly. Within the Church there have been many movements in which the faithful deprived themselves of food, walked on their knees for long periods as an act of self-sacrifice, and mortified their bodies through all manner of suffering. That was their calling. For us, our sacrifice, our asceticism, is when we have to walk a long way out of love, perhaps to visit someone because we lack money for transport, and so on. Our sacrifices consist of practising the exercises that help us to please Jesus and to live out his Word, and we do this through the prayer sheet. I often ask God to help me practise self-sacrifice in order to love him. Anyone in our group who neglects the exercises in the prayer sheet will find it very difficult to grow spiritually; they will be going round in circles, simply being there without benefiting from the specific graces of the community. Anyone who takes these exercises seriously, even if they are new, will make great progress in their Christian life. That is why, when you carry out an act, it is sometimes good to say to Jesus, ‘This is for you, Lord’.

Henri Bayemi