You are invited into a spiritual adventure which starts on the third week of January. We will begin the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius in a group format, meeting once a week at a mutually convenient time. We will be able to have 3-4 groups to accommodate different time zones. Our focus will be to share and pray over what God reveals to us during the week from our meditations and contemplations. Our meditations will focus on Scripture and contemplations will enable us to enter the story using our five senses.

The purpose of the Exercises is to grow in union with God, who frees us to make good decisions about our lives. Ignatius invites us into an intimate encounter with God, revealed in Jesus Christ so that we can learn to think and act more like Christ. This helps us to grow in interior freedom from sin and disordered love so that we can respond more generously to God’s call in our lives. We engage our intellect and emotions, our memory and will.

Our time together will be spent preparing for the Exercises and then working through the Preparation Days where we will 6 weeks learning the skills to meditate and contemplate Scripture, as well as receive God’s love for the journey. These weeks are crucial to anchoring us in God’s love for us. We then start with Week 1 (sin and its effects), Week 2 (walking with Jesus), Week 3 (the crucifixion), and Week 4 (the resurrection). All the Exercises will be completed in 10-11 months (by the end of October) but you will be able to stop at anytime if this is not a helpful journey for you.

Your expected participation is in the following areas:

• Meet once a week.

• Keep a journal to record your feelings and a few thoughts.

• Set aside 20-30 minutes a day for meditation, contemplation, prayer, and journaling.

• Optional reading, weekly summaries, and course reflections will round out your experience.

• Commit to engaging with Scripture 4 days/week and using a fifth day to summarize your journal.

If you would like to participate, please let me know as soon as possible (nita.kotiuga@bgu.edu). Upon your response, I will send you an email with times available for you to choose from.

There is no cost for this certificate, it is for the benefit of the BGU community.

Dr. Nita Kotiuga

Director of Spiritual Formation