sometimes to shorten the Week, at other times to lengthen it, and so in all the following Weeks, seeking always the fruit proper to the subject matter. The Exercises should, however, be concluded in thirty days more or less (10).

(10) The four Weeks of the Exercises correspond roughly with the three well-known divisions of the spiritual life—the purgative, the illuminative, and the unitive ways; the First Week answering to the purgative way, the Second and Third to the illuminative, and the Fourth to the unitive. This, however, must not be taken to mean that a soul which has passed through the First Week has attained to a perfect purgation, or when it has passed through the Second and Third Weeks to a perfect illumination, or through the Fourth to a perfect union with God. These results will only be gradually attained by much exercise and in a long course of time. Nor is the fruit of one Week to pass away when the next is reached; rather it is to abide and to be cherished as the foundation of all that follows. (See Directory, Chap. xxxix; also Suarez, De Relig., Lib. IX, cap. vi. 5, 6, 11.)

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It is for the director to determine the length of time to be devoted to each of the four Weeks, according as the retreatant is a longer or shorter time in gaining the fruit proper to each. This of course can only be approximately determined when a retreat is given to a number of persons together. In this case the director must consider the dispositions and needs of the majority; always however taking good care that a solid foundation is laid in the First Week, without which it will be of little use to go on to the Exercises of the other Weeks. Break up your fallow ground,' says the Prophet Jeremiah, and sow not among thorns' (Jer. iv. 3). And if this is true of the First Week as a whole, it is especially true of the Principle or Foundation. Unless the retreatant is deeply and solidly convinced of the truths which it contains, the rest of the work will be built on an insecure foundation. Accordingly S. Ignatius assigns no precise time for this primary consideration, but would have the retreatant dwell upon it as long as is needful to reap the full fruit of deep and lasting conviction.

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Three principal causes which may delay the retreatant in attaining the results proper to each Week, and especially those proper to the First Week, are mentioned by S. Ignatius in this Annotation: (1) a sluggish temperament, (2) want of care and

diligence in making the Exercises, (3) the agitation of the soul by divers spirits, good or evil. Towards the end of the book the Saint gives two sets of rules for the discernment of these contrary spirits and for the guidance of the director in dealing with those who are tried by them; the first set being especially adapted for use in the First Week, the second for use in the subsequent Weeks.

V. It will greatly benefit him who receives the Exercises to enter upon them with a courageous heart and with liberality towards his Creator and Lord, offering Him all his will and liberty, in order that His Divine Majesty may make use of his person and of all he possesses according to His most holy will (11).

(11) In this Annotation we are urged to enter upon the Exercises with a courageous and generous heart towards God, ready to give Him whatever He may ask of us. We must not enter upon a retreat merely as a matter of routine; nor may we lay down any limits beyond which we are not prepared to go in following the call of God. A generous disposition is most necessary for the success of a retreat, and its importance should be urged by the director upon all who make the Exercises either alone or along with others. It includes two things, (1) a desire and prayer for light to know the will of God: 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ? '; 'Show Thou me the way that I should walk in, for I lift up my soul unto Thee'; and (2) a readiness to follow the call of God, and to obey His will, when it is made known: 'Do with me what Thou wilt, for I know that Thou lovest me.' We should constantly lift up our hearts throughout the retreat with such prayers and aspirations as these, making them with a deep sense of our own blindness, and of the many occasions on which we have neglected or rebelled against the known will of God in the past. See Directory ii.

VI. When he who gives the Exercises finds that the exercitant experiences no spiritual movements in his soul, such as consolations or desolations (12), nor is agitated by divers spirits, he ought to question him fully about the Exercises, whether he makes them at the right times, and how; and also as to the Additions, if he observes them diligently, questioning him particularly on each of these points.

(12) For a description of these movements and how to deal with them, see the rules for the discernment of spirits at the end

of the book, especially the first set, p. 184. The Additions will be found at the end of the First Week, p. 69.

In conjunction with this Annotation should be read also Annotations vii-x, xiii-xvii, and Directory vii.

VII. If he who gives the Exercises sees (13) that he who receives them is in desolation and temptation, let him not be hard or severe with him, but kind and gentle, encouraging and strengthening him for the future, pointing out to him the wiles of the enemy of human nature (14), and exhorting him to prepare and dispose himself for future consolation.

(13) If he . . . sees. The director should be on the watch for any outward signs of gloom or sadness which may betray the inward conflict, and if he sees such signs, it is better that he should not wait to be spoken to, but himself take the initiative, and explain to the exercitant such of the rules for the discernment of spirits as may suit his case. See Additional Note Q, p. 262. At the same time he should be very gentle with him, encouraging him, and exhorting him to prepare and dispose himself for future consolation. These last words should be especially noted. It is not the part of the director to dispose the retreatant for consolation, but to encourage him and teach him to dispose himself. How he is to do this is pointed out in the rules for the discernment of spirits for the First Week, especially rules v-ix, pp. 186-8, and Directory vii. 6, 7. See also Thomas à Kempis, De Imitatione Christi, II. ix.

(14) The enemy of human nature. This is a designation which points to the true reason of the devil's hatred for mankind. That which he hates in us is our nature, which is the work of God's hands and has been elevated to so high a dignity in Christ. Therefore this enemy of human nature hates whatever in man is the work and gift of God, and desires above all things to destroy it. Hence he is constantly seeking either by fraud or violence to injure us both in body and soul, or if he is unable to do that, to hinder and obstruct us to the utmost of his power in the service of God.

This designation of the evil one, so often used by S. Ignatius, might well furnish us with much matter for meditation. If Satan hated our nature from the beginning, much more does he hate it now that Christ our Lord has triumphed over him in it. We must expect, therefore, that it should be the object of his continual assaults in ourselves. We were pledged in our

baptism to fight against him; and must resist him as having the nature of Christ, his Conqueror, within ourselves.

VIII. He who gives the Exercises, according to what he perceives to be the need of the exercitant (15) as regards desolations and the wiles of the enemy, and also as regards consolations, may explain the rules of the First and of the Second Week which are for discerning the various spirits.

(15) According to . . . the need of the exercitant. Not everything contained in these rules is equally suitable for all, or at all times. The director must use much discretion in explaining and applying only those of them which are suitable to the needs of each retreatant. More is said on this point in the two following Annotations.

IX. It is to be noted that when the exercitant is engaged in the Exercises of the First Week, if he is a person who is not experienced in spiritual matters, and if he be tempted grossly and openly, as, for example, if he betrays impediments to making further progress in the service of God our Lord, such as fear of hardships, or shame, or loss of worldly honour, etc., then let not the director converse with him upon the rules of the Second Week for discerning various spirits; because in proportion as those of the First Week will benefit him, so will those of the Second do him harm, since they treat of matters too subtle and too high for him to understand.

X. When he who gives the Exercises perceives that he who receives them is assaulted and tempted under the semblance of good, then it is fitting to converse with him upon the rules of the Second Week above mentioned; because generally (16) the enemy of human nature is more apt to tempt a person under the appearance of good when he is exercising himself in the illuminative life, which corresponds to the Exercises of the Second Week, and not so much in the purgative life, which corresponds to the Exercises of the First Week.

(16) Generally, though not always. What is said in this Annotation refers not so much to the part of the Exercises upon which the exercitant is engaged, as to the habitual state of his soul. For it may happen that retreatants who are making the Exercises of the First Week are, as to the habitual dispositions of their souls, in the illuminative way, and consequently may need the rules belonging to the Second Week, even while they are engaged in the Exercises of the First. And, on the

other hand, there may be some who, even when they have passed on to the Second Week, may still at times be subject to gross and manifest temptations which need to be dealt with by the rules belonging to the First Week. The truth is that souls are for the most part tempted in this way or that according to the progress they have made in the spiritual life, and the director must apply to them the rules of the First or Second Week according to the character of their temptations, irrespective of the precise part of the Exercises in which they are engaged, whether it be the First Week or the Second, or even the Third or Fourth.

With regard to this Annotation, see Suarez, De Relig. IX. v. 8, 9.

XI. It is of advantage to him who is receiving the Exercises to know nothing during the First Week of what he will have to do in the Second; but that he should labour in the First Week to obtain that which he seeks, just as if he did not hope to find any further good in the Second (17).

(17) See Directory iii, 2-6.

XII. He who gives the Exercises must earnestly warn him who is receiving them, that as he has to occupy himself for an hour in each of the five Exercises or contemplations which will be made each day, so he ought to take care that his mind finds peace in the thought that he has remained a full hour in the Exercise, and even more rather than less; because the enemy is wont to try his utmost to make us shorten the hour of the said contemplation, meditation, or prayer.

XIII. It is likewise to be observed, that as in time of consolation it is easy and pleasant to remain the full hour in contemplation, so in time of desolation it is very difficult to complete it. Therefore the exercitant, in order to combat the desolation, and overcome the temptations, ought always to remain a short time beyond the full hour, so as to accustom himself not only to resist the enemy, but even to overthrow him.

XIV. He who gives the Exercises, if he sees that he who receives them goes through them with consolation and much fervour, must caution him not to make any promise or any inconsiderate and hasty vow; and the more he may find him to be of a light and unstable disposition, the more must he caution and admonish him. For although one may rightly move another to enter Religion, by which