Structured Notes for the Making of a Retreat

This page hosts the structured notes for an eight-day Ignatian silent retreat, either guided or self-guided. An excellent scholarly translation and commentary on the full 30-day retreat can be found in The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, by George Ganss, S.J., published by the Institute of Jesuit Sources.

As this work was composed atop those sermons and letters supplemental to the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours), this poet acknowledges a debt of gratitude to that host of unnamed translators and scholars upon whose faith we rest the pen. Not least, I offer special thanks to Dr. Klaus Miehling, who gave a detailed and deep reading to several of these poems during his process of setting them to music. I also thank Dr. Carlotta Ferrari for her immeasurable help with my own elementary scores. It is both a mystery and a blessing how these musicologists and composers (worth their weight in gold) have proven to be among the best of editors. With such collaboration grows knowledge, as our work is pushed toward that mark of perfection—Ad maiorem Dei gloriam!

For ease of access, all complimentary poems and hymns, adjunct to those bliblical meditations, are found on the Patristics page and in the same order as below.

A concise hagiography, which draws in essence from Fr. Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints, is entirely optional reading (though very much encouraged) during the course of retreat.

Download a printable retreat schedule (with notes for spiritual directors):