Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola

Written by the founder of the Society of Jesus, the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius is a powerful book. Derived mostly from St. Ignatius conversion experiences in 1521-3, Spiritual Exercises has provided guidance and encouragement to its readers for several hundred years. The aim of Spiritual Exercises is to assist people in finding Gods will for their life, and to give them the motivation and courage to follow that will. It is not a continuous piece of writing, but more like a program of sorts, containing a collection of thoughts, rules, encouragements, readings, meditations, prayers, warnings, and notes. Nevertheless the condensed writing is organized into four "weeks," or periods of time, with each week focusing upon a different theme--the first, human sin; the second, Christs life on earth; the third, Christs death on the cross; the fourth, Christs risen life. A key theme throughout the Spiritual Exercises is discernment--the need to discern between good desires and evil desires in ones life. It is by following the four weeks, and by utilizing such discernment, that a person can better realize Gods will for his or her own life. Although more profitably worked through with another person or spiritual director, Spiritual Exercises can be extremely beneficial for private personal study.

This application contains a single book, published by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. A table of contents is provided for easy navigation, and the full contents can be searched and chapters can be bookmarked. Landscape and portrait reading modes are supported with either automatic or fixed rotation. The text can also be set to one of five sizes. A night mode setting inverts the text for easier reading in the dark.