The Confederation of Latin American and Caribbean Religious (CLAR) presented the pastoral subsidy "Spiritual Exercises in Synodal Key", a proposal aimed at Religious Life that seeks to accompany the reception of the Synod on Synodality through a journey of prayer, discernment, and personal and communal conversion.
The material was developed by the Commission for a Synodal Religious Life and responds to the desire to offer a practical tool so that the insights of the synodal process do not remain solely in documents, but transform the daily life of religious communities.
Published on the occasion of the feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the subsidy recovers the richness of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises and puts it in dialogue with the synodal path that the Church is experiencing, proposing a eight-day retreat to strengthen the listening to the Holy Spirit, discernment, and missionary commitment.
For everyday life
In the presentation of the document, the Confederation acknowledges that the synodal process has awakened enthusiasm in the Religious Life of Latin America and the Caribbean. However, it reminds us that the true challenge is to translate that renewing impulse into practical ways of living faith and mission."The Latin American and Caribbean religious life has shown enthusiasm for committing to the implementation of synodality. But we run the risk that these inspirations, of greater life for the Church, remain as statements and do not reach life", notes the introduction of the subsidy.
The document also recalls one of the statements that marked the beginning of the synodal process led by Pope Francis: "The path of synodality is the path that God expects from the Church of the third millennium", a conviction that gave rise to a broad process of listening and discernment throughout the Church.
In this context, the Commission explains that the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius constitute a true school of discernment because they help to discover the will of God and to prepare one's life to respond to it. It also recalls that the Synod was, above all, an experience of listening, which invites us to learn again to listen to the Spirit and to one's own heart.
Spirituality that unites discernment and mission
The guide proposes a spiritual retreat structured over eight days. Although it recommends performing four or five extended times of daily prayer, it also reminds that God can make Himself present at any moment in life when there is an attitude of openness and inner silence.
Each moment of prayer follows a simple itinerary: preparing for the presence of God, asking for a specific grace, meditating on the Word through questions for reflection, concluding with a conversation with the Lord, and conducting a spiritual examination to recognize the inner movements experienced during the prayer. The proposal encourages sharing in community what each participant has experienced during the day, convinced that mutual listening allows for a clearer recognition of the action of the Holy Spirit.
The text also offers criteria for discerning spiritual movements, distinguishing those that lead to a fuller life, to freedom, and to the service of the Kingdom of God from those dynamics that generate confusion, fear, isolation, and loss of hope.
Path of synodality
The retreat begins with an invitation to pause, recognize one's own reality, and discover the deepest desires of the heart, understood as a privileged space where God continues to speak to each person. From the beginning, the guide poses questions that orient the entire journey: What do you desire? What do you desire for yourself, for your religious community, and for the Church? From there, the itinerary leads to contemplating the Principle and Foundation of the Ignatian spirituality, reminding that all life finds its meaning in the love of God and in participation in the mission of Jesus Christ.
The following days invite us to recognize our own fragility and complicity with those attitudes that hinder walking together, to open ourselves to the mercy of God and renew our baptismal and missionary commitment. Later on, the proposal leads to contemplating the public life of Jesus, his way of serving, his closeness to the poor, and his way of announcing the Kingdom as a model for religious life.
The journey also incorporates some of the most representative meditations from the Exercises of Saint Ignatius, such as reflections on the two standards, the three types of people and the three stages in friendship with Christ, with the purpose of helping to discern one’s own choices, strengthen inner freedom, and grow in following Jesus. In the last days of the retreat, the meditations accompany Christ in his passion, death, and resurrection, inviting us to contemplate the love taken "to the extreme" and to experience the joy of the missionary sending. Finally, the eighth day proposes learning to "find God in all things", taking up one of the most characteristic traits of Ignatian spirituality and calling to live a contemplative faith in the midst of everyday action.
Moving from words to actions
Throughout the resource, the Commission insists that synodality cannot be reduced to a methodology of work or a series of ecclesial structures. On the contrary, it presents it as a spiritual experience that transforms relationships, strengthens community life, and renews the mission.
In that line, remember that the synodal process was, essentially, a path of listening and that the call to be a Church in mission finds resonance in one of the most well-known convictions of Saint Ignatius of Loyola: "love must be placed more in actions than in words".
As a conclusion of the retreat, the resource invites each participant to gather the insights received during the eight days, identify the specific calls from the Lord, discern the means to respond to them, and recognize to which people and realities they are sent to continue the mission.
The "Spiritual Exercises in Synodal Key" can be downloaded for free through the platform ComuniCLAR, with the purpose that religious communities, consecrated persons, and all those interested in deepening the synodal path have a tool that integrates prayer, discernment, and missionary commitment.
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