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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 208 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 208 pagesAbout this book
What if you pause before a big choice and look closely at the thoughts pulling you in different directions?
The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius offers a month of prayer through meditations, imaginative contemplation, and daily self-review. Ignatius of Loyola writes these exercises as notes for a guide, not a flowing story. The aim is honest attention: to examine your life and consider which direction to take.
The path opens with the Principle and Foundation, where Ignatius sets out his belief that human life serves God. It moves through reflection on sin, the Call of the King, and contemplation of Christ’s Passion. Alongside these parts, rules for discernment ask readers to notice where their thoughts and feelings lead.
What you’ll discover
- A starting point for purpose Explore how Ignatius places the question of human purpose at the heart of prayer.
- Honesty without despair Encounter meditations that ask you to face failings without losing sight of renewal.
- Prayer through the senses Discover contemplation that invites you to imagine scenes through sight, sound, and touch.
- Attention to inner movements Study Ignatius’s rules for distinguishing the different directions your thoughts and feelings take.
- A daily pause Find habits of self-review that make room to examine your life before choosing.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy quiet reflection, practical guides to prayer, and the inner life of saints. It suits retreat leaders and anyone seeking meaning and renewal.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Prayer follows a steady rhythm
- Purpose gives daily choices their direction
- Created things are means rather than ends
- Honest sorrow opens a clean start
- Remembering death gives choices their weight
- Following Christ reaches into ordinary work
- Humility asks for an undivided heart
- The cross deepens the meaning of generosity
- Love continues in willing daily service
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The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius
by Saint Ignatius of Loyola; Charles Coppens · 1548
Eight days of silence, one hour at a time, and one question: what is your life for?
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“Human beings were created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and in this way to save their souls.”
In short
What would you do with eight days of silence and one question: what is my life for? That question stands at the center of this book.
The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius at a glance
- Reading time
- About 3 h 50 min3 h 5 min fast, 4 h 35 min slow
- Length
- 55,300 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1548by Saint Ignatius of Loyola; Charles Coppens
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A retreat built hour by hour
The book is a working plan for a yearly retreat of eight days. Coppens writes for Jesuits, but the structure comes straight from Ignatius. Each day has its own theme, and each theme is split into hours of prayer.
Every hour follows a pattern. The retreatant thinks of God looking down. Then comes a preparatory prayer, a scene to imagine, a grace to ask for, and a few points to think over. The hour ends with a colloquy, which is a heartfelt talk with Christ, Mary, or the Father.
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Eight days of silence, one hour at a time, and one question: what is your life for?
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Details
- First published
- 1548
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 4 h 20 min
- Level
- Medium level
- Paperback
- 208 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Hardcover
- 208 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print paperback
- 338 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print hardcover
- 338 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Delivery and returns
- Printed when you order. Usually here in 12 to 14 days.Arrives Wed 2 Dec to Tue 8 Decto United States, printed for you at cost
For Christmas, order by Thu 12 Nov
Cite this edition
Ignatius of Loyola, and Charles Coppens. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-spiritual-exercises-of-st-ignatius.
Ignatius of Loyola, & Coppens, C. (2026). The spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-spiritual-exercises-of-st-ignatius (Original work published 1548)
Ignatius of Loyola, and Charles Coppens. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-spiritual-exercises-of-st-ignatius.
@book{ignatiusofloyola2026spiritual,
author = {Ignatius of Loyola and Coppens, Charles},
title = {The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-spiritual-exercises-of-st-ignatius},
note = {First published 1548}
}
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What is the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius about?
It is a structured plan of prayer lasting about a month, shown here as an eight-day retreat. It moves from life's purpose and sin to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, ending in a spirit of love.
What is the Principle and Foundation?
It is the opening truth of the retreat. Human beings are created to praise, reverence, and serve God and so save their souls, and other things are to be used only as they help toward that goal.
What does indifference mean in the Exercises?
It means freedom from likes and dislikes that pull the will away from God. The retreatant learns to prefer neither health nor sickness, wealth nor poverty, and to desire only what leads most to God.
The author
Saint Ignatius of Loyola
1491–1556 · Spanish theologian and Jesuit founder
Ignatius of Loyola was a Spanish Catholic priest born in Loyola in 1491. He lived in Spain, studied in Paris, and later settled in Rome. He wrote the Spiritual Exercises and dictated an account of his life in the 1550s. He helped found the Society of Jesus in 1540 and died in Rome in 1556.
“Human beings were created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and in this way to save their souls.”
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