It is certainly true that the best environment for taking the Spiritual Exercises is at a retreat center or similar setting, where  a priest preaches the meditations and is available to personally direct the retreatant face-to-face. Given, however, that many times this is not possible, is is possible to do the Spiritual Exercises by making use of the benefits of the Internet by retiring to a quiet place to perform the Ignatian Exercises and communicating via e-mail with a priestly guide while doing the retreat. These online Ignatian Exercises are guided by a priest who will lead you by e-mail, sending you meditations and responding to doubts  or questions that might arise.

There are two ways of proceeding:

The first option is what are called the "Spiritual Exercises in daily life", following St. Ignatius' introductory note n. 19: "One who is educated or talented, but engaged in public affairs or necessary business, should take an hour and a half daily for the Spiritual Exercises..."

The second option is to dedicate several days (a minimum of three) to the Spiritual Exercises. In this case it is crucial to go somewhere away from daily distractions, with enough peace and quiet that one can observe a schedule similar to that of a normal retreat.

As of right now (March 17, 2010) we are still in the process of preparing some of the materials for the online retreat, but we anticipate having everything up and running by April. If you would like to sign up to be informed as soon as the retreat is ready, click here.

For more information or questions regarding this possibility, please contact us at spiritualexercisesonline@ive.org