The First Spiritual Exercises: A Manual for Those Who Give the Exercises

Designed for those who direct The First Spiritual Exercises or train others to direct them, this manual provides a wealth of practical information on the origins and dynamics of these retreats, providing leaders with the tools they need to become effective guides and trainers.

Hansen distinguishes The First Spiritual Exercises from the two other, better-known ways that the Exercises are made: during a thirty-day solitary retreat or at home over a similar time period. The Manual offers a brief history and description of The First Spiritual Exercises, as well as notes and instructions on the day-by-day structure and content of each of the four retreats. Leaders also receive guidance on the place of the sacraments and of Sunday in the retreats, along with a five-step learning process: pray, learn, guide, converse, and practice.

Michael Hansen, S.J., is a retreat leader, speaker, spiritual formation teacher, and spiritual director on the retreat team at Campion Centre of Ignatian Spirituality in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. He also works in the post-ordination formation program for the Australian Jesuits. Hansen has served in several schools and parishes, produced radio and television programs, and is the author of five books, including The First Spiritual Exercises, The Gospels for Prayer, and The Land of Walking Trees.

Hansen's academic background includes degrees in the arts and theology. He has developed creative uses of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises and, with a large team of spiritual directors, has designed and given these exercises in many different retreat forms--both for groups and individuals. Hansen gives retreats around Australia and abroad, always seeking to make the tools and experience of the Spiritual Exercises accessible to as many as possible.