I am giving an Easter Retreat at my parish on May 9. The title of the retreat is, He Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed! I am using a format based on the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius. See below for some ideas about using this form of prayer.

The retreat has four prayer periods. They correspond to the four themes in the Spiritual Exercises.

Themes of the Easter Retreat Using the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius

First Prayer Period:

Sin and God’s Love and Mercy — We are in need of salvation

Second Prayer Period:

The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ

Third Prayer Period:

The Passion of Christ

Fourth Prayer Period:

The Resurrection of Christ — Learning to Love as God Loves

These are the readings for each prayer period. If you are not experienced in praying this way, I suggest you approach this with the mindset of a Jew born and living in Ephesus at the time of Jesus.

 

First Prayer Period

You have been drawn to the Christian life along with the many gentiles living there who had been members of the Cult of Artemis/Diana. You never saw Jesus but were amazed at the stories you heard of Him. You have read Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. You are attracted to Jesus but His message seems to contradict what you have learned about God and the importance of obeying God’s law and the penalties for disobedience you have heard proclaimed by the rabbis.

Contemplate on what would be going through your mind when you read Paul’s letter. How do you react?

Ephesians 1:3-14

Second Prayer Period

As time goes on you recall the Prophet Isaiah. You contemplate on the words of the Prophet. How do you react?

Isaiah 42:1-4, 16

Third Prayer Period

You have decided you are committed to being a Christian. You read Peter’s letter. He addressed it to other Christians like you. Contemplate on Peter’s words. How do you respond to what you have read and prayed about?

1 Peter 3:18-22, 4:12-13, 16-19

Fourth Prayer Period

As you have gone from being a devoted Jew to becoming a new Christian you have been bothered by one aspect of the Resurrection Story.

If Jesus was the loving son He has been portrayed to be, how could He fail to appear to His mother after His resurrection? She suffered, as no mere human had ever suffered, standing at the foot of His cross. How could He appear to others and not appear to Mary? You have prayed to Jesus asking for an explanation. Jesus answered by coming to you with His mother.

(Use the description of praying using GOSPEL CONTEMPLATION below. Pray using your imagination.)

The Risen Lord Goes to His Mother

• • • • St. Iñigo de Loyola wrote in his book of the Exercises:

 “The Resurrection of Christ our Lord – The First Apparition: First Point. He appeared to the Virgin Mary. Though this is not mentioned explicitly in the Scripture it must be considered as stated when Scripture says that He appeared to many others. For Scripture supposes that we have understanding, as it is written, ‘Are you also without understanding?”‘

• • • • Remember, after asking the Lord to make you aware in His presence and offering to Him your time and your self, where this fits into salvation history. Jesus had died on the cross and His Spirit had gone down among the dead to declare the great Good News that they will rise on the day the Father has appointed. Then His Spirit returns to the tomb and inspirits His cold, battered flesh. Straightway, He goes to His mother, the Lady Mary.

 

• • • • Imagine His coming to her.

 

• • • • Stay to hear what they say, to see what they do, and to let them share with you what they experienced together.

 

• • • • Consider, then, that Jesus Christ is God and mighty Lord. How did He manifest His divinity to His mother?

 

• • • • Consider, too, how He consoled His mother after her sufferings. Then talk with Jesus or His mother, or with the Father. End with the Our Father.

 

 

Happy Easter!

He Is Risen!

 

 

 

 

BODILY POSTURE DURING TIMES OF PRAYER

Formal prayer can be made in almost any bodily position. Certain positions are more helpful for some people than for others, just as certain positions are more helpful at one time in prayer than at another. The important aspect of posture is whether I can be at ease and yet attentive, reverent and yet relaxed. And so kneeling, sitting, standing, lying prostrate are all potential positions for prayer. Once I have adopted a posture for prayer and my prayer is going well, I should not readily change position because again the outward restlessness or shifting of position can jar the inner calm of prayer. Often a certain rhythm of kneeling, sitting, standing, or walking is helpful according to the moods during the time of prayer.

 SOME TYPES OF PRAYER

VERBAL: Praying with words. Can be silent or out loud.

MEDITATION: Praying with the head.

CONTEMPLATION: Praying with the heart.

“WASTING TIME WITH THE LORD”: Resting in God’s presence.

SOME TIPS FOR PRAYER

These ideas are meant to be a help…. Use them only if they help…. Please don’t try to get them all in.

On Entering Into Prayer

• • • Find a suitable place.
    • Realize that harmony of body and spirit is important; take a peaceful, relaxed, and meaningful position.
    • Spend a few moments quieting yourself, becoming aware that you are placing yourself in the presence of God in a special way.
    • Ask for the grace you most desire.
    • Read slowly the scripture passage (or proceed with whatever method you have chosen for prayer).
    • Try not to think or figure things out on your own, but let the Spirit pray through you (Rom. 8: 26-27).
    • Pause and savor wherever you feel drawn or moved.
    • Respond … from your heart.

 

PONDERING THE SCRIPTURES WITH YOUR HEART

A very good way of pondering a passage of scripture with your heart is to approach the scripture text as you would a love letter. Read the passage slowly, aloud, or in a whisper…. Let the words wash over you…. Savor each phrase or word…. Re-read the passage lovingly as if you were reading a letter from a dear friend…. Stay with the words or phrases that especially catch your attention…. Absorb them the way the thirsty earth receives the rain….

Allow your heart to be moved; when a thought or feeling resonates deeply, stay with it…. Allow it to penetrate your being…. Express it to God….

Occasionally you might want to ask yourself questions concerning this passage: why? how? when? how might this apply to me now? Let further feelings and thoughts well up in your heart as you ponder to find deeper meaning or understanding or a different way of seeing things.

Respond authentically and spontaneously as in dialogue.

 

GOSPEL CONTEMPLATION

In this method, we enter a gospel story about Jesus by using our powers of imagining. The concrete details of the gospel story serve as a guide to our imagination.

• • • Enter the story just as if you were there:
    • Watch what happens; listen to what is being said; feel the actions with your body.
    • Become part of the mystery either by being yourself or by becoming one of the persons in the story.
    • Listen, taste, smell, feel, and watch what happens.
    • Allow yourself to interact with the other persons in the event: enter into conversation with them, listen to what they have to say to you and to each other, etc.
    • Allow the event to unfold through your imagination. Be as passive as possible to allow this to take place. At the same time, remain more or less within the framework of the gospel story.
    • Respond spontaneously as in a dialogue with God, with Jesus or with one of the persons within the gospel story.

—John Veltri, SJ

 

Greg Gillen

qop-gg@sonic.net

April 29, 2026

© 2026 Greg Gillen

 

Image Credit/The Resurrected Christ Appears to the Virgin/Guercino/1629

The Risen Lord Goes to His Mother and some ideas about using this form of prayer/Choosing Christ In the World/The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius/Adapted by Joseph A. Tetlow, S.J.