I thought it would be helpful to promote conversation and reflection on the Exercises to ask a difficult or even a very bold question of the structure of the Exercises. It is this. From the point of view of the enlightened practitioner of the Spiritual Exercises, whether a director or a retreatant or spiritual directee, what is the hierarchy of values in the Spiritual Exercises? 

          My own attempt at hierarchizing the values in the Spiritual Exercises has taken place gradually over the years. I found myself in directing a retreat or in teaching a class saying, "[351] is at the heart of the Exercises!" This is the passage in which Ignatius says that the devout soul that wishes to do something that may be for the glory of God Our Lord and is not against the mind of the Church or the will of superiors, there may come a temptation from without not to say or do it. In such a case one should raise his or her mind to his Creator and Lord and if he sees that what he is about to do is in keeping with God's service or at least not opposed to, one must answer the tempter with St. Bernard, "I did not begin this because of you and I will not end it because of you". [351] is one of the cornerstones of apostolic spirituality. In the Jesuit tradition it is the basis of probabilism. We are the children of God. It is a spiritual position. It is not a position of moral theology. 

          Hence we attempt to hierarchize the most important values in the Spiritual Exercises. If [351] is the heart of the Spiritual Exercises, cannot also Rule 10 of the First Week be at the heart of the Exercises or the Contemplatio ad Amorem be at the heart of the Exercises? "At the heart of the Exercises" means what is the most important thing in the Spiritual Exercises. When I teach a class, inevitably, a hand will go up and someone will say, "Father, how many hearts does the Exercises have?" I pull back a bit and say, "The Spiritual Exercises has many hearts." All it would take is one of those points to make a saint, just one. Thus it is a difficult task in the ranking these values, but it is possible. 

          Why hierarchize the values in the Spiritual Exercises? Hierarchizing the values in the Spiritual Exercises can lead us to an overview of the Exercises, a synthetic overview that allows us to better guide others and ourselves. We appreciate the interplay of values and we can get a vision like Ignatius had on the banks of the Cardoner. Remember he had a vision, a religious experience of seeing everything descending from the Trinity and going back to the Trinity. He understood so much that he said what he had learned in that religious experience when compared to all the schooling he ever had, and all other insights that he ever had, was more that all of them.

          Ignatius saw the great values of the Exercises of following from this ontological experience of order: He had an experience of order, things coming down from God and returning to God in relationship to each other: the lowest by the middle-most and the middle-most by the highest. (Most of the spirituality of Ignatius is not in the Spiritual Exercises, it is in the Constitution of the Society of Jesus.) His deep experience of "order" is obvious.

          Ignatius in the Constitutions [622, a, d]) says, "Quo universalius eo divinius": the more universal a good is, the more divine it is. If we can get an overview of the Exercises that takes us out of a debilitating or less-good perspective, the more divine our view of the Exercises will be. The more divine, the more helpful, the more operative, the more inspiring. If we can get ourselves out of a myopic view and get into his ontic and deep values, we understand the way he structured the Exercises.

          A true hierarchy of values can show a genuine emphasis and orientation in Ignatian spirituality in general and in the Spiritual Exercises in particular. It can highlight the differences and emphases in comparison to other spiritualities: Franciscan, Dominican, Salesian, Benedictine, Theresian, Sanjuanist - even monasticism, and psychological contemplative spirituality. It can be a great help in the spiritual direction of non-Ignatian people. Genius snaps, cracks onto genius at the far reaches of human understanding. It gives sparks; it gives light. It is past Dominican, Franciscan and Ignatian. It smacks against the divine. Here "there is no male or female. One is in that empyrean heaven." 

          Saint John of the Cross says, "The Holy Spirit is accustomed to enlighten a man (sic) after the manner of his recollection." (Ascent Book II, chapter 29, paragraph 6). That is a fantastic statement. It is the Holy Spirit respecting one' s construct and makeup and experience. Thus when one speaks of mystical prayer and what is the dark night of the senses and spirit and all of these mystical, ontic dynamisms, the Holy Spirit is so gentle yet so strong. 

          John of the Cross cites St. Thomas Aquinas in De Veritate Q, 12, a, 6 "quidquid recipitur, per modem recipientis recipitur." Whatever is received, is received after the mode of the receiver. You can tell a first grade girl the beautiful story of Romeo and Juliet and she says, "Isn't that nice." However, when you tell a twenty-two year old women who is in love with a twenty-three year old man the story of Romeo and Juliet, that becomes a different story. Where did John of the Cross get that idea? It is an important part of Ignatian spirituality. St. John of the Cross went to a Jesuit school until he was 22.

          Who dares rank in hierarchical order: God, Church, Neighbor, self, prayer, reflection, repetition, the grace desired, seeing an individual spiritual director daily, giving points, the Rules for Discernment, Notes Concerning Scruples, Rules for Thinking with the Church, Rules for Eating, Giving Alms, the sweep of purification, illumination, confirmation, union of the Four Weeks of the Spiritual Exercises? Ignatius preferred the metaphor of the four weeks because he was making it a structural statement. 

          Who, indeed, dares rank revelation, faith, hope, love, prayer, service, discernment, and times for choice? We need to "wooly the edges" here and give place to wonder. Accept and reflect first; be critical afterward. Never try to be creative and critical at the same time! They are two opposite thrusts of spirit. Be creative as you can; and then afterwards when you are reflective, be critical. Being creative and critical at the same time stops both processes. Give yourself that permission.

There are at least three different orders of values in the Spiritual Exercises:

1. Mythic values are ultimate values in their own line. They have no "parts outside of parts" from a simpler strata that can be used to build up to a definition. All one can do is tell stories about mythic values: The Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, The High Priestly Prayer in John, The Crucifixion of Jesus are such. Mythic values cannot be ranked: God, Neighbor, Self, Church, Nation, Civil Society, the Most Holy Trinity in Itself, the Economic Trinity on earth (the way it operates), Revelation, Order.

2. Structural values participate somewhat in mythic values, but structural values are related to each other as: come before or after, or dependent on, or generates, or breeds demands, requires, or supports. Freedom, Imagination, Prayer, Reflection, Repetition, talking to the director are examples of structural values. 

3. Process values are like philosophical principles. Contrary (not contradictory) process values can obtain (be true) at the same time, although at any given time one value may not be as important as another. Process values are always concerned with "what to do." Process values may be superseded by one or more other process values. Examples of Process Values are the scriptural history of the meditations, composition with the mystery, the grace desired, the points for the meditations, "That man is you dynamic", that comes from the story of David and Bathsheba, the progressive graces of the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Week: Purification Illumination Confirmation Union. Principle and Foundation, Contemplatio ad Amorem; exemplary cause dynamic; Notes Concerning Scruples; Rules for Discernment; Times of Choice; Kingdom dynamics, and many others.

1. Logical order primarily means in the order of thought, or which comes first theoretically without connection to the existential world. Logical order most often has relation to the existential world, though it does not necessarily have such relation. The order is logical in the sense that one flows from the previous one, or one is the source of another, or is a prerequisite in thinking of another, as interdependent courses in a college curriculum.

2. Order of dignity is the order based on actual or assumed relation to another accepted order. The Mother of God, the apostles, the president, the prime minister, the professor, the uncle, the nephew or niece are examples, in that one value is "higher" or "better" than another, or is more important, or participates in God more than another or such as faith is more important than courage or chastity. 

3. Order of Execution is the order of what must come first in a dependent causal chain. It answers the question, "What must be done now before anything else is done?" in the sense of which comes first when you are working on them. For examples, generosity comes before service, and freedom comes before generosity. This kind of ordering is very important in many considerations of the Spiritual Exercises. For examples, Rule 10 [323] in the First Week Rules for Discernment ask one to consider while one is in consolations the pattern of one's consolation and desolation. 

        Further, whether one orders the values in logical order, in the order of dignity, in the order of execution, it will give the same hierarchy. This will be a check on our hierarchy of values. Our hierarchizing the ten values yields the same order when ranked according to different principles (logical, dignity, execution), it will be a corroboration that we are really on to some truly ultimate or at least some very real and important values in the Spiritual Exercises.

          What do I think is the first and primary value in the Spiritual Exercises? Revelation, of course. It all begins with God. If there is no God, there are no Spiritual Exercises. God has spoken to us. That is transcendent, "out of this world." In other words, it is the revelation. Scripture, of course, comes under the heading of revelation. This is God's initiative towards the human race, toward the human person and the locus of His building friendship. Revelation is the beginning of growing friendship with the Lord.

          It is interesting to note what Scripture Ignatius uses. The reality of exemplary cause is urgent in Ignatius and the Exercises. Paul is not used in the Exercises; the psalms are not used; Old Testament, very little. This is because Ignatius and the Exercises focus sharply on Jesus, the exemplary cause in creation, in friendship, in service, in transformation. The Trinity is the source of grace, both created grace and uncreated grace. Christ is the grace of the head. We are one with the head. 

          Everything that Jesus has comes from the Father and returns to the Father. Ignatius saw an image like a conveyor belt from Jesus and returning to the Father. Everything comes from the Father and returns to the Father. That is the vital dynamic. Ignatius has a descending Christology. All goes back to the Father and we with Him. He sees the Kingdom [93], [95] and Contemplatio [232] in the presence of all the angels and saints before God. The movement is a "continuous loop."

          Is the experience of human love necessary to know that one is loved by God? No, it is not necessary, but it is very helpful. The true meaning of salvation puts us beyond the hindrances of our wounded inner child, a dysfunctional family, or the limitations of our heritage. This is the meaning of salvation. One does not have to be victimized by destructive experiences. God has a very therapeutic personality. He loves us, whether we have had the experience of human love or not. 

          This is one major consequence of revelation: we know we are loved by God. We pray over scripture. We pray over the revealed love of God and not the experience of human love. Does the experience of human love help? Of course, it does. It is one of the most beautiful, glorious, God-given graces that we have. It is true, however, that human witness is part of God's revelation, and even God's providence. However, revelation is where it all starts. Without revelation there are no Exercises, no Society of Jesus. 

          What is the second most important value in the Spiritual Exercises? Order. Order: the notion and "experience" of order (the lowest by the middle-most and the middle-most by the highest.) Order as an ontic or mythic reality; not just "the conviction of order," but the experience of order. It is a mystical experience of the emanations of the Trinity in itself and also in the Economic Trinity, the Trinity on Earth - Deus Operarius, Ignatius' favorite name for God. God, the Worker, makes possible "finding God in all things." God is what is wet in water, cold in the ice, warm in the sunshine, and strong in the cedars of Lebanon. Order makes possible finding God in all things. This mystical experience of emanation from the divinity is the root of in actione contemplativus, a contemplative in action: not during action, but a contemplative in action. The psyche of the classical mystic becomes transparent of God. In Ignatian mysticism, the action becomes transparent of God. It is not that during the action one finds God, but one finds God in the action itself. One is in actus primus, with the Pure Act. "Order" is close to revelation: the Father, Son, and Spirit. The Father is supreme, the Son sits at the Father's right hand ,and the Spirit is the bond between them. Then comes redeemed or redeemable humanity. 

          Order is the operatio Dei ad extra. It is the Economic Trinity at work in the world. As soon as God gets outside Himself ( this is the point of transcendence or immanence; fuga mundi or contemplative in action), there is order. God carries order. Order is grace. Order in God is uncreated Grace. It is God Himself. Order in the individual human person is created grace. It is a participation in the life of God. It is that fundamental value outside of God Himself, in Ignatius and the Spiritual Exercises.

          The Exercises are a means to get rid of any disordered affection; and having gotten rid of them, to be united with what God is doing. Disorder is sin - the opposite of God. What is the closest thing we have to God? Order. Understanding order merits some more repetition and deep reflection and prayer. It is a grace. The value of order is also the source of the triple colloquy of the First Week: Father, Son, Mary as redeemed humanity. Mary is the way in, the prime instance of redeemed humanity. The vitality of Mary is a mystical reality. She is not just an object of devotion. This is the order all other values. 

          Order is the norm of divine governance. It is a source of obedience. Obedience is obaudire. Obedience is "I hear you, I really hear you." The Word obeys the Father. That is why He is the Word. He is listening so intently, he is the Word of the Father. There are great notions here, and they are inherent in the Exercises.

          Sin is disorder. Disordered affections and inordinate attachments inhibit good decision-making. They inhibit a good decision-maker. Only after order is achieved does one make decisions; and one does not make decisions in order to get order. One gets rid of disordered affections and then makes decisions. One does not change decisions in a time of disorder. 

          Order is also the source of community. In the Kingdom [91 - 99], the contemplation on the Incarnation [106]; the Two Standards [136 - 147]; the Contemplatio [230 - 237], order makes possible cooperation in the apostolate, the Kingdom, self-governance, society. If many are pursuing their own "order" of values, then there is no community. If one has the same order as another, it makes cooperation and working together possible. This is the basis of communion and community. Not comm-unio as some suggest, but com-munio, we fortify together. Laborare mecum of the Kingdom. 

          The experience of order is the foundation for the Ratio Studiorum, and the Jesuit notion of education: the way school is taught in our schools.. Ratio Studiorum, built on the notion of order and how one teaches people, how one introduces them to the intellectual life, what is first and what is second and so one.

          The third transcendent value in Ignatius is the individual: the recognition of the individual as being of august importance. That is why it is an individually directed retreat. The individual is a mythic or ontic value. All of the first twenty Annotations attest to this [1 - 20]. 

          We possibly do not realize the emphasis on the individual in Ignatian spirituality generally and in the Exercises in particular. At one time it lead to suspicion that Ignatius and his little book of the Exercises is the work of the Alumbrados - the enlightened ones. There were accusations of "me and Jesus spirituality" and so on. Such accusations are somewhat justified. There is need today to stress the community and the faith/justice aspects of the Exercises.

          The Church still does not entirely recognize apostolic spirituality. Most of the documents presuppose monastic spirituality. Monasticism is communitarian, non- non-individuated, herd, group spirituality. It was Ignatius who articulated the values of the individual and that God is concerned for and loves the individual, with emphasis on the individual experience. In past ages the individual was not a societal value nor a religious value. In some places the individual is still not valued. Yet God is concerned for and He loves the individual with emphasis on the individual's experience. In past times only the king was individuated. Others had their place in the sun through the king. It is difficult for us today to realize the impetus given to the individual by the spirituality and psychology of Ignatius [351]. A person is not simply an appendage of the king. 

          We are using freedom here as opposed to instinct and self-interest) [351]. Here is the Exercises warping and woofing, weaving a spirituality. Spirituality is not just God. Good spirituality has to get its feet in the earth, and it has to include you and me. We are children of the earth and of heaven by revelation, by God's free gift. Freedom is a very rich reality and a very rich notion. One very important aspect of freedom is the willingness and the ability to change and to adapt. Freedom is opposed to instinct. Instinct employs the same patterns of behavior today, tomorrow, and forever. Process this stimulus; get this response. On the other hand, freedom has the willingness and the ability to change. The Spiritual Exercises can take a person no matter where they are spiritually, beginner or saint, and no matter what their native spirituality. However, the Spiritual Exercises cannot handle someone who cannot or will not change. This could be a psychological statement. Can they change? Are they too afraid to change? Are they too set in their ways? On the other hand, it might be a spiritual question. Are they afraid to come close to God?

          It is under freedom that I would put the notion of a "director" of the retreat and the great value Ignatius saw in having someone to "give" the retreat or "direct" the retreat. The director is one with whom the retreatant objectifies or at least extroverts his or her images. Do you understand what I mean by mapping? You know how you map the bottom of the ocean? The director is one who assists in assessing the mapping of the individual' s images onto the community images. The community has certain images of God and images of faith, images of Church, images of holiness, images of self-sacrifice. What are they? What do they do? What do they act like? This retreat is mapping this person's images onto the Church images. Another way to say this is it checks the "private revelation" the individual receives in prayer, which is true, honest, bona fide private revelation, with these communal or Church images. It is the director of the retreat who together with the retreatant decides it is time for the passage to another grace, another image, another way of seeing and appreciating; for instance, the Two Standards [136 - 148], the Three Degrees [165 - 167]. 

          In the supreme act of freedom the human person posits himself or herself as a believer. This is concerned with he notion of faith. The notion of "faith-sharing" shows this well. In faith sharing one says in effect "This happened between me and God at one time": maybe five minutes ago when I was praying, maybe when I was 14 years old, maybe when I was 25, but this happened between me and God at one time. In illo tempore, once upon a time this happened. "At that time," Jesus said. When was "that time" in this retreat? There is no privileged moment in history for Ignatius. When did Jesus speak to the woman at the well? Two thousand years ago, two hundred years ago in the Black Forest, or right here, right now. Freedom plus Revelation is faith. Freedom affirms revelation.

          Imagination is more than fantasy. I can right now think of a flying red horse with big wings. That is a fantasy. One cannot walk down the street or through a room without imagination: the ability to understand, make, use, assimilate symbols, and to be transformed by the symbol. This is a structural value. Why doesn't Ignatius go through ten mythic or ontic values?" Because then they would not touch us. There have to be ontic values and structural values. The ontic values will assimilate the individual. The individual has to assimilate the other values. 

          Imagination is the ability to integrate the intellectual and the affective into the life-giving and revelatory symbol. Notice it is not just affective. Whatever personality type one has, if one is a thinker, then one has to work to integrate the affective. If on is a feeler, one has to work to integrate the thinking. This is true of intuition and sensation as well. Discernment is precisely that integration of thinking and feeling, intuition and sensation. That is why it is difficult. That is the sentir of Ignatius 

          The symbolic synthesis of the imagination is the basis of sentir, the notion of spirits, Ignatian contemplation, the appreciation of Jesus, the exemplary cause throughout the Second Week and in the Contemplatio - a mutual giving, being taught philanthropy. Love consists of a mutual giving. You give what you have and I will give what I have. 

          Imagination is the fifth ranked variable. It comes immediately after revelation, order, the individual, and freedom. I place the all important activities of prayer and reflection and the Ignatian repetition here in the notion of imagination. Use of the imagination was a great emphasis of Ignatius and a different one. Imagination involved in the world. That is where God is. He is not in separation from the world. It is kataphatic mysticism and "Finding God in All Things." 

          Here we see a contrast between apophatic and kataphatic mysticism. Apophatic mysticism is nada, nothing. One affirms something, one denies it and one posits it in a pre-eminent way: God is good; God is not good. He is beyond good. Then you say "God is goodness." You affirm, you deny, and you transcend. That is apophatic. Some spiritualities are built on that. No images, nada, nothing in the intellect, nothing in the will, nothing in the imagination, nada, nada, nada. 

          In contrast, Ignatius is saying, "Everything, everything, everything; not nothing, nothing, nothing. Everything, everything, everything." Finding God in all things. That is different. This is the realm of sentir , the ways of making a Choice in the Third Time of Choice, the Kingdom, Two Standards, the notion of sin; in fact, the whole of the Exercises. "Imagine that." Life with God, imagine that. It is somewhere here in freedom and the imagination that the lover of the Lord continues to pray to Him after the collapse of images and the descent into hell.

          Finding God in all things is a result of the Ignatian descending Christology. He challenges us to this position in the Principle and Foundation, [23], and the Contemplatio ad Amorem [230]. All things were made through the Word and without Him was made nothing that was made. God sends His Word down from heaven. The Incarnate Word further is mediator (the lowest by the middle-most and the middle-most by the highest) and the exemplary cause and efficient cause of our being like God and finding God in all things. We are being like God, being the adopted children. It is the ability to find God in all things that makes one "a contemplative in action." 

          A contemplative in action is one who is careful of the reality of his or her decision-making and discerns what the action is wherein God is to be found (agere sequitur esse). To do something certainly follows to be in something. To be, the esse, comes first. Action follows being. Ignatian spirituality has a strong intellectual element. The Rules for Discernment of Spirits help us to find God and not to find one's self. One uses the rules for discernment as a calculus of affectivity to find the Holy Spirit.

          Gratitude in Ignatius is very close to pure love. It is altruistic, recognizes God as Source of all, and is deeply reverential. Thus it can afford to be familiar [233]. Amar y servir in todo Mecum. Ignatius called the Exercises "the school of the affections." The primary affection is gratitude.

          Gratitude acknowledges God the Worker, God who is at work in everything for me. God the Worker at work in creation: wet in water, warm in the sun, cool in the breeze, supporting in the chair, tingling my intellect, God the Worker at work in creation. There are many reasons to be grateful. Gratitude is the result of finding God in all things. We have examples in the Contemplatio [230 to 237], especially [233] and [234]. God the Worker [236] is not far removed from our laboring with him to build the Kingdom [93]. To whom are the Exercises to be given? They are for those multum capax Dei: to those very capable of God!!!"

          Gratitude and generosity are the major affective elements. We see it in the Principle and Foundation [23], Annotations; in Contemplatio [230] and [234]. The Kingdom is a great example [91], [96], [97]: prompt and diligent [96], all who have judgment and reason will give themselves entirely. [97] Notice the words there, to be prompt and diligent, to supply one's self entirely to the work of the kingdom. "Those who wish to give greater proof of their love -- will not only offer themselves entirely but will offer themselves for even greater service." If the King is in the front line, I want to be there; if the King is rejoicing, I want to be there. 

          Indeed, the offering of the Kingdom is an exercise in religious authenticity [98]. It is what one wants to offer, not what is God asking. The notion is "Lord, I give you this, this, and this, but not that. I am keeping that for myself." At least you know where you are. If a retreatant and the director do not know this distinction is being made, then both have much growing to do in self-knowledge. 

          Generosity is one of the great values in the Spiritual Exercises. What one wants to offer is generosity. This is different from what God is taking from you. One is very active, an exercises in religious authenticity. The other is an invitation to passive purification.

          Discernment and quality decision-making is the ninth ranked value. Remember the Three Times of Choice: a time of clear grace and direction, a weighing of all the reasons against and all the reasons for: when the devout soul through alternating consolations and desolations can figure out where God is eliciting or at least supplying the freedom that I may choose. It is the basis of the notion discreta caritas, an Ignatian hallmark: a discerning love, shown in service.

          Service is the value "after the manner of Christ, of Jesus, Servant of the Father. [91-98] "It is my will to conquer the whole world and all my enemies, and thus to enter into the glory of my Father." [95] 

          What of things like self-knowledge, the theological virtues of faith, hope, love? What of things like Id Quod Volo, points for prayer, composition of place (incidentally, this term is never used in the Spiritual Exercises or anywhere else in the writings of Ignatius. Instead he uses "being composed with the mystery"), the Contemplatio, Third Time of Choice, a discreet charity? Why name "service" instead of these others? Again we are reminded of Christ Jesus, servant of the Father, whose great desire is to embrace the whole world and bring it to His Father.

          Service requires us to exercise all kinds of values: prayer, reflection, repetition, journaling, talking to a spiritual director daily in the retreat setting (It was an unheard of practice until the time of Ignatius!), faith in the service of justice and action in the midst of contemplation. We are called to participate in the mission of Jesus.

          At two crucial points in the Spiritual Exercises Ignatius has us make an offering of self: at the Kingdom time and at the Contemplatio ad Amorem . These two offerings are symbolic of the offering of self that is made implicitly in every meditation, contemplation, and consideration of the Exercises. This offering is made by a standing before God and willingly saying, "I want to hear, listen and do."

          With great reverence and touching familiarity Ignatius has us make our offering at the end of the Spiritual Exercises:

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. You have given all to me. To you, O Lord, I return it. All is yours, dispose of it wholly according to Your Will. Give me Your love and Your grace, for this is sufficient for me. [234]

        Vestigia Dei and Imago Dei come together here. It is thrice holy ground. Sacred Scripture is very clear here. Christ ascends into Heaven. Christ Jesus, the Word Made Flesh, ascends into Heaven. The Eternal Word did not become man, toil and moil on earth for some thirty-three years, and then go back to being only God again! No! The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity is human now forever as well as divine! That is the Gospel witness and the teaching of the Church in the doctrine of the Ascension.

          The ascension of the God-Man also establishes the possibility of Christian mysticism, sensing oneself totally human and yet sharing in the divine by grace. "You are as much God by grace as Christ is by nature" (William of St. Thierry). The adopted child in the family has every right the natural child has. "Ipse natura filius Dei est; nos autem gratia." (Athanasius)

          The three different orders of values in the Exercises spring from Ignatius' deep understanding of the Incarnation and of Jesus. It is redolent of the vision at the Cardoner - the Trinity, the material world, and our incorporation into the "system."