William Barry SJ on the Spiritual Exercises

I just watched a video about the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola which featured four Jesuits, William Barry, John O'Malley, Joseph Tetlow, and John Padberg talking about the retreat: the Principle and Foundation, the first week through fourth, and the contemplation for attaining love.

You can find the video at this Georgetown University page but it played better for me here at iTunes.

The video begins with a brief introduction, then a short talk by Fr. O'Malley (The First Jesuits and What Happened at Vatican II), then both Fr. Tetlow and Fr. Padberg talk about the Exercises, and finally Fr. Barry, who's trained as a clinical psychologist, compares the stages of the Exercises to the stages of a friendship. I think it's worth a watch, especially Fr. Barry's part .... wish he'd spoken longer.

And just to mention - those of you who might be interested in the Spiritual Exercises but who can't get to a retreat center for whatever reason, it's possible to learn more about and make a Spiritual Exercises retreat in everyday life (19th Annotation) at places like Creighton University's Online Retreat page (hopefully with the aid of a spiritual director).