For the past 12 years, St. Paul's High School in Winnipeg has been offering interested grade twelve students the opportunity to make the Spiritual Exercises according to Annotation 19. This provision allows the retreatant to do the Exercises in "ordinary life" rather than for 30-40 days at a retreat centre.

Our retreatants pray about an hour per day and meet about once-a-week individually with a faculty spiritual director. We use the model established by the late John English SJ, beginning in September with Disposition, Week 1 in November, Week 2 December until early Lent, Week 3 Lent through Holy Week and Week 4 in Eastertide. In this way, the retreatant's experience more or less follows the Liturgical Year and so corresponds with his parish life.

The retreat program is one option for the Grade Twelve Religion credit. The number of students requesting the program has grown over the years, this year to twenty-nine out of a population of about 145.  Here is a reflection on this process by one of the students.

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I wouldn’t describe myself as a spiritual person. I find the whole concept of believing in something that can’t be physically sensed very hard. Everything about praying is difficult to me, and thinking about God in my life does not come easily. Therefore, it might come as a surprise that I signed myself up to go through St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises.

The basis of my choice is my school. I have a lot to be thankful concerning my school. Almost all of my identity stems from my family and my school. My friends, ideals, interests, dreams, achievements, and pretty much everything else positive about me, comes from my family and my time at St. Paul’s High School. The school community feels like a second family, and St. Paul’s really feels like a second home to me.

The condition we are given, the one value that is required we bring to the school, is open-mindedness. I was promised the school would change me for the better if I allowed it to; and for the most part it has. The five principles of any Jesuit school, St. Paul’s included, is to be committed to justice, loving, religious, intellectually competent, and open to growth. Through my four years, I think I have matured in four of the five categories, but I’m still not religious.

Last May, I was asked to pick a religion course for my final year at St. Paul’s. Going through the list of choices it seemed that the Spiritual Exercises would be the most challenging for me given my lack of faith. I believe that the school has done its part in helping me, and I don’t want to graduate having not matured in all 

five categories. It just would not seem right to me if the school had done all it could for me, and did not reach its goal with me.

Going through a month of praying the examine and scripture I have noticed God’s love in ways that I hadn’t pondered for longer than a minute or two. The biggest way the Spiritual Exercises has affected my daily life is my relationship with my parents. This experience has helped me appreciate the amount of love and care that my parents put into me, and not just limited to the material goods they provide me with.

A big problem I’ve had in finding my spirituality is that I don’t think I look at the big picture or small events in my life in the grand scale. Previously if I experienced God’s love, I would appreciate the moment, but forget about it an hour later. In praying the examine, I can see how blessed I am when all these little examples of God’s love add up.

Asking for graces is something new to me. Previously all I would have asked for is a good mark on a test or to do well in a football game. The graces that I am asking for in doing the Exercises leave a different feeling on me, and I think they remind me of what’s important in a relationship with God. I think I’ve receive the graces, even if I needed help in seeing what’s plainly in front of me. Through this first month, the prevailing emotion has been gratefulness, happiness, and trust in God, and I look forward to what comes next.