The First Spiritual Exercises may seem like a contemporary development in Ignatian spirituality, but their origins stretch back to the very beginning of the Society of Jesus. What began as simple spiritual conversations and accessible ways of helping people encounter God has become a ministry that continues to spread across Australia and around the world, often through the most ordinary of human relationships.

Spiritual director and giver of the Spiritual Exercises in New Zealand, Murray Adams, points us back to 1540, when Ignatius of Loyola was quoted as saying, As a rule I would give the Exercises of the First Week.

This small historical insight reveals something significant. While Ignatius offered the full Spiritual Exercises to relatively few people, he recognised that the First Week of the Exercises was an accessible way for many more people to begin discovering God’s presence in their lives. The early Jesuit directories describe several ways of giving the Exercises, with the First Week proving especially suitable for people with little or no experience of Ignatian spirituality.

Although historical records are limited, we know the early companions gave these exercises generously and creatively. Writing from Parma in 1540, they observed that those who had received the Exercises were themselves beginning to give them to others, so that “there must be more than a hundred making them.” It was already becoming a movement rather than a program. Ignatius encouraged this generous spirit, urging that the First Week “can be given indiscriminately to anyone,” fostering collaboration, openness and a willingness to share God’s invitation widely.

Murray suggests that the companions began not with elaborate retreats but with simple spiritual conversations. Ignatius first accompanied people in places like Loyola and Manresa, meeting them where they were. The companions even attracted people’s attention by calling out in the streets and waving their caps before inviting them into conversation. Murray sees this as a challenge for us today: to step beyond our own comfort zones and trust that even offering a single prayer exercise can become the beginning of something much larger.

Nearly five centuries later, that same spirit continues to shape the First Spiritual Exercises.

For Frances Tilly, spiritual director, giver of the Spiritual Exercises and JISA’s Director of Mission Formation, the journey began unexpectedly. I didn’t go looking for the First Spiritual Exercises, they found me; the road came up to meet me. God was seeking me.

Frances first encountered the First Spiritual Exercises during a retreat on Friendship at Campion in 2012 while she was training to give the full Spiritual Exercises. The experience profoundly shaped her own spiritual life. It was so transforming… my relationship with Jesus my friend, my relationship with creation and the earth, the story of earth, evolution and God through it all. That was huge.

She also discovered that friendship itself would become a recurring thread through her spirituality. Friendship is an ongoing theme for me spiritually and in Ignatian spirituality; it keeps presenting.

Soon afterwards, Frances joined Michael Hansen SJ and a growing team committed to offering and training others in the First Spiritual Exercises. More than 120 people were trained across Australia in those early years, with regional teams emerging throughout the country.

The movement soon crossed international borders. In 2014, Frances travelled to Hong Kong for an Ignatian spirituality conference. Interest in the First Spiritual Exercises quickly grew as local participants stayed connected, received training and began offering the Exercises themselves. From here the ministry grew in Hong Kong with a group of people staying in touch, being trained and then giving the FSE. It was a ripple effect.

A similar story unfolded in Canada, where an ecumenical community of spiritual directors in Saskatchewan discovered the First Spiritual Exercises through the FSE website. What followed was not simply the sharing of resources but a relationship of mutual learning. They prayed the retreat there and contacted us to network. We learned so much from this experience, and we continue to learn from receivers of the FSE, the activity of God, reciprocity and learning together.

Looking back, Frances sees one thread weaving through every stage of the ministry. We have been friends in the Lord, in great diversity, generosity, creativity, goodwill and kindness. That’s how it began for me and how it has continued.

Her reflection echoes the experience of the first companions almost 500 years ago. It’s a mark of our ministry, it’s a wide gate—and that’s friendship, isn’t it? There’s always a seat at the table… I see it in the rippling out of this ministry internationally; friends tell friends, easy, very grounded human conversations.

Perhaps that is the enduring gift of the First Spiritual Exercises. They have never depended on grand strategies or large institutions. From Ignatius’ simple conversations in sixteenth-century Europe to friendships forming across continents today, the pattern remains the same: one person accompanies another, who in turn accompanies someone else. The ripple continues to spread—not through force or persuasion, but through friendship, generosity and the quiet work of God’s Spirit.

Check out the First Spiritual Exercises here.