For a nineteenth-annotation retreat like this, the more traditional practice is for the retreatant to pray daily on his or her own

Ask God to be with you in this time of prayer.

Week of Prayer #3: The Intimacy of Prayer

Read Romans 8:18–25 (All creation is unfinished and yearns for fulfillment in God). Consider: What are the particular highlights or milestones of my life, including my life of faith? How patient am I with the incompleteness or gradual unfolding of my life?

Such pray-ers shouldn’t try to make the Exercises without the help of an experienced guide.

Prayer for the Week

Some graces are hard to ask for. For example, in all honesty, you may resist asking to let go of a preoccupation or way of thinking or acting that is comfortable for you.

Isaiah 43:1–7 (“I have called you by name, you are mine”).

What were the significant interior movements (that is, feelings, reactions, intuitions, desires, emotions, thoughts, or insights)? What was the prevailing mood of my prayer: peace, agitation, excitement, boredom, confusion, calm? Was my prayer more about the head or the heart, or about both?