What I have had the privilege to witness when one moves through the Exercises is the continuous activity of the Holy Spirit showering graces of miracles over and over again in the mending of broken minds and hearts. Wounds are healed and relationships repaired.
Here is just one of example:
"I never felt God's love. How could He love me" "I know in my mind I am supposed to believe that, yet...I tried, I tried." In moving through the Exercises, this child of God was healed from living for 70+ years in a desolated experience of unworthiness and isolation to now one of experiencing consolation being the beloved. "I know now I am loved, He cared for me all along, and no longer feel alone. I walk with Jesus every day now ; I talk with Him throughout the day, He is with me."
God desires for us to be freed, to grow in holiness, and to become the person He dreamed us to be. To love as He loved, to help bring the Good News. This and more. God has something to share with you, to heal you from, to bring you closer to Him. If you are in your 30s, 40s, 50s or 60s or beyond, age does not matter, it's never too late.
If you are continuing to live in woundedness, sensing a depth of isolation, desiring to love and know God more, or seeking to discover His will for you life, I recommend you search out a spiritual director who will accompany you through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, for Jesus Christ is waiting for you.
How to find a spiritual director near you
Here are some links to find a director trained in the Ignatian tradition: https://www.jesuits.org/ look up nearby retreat houses; https://jesuitseastois.org/ they can recommend one on the East Coast.
Can not find one close to you
https://www.ourladyoftheway.org/ has several directors who work virtually, location is not an issue
Our Church is a Hospital for the Soul
This is taken directly from Bishop Robert Barron's email blast: Thursday, January 19, 2023
MARK 3:7–12 "Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus cured so many people that he had to climb into a boat to escape the press of the crowd. To this day the Church carries on his gracious healing ministry. We recall that the Apostles of Jesus simply continued what the Master did. And one of the principal marks of the Lord’s ministry was clearly healing. There was, of course, a deep biblical conviction that when the day of the Lord arrives, creation would be set right. What we witness in the healings of Jesus is just this repairing of creation. If you doubt that miracles of physical healing still take place in the life of the Church, I invite you to read Craig Keener’s book Miracles or visit the Church in Africa, Asia, or Latin America, where the expectation of the miraculous is taken for granted.
But the Church also brings healing to mind, soul, will, and imagination. The Bible knows that sin has done tremendous damage to us, and anyone involved in pastoral ministry knows what this looks like: broken minds, divided hearts, addicted passions."
A Prescription for Healing and Regeneration
Taken from Christian Spirituality in the Catholic Tradition by Jordan Aumann, O.P. Chapter 8
"Ignatius composed the first draft of the Exercises under divine guidance; he retouched it at Paris in 1534, and in 1548 the Exercises were approved by Pope Paul III...In I92O Pope Benedict XV proclaimed St. Ignatius the patron of spiritual retreats and in 1948 Pope Pius XII stated that "the Exercises of St. Ignatius will always remain one of the most efficacious means for the spiritual regeneration of the world, but on the condition that they continue to be authentically Ignatian."