Saint Ignatius of Loyola developed the Spiritual Exercises to help people live happier, more loving and more fruitful lives. The Spiritual Exercises are based on Ignatius’ own personal prayer experiences and those of the people he guided. They have been used by the church for centuries to help people see the relevance of Bible texts to their own daily lives. The emphasis is on developing a deeper and highly personal relationship with the God who loves us as well as enabling us to get to know Jesus more and love Him more deeply so that we can follow Him more closely becoming the kind of Christians God wants us to be.