‘The Soul Also Keeps the Score’
Robert W. McChesney SJ is author of the award-winning book The Soul Also Keeps the Score: A Trauma‑Informed Companion to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola ». In it, he reframes Ignatian spirituality through contemporary understandings of trauma and pastoral care – areas he has worked in for over 30 years.
On a recent visit to Ireland, he spoke with Pat Coyle of Irish Jesuit Communications and explained to her his belief that the Spiritual Exercises », written by St Ignatius, can be powerfully healing, particularly since they emerged from his serious mental, physical and spiritual breakdown and subsequent recovery, in Manresa, Spain.
Acknowledging the importance of the top-selling book The Body Keeps the Score », Fr. Mc Chesney argues that in life, traumatic or painful experiences are often held not only by the body but also by the soul. And so people may not only suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) but also ‘moral injury and spiritual injury’.
He says the Exercises of St Ignatius, along with practices such as praying the examen prayer », discernment, imaginative prayer, confession, and one-to-one spiritual direction, can foster embodied resilience, ethical responsibility, and communal repair.
He explains how this bridging of classical Jesuit practices and trauma‑informed care offers a compassionate, practical guide for retreat directors, spiritual directors, and communities working with survivors, inviting the church to hold suffering with dignity while cultivating hope, agency, and spiritual formation attentive to wounded souls.
