All Jesuits have been formed in the spirit of the Spiritual Exercises during their time in the first house of Jesuit formation, the novitiate. The Spiritual Exercises comprises of spiritual guides and suggestions to be practiced by an exercitant (one who is doing a retreat) usually for a period of thirty days. During the period of taking the Spiritual Exercises, the Jesuit exercitant discerns if he actually has a call to be a member of the Society of Jesus from God or whether God is actually calling him to another form of Christian life, such as married life or to another kind of religious order in the Church.