Spiritual Exercises

“In giving these meditations, my desire was to explain the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius; I was not attempting to present pious meditations and theological considerations, no matter how useful they may be. I attempted to give these meditations on the Spiritual Exercises the kind of theological foundation that my listeners had the right to expect, without falling into the kind of theological investigations that really have nothing directly to contribute to the purpose of spiritual exercises.” These words are used by the author who is probably the greatest theologian the Catholic Church has produced in recent centuries. He brings his enormous learning and his unequaled theological acumen to bear on what is probably one of the most influential spiritual works of Roman Catholicism. The combination is as fascinating as it is important. The subject matter is, of course, very controversial. Has St. Ignatius anything to say for modern Christians? Jesuits the world over maintain that he has, others suggest that his writing is totally confined to a particular, and unfortunate, period of Church history. Karl Rahner has been compelled to write with a force and simplicity we do not usually associate with him. Here is a compelling series of meditations which take us out of the stodgy surroundings of so much Christian spirituality, and certainly one of Rahner’s greatest works.