The Way of Ignatius: A Prayer Journey Through Lent
Overview
Isn’t a deep prayer life only for religious specialists?
In this introduction to the spiritual life, Gemma Simmonds shows that everyone can find prayer a rewarding experience. She explores the story and prayer tradition of Ignatius of Loyola, together with the contribution of the seventeenth-century Yorkshire woman, Mary Ward.
A guide for Lent and the rest of the year, The Way of Ignatius helps us to pray with the Scriptures in an imaginative way. To aid reflection and discussion, there are questions at the end of each chapter.
Key Features
- Explores practical aspects of spirituality and prayer
- Examines the spiritual exercises of Ignatius of Loyola
- Invites readers to engage in spiritual self-examination
Contents
- Getting going: discovering what we already have
- How it all works
- Two journeys of self-discovery
- Who do you say I am?
- The Spiritual Exercises: purpose and method
- Caught in the system
- Surveying the wondrous cross
- An attitude of gratitude
- Conclusion: finding God in all things
Praise for the Print Edition
Learning to pray by drawing on contemplation is vital today to be able to discern God’s speaking through the details of our lives. To sustain a depth of faith in our challenging world, we need forms of prayer that maintain a rich and deeply nourishing spiritual life infused with the love of God. In this wonderful book, Gemma Simmonds explores and unpacks the method of prayer developed by St Ignatius in a way that makes the profound approach of the Jesuits accessible to those who want to be serious about their prayer lives. I highly recommend this book if you are hungry and seeking to encounter and discover God in a deeper way.
—Ian Mobsby, Anglican priest, writer, speaker and Prior, Wellspring New Monastic Community, Peckham, London
If you are looking for insightful and encouraging spiritual reading for Lent (or any other time), you have found your book! Grounding the spiritual in the practicable, Gemma Simmonds invites us to be pilgrims in the company of Jesus, Ignatius and Mary Ward. Learning from them along the way, we discover our own path to greater faith, hope and love.
—Kevin O’Brien SJ, author of The Ignatian Adventure: Experiencing the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius in Daily Life, and Dean, Jesuit School of Theology, Santa Clara University, California
The journeys, struggles and insights of two great spiritual pilgrims—Ignatius Loyola and Mary Ward—are skilfully woven together here to invite today’s pilgrims into their own Ignatian adventure. Gemma Simmonds’ own knowledge and love of both of these wise guides shines through these pages as she offers us a map for our own journey that is deeply grounded, practical and real. An excellent and very readable companion through Lent, and far beyond.
—Margaret Silf, author and spiritual explorer