Unlocking a Treasure
Description
About the Constitutions two things seem true: it is a spiritual treasure of Christianity, it's arch-complexity means that for many Jesuits it remains under lock and key.
Brian O'Leary's Unlocking a Treasure: Our Jesuit Constitutions is an invitation to explore the Constitutions now - no need to wait for a rare lull in your busy apostolic life or to take on study fulltime.
Using four 'keys' - representing four approaches to reading the Constitutions - O'Leary carefully and quickly opens the lock, allowing the reader to develop an 'architectural', holistic view of the Constitutions. Individual paragraphs or phrases that may have held great meaning or consolation separately are shown to be part of a greater work, revealing a spiritual resource and a wisdom document that complements the Spiritual Exercises.
Including an overview of the compositional history of the Constitutions and its relationship to Ignatius, Unlocking a Treasure gives the gift - for the 500th anniversary of Ignatius's conversion - of a skeleton key to Ignatius's unsung spiritual classic.
Many Jesuits regard the <em>Constitutions</em> as a primarily juridical text, unlikely to stimulate the mind much less warm the heart. In the words of Nicholas Bobadilla, the <em>Constitutions</em> is 'a labyrinth thoroughly confused'. Yet, outside the Society and especially in the academy the <em>Constitutions</em> is held up as a classic of Western spirituality.
About the <em>Constitutions</em> two things seem true: it is a spiritual treasure of Christianity, it's arch-complexity means that for many Jesuits it remains under lock and key.
Brian O'Leary's <em>Unlocking a Treasure: Our Jesuit Constitutions </em>is an invitation to explore the <em>Constitutions</em> now - no need to wait for a rare lull in your busy apostolic life or to take on study fulltime.
Using four 'keys' - representing four approaches to reading the <em>Constitutions</em> - O'Leary carefully and quickly opens the lock, allowing the reader to develop an 'architectural', holistic view of the <em>Constitutions.</em> Individual paragraphs or phrases that may have held great meaning or consolation separately are shown to be part of a greater work, revealing a spiritual resource and a wisdom document that complements the <em>Spiritual Exercises</em>.
Including an overview of the compositional history of the <em>Constitutions</em> and its relationship to Ignatius, <em>Unlocking a Treasure</em> gives the gift - for the 500<sup>th</sup> anniversary of Ignatius's conversion - of a skeleton key to Ignatius's unsung spiritual classic.
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Person
Books published by Messenger Publications include Radical and Free: Musings on the Religious Life, God Ever Greater: Exploring Ignatian Spirituality, To Love and To Serve: Exploring the Ignatian Tradition and Ignatius Loyola: Christian Mystic
Brian O'Leary is an Irish Jesuit who has worked almost exclusively in the field of spirituality. After completing his doctoral studies in Rome, he joined the staff of the Centre of Ignatian Spirituality at Manresa House on Dublin's Northside. Over a fifteen-year period he directed retreats, conducted workshops, and engaged in writing. Over a further fifteen years Brian taught at the Milltown Institute of Philosophy and Theology. His courses included Ignatian spirituality, history of 16th and 17th-century spirituality, and spiritual direction. He also served for six years as the Jesuit Province's Co-ordinator of Ecumenism. Brian has shared his experience and expertise with groups on all five continents.
Books published by Messenger Publications include Radical and Free: Musings on the Religious Life, God Ever Greater: Exploring Ignatian Spirituality, To Love and To Serve: Exploring the Ignatian Tradition and Ignatius Loyola: Christian Mystic