Originally published in 1961, this book is meant to be used in conjunction with the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola for retreat masters and retreatants alike. It may also be used by anyone who may not be able attend a retreat but who wishes to follow the general program of the exercises.

It is written in a direct style meant to stir the will to a greater understanding and pursuit of man's supernatural end: beatitude with God in Heaven. Fr. Holland uses stories to hammer away points that will impress in the reader a realization that we are here as pilgrims and must use creatures in their proper light -- to use them to help reach the source of all of creation, the Blessed Trinity.  

The Spiritual Exercises have been given papal support most notably in Pope Pius XI's encyclical, Mens Nostra (1929).

The book has been completely revised and edited. It is hoped that this book will be a great aid in the attainment of perfection. "You can tell. When a spiritual author has authentic insights into the life of grace, when he truly has a religious experience to share, you know it. Fr Holland has without a doubt captured the quintessence of that unequalled hallmark of Catholic spirituality that are the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius. Any presentation of Ignatian spirituality is good on the condition that the Exercises be explained in all their purity, that their demands be not watered down, but put forward with the greatest clarity. This is what we see happening in this little book..." — Dom Pius Mary Noonan, O.S.B., S.T.D. (Notre Dame Priory, Tasmania)

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Excerpt from the Foreword by Fr. James McQuade, S.J. (Former National Promoter of Sodalities): 

"To transcend the limits of strict obligation demands motivation beyond the ordinary and more or less superficial kind generated by the all too common half-conscious grasp of the driving truths of our holy faith. The truths are the same for all. The difference in the lay apostle lies in his greater grasp of them. The ordinary run-of-the mill Catholic normally knows the basic motivating truths of Catholicism. The lay apostle enters into these truths intellectually and allows the dynamic force of them to have its full effect upon his will. The ordinary Catholic conforms passively to what the Church believes and teaches. The lay apostle dedicates himself to lines of action proceeding from the truths of divine revelation.

All who are engaged either in giving or in making the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius will welcome this book as a truly efficient aid in the spiritual formation of the lay apostle in a spirituality that is truly apostolic engendering in the apostle himself that dedication to the work of Catholic Action for what Pope Pius XII calls the “consecratio mundi,” the consecration of the world to Christ and His Kingdom."

ISBN: 9781999472986

Size: 5.5 X 8.5

260 pages

$18.95