A poster on campus notes a workshop on “Mindfulness Eating.”  A religion faculty member offers meditation sessions twice a week.  Pope Francis writes an apostolic exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate – on the call to holiness in today’s world.  He writes of the holiness of everyday living and concern for the poor.  These two books have a lot to offer the present moment.

  Fr. Malloy opens his book first with a brief overview, “What is Spirituality?” followed by a chapter, “What is Spiritual Direction?”  As with each of the following chapters he provides brief quotations from current spiritual authors like Richard Rohr, Barbara Taylor, Joan Chittester, and Ronald Rohlheiser among others.  Fellow Jesuit Fr. Greg Boyle gets several references in the text as well.  Ignatius of Loyola permeates the text.  To all of these Malloy adds the likes of Karl Rahner and Bernard Longergan.  Surprisingly rather than overwhelming the reader, Malloy’s work engages the reader at a very basic level from start to finish.  Thus in introducing spirituality and spiritual direction the author urges the reader to take seriously their inner life as part of the “really real.”  Spiritual direction constitutes a search for what we truly desire, and this we find at the heart of our experience.

Referring frequently to the Jesuit commitment to justice set by Pedro Arrupe, Malloy repeatedly connects the spiritual life to engagement in service and the work of justice.  He refers to Pope Francis’ Laudate si, calling for the Christian disciple to hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.

Malloy makes clear that spiritual direction both depends upon and fosters an awareness of God’s real presence in everyday life.  Here Amy Oden’s text provides an excellent resource for initial experiences of spiritual direction.  And, like Malloy, Oden establishes a necessary connection between Christian mindfulness and social action.

Oden’s second chapter opens with a brief historical review of Christian mindfulness from the early church through John Wesley.  The other half of the chapter sketches the dynamics of mindfulness in the behavioral sciences, education, sports, and yoga along with several other fields.  She notes some current objections and then encourages the search for God in the present cultural moment.  The remainder of her text gives solid advice and fine examples for the practice of Christian mindfulness.  The inclusion of a group study guides makes this an eminently practical text.

Malloy’s remaining chapters work well for the reader who has some experience of Christian mindfulness or other prayerful practices that create an awareness of God’s presence in ordinary human life.  While helpful for a person seeking spiritual direction, this book is even more helpful for those who are invited to accompany others on their spiritual journey.  The author’s multiple examples from his work with university students offers a sense of hope and underscores the need to encourage others in cultivating a lively spiritual life as part of their religious practice.

        While Oden, Malloy, and this reviewer appreciate the wide variety of cultural and spiritual practices in contemporary Western culture, the authors provide a rich perspective for the practice of an explicitly Christian spirituality.  This reviewer values their contribution.