Praying Body and Soul: Methods and Practices of

Description

This step-by-step exercise book integrates the Christian tradition of contemplation and the Eastern wisdom of meditation. Each of the 43 chapters guides the reader through a physical awareness exercise, contemplates specific texts from the Bible, then concludes with a short story. The texts, adapted and enlarged from a retreat given by Father de Mello to Jesuits in Rome, draw from the clarity of the Ignatian exercises and reflect a long experience with prayer and meditation in today's modern world. Anthony de Mello was known around the world for the innovative way he shared and taught spirituality. His stories and spiritual guidance, grounded in everyday experiences, are both provocative and full of humour. Father de Mello teaches readers to appreciate reality, and to distinguish illusion from consciousness, inspiration from hallucination, and dependency from freedom.