Jesuits Authors
Fr. Joseph Tetlow, SJ
Biography
Father Joseph Tetlow, SJ, is recognized as an authority on Ignatian Spirituality, the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, and the Jesuit practice of discernment. Currently residing at Montserrat Jesuit Retreat House in Lake Dallas, Texas, he occasionally leads workshops and retreats at the Ignatian Spirituality Institute in Lake Dallas and at other Jesuit facilities around the province. His primary assignment is writer. Born in 1930 in New Orleans, he attended Jesuit High School and entered the Society of Jesus immediately after graduation. Over the years, he has served in a broad variety of ministries, including as president of the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif., executive secretary of the Jesuit Conference, associate editor and literary editor at America Magazine, secretary for Ignatian Spirituality at the Jesuit Curia in Rome, and retreat director at both Montserrat Retreat House and Our Lady of the Oaks Retreat House in Grand Coteau, La.
Publications
Always Discerning: An Ignatian Spirituality for the New Millennium
In Always Discerning, Fr. Joseph A. Tetlow, SJ, delves thoughtfully into the topic of discernment and shares how lay Christians can implement discernment in their everyday lives. Guided by Scripture, the words of Pope Francis, and Ignatian spirituality, Fr. Tetlow helps us see that the dynamic interrelationship of head, heart, and hands is crucial to the discernment process.
St. Ignatius recognized that while many people could benefit from the Spiritual Exercises, some might not be suitable candidates for the entire 30–day retreat. Father Tetlow’s manual is an aid for the directors who lead these retreats “in everyday life.” He offers guidance on preparing for the Exercises, and for each of the retreat’s four weeks. And he provides practical advice for conducting conferences with retreatants, suggestions of scriptural passages particularly suited to prayer, and more. Choosing Christ in the World has been translated into a number of other languages, including Polish, Mandarin, Spanish, and Italian.
Finding Christ in the World : A Twelve Week Ignatian Retreat in Everyday Life (with Carol Atwell Ackels)
Finding Christ in the World invites the reader to “let God show you where and how He concretely breaks into your life.” A 12–week prayer experience framed by the Spiritual Exercises, the book is of particular help to faith communities such as Bible study and prayer groups. But individuals can also use it as a means of prayer. The instructions for retreat invite a “conversion of heart from a tight focus on one’s self to a graced focus on God–with–us.” The book includes questions and prompts for reflection and guidelines for reviewing each week of prayer.
Handing on the Fire: Making Spiritual Direction Ignatian
The fire in lay spirituality has spread remarkably since the Second Vatican Council. The beginning of these movements have left mature disciples wanting to deepen their interior lives in prayer and discernment, and to hand on these experiences to others. Many dedicated believers seek out training in spiritual direction with the hopes of formally handing on this fire of the Holy Spirit. However, this training sometimes has the feel of handing on a technical skill rather than sharing a deeper spiritual formation. Handing on the Fire: Making Spiritual Direction Ignatian contributes to this deepening spiritual formation—both for those who are already offering Ignatian spiritual direction, and for those aspiring to give it. In this book, Tetlow lays out the theology in action that must inform Ignatian spiritual direction: the principles, norms, and practices that characterize the robust experience of Ignatian spirituality in everyday life.
Making Choices in Christ: The Foundations of Ignatian Spirituality
One of the most effective ways to develop a dynamic relationship with God is through the 450-year-old practice of Ignatian spirituality. Father Joseph A. Tetlow, SJ, shows how Ignatian principles and practices can help each of us to discern God’s will for our life and to become a changed person in Christ. Having overseen the efforts of more than 200 Jesuit retreat houses and centers for spirituality, Fr. Tetlow is uniquely equipped to describe how the ordinary person in the 21st century can live out the extraordinary theology of St. Ignatius of Loyola. The 40 concise meditations contained in Making Choices in Christ explore what Ignatian spirituality is and isn’t; what it means to live by it; Ignatius’s legacy to all who practice the spirituality; and its important concepts and experiences, most notably the Spiritual Exercises. An ideal resource to be used before or during a retreat with the Exercises, this book can guide any layperson at any time toward a life-changing encounter with the living God. Making Choices in the World is also available in Spanish.
Manna for a Desert of Busyness: Praying Advent Sunday Scriptures
These reflections on the three cycles of readings stay away from technical scriptural questions and instead explore the interface of the Word with our current world. Each reflection ends with suggestions for prayer and pondering (three, of course; this is Ignatian) and with a psalm-like prayer. The topics are often Ignatian: consolation, discernment, and the like—all interpreting our experience in the busyness of our daily lives.
The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola: With Commentary
A modern translation of Spiritual Exercises along with a description of how a retreatant moves through the weeks of prayer. The text describes a typical experience of the long retreat, exploring the movement of spirits through the hours and weeks. As a commentary, it is based on the classical studies of the text and of the experience. Its brief exploration of St. Ignatius’ own experience helps put the Spiritual Exercises into its historical context. This is the second volume of Crossroad’s Spiritual Legacy Series
You Have Called Me by My Name: Praying with Fr. Joe Tetlow, SJ
Prayer is the heartbeat of the Christian life. And the heartbeat of Jesuit prayer is conversation with God through every circumstance and season. St. Ignatius encouraged people to nurture their relationship with the Creator to the point of speaking “as one friend to another.” In You Have Called Me by My Name, Father Joe Tetlow shares original prayers that have emerged from his decades-long friendship with God. As a teacher, writer, retreat leader, and spiritual director, he beautifully articulates our human doubts and desires, our questions and challenges, presenting them through the poetry of honesty, wonder, and love.
