Customer Reviews

Conversation With Christ: The Teaching of St. Teresa of Avila about Personal Prayer

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I was a young high schooler, being drawn by God into a life of greater awareness of God's love for me. This was my first "manual" in what the author calls meditation, but which would classically be called mental prayer or more simply, prayer.

This volume grounded me. It helped me to move from a self-centered mysticism into a human being blessed to find his life re-immersed daily in the life of Jesus Christ. The "Conversation with Christ" that one is drawn into through the teachings of Teresa of Avila leads to frequent repentance, regular returning to the Lord, ongoing petition to be more and more available for the uses Jesus has for us, even into old age.

The conversation never ends. Of course, it looks so different to me now than it did as a teenage. The secret is to never stop talking to Jesus, except when he invites you to.

I have bought the new edition. It is the same as the 1956 edition except for a 1980 preface. I read it now as a primer on ways to talk to others about prayer.

An explanation for everyone of St. Teresa of Avila's teaching about personal prayer, especially the prayer of meditation, which she calls the "royal highway to Heaven." Though a mystic, St. Teresa was an eminently practical person, and that quality imbues her approach to prayer - and this book. Filled with saintly wisdom. Easy to understand. Highly recommended by Fr. Dubay, author of "Fire Within".

This is an excellent introduction to praying with scripture.

A priest friend had told me that he had learnt Christian meditation from this book in his formative years as a Carmelite.

As a lay Carmelite, I think this book really gives you an accurate idea of how to meditate well on Christ and shows the basics of meaningful prayer with Jesus. I was really impressed with the various methods and examples given. I would highly recommend this book to postulants of the third order and those like myself, who truly wish to deepen their conversation with Christ.
Well written and excellent tips... truly a classic!

Having re-read this volume after a ten-year hiatus, I would heartily subscribe to the five previous reviews. There are no "gaps" in Fr.Rohrbach's step-by-step instruction for meditation ("mental prayer"). The language is "classic" college-level sentence structure and logical lead-ins.
"Mental prayer," writes St.Teresa, " is nothing other than an intimate friendship, a frequent conversation WITH HIM BY WHOM WE KNOW OURSELVES TO BE LOVED." (emphasis mine)
With the clear guidance of Fr.Rohrback's book, the reader is sure not to be cheated of THAT KIND of friendship and conversation offered by Teresa. But it presupposes the same determination and perseverence which she herself had to learn in her quest for the Beloved.
As an aside, I need to connect this book with another (see Amazon.com reviews): He And i, by Gabrielle Bossis. I believe this volume is pure gift to our hectic, distractive, fast-paced age, just as Thomas a Kempis' Imitation of Christ was in a vastly slower age. He And i delivers, ON EACH PAGE, through "the joy of hearing My Voice", that experience of intimate friendship (and invitation for conversation) which, I believe, Teresa is talking about, and which Fr.Rohrback so carefully, methodically, serenely, and thoroughly spells out.
My wife and I have "lived from" He And i for ten years, rendering Fr.Rohrbach's step-by-step menu perhaps OVERLY explanatory. However, for the beginner, or for the more scholarly and methodical minded, Conversation With Christ is a sure bet. Each and every path to communion with Christ is an eternal treasure begun in time. Fr. Rohrbach's is no exception.

Superb, practical, deep, non-fanatical. Opens vistas unimagined.
Christian meditation and prayer at its finest, not always begging for things, but adoring, knowing, becoming one with Christ.
Ends the dryness of the spiritual life.
And it is not hard either.

Anyone who is first attempting mental prayer or who is more seasoned in their attempts will find solace in the fact that St. Teresa of Avila for 30 years apparently never sat down to do her mental prayer without a book to help her persevere. This resulted in the realization of many methods of prayer, as described in this book, that will help those first starting off and give good revision to those who are keeping up the way of mental prayer.