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Inner Compass: An Invitation to Ignatian Spirituality

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With all due respect to the many fine Jesuit Fathers I have known in my life, it took a non-Jesuit named Margaret Silf to deliver the finest explanation of Ignatian Spirituality I have ever read. Silf delivers first a touching and thorough biography of Ignatius, then uses it as a backdrop for how he came to understand God. She leads us through the Exercises with genuine faith, terse explanation, and wonderful anecdotes that rate her as a superb spiritual director. Every spriritual person, not to mention Jesuits themselves, would be well advised to own their own copy of this masterpiece. A must read for all!

In today's often confusing secular society, men and women look for enduring, practical, and insightful spiritual guidance. Margaret Silf's Inner Compass is an introduction and invitation to Ignatian spirituality as practiced and taught by the Jesuits these past four hundred years. St. Ignatius of Loyola taught that paying attention to the deepest desire burning within us will enable us to discover God, and how God has gifted us for our life in the world. Inner Compass presents the magnificent possibility of self-trust. By learning to trust ourselves, we learn to trust God. Inner Compass offers the reader an abundance of practical examples and methods to find true self-knowledge and build just such a trust, thereby discovering a genuine meaning to our lives. Inner Compass is highly recommended reading for students of religion and seekers of a personal spirituality and relationship with God.

This beautifully written book is a series of personal reflections and imaginative meditations that focus on the "First Week" (i.e., section) of St. Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises, during which retreatants traditionally focus on the workings of sin and grace in their lives. As such it serves as a good, practical introduction to many basic concepts of Ignatian spirituality such as consolation and desolation, detachment, and our deepest desire.

The strengths of the book are its lovely style, the honesty of the author's personal examples, and the creativity and depth of "Suggestions for Prayer and Discussion" that are posed at the end of each chapter. The latter clearly come from a wealth of retreat experience.

In the introduction, Silf modestly writes that her book "is not a way of actually making the Exercises." While that is technically true, many readers may feel they have begun to do so.

Ignatian Spirituality is appealing to many people because it enables a person to see God in the ordinariness of life, believes that God communicates with us in our hearts through prayer, particularly reflections of scripture, and by looking at our lives and reflecting on scripture, we can discern God's will in our lives. There are many wonderful Jesuit authors who make articulate the spirituality of the Jesuits and the order's founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola, namely William Barry, David Lonsdale, and Anthony DeMello. Now a non-Jesuit can be added to this list, Margaret Silf, author of Inner Compass. Though the book is supposed to be an invitation to Ignatian Spirituality, and it does review the basic principles of Ignatian spirituality, it is told through the voice of a lay woman, who also happens to be a Catholic convert. I believe that this is the book's chief strength because Ms. Silf is able to share her experiences so well which makes the invitation something that is open to all.

The book is divided into fifteen easy to read chapters which are subdivided for individual reflection if it is desired. Each chapter also contains helpful prayer exercises that can be used at the time of reading or as prayer helps at a later date.

I have noticed that she also the author of two other books, which if they are the quality of this book, will be a pleasure to read.

I am new to Ignatian Spirituality, and still searching for more and more materials to read, as well as attending half day retreats. This book is far above all others I have read, and is currently my favorite. I want to begin each day with 30 minutes of quiet time to read and absorb the information that is presented in an easy to read format, yet deep and meaningful. I will be looking for more books by this author since this book is so very well written and easy to understand.

The Spiritual Exercises designed by Ignatius of Loyola in the 1500s were designed to help Christians discern God's presence in their lives and they reputedly help clarify decision-making process, by bringing people closer to God's voice. I wanted to like Silf's book, which came highly recommended. It is a helpful mediation experience, but it stops at the first week stage. It also seemed to have a paucity of scripture passages for reflection, in comparison to the real format for the Exercises. I felt that "The Ignatian Workout" by Tim Muldoon, was a much better comprehensive introduction to Ignatian spirituality.

Ideally these exercises are taken under the guidance of a spiritual director. Traditionally, people used to withdraw from society for a month to dedicate their lives to nothing but the exercises and listening for God's direction. Some very fortunate people still can afford the luxury of unemployment for a month and indulge in this type of direction. Some Catholic religious orders require the retreat before their members commit themselves to membership by vows. However, for most of us normal working Christians, decent spiritual direction is hard to find. I tried to do a local version of the exercises, that lasted several months, meeting with a spiritual director as a group once a week, but the spiritual directors kept canceling on the group and then changing, which made it difficult to develop rapport.

The purpose of the exercises is not to get through them by set dates. People a re supposed to dwell on a passage that moves them, until they no longer feel that they learn from it. Silf's book is a good starting point for people who are trying to discern what is their own will and character, verses how much of their idea of themselves is constructed based on their interaction with the world, and the world's judgment of them, as well as habits they have accumulated. The book is less scriptural based than Ignatius' Exercises, and will probably appeal to people who are not Christian, but who are trying to discern what in their personalities and characters are most real in their lives.

I have read this book twice. Once as an individual study and secondly with a study group. It was challenging each time. The exercises of this book bring one easily and graphically into the "center" of Ignatian Spirituality. This is readable, inviting, and thought provoking. I would recommend it to all.

A wonderful guide to everyday spiritual life through the prism of Ignatian (Jesuit) thought. Margaret Silf excels at relating deep spiritual themes to everyday experiences. In fact her writing reminds me of the parable style of the gospel. I read her columns in America and so bought this book. Now I have one other by her and will be getting more.

If you are considering Ignatian spirituality, the Inner Compass is a fine book to add to your library. Based on the Exercises of St. Ignatius, it clears our cluttered lives and points to our True North.

Thanks and more power to the Author, Margaret Silf

She is a gifted Author divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit.

I love the book and it is truly a wonderful source of my new beginning and transformation. It makes me understand the true presence of God in my life. It truly gave me a lot of inspiration how to find some directions in my life. The title speaks for itself.