Thirty Days: On Retreat with the Exercises of St. Ignatius (Compass) [Mass Market Paperback]

Paul Mariani (Author)

Book Description

Series: Compass | Publication Date: January 28, 2003

From the day Paul Mariani arrives at Eastern Point Retreat House to take part in the five-hundred-year-old Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, he realizes that his expectations and assumptions about who he is, what he knows, and what he believes are about to change radically. In this profound memoir Mariani blends a brief life of St. Ignatius and meditations on the life of Jesus with the day-to-day unfolding of thirty days of silence at the retreat house. His journey of introspection, self-revelation, and spiritual renewal leads him to a new understanding of his relationship with God and of what it truly means to put others before oneself.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Go be quiet and pray for 30 days and you might come to know yourself--and your God, too. That's what Paul Mariani found out when he went on retreat with the Exercises of St. Ignatius, as he explains in Thirty Days. Mariani, a poet and literary critic, spent the month of January one year at a retreat center on the rocky Atlantic coast near Gloucester, Massachusetts. During that time he confronted his past experiences as a father, husband, teacher, and Christian and arrived at some surprising conclusions about his place in God's world. Thirty Days--a work of probing self-examination, including much reflection on the lives of St. Ignatius and Jesus--is the journal that he kept during that period. Readers of this fine, honest, intelligent book will be quietly assured by something Mariani himself learned from Ignatius's Exercises. "How consoling to know that, no matter how small we may think we are against the backdrop of eternity, we do count in the cosmic scheme of things." --Michael Joseph Gross --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In laying open his journal from a 30-day retreat based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, Mariani, a writer and English professor at Boston College, allows the world to look in on a highly personal time in his life. His gracious and courageous invitation is not for everyone, however. Those considering the "Long Retreat" with Ignatius's Exercises may benefit from an intensive look at one man's encounter with this time-honored method for contemplation and reflection, but reading his book will require something of the endurance needed to undertake the retreat itself. Mariani has tried to provide a sense of what daily life is like at a retreat center by including observations about the food, the weather and his personal habits along with the progress he is making in his reflections on the Scriptures. But by the second week of his accounts, this pattern becomes tiresome and repetitious, even though the menus change. The cycle of eating, sleeping, walking, meditating and meeting with Mariani's spiritual director communicate the routine of the retreat but sometimes get in the way of his more substantive message about its spiritual content. Readers who persevere, however, will be rewarded with some wonderfully tender moments from Mariani's 30 days, particularly those concerning his once-fractured relationship with his wife, Eileen.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (January 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142196150
• ISBN-13: 978-0142196151
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #795,555 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The oldest of seven children from a working-class background, Paul Mariani was born in New York City in 1940 and grew up there and on Long Island. He earned his bachelor's degree from Manhattan College, a Master's from Colgate University, and a Ph.D. from the City University of New York. He is the author of six poetry collections: Deaths & Transfigurations (Paraclete Press, 2005), The Great Wheel (W. W. Norton, 1996), Salvage Operations: New & Selected Poems (1990), Prime Mover (1985), Crossing Cocytus (1982), and Timing Devices (1979).

He has published numerous books of prose, including Thirty Days: On Retreat with the Exercises of St. Ignatius (Viking, 2002), and God and the Imagination: On Poets, Poetry, and the Ineffable (University of Georgia Press, 2002). Other books include A Usable Past: Essays, 1973-1983 (1984), William Carlos Williams: The Poet and His Critics (1975), and A Commentary on the Complete Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins (1970), as well as five biographies: Gerard Manley Hopkins: A Life (Viking, 2008) The Broken Tower: A Life of Hart Crane (W. W. Norton, 1999); Lost Puritan: A Life of Robert Lowell (1994), all named New York Times Notable Books of the year; Dream Song: The Life of John Berryman (1990); and William Carlos Williams: A New World Naked (1981), which won the New Jersey Writers Award, was short-listed for an American Book Award, and was also named a New York Times Notable Book of the year.

His honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He has also been shortlisted for the Tait Award for biography. He was Distinguished University Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he taught from 1968 until 2000, when he was named University Professor of English at Boston College. In 2009 he received the John Ciardi Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry. Mariani and his wife, Eileen, have three grown sons and live in western Massachusetts. He is currently working on a memoir of growing up on the mean streets of Manhattan in the 1940s.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning, intense book, July 5, 2002

By 

J. Allen Bull - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thirty Days: On Retreat with the Exercises of St. Ignatius (Hardcover)

I have read this book twice, starting again as soon as I finished the first time, and still am amazed at its intensity. Dr. Mariani does a superb job detailing the days he spent practicing the Spiritual Exercises, conveying the process as well as anyone could to those of us who haven't lived through the retreat. Contrary to the editorial reviews above, it is not in any way boring, but to me, actually increases in interest as it progresses as I wanted to see what would next happen in his development. A thirty-day retreat is not possible for most of us, which may make it even more interesting to those who cannot take that much time from their regular jobs. The book has inspired me to delve more deeply into my Christian life and perhaps someday I will be able to do the 30 days too. Thank you for writing this book and for introducing me to Raymond Brown, one of the many benefits I received from reading it.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On Retreat with a Poet and Scholar, September 6, 2003

By 

Timothy Kearney (Haverhill, MA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Thirty Days: On Retreat with the Exercises of St. Ignatius (Compass) (Mass Market Paperback)

Paul Mariani, a writer and English professor at Boston College, completed a thirty day retreat based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. His journal reflections from this retreat are the basis of the book's content. For those who are familiar with the spirituality of St. Ignatius, as well as those who have completed the thirty day retreat or variations of this retreat, the book will be of great value.

The book has many strong points. The first has to be Mariani's openness to what the retreat may have to offer and his willingness to share what he has experienced while completing the retreat. His observations are a combination of poetry, theology, and a keen insight into himself. He freely draws upon times when the Lord has worked in his life as well as moments where he has blocked God's work. He is painfully honest in the book, freely sharing his love and admiration of his wife Eileen, who has not joined him for the retreat. He also shares intimate moments in his life, including the time when he left his wife and three sons which nearly destroyed his marriage. His book is honest, but not confessional which gives it a bit of an advantage over a standard memoir. The reader does not see just a person who has made mistakes, (or as Mariani openly admits, a sinner), but a person who allows himself to be an instrument through which God's grace flows and transforms.

People who have been on retreat at Eastern Point in Gloucester will instantly find themselves back at this powerful retreat house simply by reading the pages. Mariani writes descriptively about the retreat house and its beautiful natural surroundings. I usually make an annual retreat at Eastern Point but was unable to do so this past year, In many ways Mariani's sharing of his experiences as well as the atmosphere allowed me to take a vicarious retreat as I anxiously await the opportunity to make a retreat in Gloucester early in the new year. This book is destined to become a classic for those who love Ignatian spirituality. Fans of spiritual writer and poet Kathleen Norris may also enjoy this book. Like Norris, Mariani is also a poet as well as a scholar and biographer of poets. The spirituality of both Mariani and Norris permeates their writings and lives, and as poets perhaps they help us too see God in a vibrant and creative way that often eludes some great theologians.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A profound work, December 3, 2003

By 

John Tangney "jdtangney.com" (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Thirty Days: On Retreat with the Exercises of St. Ignatius (Compass) (Mass Market Paperback)

Paul Mariani's personal journey is powerful and compelling. While he shares with us his discoveries and reflections on evils committed in his life, he also is unabashed in his joyous sharing of God's revelations to him.

Some of this reads like an unabridged prayer journal, and some has clearly been reworked after the fact. Regardless, Mr. Mariani has a gift for words, and he tells a great story. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end.

My only caveat is that this is Mr. Mariani's journey, not yours. Remember that what was revealed to him during the 30 days may not be pertinent to his readers.

Overall, it's an inspiration. I heartily recommend it.