‘In Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself.’ The process is hardly serene. In the detail from Lorenzo Lotto’s picture of Christ and the so-called adulteress reproduced opposite, Jesus’ calm authority contrasts sharply with the distraughtness of the woman and with the anger on the faces of her accusers. One of them is even counting out her alleged offences. Reconciliation will require much work—work which will be slow and will take quite different forms for the different people involved. This issue of The Way looks at various aspects of that process of reconciliation, of Christ working and labouring to form a new people.
Beth Crisp, ‘Spiritual Direction and Survivors of Sexual Abuse’, 7–17
Beth Crisp reflects on how the experience of sexual abuse, whether owned or repressed, affects the dynamic of spiritual direction
Stefan Kiechle, ‘Transformation in Retreats, Transformation in Everyday Life’, 18–28
Growth in the Spirit can happen both in formal retreats and in the pressures of daily life. Stefan Kiechle describes and compares the two kinds of process.
Ruth Reardon, ‘Unity in Difference: Spiritual Challenges in Interchurch Family Life’, 29–40
One of the founding members of the Association of Interchurch families reflects on how marriage between committed members of different churches both challenges and strengthens faith commitment.
Michael Henderson, ‘Forgiveness: A Dilemma of Democracy’, 41–56
Forgiveness in the political order will always be contentious and risky--but only on that basis can conflicts be definitively put behind us, and the past can cease to be our prison.
Daniel Groody, ‘Crossing the Line: A Spiritual View of the US-Mexican Border’, 58–69
The Mexicans who struggle to enter the USA may often be ignored, but through them Christ is present once more in the least of his sisters and brothers, and their stories can do much to enrich our own spirituality.
Patrick Purnell, ‘The Clown’, 71–77
The clown acts in the name of truth, and challenges our untruth, questioning the assumptions informing our lives. In the world of Jesus under the big top, the first is last and the last is first.
Ruth Burrows, ‘Amen: The Human Response to God’, 79–90
Jesus calls us to transformation through dispossession, and the call comes through everyday life as well as through prayer and the sacraments.
Clare Watkins, ‘Sacraments, Spirituality and Reality’, 91–103
There have been many changes in sacramental theology and liturgical practice over the last few generations. Perhaps it is now time to remember anew that through the sacraments we should seek ' the things that are above'.
Declan Marmion, ‘Trimnity and Relationships’, 104–118
Modern theologians, whatever their other differences, insist that we come to know the doctrine of the Trinity as the doctrine of a God related to us.
Luis Gonçalves da Câmara, ‘Remembering Iñigo’, 119–128
Notes on daily life in Ignatius' house a few years before his death.