Larry Gooley, SJ is Spiritual and Retreat Director National Assistant to Christian Life Community. Books by Fr. Gooley include:
- Tracking the Spirit
- To share in the Life of Christ
- To Walk with Christ
- By the Spirit of the Gospel and the Interior Law of Love.
Here’s what Fr. Gooley SJ has to say about Taking the Exercises to the World:
“Ellen Tomaszewski has produced a remarkably usable and useful handbook for those who wish to conduct the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius in locations where there are no Ignatian spiritual resources available. Coming out of such an experience, Ellen and her early companions in Richland, Washington, drew on the grace of the Spiritual Exercises and their own experiences to make the Exercises available to others in their part of the state, nation, and even the world.”
“The handbook is intended to help the retreat directors guide retreatants when they come together each month to deepen their religious experience. It includes how to plan for the retreat, informational material on the nine-month retreat experience, directions for those guiding the retreatants, the format used for these gatherings, and the talks and materials appropriate for each meeting. This provides those who are conducting the retreat the resources they need to conduct this program.
“Even though historically, the Society of Jesus has carried the Spiritual Exercises, those who are conducting these retreats today are increasingly lay. Ellen Tomaszewski is one of these lay leaders who has been touched by the Holy Spirit of God to bring the Exercises to people who would otherwise have no access to them. She and those like her are, as the Spiritual Exercises themselves, a gift to the Church.”