Request for Your Contributions
Continuing to think and write about Spiritual Reading, I'd like to compile a list of A-1 Moderns. Many will note that in my previouslist there are few figures of the Twentieth Century and almost none from the latter half. I know that sometimes works must be tried by time in order for their efficacy to be tested. However, I also know that there are probably a great many writers of recent days that I am missing out on because of my own ignorance.
I will start with a modest contribution, but one that has radically altered the way that I have perceived the world--Fr. Thomas Dubay. I find his works highly intellectual and supremely spiritual. You cannot hurry through them, or, if you do, you have not really read them. I have benefited from every work of his that I have read because of his seemingly endless knowledge of spiritual direction and profound aspects of prayer life. This is the man I would choose (if possible) as a director.
I am also very fond of Thomas Merton and Anthony DeMello. But because of warnings issued on the latter, hesitate to recommend him. I know whereof the Vatican was speaking and the reason for the warning, but I did not find that DeMello's eastern influences unduly disorienting. There are also a great many Merton detractors out there, largely for the same reason as DeMello--many argue that his later work was corrupted by Asian influences--and it may well be true, but I never see him turning to the nothingness of the Zen Buddhists with whom he corresponded. I have not read all of his later works, so this may be true. But the power and the faithfulness of The Seven Storey Mountain The Sign of Jonas and many other earlier works certainly must be considered when looking at Merton--should they not?
One person recommended Sister Faustina, who still doesn't quite make it into the second half of the century. I believe Dylan Recommended Carlo Carretto, an excerpt of whose work he has blogged today. I can't find his original list on his site, so I'll go back and look through the archives here to see what other suggestions emerged.
But I'd really like to here from all of you about life-changing spiritual works of the late Twentieth Century.
Oh, and for you Carmelites out there (or the Carmelitically inclined) Pere Marie-Eugène of the Child Jesus--I Want to See God, I Am a Daughter of the Church and Under the Torrent of His Love.
For those better acquainted with their works: what about Balthasar, Lubac, Speyr, Hildebrandt, Gilson? Are these all deep philosophical tracts or is there something an ordinary person can read and carry away with him? Garrigou-Lagrange? Early Rahner? Haring? Are any of these works worthwhile. Vann? (I've read a bit, and recommend what I've read, but I have no great acquaintance with his work).
I guess I'm asking for opinions about the great spiritual masters of the Late 20th and Early 21st centuries.
Keating? Green (again, I've liked what I have read, but thought that it might be rough-going for a great many)? Please name them, and a key work in spirituality, spiritual direction, and I'll try to compile a reasonable list.
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Steve,
You might light "Heart of the World" by von Balthasar. A wonderful meditation.
Also the essays in "Elucidations" are quite accessible and powerful.
Jeff