John: The Word Become Flesh--Meditations on John 1-5

by Adrienne von Speyr

The first of von Speyr's scriptural commentaries, focusing on her reflections on the first five chapters of John and the beginning of the public life of Our Lord. She shares moving meditations on such profound and dramatic scenes as the witness of John the Baptist, the call of the disciples, the wedding at Cana, the cleansing of the money-changers in the temple, the Samaritan woman, etc. The combination of the Scripture verses and her meditations provide rich nourishment for prayer and spiritual reading. This series is particularly important because the spirituality of St. John, the Apostle of Divine Love, was the central source of von Speyr's own inspiration and spiritual life.

Genres: Theology

325 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1994

About the author

Adrienne von Speyr was a Swiss medical doctor and the author of over 60 books on spirituality and theology.

Von Speyr was born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. Her father, Theodor von Speyr, was an ophthalmologist. Her mother, Laure Girard, was the descendant of a family of noted watchmakers and jewelers from Geneva and Neuenburg. Speyr was her parents' second child.

Speyr's mother scolded her daily and this led her to form a strong trust and devotion to God, as well as a recognition of the meaning of sacrifice and renunciation. She formed a deep relationship with her grandmother, a holy and pious woman. She also had a devotion to her father, who treated her with mutual respect and understanding, often taking her with him to the hospital to visit sick children. In her primary school years she began working with the poor and even formed a society with her friends for those living in poverty.

Speyr became a Roman Catholic on 1 November 1940, the Feast of All Saints, when she was 38, under the spiritual direction of the prominent priest and theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar.

She is considered by many to have been a mystic and is reputed to have had mystical experiences of the Trinity and the saints.

While in a state of contemplative, mystical prayer, she dictated to Balthasar over 60 books, including commentaries on the Bible and various theological topics. With Balthasar she co-founded a secular institute, the Johannesgemeinschaft (Community of St. John). Her reputed mystical experiences grew in frequency until her death in Basel, Switzerland, on 17 September 1967.