Finding God in All Things: A Companion to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius

by William A. Barry

Dispelling the myth that spiritual retreats are only for those who can get away for an extended time, seasoned spiritual director William A. Barry, S.J., shares his unique understanding of the Spiritual Exercises and demonstrates how they can benefit the ordinary person's relationship with God. Finding God in All Things gives new life to the spirituality of St. Ignatius and illuminates the transforming power of the Exercises. With over 50,000 copies sold of the first edition, this timely new edition offers today's readers a clear presentation of the themes and contemporary practice of this classic spiritual retreat.

Genres: Spirituality, Religion, Faith, Prayer, Nonfiction, Catholic, Christian

142 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1991

About the author

William (Bill) Barry, a distinguished spiritual director and author, was born in Worchester, MA. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1950, studied philosophy in Germany from 1953 until 1956, and was at Weston College for theology studies from 1959 until 1963. Ordained a priest in 1962, Barry went on to earn a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan in 1968.

In 1969, he began teaching psychology at Weston School of Theology, Cambridge, MA, and in 1971 was named director for the Center for Religious Development. He served in both capacities until 1978, when he was put in charge of formation for the New England Jesuit Province. Barry was the Assistant Director of Novices for the Province (1985-88) when he was named Rector of Boston College.

From 1991 to 1997, he served as Provincial of the New England Jesuits. Following that, he was named co-director of the Jesuit Tertianship Program. Barry directs retreats at Campion Center in Weston, MA.

Despite such a busy and committed life, Barry found the time to write 15 books, including The Practice of Spiritual Direction, God and You, Finding God in All Things, Spiritual Direction and the Encounter with God, Who Do You Say I Am?, With an Everlasting Love, and A Friendship Like No Other.

Barry has the rare ability to present complex spiritual issues in clear, well-written prose. He is one of the most influential Ignatian commentators at work today.

Reviews

[Tom LA · Rating 3 out of 5]

What was the original insight of St Ignatius of Loyola? It probably was the idea that God can be found in all things, that every human experience has a religious dimension or meaning. Our sense of the divine cannot be felt every single minute of our day, but it is not confined to the limited time within the church's walls on Sunday, and in our moments of prayer.

In other words: where did you find God today? That can be the smallest thing, a particular flower you saw, or something a friend said, or even a Facebook post or a review on Goodreads.

This book is a brief companion to the fundamental Ignatian work "The Spiritual Exercises", an approach to Catholic spirituality that is still vibrating with originality and intensity today, in 2014. The central role of imagination in your prayer, and the bold use of it, are particular traits of jesuit spirituality.

William Barry has been a spiritual director to many retreatants, and he brings some examples from his experience.

He is also clearly in love with "The Lord of the Rings", and he quotes passages of that book here and there to illuminate some of St Ignatius's points. I found the LOTR extremely boring, so that did not resonate with me much.

What I loved are some of his comments to the Gospel, in particular Mark's, and some very powerful quotes, like for example this one, about the difference between superstition and religion:

"The maxim of illusory religion goes: 'Fear not; trust in God and he will see that none of the things you fear will happen to you'; that of real religion, on the contrary, is "Fear not; the things that you are afraid of are quite likely to happen to you, but they are nothing to be afraid of", John Macmurray.

[Beth Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book! It inspires, encourages, guides, challenges as it teaches about the Ignatian exercises. And it’s the rare book that I finish and don’t think they could’ve said what they wanted to say in half the pages. This author made every page count.

[Adam Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: A companion to the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises.

Finding God in All Things was an assigned book in my Introduction to Spiritual Direction class. Barry is a noted author on spiritual direction, and this is not the first book of his that I have read. In Finding God in All Things, Barry is using the Ignatian spiritual exercises as a model for spiritual formation.

I paired Finding God in All Things with Becoming an Ordinary Mystic. The two books, both written by Catholic specialists in spiritual direction, were a helpful pairing. Barry is a Jesuit, and Albert Haase is a Franciscan. Finding God in All things was published a couple of weeks ago by Intervarsity Press and Finding God in all Things was published nearly 30 years ago by Ave Maria Press. Neither were spiritually fluffy books. In both cases, I found it hard to read more than a chapter at a time because they were pushing readers toward spiritual reflection.

What I continue to wrestle with is the focus on discernment in Ignatian spirituality. Ignatius assumes that someone that is seeking God will find God. And that God will use all available avenues for that. Imagination, coincidence, feelings, stories, etc. are all methods that God can and will apply to draw us toward him. Theoretically, I am all for this. I believe that God has used feelings, emotions, stories, and coincidence to pull me toward him and to show me areas of service or people that he desires me to pursue. The fact that this is true personally is not the issue; it is the explanation of them that I struggle with.

Traditionally Protestants have been more focused on the Bible; 'Do not tell me something that cannot be explicitly shown in the Bible.' That, of course, is in itself a problem, but while I see the issue of over-reliance on proof-texting of scripture, the Ignatian methods feel at times way too loose. Ignatius was very conscious of the possibility of being misled. I think many Protestants that would be opposed to Ignatius’ focus on discerning God would do well to pay as much attention to ‘the enemy’ as Ignatius does.

Ignatius and the spiritual process of discernment that bears his name is reliant on several checks and balances. First, the goal isn’t power or knowledge but a relationship with Christ and Christlikeness. Second, Ignatius assumes the structure of the church as boundaries. While Ignatius at times pushed boundaries, he did not refuse direct orders even when he disagreed. If a spiritual director or superior gave an instruction, it was followed. Third, there is an assumed intimacy with both scripture and Christ and the Holy Spirit that is a clear boundary. That intimacy is still too free for many Protestants, but it trusts that even when we do make mistakes and misunderstand the leading of the Holy Spirit, that the grace of God will guide us back to the path of God’s choosing. God can redeem, and we need not be paralyzed with fear in discernment because God’s grace is there for us even in wrong choices and sin.

Finding God in All Things is a book of spiritual wisdom that goes far beyond just the spiritual exercises. There is a great section that riffs on Tolkien’s essay On Fairy Stories and the use of imagination to inspire us to understand the theological possibilities of what God can theoretically do, as well as understanding the depths of depravity. Barry attempts to give a lot of freedom in the method of prayer and freedom in not relying on our power for our spiritual growth.

There is a good section on discerning right religion (Christianity) by:

We can distinguish real religion from unreal by contrasting their formulae for dealing with negative motivation. The maxim of illusory religion runs: “Fear not; trust in God and he will see that none of the things you fear will happen to you”; that of real religion, on the contrary, is “Fear not; the things that you are afraid of are quite likely to happen to you, but they are nothing to be afraid of.”

One of the essential parts of the discussion of spiritual formation in Barry and Haase is that they both assume loss and pain and that they do not diminish that loss or grief. One of the areas that I am struggling with is that Ignatius’ exercises believe that a retreatant will necessarily desire to seek after Christ’s passion (the pain of not just his death, but the whole experience around his death as well). I initially assumed that this was a particularly Catholic presumption. But the longer I thought about it, the more I am not sure this is the case. Or at least if this is a particularly Catholic assumption, whether it should be. In Bebbington’s fourfold definition of what it means to be an evangelical, one of those pillars is a cruciform orientation. When I first realized that Bebbington was particularly talking about an orientation toward Christ’s death and not just a broader Christocentric focus I balked.

I am still not really at peace with this point. But I am aware that part of the orientation of the book as a whole is that God uses pain and loss and the very nature of human life to illustrate God’s love for us. Part of what Barry is doing in referencing Tolkien is to say that we need the pain to understand the joy and vice versa. Neither Tolkien or Barry is saying that God is causing pain; but that God uses the natural grief and anxiety of life to show his grace.

Part of what Barry is asking the reader to understand is that in Ignatius’ understanding, using MacMurray’s words at the beginning of this quote, is that God is not calling us away from pain, but to God’s grace within pain.

Macmurray’s maxim of real religion. “Fear not; the things that you are afraid of are quite likely to happen to you, but they are nothing to be afraid of.” The resurrection of Jesus demonstrates real religion. The passion and death really did happen, but, the resurrection of Jesus says, they are nothing to be afraid of. When we receive the grace of rejoicing with Jesus in his glory, then we want to shout Alleluia over and over again.

[Leroy Seat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fairly good commentary on Ignatius' "Spiritual Exercises," but maybe not quite as profound as I had hoped.

Barry writes, “What was the original insight of Ignatius of Loyola? I would say it was the idea that God can be found in all things, that every human experience has a religious dimension or meaning” (p. 77).

That is one of the significant statements in the book--and the statement from which the title came, of course.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good summary, walking you through the weeks of the exercises, explaining the purpose of the various practices Ignatius provides. This would be a good read for those having undergone the exercises or thinking of directing them.

[Joseph Malancharuvil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent reflections

This is particularly useful to those who have gone through the spiritual exercises. It is obvious that Father Barry is a wise and experienced spiritual director of great compassion and love. His reflections are deeply moving and spiritually profitable

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful insights, but probably best read as a companion to Ignatius than as a standalone.

[Mark Suriano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the essays are especially inspiring.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Thanh Tu Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of St. Ignatius and the Spiritual Exercises and I have high hope for this book. However, this book was too dry for me and I had to force myself to finish the book.

[Rona · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent walk through of the spiritual exercises, with real life explanations. His language is so accessible that it makes it really readable, and more than that, really inspirational.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Barry gives an overview of the Ignatian exercises. He completely won me over and I'm doing them this year.

[Faith Detwiler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this through a course on Ignatian Spirituality. Lovely and Important.

[Errol Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book good for understanding the intent of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Yes, it is about our relationship with God in the trinity. This is open to all since we live in him.

[Eddie Quintana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful and insightful and more digestible (and modern) than Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises.

[Jungsook Chung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finding God in All Things: A Companion to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius is written by William A Barry.

This is my first book and one of the most beautiful books which led me to a daily contemplation on Jesus. I translated this book in Korean for those who wanted to use this book but did not understand English in KCLC(Korean Christian Life Community) in late 1990s. This book will guide you how you can meet God and appreciate God's love in the nature and surroundings in youe daily life. Fr. Barry's love for God is deep and beautiful and he makes you access to God daily if you are ready to give God a little bit of your time everyday.

[Howard Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a companion volume to reading alongside St. Ignatius's classic "Spiritual Exercises." Read during Lent, it made my awareness of God's presence a richer experience. Barry is a Jesuit priest, and both his illuminating description of Ignatius's writings and transparent confessions of his own spiritual struggles exemplify someone who's devoted his life to following "the Way."

[Jana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good companion to the Spiritual Exercises, but does not replace reading them (let alone doing the 30-day retreat). I would recommend it for those interested in knowing how the dynamics work (an intellectual endeavor) but not a replacement for the experience itself.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was a great companion to the spiritural excersies of St. Ignatius.

[Riko · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found that the Ignatian spirituality is very much "laity".

[Patti Clement · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book for anyone but particularly as introduction to Ignatian Spirituality!

[J Crossley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was supposed to be based off of the exercises of St. Ignatius. However, i found it rather limited in scope.

[Charles Redfern · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great reflection.

Barry makes The Exercises relevant today. I gave it a quick read. It's worth a second and even third read -- along with copious note-taking.