Water and Spirit

Meditations on St. John's Gospel 1:19-5:47

Following up her book, THE WORD: A Meditation on the Prologue of St. John's Gospel, this beautiful work by the mystic Adrienne von Speyr continues these meditations to the end of chapter five.

Von Speyr reflects deeply on the text, taking it sentence by sentence, but this precise adherence to the words is devel- oped into a much broader picture. The meditations are con- fluent with the scenes and themes of the Gospel itself, and perhaps the most characteristic note of her meditations is determined by the author's use of the whole imagery of St. John to convey his thought.

The result is that her thought is not presented to us in a language of abstraction but retains the living, moving and dramatic quality of the original language from the Gospel. In these meditations the imagery of St. John is everywhere seen as leading into eternal life, and that life as beginning here and now.

Adrienne von Speyr

Adrienne von Speyr  (1902-1967) was a Swiss medical doctor, convert to Catholicism, a mystic, wife and author of over 60 books on spirituality and theology. She collaborated closely with the renowned theologian Hans Urs Von Balthasar, her confessor for 27 years, and they co-founded the Community of Saint John. Her numerous writings, published by Ignatius Press, are recognized by leading theologians and writers as a major contribution to the mystical and spiritual writings of the Church. Among her most important works are Book of All Saints, Confession, The World of Prayer, Handmaid of the Lord, and The Passion from Within

Marketing & Publicity