By reading writers that lift my spirit, I continue to find much treasure in which others may wish to share. The publication of a new collection, “The Best Spiritual Writing 2001,” presenting many recent articles excellent in both style and substance, is an event worth celebrating.
The first selection in this new paperback is one that I have read previously. However, its excellence struck me once again. This short essay is called “Secrets of the Confessional;” in it Lorenzo Albacete shares with readers deep insights into the spiritual meaning of this ancient Catholic ritual. Father Albacete, a priest who teaches theology in the New York archdiocesan seminary, sums up his unusual views in one paragraph:
“Confession is not therapy, nor is it moral accounting. At its best, it is the affirmation that the ultimate truth of our interior life is our absolute poverty, our radical dependence, our unquenchable thirst, our desperate need to be loved. As St. Augustine knew so well, confession is ultimately about praise.”
The article from which this quotation comes is only one of twenty-five contained in this, the latest paperback in a series that began four years ago. Edited by a Smith College lecturer in religion, Philip Zaleski, this year’s edition is yet another filled with ideas that will almost surely inspire readers intent upon the interior life.
In his preface, Professor Zaleski focuses on the life of the spiritual writer. Two qualities are vital for this kind of writer, he suggests. The first is silence, a condition of soul to which writers must return often. Following the lead of Thomas Merton, Zaleski says: “The best spiritual writers are entirely at home in both the world of words and the world of silence.”
The other quality needed is close contact with the real world in which people must bear pain and hurt. In Zaleski’s judgment, “The spiritual writer expunges suffering from his work at his peril, for suffering is the greatest spiritual mystery, a path to wisdom and a mode of salvation.”
This preface and an introduction written by Andre Dubus III are themselves worth the price of the book. Dubus, a distinguished novelist and short story writer, and a native of Haverhill, Massachusetts, also defines what a spiritual writer should be. Or, rather, what such a writer should not be.
He or she should avoid everything that implies being at a remove from the real world. It is vital to shun “the implied belief that spiritual means above everything, free of the smells and texture and unanswered questions of our lives, not through an act of transcendence but one seemingly of avoidance and escape.”
For Dubus, the proper subject of fine spiritual writing is the soul. That moves him to quote approvingly the editor’s definition: “I take the best spiritual writing to be prose or poetry that addresses, in a manner both profound and beautiful, the workings of the soul.”
Spiritual reading traditionally plays a vital role in the interior life of seekers after enlightenment. For me, it fills a need that otherwise remains unsatisfied. Whenever I go for long periods of time without reading anything that moves my heart, then my inner life remains dry. This is why I always welcome coming upon a good book, or receiving a recommendation from a friend steering me toward writing that will provide me needed inspiration.
When reading writings that speak to me, I find phrases worth underlining in red so as to make them stand out for later review. These words feed my spirit as I walk along the streets and look out at the varied scenes of each day’s outings. At times of silent reflection I seize on them interiorly in hope of renewed insight. If I am especially fortunate, these thoughts might say something further, not heard the first time I encountered them.
The authors mentioned here will serve purposes like these for some readers of this column. So will other writers represented in “The Best Spiritual Writing 2001”. The authors display a range of tastes, traditions, and styles that does further credit to the editor. They may not be everyone’s best writings of the current year, but readers will almost surely find among them authors who speak to their souls.
Richard Griffin