If you think you’re too busy to read a spiritual book, Busy Lives & Restless Souls (Loyola Press, 2017) is the book for you. The title grabbed me immediately. Yes, I’m busy (who isn’t?) — but I’ve learned the hard way that checking off to-do list items at the expense of nurturing my soul leaves things off-kilter.

I picked up this book because I knew nothing about Ignatian spirituality and I welcomed the chance to learn something new. As a pragmatic person, I found comfort in the practical advice that I learned is a hallmark of the Ignatian way of life and which is so clearly explained by author Becky Eldredge.

Becky Eldredge is in a different season of “busy” than I am (my youngest is 15, while she still has toddlers underfoot) but despite our difference in years and experience, her advice rings true. I’m no longer interrupted in prayer by a toddler who wakes up early, but there are different demands on my time and energy that can tempt me to neglect my soul. And then there’s that tendency toward perfectionism (“if I can’t pray Evening Prayer without listening to that movie someone’s watching at top volume in the next room, well then, I’m just going to wait until later” … and later, of course, never comes). So that good advice in chapter 2 (“Creating Spaces”) had nothing to do with blissful quiet and pretty journals and luxurious fountain pens. Instead, it was simply this: “Stop judging your prayer … stop beating yourself up about how you are not praying and celebrate how you are.” (p. 12)

The end of each chapter is as practical as the material preceding it: it’s entitled “A Look at Your Life Now.” The reflection questions and action items there are concrete and do-able. The chapters present plenty of examples of real people applying Ignatian spiritual principles in ways that make sense with their current state of life. In other words, there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to prayer. The best prayer is the prayer you can pray, and what you can do today is probably different from what you will be able to do next year. But since it’s not next year, do what you can today. That’s extraordinarily practical, and extraordinarily comforting.

One thing I found distracting in this book is the author’s refusal to use a pronoun for God. Yes, it’s nitpicky of me to notice, but when the word “God” comes up three times in two sentences it starts to get awkward; after all, isn’t that why God invented pronouns in the first place? This is the first time I’ve encountered this practice outside of hymnals and the people who insist on replacing pronouns in Mass responses and proclaiming those loudly, so it didn’t engender (pun completely intended) a positive response from me.

That aside, the book is definitely worth reading–it’s a great encouragement to any parent or other busy soul.

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Copyright 2017 Barb Szyszkiewicz