How and why did St. Ignatius Loyola develop the Examen prayer? What is it supposed to accomplish for those who practice it? Why do people choose to forgo this discipline that has proved to be invaluable and essential to spiritual growth and the discernment of spirits over the centuries? What are the contemporary cultural crises confronting today's would-be Examen practitioners provoking distrust, fear, or dismissive attitudes towards it? How can an Examen faithful to Ignatius original method be modernized to address the mindset of today's Christians? This book in its three parts takes a new approach to answer these questions. It provides a new analysis on how Ignatius' spiritual Examen disciplines were developed, the challenges inherent in practicing them, and a dynamic new reading of the Examen called Sacred Story. This book will give you the spiritual tools you need for a practical, daily prayer discipline that incorporates principles of spiritual discernment. Praise for Sacred Story William Watson's Sacred Story is an exceptional work. It masters the difficult task of integrating spirituality and psychology and creates an original, rigorous, brilliant and scholarly book. It is an excellent contribution to Ignatian Spirituality and spirituality in general. The author has the ability to take the classic Ignatian Examination of Conscience and recreate it with great originality and scholarship. It illuminates with brilliant insights and accuracy the fields of both psychology and spirituality. Books like this rarely come along once a decade. Javier Melloni, S.J., Th.D. - Author-- The Spiritual Exercises in the Western Tradition Professor-- Faculty of Theology of Catalonia-- Member--Center of Spirituality Manresa, Spain. William Watson's Sacred Story is a huge undertaking. It is a new, enlarged and redeveloped book of Ignatius' Examen . S acred Story probes profoundly into the dynamics of Ignatius's personal journey--into his sacred story--and the discernment of spirits that embellish and enlighten it. He uncovers a paradigm of the Examen in the Autobiography with the two conversions of Ignatius, which is very insightful. Despite my familiarity with the Autobiography , I had never thought of this before. Also, I can see now after reading Sacred Story that the key insight of Ignatius' surrendering his scruples over confessing past sins was the most important decision of his life--a tipping point for him personally and a defining element of Ignatian Spirituality. George Aschenbrenner, S.J. - Washington, D.C. William Watson's Sacred Story is a seminal, brilliant tour de force--erudite, well researched and deeply pondered. It is a passionate book, full of the urgency of one who is speaking of what he knows and of what he lives. It is a book born not merely from well-grounded scholarship but from deeply personal experience and struggle. Read it and be amazed, as I was. Watson does for the Examen what Jerome Nadal did for the Jesuit Constitutions (when Nadal explained the Constitutions to the Jesuit communities he visited in the very early days of the Society of Jesus). Watson links any proper and full appropriation of the Examen to the experiences of St. Ignatius' life, particularly to his conversion, and to the programme of the Spiritual Exercises . This is a novel approach, and one, in my opinion, which is holistic, rich, fertile and fruitful. David Keith Townsend, S.J. - Director, The Seven Fountains Spirituality Centre, Chiang Mai, Thailand Making St. Ignatius' practice of the Examen meaningful in the 21st century, useful for self-knowledge and self-transformation, and respectful of the complexities of each individual psyche immersed in modern culture seems at best to be daunting and at worst, impossible. Yet that is precisely what Fr. William Watson, S.J. has accomplished in his fresh, clear, interdisciplinary and contemporarily relevant approach to the Ignatian Examen - Sacred Story - An Ignatian Examen for the Third Millennium . But he does so much more. His real quest is to find a practical, usable approach to a profound relationship with the Lord which avoids superficiality in its practicality and needless complexity in its profundity. By taking the time he needs to develop his insights into the human psyche, the stories he needs to illustrate his points, and the scholarship that underlies a deep understanding of the spirit of St. Ignatius Loyola, Watson weaves a rich unified tapestry of practical, sage instruction on how to find the Lord in the depths of self-examination and the sacred story that emerges from it. Sacred Story is a "must read" for those seeking knowledge of the spiritual and psychological obstacles that may present themselves in our individual spiritual quest - along with the tools for discernment and authentic reflection needed to overcome them. Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., Ph.D.-- President, Magis Institute Author of