Springboards: A Deeper Ignatian Way by Chris Gleeson SJ

Chris Gleeson SJ, Springboards: A Deeper Ignatian Way (Melbourne, Australia: Wilkinson Publishing Pty Ltd, 2000), 128 pages. This book begins with ‘The First Word’, where the Australian author, Chris Gleeson SJ explains the Irish origin of the title Springboards. The idea came from the Irish Jesuit Michael Paul Gallagher, who visited Australia during the 1980s. ‘Springboards’ might be explained as ‘launching-pads – words or sayings that challenge us to look further, to leave behind the shallow and superficial in our lives and go deeper’. In this sense, the book is an anthology of wisdom sayings, prayers and reflections that invite young people and their teachers or mentors to pass beyond appearances to find, so to speak, the spiritual gold at the heart of the matter. The book is meant to be read aloud in short sections so that the reader and listener can savour the meaning, by hearing it in community. It is divided into five stand-alone sections. Part 1 is entitled ‘Orientations’. Gleeson first provides the Ignatian context by explaining the need to discern the two forces at work in our lives, ‘one a life-giving force that draws us toward God and the other life-draining force which takes us away from God’. There follows a series of seventeen short reflections on various virtues or values that could be presented to students for an early morning talk during an assembly or to a group of teachers beginning a day of reflection or staff formation. Each virtue or value is presented first in a general way with a quotation from English literature or one of the world religions, followed by a Word of scripture and a prayer. Not only are these reflections concise and focused, but they also offer an example to teachers and trainers on how new reflections could be created in a similar way. The readings and prayers could be adapted to the context of the specific community involved. It is perhaps the pedagogy here that is more central than the content. It is clear that ‘Care for the Stranger’is perhaps, the priority of priorities, in that four of the seventeen reflections are concerned with this. Part 2 is entitled ‘Leadership’. Gleeson affirms that ‘leadership is fundamentally about service’. There follows a series of reflections on four attitudes central to authentic spiritual leadership. These reflections are clearly aimed at senior students or junior teachers who are starting out on some leadership role. The structure for each leadership virtue is similar to that of Part 1, except that the section on ‘First Principle and Foundation’ merely explains the meaning of the Jesuit motto ‘A.M.D.G.’, while the section Studies • volume 110 • number 439 387 Autumn 2021: Book Reviews on ‘Leadership and Discernment’ includes three prayers and two Bible readings. It seems that Part 2, which emphasizes ‘balance and freedom’, is itself somewhat imbalanced. Perhaps further editorial work would have allowed the virtue of ‘Listening’ to be isolated and commented on by itself. Nonetheless, the need for leaders to develop clarity of vision and to practise servant leadership is well presented. Part 3 is entitled ‘Some Ignatian Wisdom’. In this section, Gleeson borrows from Brendan McManus’s ‘15 Aphorisms that I wish I knew at 15’, originally published in Irish Jesuit News. Once again Gleeson takes each aphorism as an attitude to be cultivated by reflection, prayer and action. So, each of the fifteen aphorisms serves as the text, which is followed by a short Bible reading and then a final prayer. This middle section of the book undoubtedly provides the most profound reflections on the challenges of living a spiritual life in a modern educational setting. In other words, a student or teacher who has read Parts 1 and 2 will have to ‘up his or her game’ to really benefit from the nuggets of Ignatian wisdom contained in Part 3. Chris Gleeson is wise to rely on McManus here, as McManus himself has experienced the painful isolation and dislocations in modern society that impact young people so profoundly. Yet McManus has the gift of being able to share these experiences in an engaging and hope-filled manner. By adding the Bible passage and...