“There is only one great call in the Gospel, and it is that of following Jesus on the way of love,” Pope Francis said in his weekly Wednesday audience. “In this sense, charity and contemplation are synonymous.”

The question remains alive today, perhaps even more so after a year of living through the Covid-19 pandemic. But today it might be rephrased as two different questions for two different audiences: “How shall one go to confession now?” and “Why go to confession at all?”

The miracle is to believe that for those, like Ignatius, who believe in God and trust in God’s care and providence, there is no accident, no tragedy or failure that they cannot overcome.

Let us add direction and purpose to our resolve, and let us give ourselves some magis-inspired goals.

How do we speak to a generation that, at least on the surface, seems less and less prepared for the difficulties it will face?

An introduction to all the books, new and old, profiled in our Spring Literary Review 2021.