De Mello-Introduction

Tony de Mello was a Jesuit priest from India who conducted a large number of retreats and prayer sessions for priests as well as for the laity.He was born in Bombay in 1931 but passed away suddenly in New York when he came to give a retreat there in 1987. In the latter part of his life, he was spending time between India and the United States.He was the director of the Pastoral and Formation Center in Lonavala, near Bombay, India.. He started his retreats first for the Jesuits basing his reflections on the

Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Later, he incorporated some of the prayer methods employed in the Religions of the East, especially in Hinduism and Buddhism.

Tony began to use a lot of stories to convey the mysteries of spiritual life. He collected stories from all traditions and folklores.He wanted the stories to speak to our hearts.He points out that that every one of these stories is speaking to each one of us and that we should not apply these stories to other people.

About the sources of these stories, he says: I have wandered frequently in mystical traditions that are not Christian and not religious and I have been profoundly influenced by them. It is to my Church, however, that I keep returning, for she is my spiritual home.”

De Mello put a lot of emphasis on Awareness as a means of resurgence in spiritual life. It is our lack of awareness of who we are that lands in a lot of miserable situations with regard to our spiritual life. We forget, he reminds us, that we are the children of god, carrying the Holy Spirit within us. Even though in his talks on awareness he does not explicitly advert to the mysteries of the faith, we should always bear in mind that he was talking to a Christian audience, many a time, priests and the religious.

He has also developed methods of prayer along with the relaxation of our body. As we are human beings,and not beings of the spirit, our bodies,senses play a great part in our spiritual life. Many a time our distractions in prayer occur because we are not properly composed in our body and spirit. Tony believes that a proper relaxation of our senses will help us to be attuned to the presence of God in our lives. Hence he has devised methods of relaxation based on breathing exercises.