Reading Scripture in the Spirit: A Biblical Spiritual Theology. Every authentic reading of the sacred Scriptures is, in the end the living encounter of a believer with the Word who is a Person, the Word who was in the beginning with God and is God. The question this book poses is at once simple and radical: how do we read Scripture in a way that is worthy of that encounter?
The crisis of modern biblical interpretation is not, at its root, an academic crisis. It is a spiritual and theological one.
This book is a sustained argument for the recovery and rigorous articulation of what we call Biblical Spiritual Theology: a fully theological method of reading Scripture that integrates historical and exegetical rigour with the transformative dynamism of the Spirit, without sacrificing either. It is the demonstration that authentic theological interpretation of the Bible, namely the kind practiced by the Fathers, deepened by the medieval tradition, retrieved by the ressourcementtheologians of the twentieth century, and mandated by the Second Vatican Council, is both methodologically coherent and spiritually indispensable.
May this book be an invitation to a deeper and more transformative encounter with the living Word.
349 pages
Encountering the Word, Scriptural and Theological Foundations of Lectio Divina. The decision of the Second Vatican Council to restore the Word of God to the very centre of the Church’s life – at the heart of theology, the liturgy, prayer, and spiritual formation – represents one of the great graces and renewals of our time. It opened a path toward a new spiritual vigour for the Church and toward that “new springtime” so often evoked by Pope Benedict XVI. In many ways, this book seeks to place itself within the path opened by the great ecclesial documents Dei Verbum and Verbum Domini, both of which call the Church to rediscover the living primacy of the Word of God.
Yet this renewal also requires the development of an authentic theology of the Word of God: a biblical theology of the living Word, present, active, and transformative in the life of the believer. Such a renewal begins by learning anew how to really encounter the Word.
These nine chapters trace a unified theological and spiritual journey through the scriptural foundations of Lectio Divina toward the transformative encounter with the living Christ. They unfold a single movement: from foundational theology through concrete practice to the interior purification necessary for authentic proclamation, culminating in a fully integrated sacramental vision of Christian life in Christ.
Introduction
I- In the Beginning Was the Word
II- The Word as Divine Self-Communication
III- The Eternal Word and Christ’s Words
IV- ‘Morning by Morning He Awakens My Ear’
V- Encountering the Living Word
VI- Lectio Divina
VII- Word of God and Prophecy
VIII- Formed by the Gospel to Bear the Word
IX- The Sacramentality of the Word
Conclusion
Hearing the Living Word, The Gospel’s Grammar of Lectio Divina. The practice of reading Scripture prayerfully—what the Christian tradition calls Lectio Divina—is often presented as a method, a technique with steps to follow. This approach has its place. But the Scriptures themselves offer something deeper: not merely instructions for how to read, but a revelation of what happens when the Word of God encounters a human heart.
This book gathers the passages that illuminate the inner structure of Lectio Divina as the Gospel understands it.
Priestly Formation, Towards a Sapiential Vision. “Here, in this book, is the fruit of years of prayer and reflection by Jean—not only on the universal call to holiness demanded of all the faithful, but also on the centrality of a deep spiritual life and ministry, thereby making spiritual life the cornerstone for the formation of priests, both in the seminary and throughout their lives of service.”
“[…] step by step, Jean presents with clarity a revolutionary model of a vision of what future seminary formation might look like. Always by necessity, stressing the academic, the pastoral and human but with each of them closely and intimately connected to the spiritual.
In his approach to priestly formation, Jean, while respecting the traditions of the past and the present, proposes a pioneering model which, if embraced, would transform and greatly enhance the way we prepare our future priests.”
“If Jean’s insight and recommendations are taken up, especially with its strong emphasis on Lectio Divina and the Prayer of the Heart, then I do believe that it will in time produce not only good but holy priests.” (Rev. Dr. Michael Doyle PhD, STL.)
A Letter to the Pope is a bold yet deeply respectful appeal to the heart of the Catholic Church. Framed as an explanation of a letter addressed to Pope Leo XIV—but truly intended for any pope willing to confront the most urgent challenges of our time—this book exposes a crisis the Church can no longer afford to ignore: the collapse of spiritual formation.
In an age marked by confusion, decline in vocations, and loss of spiritual depth, the author identifies the root of the problem and offers a path forward. No lasting renewal, he argues, can take place without a profound reform of spiritual formation—one that is rooted in grace, animated by the Holy Spirit, and oriented toward true union with Christ. This requires nothing less than a renewal of spiritual theology and a transformation of how theology itself is taught and lived.
Urgent, audacious, and grounded in reality, this work is a prophetic call to action—for the Pope, and for all who long to see the Church alive with holiness once more.