Armchair Mystic: Easing into Contemplative Prayer

Emilie Griffin
Thibodeaux’s easygoing style is a genuine help. It’s an appetizing mixture: personal anecdotes, inviting exercises, and solid instruction.

Catholic Parent, March/April 2002
"He [Thibodeaux] presents both the practicalities and the mysteries of prayer with clarity, humor and easy-to-understand examples."

Theology Digest, Winter 2001
Thibodeaux guides the lay reader through contemplative prayer, its evolution, its difficulties and its ultimate goal.

Buena Vista Resource Page
"...is clear about ways to keep our committment to prayer even when our experiences are not as we imagined"

Book Description
This user-friendly book blends theory and practice, gently and concretely taking the reader through the first steps of contemplative prayer. Armchair Mystic begins with the necessary details of time and place to pray, then presents the maturation of the prayer life in four stages: Talking at God, Talking to God, Listening to God, and Being with God. Each chapter begins with an Orientation and ends with a concluding summary. Step-by-step exercises throughout the book provide concrete examples of how to use the concepts discussed.

From the Publisher
Mark E. Thibodeaux, S.J. draws from the experiences in his own prayer life to show readers how to improve their prayer lives. He shows readers that contemplative prayer is not as difficult as it may seem. "Contemplative prayer is not necessarily easy," says Thibodeaux. "In fact, there are parts of the experience that are very difficult. But the point is that if I have the strong will and desire to pray contemplatively, I do not have to shave my head and join a monastery to do it. The armchair that sits in my house is just as capable of being the 'holy ground' of contemplative prayer as the monastic stall of a cloistered church." Armchair Mystic will prove invaluable to individuals and small groups who are new to contemplative prayer, or who wish to deepen their experience of it.

From the Author
My purpose in writing this book is to help ordinary folk with their experience of contemplative prayer. It explains the evolution or process of contemplative prayer and encourages readers to trust in this process as well as in themselves. It shows them how they are already on the path to prayer. It explains in simple, everyday language the goal, process, pitfalls, joys, and challenges of contemplative prayer.

About the Author
Mark E. Thibodeaux, S.J. is a spiritual director, retreat director, high school teacher and a Jesuit priest. He holds a Master of Divinity and a Master of Theology from Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He currently serves as a campus minister and Theology teacher at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory in Houston, Texas.


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Mark E. Thibodeaux, S.J., is a spiritual director, retreat director, high school teacher and a Jesuit priest. He holds a Master of Divinity from Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.


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