The Spiritual Life: A Treatise on Ascetical and Mystical Theology

The knowledge and wisdom imparted in this book is invaluable to anyone seeking to progress in the spiritual life to sanctity. In this day and age, with a dearth in good, solid Catholic teaching, this is a must to fill in any gaps in one's understanding, and to lead one along this path. It is a book to return to often and regularly for life.My only complaint is the type setting and formatting. I originally purchased the green hardcover edition published by Tan. I was not happy with the quality of the typeset, and at first found it messed with my eyes. But I quickly became used to it and no longer notice it now. The pages are a soft ivory color which is very easy on the eyes.I also purchased the decorative hardcover edition by Echo. I was disappointed to see it was the same print, a bit darker, but the same size set on larger pages giving the pages very wide margins and making the book much larger and heavier than need be. The pages are stark white which I find harder on my eyes.I've included pics to compare the two editions. I do prefer reading the Green hardcover edition from Tan much more.I normally would have only given 4 stars due to the typesetting, but the content is so valuable, I could not give this less than 5 stars.

I wish I would have had this book during the RCIA process for entering the Church! It is very easy to read yet contains so much solid, clear Catholic teaching. It helped me very much in understanding what merits are and how to increase them, the dispositions necessary to approach the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as well as the proper dispositions for receiving Holy Communion. This book covers the wide range of things necessary to grow in the spiritual life. It was written for seminarians but lay people can benefit greatly from this book. This is a real treasure.

You won't find better than this book on the nature of the spiritual life anywhere.

Tanqueray provides a brilliant handbook on the spiritual life, the nature of the soul and what is necessary to advance in union with God. Very enlightening and inspiring. Answers many questions and provides a great deal of light on many aspects of the interior life.

Huge book! This will take me about 3 years of studying to complete.

The text in this book is an absolute nightmare to read. The entire book should be reformatted.

I find The Spiritual Life to be well-organized and a handy quick reference. It is filled with supportive quotes from the saints and cites Scripture often. It is a practical guide and immensely helpful and informative on spiritual progress--for someone like me, it's most useful to be able to go back and read texts that help put my spiritual goals clearly in front of me--especially the writings on the virtues.My only cons would be that my text is not re-typeset, and so errors in spelling are not infrequent, as are missing or incomplete letters in words. It may also be distracting for some people that the text is sized irregularly (in order to fit the page, section, etc). I personally like the look and feel of this; more endearingly human, as of a lovingly composed letter to a friend.I look forward to reading this book for years to come.

Good Spiritual reading

This book was recommended to us by one of the priests at the Brompton Oratory in London. It's simply brilliant. Easy to understand yet a fascinating read full of information. You won't be able to put it down!

This book should be in every Catholic household! It provides much information pertaining to ascetical and mystical theology.

Essential reading for anyone serious in moving forward towards God in their journey through life.

Excellent teaching on the Spiritual Life. A pleasure to read.