Spirituality is life, dynamism, growth, and consummation. Arnold Janssen, deeply fascinated by the greatest of mysteries, directed his whole life to God, who with incomprehensible love reveals himself and manifests himself to men. The radical surrender to God in Christ Jesus, above all in communion with his sufferings, is an essential part of Arnold’s spirituality.

In his spiritual life different key points are manifested that were at the center of his thought and prayer at each stage of his inner growth. He gradually realized that the purpose of his life was the universal mission, to which he had to dedicate all his strength, giving himself to this with soul and life. His fervent dedication to the Apostleship of Prayer and his work in favor of the unity of the Christians of Germany took him beyond the borders of his homeland and opened the horizon of universal mission for him.

The present work offers a description of the essential traits of the spirituality of Saint Arnold Janssen. The design and ornamentation of the Upper Church of St. Michael’s Mission House bear witness to the spirituality and missionary charism of the founder of missionary work and the first missionary communities of Steyl. This is a church of mission and sending, from where missionaries have gone to all parts of the world to collaborate so that the people of every race and nation can share in this mystery of love and salvation.

This silent proclamation of faith expressed in the art and designs of the Church gives a glimpse of the spiritual world of that time and is a clear invitation to every reader of this present work, to deepen their own spirituality and the missionary vocation they received in Baptism.