The genius of St. Thérèse's spirituality is the originality of her approach to God in confidence and love. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in her Act of Oblation to Merciful Love. At a time when some were offering themselves as victims to God's justice in reparation, Thérèse chose instead to offer herself to God's mercy, to enable that infinite love welling up in God to overflow into her and extend that love, not justice, to others. This little book treats of a lo...

Fifth-century Christianity was a theological battlefield. With the Messalian heretics and their experientialist spirituality on the one side and the intellectualist school on the other, representatives of both extremes found themselves condemned by the Church. In this milieu of subjectivist notions of grace and negative anthropology, there appeared a true mystic, Diadochus, Bishop of Photike in Epiros. His is a theology whose two poles are God's grace and man's ability to cooperate with it...

St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, is one of the most influential spiritual leaders of all time, yet many readers find his Rules for Discernment hard to understand. What can Ignatius teach us about the discernment of spirits that lies at the very heart of Christian life? In The Discernment of Spirits, Fr. Timothy Gallagher, a talented teacher, retreat leader, and scholar, helps us understand the Rules and how their insights are essential for our spiritual growth today. By integra...

Cardinal Carlo Martini is well-known for his ability to open the Scriptures through lectio divina or prayerful reading. In The Gospel Way of Mary, Martini takes us on a journey through Scripture of key events in the life of Mary. With keen and profound insight, he helps us see these familiar passages as a journey of trust and surrender not only for Mary but for us as well. This journey requires us to make a fundamental choice for God and make peace with his often mysterious ways. Martini r...

Pope Francis’s first papal letter, reflecting on the nature of belief and the need to renew our faith for a bright future of charity and love for all“Precisely because it is linked to love, the light of faith is concretely placed at the service of justice, law and peace. Faith is born of an encounter with God’s primordial love, wherein the meaning and goodness of our life become evident; our life is illumined to the extent that it enters into the space opened b...

Unity, joy, simplicity, beauty, truth-these are the hallmarks of the three Persons in one God, the Trinity. In Contemplating the Trinity, Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher to the papal household, invites readers to turn to the Trinity so that they can enter into and experience the relationship of love that the divine Persons share with one another. Convinced that Christians today need a spirituality that is more clearly trinitarian, Fr. Cantalamessa draws from theology, spirituality, ...

Often spirituality today is isolated from church teaching and doctrine, as in Joseph Campbell's treatment of myth and the many forms of New Age theologies, but doctrine apart from the life of prayer is abstract and sterile. In Spiritual Theology Allen turns to the great teachers of the past-the church fathers, Augustine, Maximus the Confessor, Bonaventure, Hugh of St. Victor, Calvin and Luther, George Herbert-to recover a spirituality that is rich with the doctrines and discipline...

The Nag Hammadi Scriptures, edited by Marvin Meyer, is the most complete, up-to-date, one-volume, English-language edition of the renowned library of Gnostic manuscripts discovered in Egypt in 1945, which rivaled the Dead Sea Scrolls find in significance. It includes the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary, and the recently discovered Gospel of Judas, as well as other Gnostic gospels and sacred texts. This volume also includes introductory essays, notes, tables, glossary, index, ...

“Henri Nouwen was one of the great spiritual masters of the modern age. His beloved writings have helped millions understand that no matter where we are, God can meet us there. Read this brand-new compilation of his writings and conferences, and let Henri Nouwen accompany you—with his trademark wisdom, acuity, common sense, erudition and, most of all, compassion—and help you encounter God more fully in your daily life.” — James Martin, SJ, author of The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everyth...

The classic collection of essays for those seeking spiritual wisdom from the religious scholar, Trappist monk, and author of The Seven Storey Mountain.A recapitulation of his earlier work Seeds of Contemplation, this collection of sixteen essays plumbs aspects of human spirituality. Merton addresses those in search of enduring values, fulfillment, and salvation in prose that is, as always, inspiring and compassionate. "A stimulating series of spir...

Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life features the wisdom that spiritual leader and counselor Henri J. M. Nouwen brought to the essential question asked by every Christian and seeker: What should I do with my life?Nouwen emphasizes listening to the Word of God—in our hearts, in the Bible, in the community of faith, and in the voice of the poor as a way to discern God’s plan.Although the late Henri J. M. Nouwen counseled many people during his lifetime, his p...

Drawing on the ancient and often-forgotten sources of esoteric Christianity, Valentin Tomberg reflects on the mysteries of humanity's covenant with God in history. The power of these meditations is that they reflect the author's personal spiritual journey into the depths of God's kingdom withinwithin the soul, within personal relationships, within nature and the cosmos. Part one of Lazarus, Come Forth!"The Miracle of Raising Lazarus in World History"looks at an encounter with the Father thro...