Books on the Spiritual Life

These pages, now collected in one small volume, have been written for the purpose of helping the faithful, ordinary souls, to attain one most important object: active participation in the holy Sacrifice of the Mass; so that, consciously and deliberately, they may offer the sacred Victim, offer themselves and be nourished by receiving the holy Eucharist. In a word: that they may live the blessed Eucharist, the sacrifice and the sacrament, in its entirety, and that by living it they may sanctif...

Alive to the role of material beauty in strengthening our perception of the invisible, Dom Perrin assists us in our understanding of Mary’s role in the divine plan. Those who already rejoice in fervent devotion to Mary will find their love for her here nourished and refreshed. For those who have not yet turned to Mary, these pages may prove truly liberating, inviting entry into a prayer life that is deeper, more confident, and more effective. A contemplative gaze at Mary Immaculate has the po...

In a world that is ever-changing and increasingly full of challenges, it is more important than ever to have a strong foundation on which to build our lives. For centuries, the Rule of Saint Benedict has been a source of wisdom and guidance for those seeking to live a joy-filled and meaningful life.André Gushurst-Moore's book, Glory in All Things: St Benedict & Catholic Education Today, shows us how even in the 21st century, the ancient wisdom of Saint Benedict can be applied to our lives...

Preliminaries to a Spirituality of Work In what way can human beings attain that Harmony whereby they become mediators between Heaven and Earth? In the mysterious language of symbols we can rediscover the sense of vocation that reflects Divine Activity. For God is, in reality, the sole Artisan. All the traditional crafts strive to imitate within their limitations the work of God, Who unceasingly creates and maintains the world. And in the end it is this that constitutes the sole foundation of...

These meditations and devotions by St. John Henry Newman, spanning poetry from his Anglican period (including his most famous and well-beloved poem, "Pillar of Cloud"/"Lead, Kindly Light"), to reflections on God’s Divine Providence from his later period as a Catholic and founder of the Oratory in England, expresses a profoundly confident but deeply human faith that resonates with the very real experiences of modern Christians from all walks of life. These poems intimately show a personal side...

Love, Peace and Joy: Devotion to the Sacred Heart is an insightful book inspired by the very words of Our Lord to Saint Gertrude as recorded in her famous Revelations. Based on Gertrude’s teachings, this book outlines ways to quickly receive great graces and attain divine love; methods that are simple and accessible for everyone. Learning how to offer up your own prayers to the Sacred Heart of Jesus can bring about powerful transformation. This empowering guide helps readers understand the ex...

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES'S APPROACH TO HOLINESS Live Today Well is an essential guide for Christians looking for spiritual guidance to apply the teachings of St. Francis de Sales in their everyday lives. The book offers insights and practical advice on living a life of sanctity and holiness, even while managing commitments and tasks. Through this book, readers will be able to find balance between prayer and action with respect to their daily tasks.In Live Today Well, Fr. Thomas Dailey (an Oblate ...

In A Year with the Church Fathers, popular Patristics expert Mike Aquilina gathers the wisest, most practical teachings and exhortations from the Fathers of the Church, and presents them in a format perfect for daily meditation and inspiration. The Fathers were the immediate inheritors of the riches of the Apostolic Age, and their intimacy with the revelation of Jesus Christ is beautifully evident throughout their theological and pastoral writings: a profound patrimony that is ours to read an...

The Practical Spirituality of St. Josemaria Escriva In this spiritual powerhouse of a book, Eric Sammons organizes the wisdom of St. Josemaría Escrivá into an action plan for living out holiness in your everyday life. The goal: to foster God's grace within you so that you can be transformed into the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ. Declared "the saint of ordinary life" by Pope John Paul II, St. Josemaría Escrivá -- a twentieth-century Spanish saint and founder of Opus Dei -- did more than a...

Venerable Louis of Granada was the favorite author of St. Teresa of Avila, St. John on the Cross, St. Francis de Sales and many others. Among the hundreds of eminent ascetical writers of Spain, Louis of Granada remains unsurpassed in the beauty and purity of his style, the solidity of his doctrine, and the popularity and influence of his writings. Besides ascetical theology, his published works treat of Scripture, dogma, ethics, biography, and history. He is best known, however, for his ascet...

Mostly written between 1070 and 1080, before he became Archbishop of Canterbury, the prayers and meditations of Anselm of Aosta created a tradition of intimate, intensely personal devotional works written in subtle and theologically daring prose. While the "Prayer to God" is based on the Lord's Prayer, the "Prayer to Christ" is inspired by ardent private emotion and other prayers invest saints with individual attributes, with John the Baptist as the friend, Peter as the shepherd and Mary Magd...

The English Dominican Gerald Vann, author of many beloved works of spirituality, offers in this compact volume a key to bearing the sorrows, tribulations, and trials that enter our lives as we walk our path from birth to death. This key is found in the life, indeed, in the heart, of the Virgin Mary, she who responded with unfailing faith, courage, and compassion to all God asked of her—an unexpected pregnancy; a flight into Egypt; an uneventful life in the backwaters; separation from her son ...

St. Maximus the Confessor (c. 580–662), saint and martyr, might well be called the Saint of Synthesis. His thought, no less than his geographical wanderings, place him between Rome and Byzantium, between the theologies of East and West, and between the early Middle Ages and the ancient Church, whose representatives and traditions (which during his day had suffered much at the hands of imperial and ecclesial censure) he salvaged and brought back to the attention of his contemporaries. In this,...

Why is it, asks Bishop Fulton Sheen, that one hears so often the expression "Go to hell!" and almost never the expression "Go to heaven!" Here, at his most penetrating, challenging, and illuminating best is Bishop Sheen with his answer, in a book that breathes new meaning into the truths about heaven and hell, and new life into the concepts of faith, tolerance, love, prayer, suffering, and death. Beginning with "The First Faint Summons to Heaven," Sheen shows how unpopular it is today to be a...

God's love is the subject of Peter Kreeft's imaginative and thoughtful book (a revised and updated version of his book Knowing the Truth of God's Love). With unusual clarity, Kreeft points out that the man or woman who begins to glimpse the God who is Creator, Redeemer, and Lover of our souls, will never be the same. He describes Scripture as God's love story and then tells why divine love is the answer to our deepest problems and the fulfillment of our deepest desires. Posing the hard questi...

In this beautiful thirteen-page booklet, you will learn what the Sacred Scriptures and Church Fathers said about wearing a veil, as well as the rich theological and symbolic meanings behind the tradition. Discover how wearing a veil reveals woman's esteemed vocation in God's creation, intimate spousal relationship to Christ, sacredness as a tabernacle of life, mystery as a "garden enclosed", adoration for God and praise of His glory, humility and receptivity to God's love. Most significantly,...

This is the book you need to master your anger so your anger won't master you. Popular TV host, clinical psychologist, and best-selling author Dr. Ray Guarendi incisively cuts to the heart of the matter to help you determine whether your anger response is justified -- and what to do when it isn't. Dr. Guarendi unpacks for you the many types of anger and the types of people who suffer most from anger. For some, anger is a trait; for others, it is a state. Some are "wired fiery," with an anger ...

The Church is a city set on a hill and on that hill there is a lighthouse. The Church directs her light this way and that as occasion warrants. That we might not make a shipwreck of our faith (see 1 Tm 1:19), she illuminates dangerous crags and reefs when all the world would tell us the water is clear. Each age has its heresies, and ours is a hatred of origin, of fatherhood. But if we come from somewhere and someone, we cannot be self-made. As an anchor against the wave of patricide, a light ...

How to Master 12 Essential Virtues in 12 Months On every page Cultivating Virtue imparts the true spirit of the Catholic Faith. This book takes 12 Christian virtues one for each month, with a reading for each day of the year and shows you how to master each one. Featuring episodes and sayings from the lives of the Saints, it covers Perfection, Humility, Mortification, Patience, Meekness, Confidence, Charity, among others. Master the virtues and set out on your road to becoming a saint by lear...

We all want true friends. But how many of us really know what friendship is, or where to find it? In these pages, philosopher John Cuddeback weaves together the timeless wisdom of Scripture, of the ancient Greeks, and the saints to map out the steep and beautiful path to man's greatest joy--true friendship.Following Aristotle's teachings on the unbreakable connection between happiness and virtuous living, Cuddeback sees friendship at the very center of the human drama. Although there are diff...

Saint John of the Cross is the Church's premier teacher on contemplative prayer. Catholic tradition even calls him the Mystical Doctor. The sixteenth-century Carmelite priest not only wrote four massive treatises on the spiritual life, along with some of the finest poetry in the Spanish language, but also worked alongside Teresa of Ávila in renewing the Carmelite order. Thérèse of Lisieux claimed she found no other spiritual reading that could satisfy her soul like John of the Cross.Yet the v...

The fruit of much pastoral experience, this book addresses both perennial and current challenges facing Catholics, giving reasons for hope and joy. Touching on a wide range of topics, from prayer to evangelization, it offers insights into living the Catholic faith with humility and heroism as it focuses on the person of Jesus Christ--his identity, mission, and presence in our lives. Having been a pastor of souls in a variety of settings--the suburbs, the inner city, the mission field, and the...

In this second volume of the Called Out of Darkness trilogy, Father Robert Spitzer, S.J., draws together some of the best advice given by Catholic spiritual masters across the ages and brings it into harmony with modern scientific research, offering practical ways to live out the gospel in our busy days. It is a roadmap to a deeper relationship with the Lord and to authentic transformation through the imitation of Christ.Giving evidence that Jesus established just one Church, with Peter as it...

With the luminous insight that we have come to expect from his writings, Robert Cardinal Sarah helps spouses rediscover the deep source of their love--God Himself--and the means for letting love between them grow.This book presents the essentials of a retreat that the cardinal preached to married couples in Lourdes, France. It is meant for all couples, including those who are struggling. There is a path to renewal for everyone, and couples in every situation can find again the preciousness of...

Spiritual writer, theologian, and philosopher Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J., Ph.D., tackles the topic of recognizing and overcoming spiritual evil. His focus is the human heart. His goal: our spiritual and moral transformation, which leads to true peace and genuine happiness.The book is divided into two main parts: (1) the realities of God's goodness and of spiritual evil, and (2) recognizing and overcoming the diabolical tactics of deception, temptation, and sin. The author synthesizes the best a...

What can the lay person learn from the life of a monk? Solitude and Silence are two pillars of monastic life that many people quickly point to as the hardest and most confusing parts of this kind of religious consecration. However, the great spiritual writer Thomas à Kempis, author of The Imitation of Christ, helps us to understand that all Christians are called to some solitude and silence in our lives while not taking on a complete eremitical life. He recommends the systematic and intention...

Do you feel as though you're in the midst of a storm? Your life, your children's lives, and your country--they may cause you to feel like a storm is raging. In this powerful new book, Fr. John Riccardo breaks open the Scriptures to give us tangible hope for our lives. Discover how you can live with unshakable hope today!

"The Sacred Heart of Jesus" by Monsignor Louis Gaston de Ségur, translated by Ryan P. Plummer, is a profound work of devotion offering over thirty lessons and meditations on the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Inspired by the revelations to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and the teachings of St. John Eudes, this book aims to deepen the reader's love and worship of the Sacred Heart. With an apostolic letter from Pope Pius IX commending Mgr. de Ségur's zeal, this work seeks to be a refuge for souls, alignin...

"Aquinas's Lenten Meditations: 40 Days with the Angelic Doctor" by Saint Thomas Aquinas is a profound journey through Lent, guided by one of the Church's greatest minds. This book offers a collection of sixty-three Scripture-based sermons tailored for the Lenten season, from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday. Aquinas explores themes such as deepening prayer life, conquering temptation, and the virtues cultivated through reflection on Christ's Passion. Designed to detach readers from worldly conc...

Imagine some personal hours face to face with Pope Benedict XVI, one of the greatest Catholic thinkers and spiritual writers of the twentieth century. In this slim volume, hundreds of short quotations and sayings taken from Benedict's papal writings, addresses, and homilies have been classified by the Christian virtues of which they speak, and then categorized according to the mysteries of the Rosary and the great themes of prayer, the Church, the Mass, the papacy, Sacred Scripture, the pries...

Here’s the motivational book that provides a comprehensive approach to true healing—not cheap gimmicks masquerading as inner peace. Ian Murphy shares the story of his healing from obesity, a journey not about weight loss but about transformation, showcasing the life-changing truths of the Christian faith in action. Unsatisfied with typical “self-help” books, Murphy demonstrates through his own quest for well-being that there is a path to true betterment—one that recognizes and celebrates a pe...

Are you ready to embark on a hero's adventure in pursuit of God? This novelized account of the spiritual life tells the story of Austin, a young man guided on his spiritual quest by Father Lawrence, a tough inner-city priest, and Fr. Aelred, a Benedictine hermit. Through a fictional dialogue, Fr. Dwight Longenecker unveils a twelve-part plan for union with God, paralleling the classic purgative, illuminative, and unitive stages of the spiritual life. Discover how our wounds and weaknesses can...

"Rendezvous with God" by Vincent P. Miceli is a spiritual guide designed to enhance your prayer life and bring you closer to God. Published posthumously, this book embodies Fr. Miceli's spiritual wisdom, rooted in the Jesuit tradition. Through a structured series of Ignatian meditations, explorations of key Faith aspects, and vivid narratives from Christ's life, the book aims to inspire readers towards greater imitation of Christ. It's an uplifting eight-day retreat that invites you to immers...

This classic work from Thomas à Kempis, author of The Imitation of Christ, is now available in English for the first time. It is a simple truth that, without the virtue of humility, we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It simply cannot be done. Just as pride is the root and source of all sin, so is humility the foundational virtue in which all other virtues must be grounded if they are to bear fruit. Humility is the heartbeat of the saints. It is the virtue that conforms us most closely to ...

For years, there have been no books of St. Augustine's prayers available. Finally, in this treasure trove, you will find select prayers from his works -- some of the most potent prayers ever composed. As you read the innermost thoughts of the greatest Church Father, you will be transported in time and learn how to pray with the heart of a saint. St. Augustine's timeless words will help you encounter the "Beauty of ancient days, yet ever new" face-to-face and experience the relationship betwee...

With charming rhyming verses, the Benedictine Sisters present glimpses of their everyday life of joy, work, praise -- and fun! Experience the excitement of entering the unknown mystery and beginning a new life inside the hallowed walls of the convent. You will experience the Sisters' excitement about first receiving their habits, their delight in caring for the elderly Sisters (with wheelchair races!), and their joy in tending the frisky farm animals, singing for the Lord, and recording their...

St. Louis de Montfort inspired a spiritual revolution in teaching us about Marian consecration and giving us a thirty-three-day plan to prepare our souls for that big step in our relationship with Jesus. In these pages, Fr. Boniface Hicks guides you through this 'retreat' to help you gain a deeper trust in and childlike dependence on our loving God. "What this consecration teaches us is that we have a sweet, loving, perfect Mother who actually wants to live in this intense relationship with u...

Happiness. Everyone wants it, but not everyone has it -- or knows how to get it. According to a recent Harris poll, only one in three Americans describes himself as happy. Researchers have dubbed this the "most stressed" of all generations, despite its economic prosperity and technological advances. Anthony DeStefano, best-selling author of A Travel Guide to Heaven and Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To, addresses this problem head-on in his freshly rewritten book, 30 Days to Your New Life, b...