Books on the Spiritual Life

The times are tough -- we need the help of St. Michael and all the holy angels more than ever! Award-winning author Marge Steinhage Fenelon has written an excellent introduction to devotion to St. Michael, especially by praying the Chaplet of St. Michael. The Archangel himself made three promises to all who faithfully pray the Chaplet in his honor: an escort of nine angels chosen from each of the nine choirs of angels when approaching Holy Communion; his continual assistance and that of all t...

At the beginning of every Mass, the priest-celebrant says, "Let us pray" and then offers a prayer to God the Father, through Jesus Christ, in union with the Holy Spirit. This Opening Prayer is called the Collect. During Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter, this prayer is specific to the day; in the season of Ordinary Time, the Collect for each Sunday is repeated during the following weekday Masses. In Praying with the Church through Advent, Fr. Edward Looney offers a short daily meditation an...

Does your mind often wander when you recite the Holy Rosary? Spiritual master Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo― called “a saint” by Padre Pio― will teach you to deepen your powers of recollection as you reflect upon the sacred mysteries. Here is the Rosary companion that will help you develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ by entering into the events of His life through the prism of your own. These brief, compelling reflections― written as conversations between Jesus and the soul― will move you...

A daily offering of one's life to God is an indispensable practice for every serious Catholic. In this book, Fr. James Kubicki, S.J., a longtime spiritual guide on Relevant Radio, presents a 366-day experience of morning offerings for busy laypeople. This rich array of reflections, based on the liturgical calendar and inspired by Ignatian spirituality, will help you develop--or reinvigorate--the habit of beginning each day by sincerely offering it to Christ. For each day of the year, Fr. Kubi...

One of the most wonderful images I thought I received from Jesus in the 8th decade of my life was this: "Stop dog-paddling in the waves of life and let Me float you to the shore of eternity." Gradually I have slowed down on speaking at conferences or for parish groups. This year, my 86th, I stopped writing big books and wrote, instead, lots of small booklets, as well as a compendium of my best thoughts under the title of 77 Soundbytes of Love. Now I sensed, in prayer, that the Holy Spirit wan...

"Grief is like a long valley, a winding valley where any bend may reveal a totally new landscape." C.S. Lewis Lorene Duquin, an experienced grief counselor was no stranger to understanding and explaining grief, and had helped many people work through it. But when she lost her mother she found herself living in an entirely new space. Grieving the Loss of a Loved One contains 52 powerful, one-page meditations that will help you work through the various aspects of grieving as they did for Lorene...

Many faithful Catholics greet God and give Him thanks and praise when they arise in the morning and retire at night. How they stay connected with Him and the Faith throughout the day, however, varies widely. Many forget that He is right there to call upon whenever the need or impulse arises. Others see Him all around, in the flowers of the field, the birds of the air, the smile of a child. Uniquely, Catholicism Everywhere treats the reader to the many expressions of God in the hobbies, foods,...

Very few Catholic writers indeed can touch the minds and hearts of all Catholics-whatever their background -and Fr. Paul O'Sullivan happens to be one of these rare few. In How to Be Happy-How to Be Holy, Fr. O'Sullivan teaches all Christians about prayer: 1) how to pray, 2) how to derive immense benefits from prayer, and 3) how to enjoy the deep consolation of prayer. In the process, he focuses first on the profound meanings of our basic Catholic prayers: The Sign of the Cross, The Our Father...

A proper examination of conscience is surely one of the most challenging tasks of the Christian life. For the laity, charged with the work of sanctifying the world "from within as a leaven" (in the words of Lumen gentium), this task is made especially difficult by the clamorous distractions which come simply from being in the world, even if not of the world. To ease the difficulty of this task, Monsignor Knox offers in The Layman and His Conscience a retreat specifically for lay people to "re...

"When I was a child," Saint Paul writes, "I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways" (1 Cor 13:11). This distinction, and the transition from boyhood to manhood, does not seem as easy for us today. Our society, with its increasingly grotesque masculine identity crisis, cannot define "the things of a man."In this revised and expanded edition, author Jason Craig, cofounder of Fraternus, a Catholic mentoring program for bo...

Inspirations & Lamentations: Literary Devotions of an Unusual Sort is a unique devotional book, combining a depth of spirituality, devotion, and desire for Him with a fresh, realistic, faith-filled contemporary assessment of modern life. 

Perfect love casts out fear, and God is love (see 1 Jn 4:16-19). So let us allow His Word to find a home in our hearts each day with these 366 Scriptural exhortations to fear not, as we journey through the books of the Bible using verses drawn from the Divine Mercy Catholic Bible (Revised Standard Version--Catholic Edition 2). At the beginning of his pontificate, the Great Mercy Pope, St. John Paul II, told the world, "Do not be afraid!" That wasn't just an exhortation to be stoic, tough, and...

As Ronald Knox was preparing to enter the Catholic Church, he took with him, as a spiritual-reading traveling companion, Virgil's Aeneid. The physical journey of Aeneas toward Rome provided a well-polished mirror to the spiritual voyage of Knox to that other, perfect Rome-the Eternal City of Christendom. "Ingeniously constructed on the Virgillian frame," as Evelyn Waugh writes in his Foreword, A Spiritual Aeneid is Knox's account of his conversion from the Anglican Church to the one, holy, Ca...

The laity-in the words of Lumen gentium-live in "the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of existence is woven." Where in that web is there room for anything resembling a retreat? Is a retreat for lay people practical, let alone possible? In these two dozen conferences, Monsignor Ronald Knox answers these questions resoundingly in the affirmative, addressing the foundations of the Christian life, the sacraments, and the virtues; the life and death of our ...

Thought-provoking words from renowned spiritual writer, Henri J. M. Nouwen, lead readers along a journey of conversion during Lent and Easter week. These periods of penance and celebration, lavish with rituals, help us become more sensitive to our own weaknesses and Christ's victory over sin. Through it all, Father Nouwen comforts and reassures us with reminders that God loves and accepts us even in our human state. Each daily reflection--from Ash Wednesday through the Second Sunday of Easter...

Make Lent and Holy Week even more meaningful with brief daily meditations that will help you focus on Our Lord's passion, death, and resurrection. Scripture readings, personal reflection, a question to ponder or an act to consider, and a short prayer to Saint Joseph are sure to lead you to a deeper relationship with Jesus and his foster father, Joseph.

"There are some people whom God takes and sets apart," observes Venerable Madeleine Delbrêl (1904-1964), but "there are others whom he leaves in the masses and whom he does not withdraw from the world. These are people who do ordinary jobs, who have an ordinary household or an ordinary single life. . . . We, the ordinary people of the streets, believe with all our might that this street, that this world where God has placed us, is, for us, the site of our holiness."French poet, social worker,...

Why Must We Suffer? "If God is good and all-powerful, why does he allow his creatures to suffer pain?" And what about the suffering of animals, who neither deserve pain nor can be improved by it? The greatest Christian thinker of our time sets out to disentangle these knotty issues. With his signature wealth of compassion and insight, C.S. Lewis offers answers to these crucial questions and shares his hope and wisdom to help heal a world hungering for a true understanding of human nature.

Decisions, decisions ... life presents us with so many, big and small. How can we confidently make choices that bring us true happiness? The life of the virtues holds the key, and among those virtues, prudence holds the reins. No, this isn't your grandmother's definition of prudence. This virtue actually inspires practical wisdom, allowing us to choose well and to bring order into our lives. In Prudence: Choose Confidently, Live Boldly, Fr. Gregory Pine, OP, aims to work prudence back into th...

What is the greatest spiritual battle? The greatest battles do not occur in a distant land or even in past times but in the depths of the human soul. It is the battle between virtue and vice, the conflict between aspiring to be a saint or living a mediocre life. The conflict between reaching heaven or forfeiting it. In this spiritual masterpiece, Pope Saint Leo IX, identifies our foes: "The enemies in this battle--the vices and temptations which infect our fallen nature--are invisible and int...

Here is the book that will help you climb St. Paul's "eight steps," to attain happiness, holiness, and Heaven. Best selling author Kevin Vost breaks open St. Paul's life and spirituality through the lens of St. Thomas Aquinas as well as other saintly and noble men and women. You will see how human knowledge (e.g. science and philosophy) point to the truth of the Divine and how the virtues St. Paul proposes in his letter to the Philippians lead to abiding joy. In this gem of a book, Dr. Kevin ...

Timeless words from the pen of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen inspire the heart and imagination as readers embark on a Lenten journey toward a better understanding of their spiritual selves. Covering the traditional themes of Lent--sin and salvation, death and Resurrection, sorrow and hope, ashes and lilies--these 50 passages and accompanying mini-prayers offer readers a practical spiritual program as a retreat from the cares and concerns of a secular world view.

This Spiritual Life Series title offers minute meditations for each day of the year. Each daily entry provides a quote on the life and legacy of St. Francis from the writings of either the Saint himself or one of his early brothers or from the Papal Bull Mira Circa Nos of Pope Gregory IX, which proclaimed the canonization of St. Francis; a reflection; and a scriptural prayer.

This long-awaited book from New York Times best-selling author Immaculée Ilibagiza teaches readers how to pray the rosary of the seven sorrows for greater wisdom, strength, and forgiveness. In this new book by New York Times best-selling author Immaculée Ilibagiza, readers will rediscover this important message from Mary. Mary wanted the whole world to know the seven sorrows rosary, and Immaculée not only shares it but explains Mary's specific teachings for how to pray it, as well as offers t...

We are all called to reject sin, to grow in virtue, and, above all else, to love God with all that we are. But some souls suffer from anxiety and feelings of guilt because they see sin where there is none and struggle to embrace God's love and mercy - a psychological and spiritual condition known as scrupulosity. In Scrupulosity: Heal Your Mind, Unbind Your Soul, and Let God Work, clinical psychologist Dr. Kevin Vost provides a comprehensive overview of the ancient and current psychological a...

To help celebrate the fourth centenary of the birth of St. John of the Cross in 1542, Edith Stein received the task of preparing a study of his writings. She uses her skill as a philosopher to enter into an illuminating reflection on the difference between the two symbols of cross and night. Pointing out how entering the night is synonymous with carrying the cross, she provides a condensed presentation of John's thought on the active and passive nights, as discussed in The Ascent of Mount Car...

Oraciones para que los laicos las utilicen en la guerra espiritual desde el dominio público y el tesoro de la Iglesia. El libro tiene un imprimatur de la Arquidiócesis de Denver. Versión de español Deliverance Prayers.

Make no mistake about it: the father of lies is waging a war against your soul. At the end of your life, it will be either he who has won - or you, through God's grace. Here is the book that pulls the curtain back on the devil's strategies and shows you how to safeguard yourself and your family against his deadly methods. In this spiritual classic, Fr. Godfrey Raupert unveils the true aim and character of those dangerous forces seeking to destroy your peace and your way of life. You'll learn ...

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...

Here is a powerful, life-changing book that will help you understand and conquer the struggles you face in your spiritual life. It's a book for those who love the Lord and desire holiness yet often feel adrift or stagnant in their search for spiritual growth. All of us encounter valleys on our journey with the Lord -- those periods of spiritual desolation that are a painful yet unavoidable feature of our prayer life. Spiritual desolation is as complex as we are, so understanding what is happe...

"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...

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...

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 ...

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...

There have been thousands of books written about prayer and millions of sermons preached about it, yet people continue to wonder: Why doesn’t God answer me when I cry out to him? In light of all the problems we face in life, we want to know why God is often so “silent” when we pray to him. Anthony DeStefano, author of the bestsellingA Travel Guide to Heaven, knew there had to be an answer to this mystery, so he set out on a quest to find prayers that God says yes to all the time. The result i...

Essays on the Beatitudes and The Gifts of the Holy GhostThe Collected Works of Carol Jackson Robinson, Volume 2 This book is the second in Carol Robinson's Collected Works series. Her penetrating and original analysis of the modern world shows the fruit of a mind absorbed in the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas— her life-long companion. We hope that these essays will help Catholics understand how the Faith has importance for the totality of their lives which must not be hidden away from the publ...

Letters to the Duchess of Orléans and Meditations on Christian Life The present volume presents a wide selection of letters glowing with affection that Mectilde addressed to Marguerite de Lorraine, Duchess of Orléans (1615-1672).

What does it mean to live as a child of God? In this book, Fr. Piotr Rostworowski offers timeless advice and spiritual counsel to a nun under his direction, aimed at helping her live a life of perfect unity with God. In simple, loving, honest language, this holy father sets out clear guidance and practical methods for how to attain perfection. Likewise, the universality of the issues with which Fr. Rostworowski deals, issues ranging from how to overcome one's own will in temptation to recogni...

Nine Tasks for Every Catholic Revitalizing Catholicism in America provides nine practical action items every faithful Catholic can undertake - nine steps which form the building blocks of a renewed Catholic subculture. No matter what your specific gift or walk of life, you have a role to play in revitalizing Catholicism in America. This book will show you how.

Recovering the Christian Mystery of Personhood The Apocalypse of the Sovereign Self is a collection of stories, fictional and factual, highlighting two themes: the autonomous self, now in a profound crisis; and the person, whose Christian sources and contours have too long been overlooked. The ongoing cultural and confessional evisceration of Christianity all too graphically proves the validity of Christ's warning: "Apart from me you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5). For these words were addressed t...

A young man...a painter. Having converted, he tries his vocation as a monk, but decides that monastic life is not for him. Thrown back on his own resources, he quickly becomes enmeshed in difficulties-not least, when he discovers an unusually sympathetic ear in a young married woman-and he struggles to find a place in the contemporary Church. Throughout his searching, he turns to the Benedictine Dom Hubert for counsel, wondering what to do with his feelings. Dom Hubert, also an artist, offers...

Sermons & Meditations on Seeking Christ & His Mother Born in the silence and simplicity of rural New-England, this book gathers some brief reflections and sermons of a parish Priest. The sermons fix their attention upon the Mother of God, and the author's approach is essentially liturgical. Side-stepping the language of apologetics and controversy, he studies the texts of the Roman liturgy and shares what he finds there. The meditations-concentrated and pithy-consider, beneath the lig...

A Presentation for Beginners "If personal holiness is thought of as being a name at the top of a list it is understood wrong. If it is thought of as something which merits a feast in the Church's calendar it is understood wrong....There is nothing 'superior, ' in the sense of being one up on everybody else, about it. The way to think of sanctity is as something which, by being generous and faithful to grace, gives back to God the love which he has given to the soul." While the glamorous and s...

"The end of penance is God, not more penances. Thus the approach to penance has to be by way of love, not by way of steeling the will to toughness. Penance must have its roots in charity, not austerity." With characteristic Benedictine discretion, Van Zeller here sets straight common misapprehensions of penance, steering the reader past the Scylla of extremism on the one hand and the Charybdis of avoiding this essential virtue of the Christian life on the other hand. "Take up your cross and f...

"These pages do not pretend to furnish theologians and doctors with a new Mariology. My aim is much more modest; I am trying to reach many small souls, for whom a few rays of Holy Mary's beauty will suffice; that they may endlessly admire and better pronounce her name-after the Name of Jesus, the most beautiful of names." Dom Eugene Vandeur's Hail Mary is not another scholarly exegesis on each part of that ancient prayer; it is a poetic, passionate, expressive, rhythmic hymn of praise. In the...

"If my correspondence is anything to go by," writes Benedictine artist and author Dom Hubert Van Zeller, "the problem which men and women living in the world most want to discuss is that of how to handle the affections." The fruit of Dom Hubert's experience as a spiritual director, these 42 short reflections are culled from his correspondence, and engage with questions surrounding the cultural upheaval which followed World War II, the first stages of the sexual revolution, and the modern worl...

An Historical, Liturgical and Devotional Explanation of the Mass according to the Roman Missal "In a word, the service of God is meant to be beautiful, because a true instinct of man makes him realize, even when he is in a state of retrogression and barbarism, that all that is best and noblest must be made subservient to the worship of the Lord and Creator of all." Dom Ernest Graf begins his work The Priest at the Altar with this declaration that beauty is the fundamental form of the Liturgy....

Christ desires to be our Friend. But how can we respond? Taking up themes from great mystical writers, Benson gives a prophetic corrective for those in the Church who mistake "Christ's gifts for Christ, religiosity for religion, and the joys possible on earth for the joys awaiting us in heaven." Benson steers the soul away from temptations to despair and from presumption upon Christ's friendship, pointing to the consoling truth: "I am in all things His debtor, but He bids me call Him Friend....