Carmelite Spirituality

You know that in an Apostolic Letter in 2002, Pope John Paul II added five Luminous Mysteries. Did you know that in that same Letter he also called for a new way of praying the Rosary?

St. John Paul II's new way of praying the Rosary was based on the teachings of St. Theresa of Avila and has become known as the Contemplative Rosary because it more perfectly unites vocal prayer and meditation, transforming the prayers of the Rosary into a contemplative meeting with God.

Did you know about these changes? Have you tried them?

In our new book, The Contemplative Rosary, we have not only incorporated the five new Luminous Mysteries, we have included as well the many other changes Pope John Paul made to the Rosary.

Here are his additions to the texts and prayers -- additions small and large -- that, as John Paul intended, unite the Rosary more closely to the official liturgical prayers of the Church as well as to Scripture.

Here are also scores of full-color images for your contemplation that anchor your attention in each Mystery and transform your Rosary from a hasty, habitual recitation into a profound speaking to God and a keen listening to Him.

Following the wise advice of St. Theresa of Avila and the new method proposed by St. John Paul, you'll find here for each mystery:

After escaping his captors, John fell into a state of profound ecstasy and wrote Dark Night of the Soul. Later, he added an important commentary to his poem to guide other searching souls along the arduous path to communion with God. Here, for the first time, a scholar unaffiliated with the Catholic Church has translated this timeless work. Mirabai Starr, who has studied Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism, lends the seeker's sensibility to John's powerful text and brings this classic work to the twenty-first century in a brilliant and beautiful rendering

We often think of demons appearing only in extravagant and extraordinary manifestations or working only through "bad" people. But the truth is more frightening than that. Most demonic activity takes place undetected, under the radar, and can even be hidden in our own prayer lives and in the churches where we attend Mass. Subtlety, illusion, and deceit are the preferred tactics of Satan's army of fallen angels, and they are waging an invisible battle for souls -- right now -- within and around us all.

With St. Teresa of Avila's masterpiece The Interior Castle as his guide, bestselling author Dan Burke takes you on an illuminating journey through the seven levels of spiritual progress, explaining what God is accomplishing within your soul at each stage, as well as the finely tailored demonic strategies applied to throw you off your path.

You'll learn how the devil is as active in your prayer life as you are, and how the saints were able to counter Satan as he adapted his schemes to correspond with where they were on their spiritual journeys.

By discovering the myriad challenges St. Teresa faced and the remedies she employed to advance the spiritual progress of her soul, you'll know precisely what to expect as you progress in your current state to your final spiritual destination. You'll also learn:

Edmund Husserl, the founder of phenomenology, declared Edith Stein the best doctoral student he ever had (even abler than Heidegger, who was also his pupil at the time). A prayerful woman of deep spirituality and authentic mystical experience, she remained an influential, active philosopher all her life. Though born and raised in a very religious Jewish family in Germany, she not only converted to Catholicism, but became a Carmelite nun and followed in the footsteps of Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross.

Edith Stein vigorously opposed Nazism from the outset and urged Pope Pius XI to put the church on record against Hitler. A model Catholic, a brilliant intellectual, yet a profoundly humble soul, she affirmed her solidarity with her suffering Jewish people no matter the cost. Edith Stein was arrested by the Nazis at a Carmelite convent at Echt in Holland and sent to her death at Auschwitz.

Waltraud Herbstrith has fashioned a warm, memorable portrait of this woman who, as Jesuit philosopher Jan Nota points out in the introduction, discovered in Christ the meaning of human existence and suffering ... Edith Stein was one of those Christians who lived out of a hope transcending optimism and pessimism. Hers is a voice that speaks powerfully to all of us today, and a life that stands as testimony to the profoundest values of human existence, the significance of the individual, and the truths of faith that can reconcile Christian and Jew, philosophy and religion, oppressor and oppressed to heal a troubled world.

In the wake of World War I when neither Jews nor women were widely accepted in academia, Edith Stein rose to prominence as a leading philosopher who thrived in the intellectual community in Germany. She shocked both her Jewish family and her academic friends when she fell in love with Jesus Christ and became a Roman Catholic

More shocking still, eleven years later, Edith entered the cloistered Carmelite order to follow a life of mystic and contemplative prayer, changing her name to Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Edith Stein's surrender to grace is all the more visible because of the dark night that enveloped the period of history in which she lived and died -- when millions of men and women, including Edith Stein herself, were systematically murdered by the Nazi regime in the name of diligent ethnic cleansing.

Today, as the meaning of feminism is lost in a world of relativism, Edith Stein provides a model for a true feminist woman who authentically integrates faith, family, and work. Award-winning journalist Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda brings new light to this complex woman, her culture, and the pivotal period of history in which she lived and died.

More than a biography, these pages paint a multifaceted portrait of Edith Stein as seen by scholars, friends, and relatives - and by Catholics and Jews alike. You'll gain new insights into the complex aspects of her life and death, as well as the impact of her character and personality on those who knew her. But most of all, you will enter into the interior life of this woman of Jewish descent who transformed her entire life because of her encounter with Jesus Christ, an encounter that led her from the depths of atheism to the heights of sainthood.

The key to happiness from one who found it in joyful abundance: St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

This spiritual classic has long been beloved by Catholics for its wondrous distillation of the teaching of St. Thérèse of Lisieux into a reader-friendly set of meditations. It's perfect as a personal retreat when you have only a few moments to spare each day - and for spiritual reading anytime and anywhere.

Fr. Jean C. J. d'Elbée, a French priest deeply imbued with St. Thérèse's spirit, brings you St. Thérèse's teachings on God's love and the confidence in Him that it should inspire in your soul; humility, peace, and fraternal charity; the apostolate; the Cross; and what it means truly to abandon yourself to Divine Providence. I Believe in Love has helped countless souls embark on the way to the Father. It will help you focus on Him throughout each day, rest in Him amid your troubles, and live joyfully with Him at every moment!

You'll learn:

Until the end of the 1930s, the Carmel of Lisieux regularly published "rains of roses", collections of testimonies of people healed, converted, and reconciled through the intercession of little Thérèse. Thérèse had promised to "spend her heaven doing good on earth", a promise which is being fulfilled in the four corners of the world.

It is this miracle worker Thérèse that Guy Gaucher presents to us through numerous testimonies. At the end of the 1997 World Youth Day in Paris, John Paul II announced to an enthusiastic crowd that Thérèse would be proclaimed a Doctor of the Church. It is as a privileged witness that Guy Gaucher recounts this process which led the little Norman Carmelite to become the third woman in the history of the Church to receive this title. Therefore, the missionary momentum that inflamed the young nun will resume throughout the world. From the Philippines to the United States via Iraq and Siberia, the relics of the "patroness of the missions" will thus touch the hearts of men at the dawn of the 21st century.

One of the most celebrated works on mystical theology in existence, as timely today as when St. Teresa of Avila wrote it centuries ago, this is a treasury of unforgettable maxims on self-knowledge and fulfillment.

What does the life of our soul look like?

In The Interior Castle, Saint Teresa imagines the soul as a magnificent castle full of spacious and elaborate rooms. And, as Saint Teresa describes, at the heart of this castle stands the seat of the King Himself.

To help show the beauty of the soul belonging to God and the beauty contained in these pages, we have created a stunning new edition of this classic. With a deluxe leatherette hardcover, a satin ribbon, golden gilded edges, reinforced sides for longevity, smyth-sewn binding, and gold foil, this edition of The Interior Castle will both guide your soul to Christ and beautify your home.

"I thought of the soul as resembling a castle, formed of a single diamond or a very transparent crystal, and containing many rooms, just as in Heaven there are many mansions. If we reflect, sisters, we shall see that the souls of the just man is but a paradise, in which, God tells us, He takes His delight" (p. 7).

This book provides a remarkable description of the spiritual life of the soul. From the first release of the soul from mortal sin into sanctifying grace, to the mystical marriage of the soul to Christ, The Interior Castle describes the spiritual life as a journey through the imagery of a mysterious and beautiful castle.

Using her image of a castle, Saint Teresa writes about numerous essential aspects of our spiritual journey in this book, including:

- Practical advice to those beginning their spiritual journey, especially regarding the early struggles and temptations to turn back
- Descriptions of the seven mansions and what they mean for the soul
- How and why we should love and serve the Divine Majesty
- The value of our progress towards God

The instructive, witty, kind, and prayerful style of Saint Teresa of Avila will inspire you to see the soul in a new way. After reading The Interior Castle from the TAN Classics Deluxe Set, you will want the beautification of your soul above all earthly treasures.

Mornings with Saint Therese is a compilation of short excerpts (no more than 1-3 pages) taken from the Little Flower's writings and also from those of her close family members and friends.

This hardcover book is beautifully designed inside and out, making it a perfect gift for those you love, or as a daily tool for deepening your own spiritual life -- all for just $14.95!

The following passages have been carefully selected as examples of the countless pearls of wisdom to be found in this special book.

On Mortification

"I resolved to lead a life of greater devoutness and mortification than ever before. When I speak of mortification, I don't mean the kind of penance practiced by the saints. There are great souls who practice every sort of mortification from childhood, but I am not like them."

"All I did was to break my self-will, check a hasty reply, and do little kindnesses without making a fuss about them -- and lots of similar things. So, I prepared myself to become a bride of Jesus."

Give, with No Thought of Results!

On working with the Carmelite novices: "I throw to the right and the left to my little birds the good seed that the good God puts in my little hand. And then, the seed does what it will!"

"I don't concern myself about it. Sometimes the results are as if I had thrown nothing; other times, something good results. But the good God says to me, 'Give, give always without concerning yourself with results.'"

Keeping the Fire of Love Burning

"When I am feeling nothing, when I am incapable of praying, of practicing virtue, then is the moment for seeking opportunities, 'nothings' which please Jesus more than mastery of the world when suffered with generosity."

"For example, a smile, a friendly word, when I would want to say nothing, or put on a look of annoyance, etc."

Infinite Love

"Oh! How beautiful is our religion; instead of contracting hearts (as the world believes), it raises them up and renders them capable of loving, or loving with a love almost infinite, since this love must continue after this mortal life which is given to us only for meriting the homeland of heaven, where we shall find again the dear ones whom we have loved on earth!

Wanting Only to Die of Love

"How gentle and merciful God is...I no longer want anything except to love until I die of love. I am free and fear nothing. I am not even afraid -- and it used to be my greatest fear -- that my illness will drag out and make me a burden to the community."

"I do not refuse the struggle: 'The Lord is a rock upon which I stand; He teaches my hands to fight and my fingers to war. He is my protector and I have hoped in Him.'"

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 volume and intensity of Saint John's work can make his teachings seem daunting, even to trained theologians. This book by Father Donald Haggerty, author of The Contemplative Hunger and Contemplative Enigmas, offers readers a unique step-by-step introduction to the way of contemplation as Saint John understood it and taught it--a burning, transformative intimacy with the God who made us. Furnished abundantly with quotations from across the Mystical Doctor's writings, this guidebook confronts the mysteries, difficulties, and joys of prayer, showing how silent contemplation prepares our hearts for an unspeakable love.

For all his theological richness, Saint John gave practical, realistic advice on navigating the world of contemplation, and Father Haggerty--a spiritual director for decades--applies these principles to our lives today. Whether you are new to prayer or have been praying since childhood, you will find an illuminating and surprising companion in Saint John of the Cross: Master of Contemplation.