General Spiritual Writers

There are as many paths to holiness as there are saints in Heaven . . . but you can't follow them all. Yet there's one thing every saint practices that you can imitate: the simple art of loving God, which the beloved St. Francis de Sales explains for you here.

Under his wise and gentle guidance, you'll discover the secrets to growing holier through the simple things in life -- work, play, and rest. You'll learn to avoid the distractions (even religious distractions) that trouble and weary your soul . . . and you'll soon be able to focus your energy simply on loving God.

Listen to the holy words of this saint; take them to heart; make them a part of your life. Soon you'll be well on your way, following that path to Heaven that God, from all eternity, has given you as your very own.

St. Francis de Sales himself will teach you the secrets of developing:

Patience

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Invites readers to pray with four Russian icons with their eyes open by emphasizing seeing or gazing, which are at the heart of Eastern spirituality. This book includes four color icons, which can be removed for private contemplation or meditation.

In Consoling Thoughts on Eternity, St. Francis de Sales, the beloved Doctor of the Church, speaks to us of the Christian manner in which we should mourn those whom we have lost. Taken mostly from the letters of the saint, this masterful work gives us the consolation he offered to parents on the deaths of their sons, to a lady on the death of her father, a wife on the death of her husband, and others mourning their loved ones. Throughout he gives reason to hope, and explains how much the thought of Heaven should console us, and how agreeable it will be to parents and friends to meet again and converse together in Heaven. Readers of Consoling Thoughts on Eternity will experience firsthand why St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) is known to history as the Gentle Saint. St. Francis was Bishop of Geneva and a tireless preacher, who yet made time to correspond with numerous souls who wrote him for his insight and guidance. His Consoling Thoughts are compiled from these letters as well as from his other spiritual works.

While everyone is delighted by beauty, and the more alive among us are positively fascinated by it, few are explicitly aware that we can recognize truth by its beauty and simplicity. Dubay explores the reasons why all of the most eminent physicists of the twentieth century agree that beauty is the primary standard for scientific truth. Likewise, the best of contemporary theologians are also exploring with renewed vigor the aesthetic dimensions of divine revelation. Honest searchers after truth can hardly fail to be impressed that these two disciplines, science and theology, so different in methods, approaches and aims, are yet meeting in this and other surprising and gratifying ways.

This book relates these developments to nature, music, academe and our unquenchable human thirst for unending beauty, truth and ecstasy, a thirst quenched only at the summit of contemplative prayer here below, and in the consummation of the beatific vision hereafter.

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 true Christian, and describes the struggle for living our faith amid the disorders of our times. Keenly aware of evil in the myriad forms it takes in today's world, Bishop Sheen writes about the constant battle man faces with the seven pallbearers of character - pride, avarice, envy, lust, anger, gluttony and sloth - linking them with the corrosive forces that never cease in their attacks on the Church and those who earnestly desire to be serious Christians.

In Go to Heaven, a great spiritual teacher and writer, deeply aware of the human and spiritual conflicts being waged in the world, shows us the way to heaven in a most eloquent book, encouraging the reader to choose heaven now, and to understand the reality of hell.

Initially written for a Jewish friend, Life of the Beloved has become Henri Nouwen's greatest legacy to Christians around the world. This sincere testimony of the power and invitation of Christ is indeed a great guide to a truly uplifting spiritual life in today's world.

The only true and unedited telling of the life of Christ--his life and times, in historical context, but not lacking the psychology behind his physical being and spirit. Unlike other books seeking to strip Jesus' story to reveal only the human being, Romano Guardini's The Lord gives the complete story of Jesus Christ--as man, Holy Ghost, and Creator. Pope Benedict XVI lauds Guardini's work as providing a full understanding of the Son of God, away from the prejudice that rationality engenders. Put long-held myths aside and discover the entire truth about God's only begotten Son.

Get inside Jesus' life and ministry and discover the often surprising ways you can be like Him today.

In No Man Is an Island, religious scholar and theologian Thomas Merton offers "a stimulating series of spiritual reflections which will prove helpful for all struggling to find the meaning of human existence and to live the richest, fullest and noblest life" (Chicago Tribune).

"Without a life of the spirit, our whole existence becomes unsubstantial and illusory. The life of the spirit, by integrating us in the real order established by God, puts us in the fullest possible contact with reality -- not as we imagine it, but as it really is."

A recapitulation of Merton's earlier work Seeds of Contemplation, this collection of sixteen essays plumbs aspects of human spirituality. He addresses those in search of enduring values, fulfillment, and salvation in prose that is, as always, inspiring and compassionate.

Sheen brilliantly examines the vast differences between the benefits of psychotherapy and true confession that leads to conversion. While one may help the patient gain some peace of mind, the Christian gains something far greater through the grace of Confession: peace of soul.

"Sheen has...analyze[d] the inner troubles of frustrated post-war man...to make religion up-to-date, attractive, and necessary to the unhappy, God-repelling souls of the present." (Library Journal)

Paperback

The beloved spiritual writer meditates on the parable of the prodigal son's return -- a powerful drama of fatherhood, filial duty, rivalry, and anger between brothers -- and its enduring lessons for Christianity.

Full-color photographs with gatefold.

In The Second Greatest Story Ever Told bestselling author Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC, reveals St. John Paul II's witness for our time. Building on the prophetic voices of Margaret Mary Alacoque, Thrse of Lisieux, Maximilian Kolbe, and Faustina Kowalska, The Second Greatest Story Ever Told is more than a historical account of the Great Mercy Pope. This book expounds on the profound connection between Divine Mercy and Marian consecration. It serves as an inspiration for all those who desire to bear witness to the mercy of God, focused on Christ and formed by Mary. Now is the time of mercy. Now is the time to make John Paul's story your own.

Drawn from de Sales's immensely popular writings, this prayer resource for individuals or groups emboldens Catholics to encounter God and pray in their own unique way. A written invitation to a spiritual journey with a kind and gentle mystic, it is part of the popular and beautifully redesigned spirituality series, 30 Days with a Great Spiritual Teacher. (Catholic)

Merton, whose own tortuous path to spiritual maturity is well known, here offers the knowledge gained during that experience. He discusses the meaning and purpose of spiritual direction, and how to profit from that direction.