Spirituality Catholicism

Brother Lawrence decided that he needed to concentrate on a simple idea: loving God in whatever he did. The Practice of the Presence of God is a record of the conversations and letters exchanged between Brother Lawrence and people in his community, who came to him for advice once they noticed his passionate living for God.

Spiritual writer, theologian, and philosopher Jesuit Fr. Robert Spitzer tackles the topic of recognizing and overcoming spiritual evil. His focus is the human heart. His goal: our moral and spiritual transformation, which leads to true peace and genuine happiness. The book is divided into two main parts: the realities of God's goodness and of spiritual evil, and recognizing and overcoming diabolical tactics, which range from temptation and deception to the Deadly Sins.

Drawing on the period when, as Karol Wojtyla, he became a bishop in 1958 through his appointment as the first Polish Pope in 1978, Pope John Paul II fills Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way with both recollections of his own life and his thoughts on issues facing the world now.

In Saints Who Saw Hell, you’ll find the scriptural witness to the reality of hell, including the warnings of Jesus, the prophets, and the Apostles.

In C. S. Lewis and the Catholic Church, Joseph Pearce delves into Lewis's life, writings, and spiritual influences to shed light on the matter. Although C. S. Lewis's conversion to Christianity was greatly influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien, a Catholic, and although Lewis embraced many distinctively Catholic teachings, such as purgatory and the sacrament of Confession, he never formally entered the Church.

Why were the early Christians willing to die rather than change a single iota of the creed? Why have the Judeans, Romans, and Persians - among others - seen the Christian creed as a threat to the established social order? In The Creed: Professing the Faith Through the Ages, best-selling author Dr. Scott Hahn recovers and conveys the creed's revolutionary character.

"Here, then," says St. Alphonsus, "is our heaven on earth - the Most Blessed Sacrament". This book was conceived and written to help us grow in the knowledge and love of God and in appreciation for what he has done for us. For each of the 31 days of the month, St. Alphonsus provides for us a "Visit to Our Lord" - which is a brief meditation on and a fervent prayer of love toward Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament. Each Visit to Our Lord is followed by a "Visit to Our Lady".

Fr. Vincent Miceli breaks ground in this analysis of seventeen Enlightenment theologians and philosophers who contributed to the rise of atheism. He explores their efforts and successes in convincing mankind to deny the existence of God, and he demonstrates how atheism has succeeded by creating mythical gods to stand in the place of God. What Fr. Miceli shows is that each tenet of atheism doesn't deny the existence of a Higher Power; it simply replaces the true Power with a false power.

On many occasions throughout the history of the Catholic Church, God has provided visible proof of the invisible reality of the real presence of Jesus Christ in the holy eucharist. In Eucharistic Miracles, Joan Carroll Cruz documents 36 such miracles. Finally, it also recounts miraculous eucharistic phenomena in the lives of saints: saints who lived with only the eucharist for sustenance, received communication miraculously, or experienced raptures, ecstasies, levitations, visions, locutions, and more.

"L'Église n'est pas là pour condamner, mais pour permettre la rencontre avec cet amour viscéral qu'est la miséricorde de Dieu. Pour que cela se produise, il est nécessaire de sortir. Sortir des églises et des paroisses, sortir et aller chercher les gens là où ils vivent, où ils souffrent, où ils espèrent." (Franciscus) Chaque page de ce livre vibre du désir du pape François de toucher les âmes qui cherchent un sens à leur vie, un chemin de paix et de réconciliation, un remède à leurs blessures physiques et morales.

The talks on which this book was based were given at the John Main Seminar in 1998, the annual international event of the World Community for Christian Meditation. Previous presenters have included the Dalai Lama, Jean Vanier, Bede Griffiths, and William Johnston. A monk reflects on Scripture in the light of experience. He or she utters a word that startles his listeners into realizing that tradition is not a matter of second-hand experience but the living and human self-transmission of Christ to his disciples.

Elected to the papacy at the age of 76, Pope John XXIII was to have a brief but important reign. Although he had a doctorate in theology, his gifts were pastoral, reaching out to the people of the Church. Vatican II, which he convened, brought forth the idea of a church as a community, in which all God's people are a sign of redemption for the human race. Cahill, in his short biography, gives us a sense of the enduring importance of John XXIII's idea.

Drawing on the wisdom gleaned from thriving mega-churches and innovative business leaders while anchoring their vision in the Eucharistic center of Catholic faith, Fr. Michael White and lay associate Tom Corcoran present the compelling and inspiring story to how they brought their parish back to life. Rebuilt is a story of stopping everything and changing focus. When their parish reached a breaking point, Fr. Michael White and lay associate Tom Corcoran asked themselves how they could make the Church matter to Catholics.

These 11 personal conversion accounts are unlike any you’ve ever listened to; they’re packed with biblical theological and historical proofs for Catholicism. Each year thousands of atheists, Evangelicals, Fundamentalists, and Pentecostals are being surprised by Catholic truth—and these converts tell you why.

Against the backdrop of a catastrophic pandemic that has spared nothing and altered everything, this remarkable document is a cry from the heart of a pastor to all peoples to see beyond their differences and to grow together to build a new and peaceful world. Pope Francis addresses his renewed call to universal fraternity to all people of good will, regardless of their religious convictions.

A short, famous classic on "true devotion to Mary" - an excellent, easy means of attaining holiness and salvation, a way followed by popes and saints, but also perfect for laypeople. It is at least every bit as good as his True Devotion to Mary! Small but powerful, it seems almost divinely inspired!

"Francis, go and build up my house, which thou seest, is falling into ruin." To fulfill this command of Our Lord, St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) began by restoring physical churches and continued by building up the spiritual church in souls. Francis' humility, purity, and true joy inspired many to conversion and a deeper faith.

The world hates the Church that Jesus founded, just as He said it would (John 15:18). It reviles her doctrines, mocks her moral teachings and invents lies about her history. In every age, but especially in our modern day, historians and political powers have distorted the facts about her past (or just made up novel falsehoods from scratch) to make the Church, and the civilization it fostered, seem corrupt, backward, or simply evil.

Saxum - the Latin word means rock - is a term that St. Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei, sometimes used in letters to Alvaro del Portillo to describe him. Don Alvaro, as he came to be known, was for many years the founder's closest associate as well as his successor and first Prelate of Opus Dei after it became a personal prelature-a foundational rock for this dynamic international Catholic group devoted to promoting sanctity in ordinary life.

Though there has been a resurgence in the domestic arts and a desire to live a simpler lifestyle, the role of a homemaker is still unpopular. Viewed as an unfulfilling and even oppressive way of life, many women feel a sense of shame or futility in managing the world of their home. Theology of Home: The Spiritual Art of Homemaking turns this misguided notion on its head, shining new light on the role of a homemaker as it relates the deepest truths of the Faith with an honest and fearless understanding of the modern world.