One would expect an abbot to have words of wisdom for monks living in a monastery. But could his musings be relevant for those living in a complicated and often harried world? Yes, as readers will discover in this insightful collection. In these essays, from "Coldhearted Orthodoxy" to "God's DVD Library," from "The God of Hearsay" to "The Turtle on the Fencepost", readers will think in new ways about prayer and the Christian life, about faith and trust. Along the way, they will find in Jerome Kodell an abbot worthy of trust.

A modern retelling of the life of St. Francis of Assisi, this book combines historical details and dramatic style. The author explores the daily lives of Francis and Clare and the lives of thirteen-century Assisi and beautifully translates their stories in these pages. St. Francis: The Saint of Assisi reads like both a love story and a biographical account of the life of the most universally acclaimed saint.

"The strength of Joan Mueller's novel is its close adherence to the historical realities of the medieval world of Saint Francis. I could see and hear the everyday lives of Francis and his brothers, of Clare and her sisters, of ordinary citizens. Mueller's rendering of the lives of clergymen and knights puts a human face on the intricate workings of church and state in war and peace."

Murray Bodo, O.F.M.

"I assume that historical sources can convey human feeling, even though it is fruitless to psychologize individual friends or to reach complete explanations about their motives. I simply accept that because medieval Christians believed in friendship and felt the need for it, some of them both practiced and lived out friendships." from the new Introduction

Human beings have always formed personal friendships. Some cultures have left behind the evidence of philosophical discussion; some have provided only private or semipublic letters. By comparing these, one discerns the effect exercised by the society in which the writers lived, its opportunities, and its restrictions. The cloistered monks of medieval Europe, who have bequeathed a rich literary legacy on the subject, have always had to take into account the overwhelming fact of community. Brian Patrick McGuire finds that in seeking friends and friendship, medieval men and women sought self-knowledge, the enjoyment of life, the commitment of community, and the experience of God.

First published in 1988, Friendship and Community has been widely debated, inspiring the current interest among medievalists in the subject of friendship. It has also informed other fields within medieval history, including monasticism, spirituality, psychology, and the relationship between self and community. In a new introduction to the Cornell edition, McGuire surveys the critical reaction to the original edition and subsequent research on the subject of medieval friendship."

Carthusian spirituality and wisdom have a great attraction for our age. The goal of Carthusian life is union with God in Love. A union as profound and continual as is possible in this life. It has its source in God who is the first to call us to intimacy with Him. The Carthusian's life, the Carthusian's love, is a response to that Love - cultivating solitude, silence, poverty, chastity, obedience, fraternal charity, spiritual reading, study, work and, above all, prayer. Prayer of adoration, praise and intercession. This book is written as a guide to help the beginner during his first months in the Charterhouse. It is a practical introduction for the aspirant to the Carthusian life, providing guidelines of orientation to help during the first steps in solitude as well as essential themes of spiritual formation. Following the young monk, listening in complete openness to God who speaks in the depth of his heart, the reader outside the monastery can gain an insight into this powerful spirituality and the silence of a heart in love. Other books of classic Carthusian spirituality published by Gracewing include The Call of Silent Love, Early Carthusian Writings, Interior Prayer, The Prayer of Love and Silence, They Speak by Silences, The Way of Silent Love and The Wound of Love.

It is said that the heart of the home is the kitchen tale, and the same is true of the monastic home. Saint Benedict devoted ten chapters to the monastic tale and to providing and serving food as well as necessities; inserted in the middle are chapters on the sick, the aged, and children. That arrangement makes it clear that the tale is about care, not just discipline. Sister Aquinata Backmann offers a thorough study of these core chapters in Benedict's Rule. Drawing on scholarship and personal experience of the monastic tale, she demonstrates in this commentary the relationship between Benedict's Rule and other rules, including those of Basil, Augustine, and the Rule of the Master. More than discipline, what comes through here is the focus on care for weaker members, practicality about work schedules and demands, and the overall desire to meet the needs of the brothers and sisters sharing life together.

"Aquinata Backmann, OSB, PhD, is a member of the Benedictine Missionary Sisters of Tutzing, Germany. She has taught in Rome since 1973 at the Pontifical Institute for Spirituality and Moral Theology Regina Mundi and as the first woman professor at Sant' Anselmo. She is the author of "Perspectives on the Rule of Saint Benedict, " also published by Liturgical Press."

This important study of key Anglican Benedictine Communities in the first half of the 20th century provides a vital record of how the Anglican Communion dealt with an issue that was as divisive in its day as today's disputes over sexuality and women bishops, and explores the origins of the influential Anglican Papalism movement. It was the heyday of Anglo-Catholicism in the Church of England. Religious life was flourishing for the first time since the Reformation. The first shock came when the Abbot of Caldey, a flamboyant character noted for luxurious tastes, and his monks went over to Rome. Nashdom - the great Benedictine community to which Gregory Dix belonged and, in many ways, the ultimate expression of Anglo-Catholicism - threatened to do likewise over the crisis of the Church of South India where the very idea of priestly ordination and identity was being challenged. Thanks to Archbishop William Temple the crisis was averted, the monks of Nashdom stayed and the scene was set for Anglican Papalism to enter the stage. PETA DUNSTAN lectures in Modern Church History at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, and is editor of Anglican Religious Life, the directory of Anglican religious communities worldwide.

The Benedictine abbey of Solesmes in France is famous for the quality of its Gregorian chant, recordings of which are appreciated throughout the world. Nevertheless, the life of its founder, Dom Prosper Guranger (1805-1875) is still relatively unknown. This is partly due to Guranger himself, who never sought to promote his life story. While he published many liturgical and spiritual works, this highly personal account of his early life and events surrounding the foundation of Solesmes in 1833 was never intended for publication, and indeed was never completed. For this reason, the manuscript remained in the archives of the abbey of Solesmes for well over a hundred years. Growing recognition of its wider importance and interest led to its eventual publication in 2005, the bicentenary of Guranger's birth. The book is far more than a personal portrait of an interesting and innovative individual. Through the prism of events surrounding his early life as a seminarian, secular priest and then Benedictine monk, Guranger's account illustrates many of the wider issues at play in early nineteenth-century France and French Catholicism. Guranger's first-hand account of various political events under the regimes of Napoleon I, the Bourbon Restoration and Louis-Philippe has its own historical value. Above all, however, the book shows how Guranger's project to re-found Benedictine life in France, after its disappearance in the wake of the French Revolution, stood in relation to other currents of religious thought and monastic tradition, notably Gallicanism, Ultramontanism, the Maurists and the Cistercians. Those interested in monastic life and liturgical spirituality will further draw inspiration from Guranger's narration of the human relationships and mystical experiences that inspired his Benedictine vocation and subsequent life's work. Guranger's lively text is also enjoyable in its own right. His optimism, determination, creativity, unwavering trust in divine providence, capacity for friendship and often humorous (and occasionally devastating) portraits of the many people whom he encountered give a particular charm and colour to his writing. Ultimately, however, this account of Guranger's spiritual and intellectual awakening provides impetus for a renewed contemporary appreciation of his convictions, which are of perennial value for all who are seeking God. The monastic community founded by Guranger bears witness to the transforming power of contemplative liturgical spirituality lived in and for the Church and the world. As such, monastic life serves as an exemplar of spiritual and human values whose relevance extends far beyond the cloister. Extensive footnotes, and an introduction by Dr Judith Bowen, whose recent doctoral thesis is one of the most important studies on the unity and significance of Guranger's liturgical and theological work, further enhance this translation.

If you long for more meaningful connections to other people...
We've never needed this book more than we do right now. Most of us are involved with people all day long, every day, but rarely do we feel a part of real community in our lives.
In "A Good Neighbour" Robert Benson takes an intimate look at how others are defining, discovering, nurturing and sustaining life and love right where they are. Facing the confusing conflictions of modern life head on, Benson shows what it means to live in our neighborhoods, work at our jobs, be family, and friends, in ways that build places of relationship, love and mutual support.
Praise for Robert Benson:
"Robert Benson's writing reminds us of things we have half forgotten. It opens our eyes to things we have only half seen."
-Frederick Buechner
"Benson's writing is spare, simple, understated, always faintly humurous, and very forceful without seeming to be."
-Paula D'Arcy

The pearlers we meet in this book were early monks of Syria, Mesopotamia (Iraq), and Persia (Iran), They saw themselves as pearl-divers and pearl-merchants searching, through asceticism and prayer, for the precious pearls of mystical experience. Their quest led them into the wilderness, to a state of silent solitude in remote caves and hermitages. Working from Syriac manuscripts in the British Museum and the Vatican Library, and from the Greek monastery of Saint Catherine in the wilderness of Sinai and the Coptic monastery of the Syrians (Der es-Suriani) in the Egyptian desert, Brian E. Colless has produced a volume which draws modern readers into this little known world.

In "Responsorial Psalms for Weekday Mass: Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter, " Father Anthony Ruff, OSB, offers a simple chanted setting and makes it possible for the responsorial psalm to be sung at every daily Mass during the seasons of the liturgical year. These responsorial psalms were conceived for unaccompanied singing led by a single cantor, but keyboard accompaniments and 'tar chords are provided for those who desire it.

The melodic settings use the eight Gregorian chant modes, as found in the psalm tones of Saint Meinrad Archabbey. Type melodies, one for each mode, are employed repeatedly for varying antiphon texts, making it easier for cantor and congregation to pick up the antiphon melodies. The psalm verses are provided in two translations, the New American Bible translation of the United States "Lectionary for Mass" and the Grail translation, as revised in 1983 for inclusive human language. This unique collection of psalm music allows us to celebrate the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter more fully.

Download ready-to-use Seasonal Assembly Leaflets of the antiphons

"Anthony Ruff, OSB, is a monk of Saint John's Abbey. He teaches theolo' litur' and'ian chant at Saint John's University and plays or' in the abbey. Ruff is the founding director of the National Catholic Youth Choir and is a frequent presenter across the U.S. on topics of liturgy and music. In addition to his many journal articles, he is the author of "Sacred Music and Liturgical Reform: Treasures and Transformations."

Early Irish Monasticism is an exploration of the ascetical theology and praxis of sixth to eighth century Irish monasticism as a radical response to the gospel. It claims that the radicality of this response arose from the distinctive cultural consciousness of the Celts. It concentrates on the Irish Celts and makes use of a wide variety of sources including pre and post-Christian elements: social organisations, sagas, Brehon Laws and druidism to emphasise that culture to a great extent determines one's response to life. Syncretism, which the study sees as indicative of the Irish proclivity to accept other peoples' religions tradition, is an element of the study that may not be familiar to some readers. Some of the photos are included in the appendices to reinforce the concrete evidence for this in both Scotland and Ireland. The primary sources utilized include: Irish penitentials, monastic rules, the Vita of ColumCille and the Sermons of Columbanus. These sources, especially the monastic rules and penitentials, have often been read 'out of context' and have so given rise to the allegation that the Irish were overly harsh in their living and that they were obsessed with sexual sins. Both aspects of Irish monasticism are treated in a reassessed understanding of the basics of asceticism drawing on the earlier formulation of Cassian in his theory of Contraries. The Sermons of Columbanus, the quintessential Irish wanderer on the Continent, are goldmines of ascetical theology while also being important extant historical documents.>

Thomas Merton was one of the greatest contemporary spiritual writers, whose books have enabled millions of readers to rediscover the importance of prayer in their inner lives. Yet until now Merton's own personal interior life has remained something of a mystery. In Thomas Merton: Master of Attention one of the most distinguished Merton scholars reveals his 'way of prayer'. An ideal introduction to Merton, and essential reading for every admirer of his work.

When St. Benedict wrote his little rule for beginners in the fifth century, he could not have known it would shape the lives of religious men and women for more than fifteen hundred years. Offering instruction on prayer and community life, Benedict's Rule espouses the values of humility, prayer, and hospitality that have marked the lives of Benedictines throughout the ages. Benedictines are those persons who commit themselves to the "Rule of Benedict," and have been popes and widows, scholars and mystics and lay people from many religious traditions, including Catholics, Anglicans, Methodists, and Lutherans. They have lived in monasteries and ashrams, in busy urban centers, and in desert hermitages.

Dedicated to God and the practices of the Liturgy of the Hours and monastic life, Benedictines have made significant contributions to chant, theology, and the preservation of spiritual works of literature and scholarship. Represented here is the work of major Benedictine figures throughout the ages, beginning with Pope Gregory's account of the life of Benedict and arriving at recent statements by the Conference of Benedictine Prioresses on conflict in the world. Along with the Rule, the writing of these Benedictines remains as relevant today as in any age.

"Laura Swan, OSB, writer and spiritual director, holds graduate degrees in theology and spirituality. She is a member and former prioress of Saint Placid Priory in Lacey, Washington, and is the author of "Engaging Benedict: What the Rule Can Teach Us Today" (Christian Classics, 2005)."

We all need God, Sister Jeremy says in her first sentence, and readers of all sorts will find here a warm and practical address to that need. The monastic way is not forsaking the world, but for the sake of the world, and Sister Jeremy's Benedictine wisdom is fundamental human wisdom. Her book is the fruit of decades of practice, and the spiritual journey she recounts is nobody's but hers 'which makes it, paradoxically, something from which everyone can learn. I did is much more effective teaching than one might or you should. There is nothing musty, cobwebbed, or nostalgic in these pages. Sister Jeremy, in her late 80s, is totally alert to the world around her and within us. She is allergic to sentimentality. Because she has spent so much time in silence 'she lived as a hermit for 20 years 'she is especially attentive to words and how like a chameleon they can be. Her antennae are sensitive to anything phony. Every sentence glows with her graceful and witty and hospitable spirit. She is an inspired teacher, a trustworthy guide, one of God's great ones. She shows how a monastic is not on a pedestal or behind a wall, but right in the thick of things with all of us. Jeremy Hal, OSB, is a member of Saint Benedict's Monastery, St. Joseph, Minnesota. She holds a doctorate in theology from Marquette University. Currently retired, Sister Jeremy taught theology at the College of St. Benedict/St. John's University and School of Theology 'seminary, and at Creighton University. She is the author of numerous articles as well as The Full Stature of Christ (Liturgical Press). Sister Jeremy lived as a hermit for twenty years. During that time she gained renown as a wellspring of wisdom and gifted retreat leader.

St. Dominic, who died in 1221, took to heart Jesus' charge to make disciples of all nations. He founded a religious community, the Order of Preachers, which differed from most orders of his day. Dominic trained preachers who traveled anywhere and everywhere to spread the Gospel.

The Dominicans continue to flourish today. "The Dominican Tradition," the first in a spirituality anthology series, provides readers a window into Dominican spirituality. You will learn the core values that shape their way of life. Mostly, you will come to realize that the spiritual legacy established by Dominic is as vibrant today as it was centuries ago.

"Phyllis Zagano, PhD, is senior research associate-in-residence at Hofstra University, where she teaches in the Department of Religion. She is also the author of "Woman to Woman" published by Liturgical Press."

"Thomas McGonigle, OP, teaches in the history department at Providence College in Rhode Island. He specializes in Dominican spirituality and history."

During French colonial rule in Louisiana, nuns from the French Company of Saint Ursula came to New Orleans, where they educated women and girls of European, Indian, and African descent, enslaved and free, in literacy, numeracy, and the Catholic faith. Although religious women had gained acceptance and authority in seventeenth-century France, the New World was less welcoming. Emily Clark explores the transformations required of the Ursulines as their distinctive female piety collided with slave society, Spanish colonial rule, and Protestant hostility. The Ursulines gained prominence in New Orleans through the social services they provided - schooling, an orphanage, and refuge for abused and widowed women - which also allowed them a self-sustaining level of corporate wealth. Clark traces the conflicts the Ursulines encountered through Spanish colonial rule (1767-1803) and after the Louisiana Purchase, as Protestants poured into Louisiana and were dismayed to find a powerful community of self-supporting women and a church congregation dominated by African Americans. The unmarried nuns contravened both the patriarchal order of the slaveholding American South and the Protestant construction of femininity that supported it. By incorporating their story into the history of early America, ""Masterless Mistresses"" exposes the limits of the republican model of national unity.

Andre Llouf's probing essay on the nature of humility reVisions this fundamental Christian virtue away from the misunderstandings of both the scholastic tradition and its modern counterparts to locate humility in the ancient sources of the monastic tradition. His incisive study prefaces a collection of primary texts which range from the early desert fathers to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. The translator has added further information about the author and his other writings as well as a bibliography for further reading.

"Andre Louf served as abbot Cistercian Abbey of Mont des Cats in northern France until his retirement in 1997 and now lives as a solitary. Previous books in English include "Teach Us To Pray, Tuning into Grace, Grace Can Do More: Spiritual Accompaniment, "and "Mercy in Weakness: Meditations on the Word.

"Lawrence S. Cunningham is Professor of Theology at Notre Dame and book notes columnist for "Commonweal.

Lectio Divina, or holy reading, is an essential element of Benedictine spirituality and time for personal reading of the Bible in a prayerful, contemplative way is built into the Benedictine day. It is a spiritual discipline that goes back even further than St Benedict to the early church fathers. Lectio Divina encourages us to hang on to every word, to turn phrases over and over as we would a love letter. This is a practical guide to this key element of Benedictine spirituality, for complete beginners and experienced hands alike.

In 2003, a story shook the Anglican world in general and Anglican monastic life in particular. On August 8th, seven members of The Melanesian Brotherhood, an Anglican order of Christian brothers living a simple and prayerful life and known for their peace work throughout the South Pacific and beyond, were brutally murdered as a result of ethnic conflict in the Solomon Islands. They had been taken hostage five months earlier. The Melanesian Brotherhood is the largest Anglican religious community in the world with over 300 brothers and more than 300 novices and has received a United Nations award for its peace work. From 1990-2005, Richard Carter, a British priest, was tutor, chaplain to the Melanesian Brotherhood, eventually becoming a brother himself. This extraordinary, powerful and moving book is based on his diaries from that agonizing time for the Community. It tells the harrowing story of the loss of seven good, young and holy lives and the aftermath of those deaths. It tells the story of individuals and a community trying to make sense of faith in the face of fierce conflict and tragedy. It recounts the challenge of living out the Christian faith when confronted by great fear and loss. It is thus a story for everyman. Rowan Williams writes a preface.

Description: Throughout the history of the church, monastic movements have emerged to explore new ways of life in the abandoned places of society. School(s) for Conversion is a communal attempt to discern the marks of a new monasticism in the inner-cities and forgotten landscapes of the Empire that is called America. Endorsements: This book invites us into a way of life that is simultaneously ancient and wonderfully new. By combining first-person accounts of the marks of Christ-formed communities with rich historical and biblical reflection, the various writers provide truthful and hope-filled descriptions of contemporary Christian community. Taking seriously the resources of the monastic tradition and the importance of preserving a relationship with the wider church, the authors offer mature, wise, and gracious insight into the practices of faithful living. I heartily recommend this book to anyone yearning for evidence and promise of renewal in the church Christine D. Pohl Professor of Social Ethics, Asbury Theological Seminary author of Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition (Eerdmans, 1999) Whatever future God has for the church, I am convinced the essays in this remarkable book will help us discern that future. Monasticism has always been one of the main means God has used to renew the church. Through some strange miracle God now seems to be calling Protestants to consider what it might mean for them to live in communities that might look very much like monastic communities. Such a call might tempt many toward some kind of romanticism, but one of the remarkable things about these essays is their stark realism. Such a realism is unavoidable not only because of the challenges facing those who are about the formation of communities faithful to God but also because they have lived with one another enough to know this is not going to be easy. So these essays are full of good sense and they help us see the potential of this extraordinary movement. Moreover, each essayist never forgets to remind us that when it's all said and done, it's about God who makes it possible for us to live patiently and nonviolently in a world of impatience and violence. Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics, Duke Divinity School ""I believe the new monasticism represents a source of vital renewal from the margins and forgotten places of empire. It is my sincere hope that the new monasticism will grow so strong and healthy and widespread that every follower of Jesus in every church has the opportunity - if not to actually live in a new monastic community - to at least have enough proximity and relationship to be influenced by it. This book can help that dream and prayer come true."" Brian McLaren, pastor (crcc.org), author (anewkindofchristian.com) ""In this vision of transformation, the prophets of a new monasticism have a single commitment. They want to realize together--in prayer, thought, and action--their total dependence on God by simply following Jesus. A book prompted by our civilization's signs of death may not seem hopeful, but this one is. The new monasticism has seen the truth that in deepening darkness there is nothing so hopeful as embracing the cross."" Jim Douglass, author of THE NONVIOLENT COMING OF GOD and co-founder of Mary's House Catholic Worker in Birmingham, Alabama. God is stirring something new...a new monasticism. This book will take you on an intriguing journey with a few followers of Jesus who are discovering some new ways to give expression to the monastic vocation in our troubled world. Must reading for those who want to take their faith seriously in community with others. Tom Sine, author of Mustard Seed vs. McWorld (www.msa.org) About the Contributor(s): The Rutba House is a Christian community of hospitality, peacemaking, and discipleship in the Walltown neighborhood of Durham, NC.

Like Bernard of Clairvaux, whose last act was to leave his cloister to mediate 'successfully 'between two nobles and prevent bloodshed, Thomas Merton found in the monastic life of prayer a source of strength, empathy, and understanding. To understand Merton, one must first know him as a Prophet of Monastic renewal.

"John Eudes Bamberger entered Gethsemani Abbey in 1950, having earned an MD from the University of Cincinnati the previous year and done his internship at Georgetown University Hospital. A student of Thomas Merton from 1952-1955, he worked with Merton, after his ordination in 1956, in screening applicants to the abbey. He served as abbot of the Abbey of the Genesee, in New York state, from 1971 until 2001. Since returning from a term as superior in the Philippines, he lives in a hermitage at Genesee."

Anselm Grun, OSB, famed Benedictine author and cellarer-supplies manager-of his monastery at Munsterschwarzach, offers brief reflections on aspects of the Rule of Benedict. He sketches the life of Benedict and reflects on how Benedict's instructions enable one to live constantly in the presence of God. Even the most mundane objects are signs of the presence of God. It is not merely that we focus our attention on God, but that we're aware that God always focuses attention on us, loving and encouraging us in all things. For example: he calls the cellarer to regard all utensils and goods of the monastery as sacred vessels of the altar. Grun also ponders how work is an aid to prayer and how the Benedictine vow of stability is essential to building community. Silence and the solitude that characterize the monastic are conditions for the possibility of genuine community. Each chapter concludes with a brief reflection on the state of contemporary society and how the aspect of the Rule of Benedict treated in the chapter applies to the needs of today.