Cristiana Piccardo was the long-time abbess of an unusual Cistercian community in Italy. "We have always believed," she writes, "that the monastic charism can be a precious 'talent' offered to our contemporary world, and there are moments in history when what normally remains hidden should come into the light." These words accurately describe both the force behind the story of the Vitorchiano monastic family and the account of it given in Living Wisdom, her reflection on the meaning of that story. Over the course of four decades, the Abbey of Vitorchiano would found no fewer than six new monasteries around the world, from Argentina to Indonesia, and today this vibrant oasis of prayer and Christian living still has some eighty sisters of its own. What is the secret of such success? In a nutshell, we could say that, in the Vitorchiano perspective, the monastery is nothing other than a microcosm of the church and of human society. The book, translated from the Italian, initiates us in a most concrete way into a wisdom that seeks the kingdom of God ardently yet realistically, without ever bypassing the essential human foundations that the life in Christ transforms and elevates but never supplants: hard work, communal striving, friendship, honesty in communication, a sense of humor, and, above all, love--the willingness both to ask for forgiveness and to give it with joy.

"How should we live in this house of God? We know that the way a building is shaped also helps in determining the way those within it live and relate. We are indeed formed by what we form. Qualities such as integrity, hospitality, humanity and beauty in a place will enable its dwellers to live lives in which such qualities are evident. The way we understand who we are and how we live will be reflected in our places and vice versa. Our places become bearers of meaning and memory." --From Chapter 1In "Living in the House of God," Margaret Malone draws on her study of and research on the Rule of Saint Benedict to show the ways in which this ancient rule can illuminate modern life. The broad gamut of topics this book examines--from Benedictine life as sacrament to Augustine's influence on Benedict to obedience and the art of listening, among others--is itself a witness to the generous flexibility of the Rule, as Benedict proposes a way of life that truly corresponds to the deepest needs of the whole of human nature.

In his old age, Roland Walls stood in awe admiring a tiny flower beside the path - 'isn't it beautiful? Just sitting there. Not drawing attention to itself. Just being itself'. Hearing these words, the author applied them in his mind to the Community of the Transfiguration. This tiny, humble contemplative religious Community, founded by the much-loved Roland Walls in Roslin near Edinburgh, achieved its far-reaching international and ecumenical influence by embodying a simple mode of 'Being' in a world where most people are extremely busy 'Doing'. Through the story of the Community's origins and its 50 years of existence, the author explores how, in an era when Europe has been shedding its religious faith, and the historic churches have been in decline, this tiny Christian community has been inspirational testimony to the relevance of religious faith in the 21st century.

Light in the Shoe Shop offers readers a unique and intimate glance into the day-to-day experience of living the cloistered life in feminine mode. In her "cobbler's contemplations"--no metaphor here: the author did indeed make and mend her sisters' shoes for many years--Mother Agnes reveals the very simple secret of monastic life, a secret she shows to be an inseparable combination of mindfulness and fidelity. It is continual mindfulness of God's transformative presence and action and, in response, equally continual fidelity to each of the minutely detailed ways in which that loving divine presence woos the contemplative's heart. Even those who strive for a more contemplative life outside of literal cloisters will find her reflections to be a great gift and inspiration. "This book is decidedly not just one more item in the picturesque genre of the 'nun's story.' Rather, for all its slenderness, the volume bears a strong witness to the fact that a human life that stakes its all on loving will gradually become transfused with light." From the foreword by Simeon Leiva, OCSO

2014 Reprint of 1950 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Catherine ranks high among the mystics and spiritual writers of the Catholic Church. She remains a greatly respected figure for her spiritual writings, and for her political boldness to "speak truth to power." This was exceptional for a woman in this period. The "Dialogue" speaks to the whole spiritual life of man and is presented in the form of a series of colloquies between the Eternal Father and the human soul (represented by Catherine herself). It is a mystical counterpart in prose to Dante's "Divina Commedia." This edition is translated from the original Italian by Algar Thorold.

"Reaching for God" is a compendium of Benedictine life and prayer for oblates. It brings together in one volume the essence of Benedictine spirituality-its history, its relevance through the ages and in the present, and a summary of the most fundamental gifts and values it offers for living a meaningful life. Here, the meaning and purpose of the oblate way of life is explained in a clear and encouraging way. Werner offers guidance and examples of prayer to enrich any spiritual life.

"Sister Roberta Werner, OSB, having worked as a teacher, caregiver, and educational administrator, is now the assistant oblate director at St. Benedict's Monastery in St. Joseph, Minnesota. In this role, she guides an oblate discussion group, contributes to oblate newsletter publications, has set up an oblate library, and makes the spiritual journey with the many oblates who connect with her and with the monastery in their search for God."

Christophe Lebreton, aged forty-six, was the youngest of the seven Trappist monks assassinated in Algeria by terrorists in 1996. He was also the poet of the group. Anyone who was enthralled by the recent film "Of Gods and Men" should find in Brother Christophe's "Journal "ample and deeply moving material for meditation on both the light and the darkness inherent in the human condition. The "Journal "begins in 1993, four months before the terrorists' first visit to the monastery at Tibhirine, and it ends on March 19, 1996, just seven days before the monks' abduction. Entry after entry touches readers both by its vivid sincerity and by the fresh and inventive quality of its poetic expression. Through these pages readers become privy to the daily events in the soul of a generous searcher after God under very trying conditions. His style is highly personal, playful, ardent, full of color and whimsy.

There is more in Benedict's Rule than meets the eye. Based on the rules of life of John Cassian and Saint Basil, Benedict invites us to go further back to the scriptural basis of all Christian and monastic living and pursue our spiritual journey by the guidance of the Gospel.This book of reflections on the tools for good living is intended to be read very slowly, one section at a time. In addition to communicating reflections on each verse of chapter 4, Casey invites readers to:* continue the process of reflection for themselves* apply what is written to their own lives* draw on their own wisdom and insight* and, ultimately, broaden their experience of monastic spirituality

There has never been a richer time for Franciscan studies than now, thanks in great part to the publication of Francis of Assisi: Early Documents (FA:ED) in 2002. Hugo's workbook is a proven resource that has guided people at all academic levels through a study of the life and writings of Saint Francis using primary sources in translation. This Second Edition is a thorough revision that is totally compatible with FA:ED. It also includes new scholarship and new bibliographic references. More than half the worksheets of the previous edition have been revised, and others have been added. The worksheets can be done by individuals or in groups or seminars. General readers will enjoy learning about Saint Francis and how hagiography shaped the public stories of medieval saints. Formation directors who teach the life and writings of Saint Francis should not be without this extraordinary sourcebook with its readymade lesson plans and insightful commentaries. A Beginner's Workbook is an invaluable guide - Br. Bill Hugo takes pains not to interject his own person between the voyager and St. Francis. Rather, he provides the tools and maps out a route for one to discover for her/himself the person of Francis.

On the periphery of the Roman empire, the sixth-century desert city of Gaza served as a crossroads between Palestine and Egypt. The nearby village of Tawatha was home to the thriving monastery of Abbot Seridos and the renowned anchorites Barsanuphius, known to the people as the Great Old Man, and his disciple John. The laity of the area looked to the monks for spiritual leadership, as did their brother monks, bishops, and religious leaders from as far away as Jerusalem and Constantinople. Having adopted a life of physical isolation, the monks communicated with others by letters, offering guidance in such matters as treatment of slaves, distribution of alms, interpretation of visions, and social relations with pagans and Jews. This extraordinary correspondence opens a window into the spiritual world of the desert monastery and the lay community it served. In Disciples of the Desert, Jennifer Hevelone-Harper uses a careful study of the letters to reveal fascinating insights into the monastic community and sixth-century Christian spirituality. Hevelone-Harper explains the network of spiritual authority that was created to lead the monastic community and discusses how monastic leaders responded to challenges to authority, appointed successors, and chose and mentored disciples. She reveals the immense love that Abbot Seridos, Barsanuphius, and John had for their fellow monastics and for the lay community in Tawatha, Gaza, and beyond.

Basil of Caesarea (AD 329-78), called "the Great" by later generations, was one of the fourth century's greatest theologians and pastors. His influence on the foundation of monastic life was enormous.

As he toured the early ascetic communities, members would ask Basil about various aspects of living the Gospel life. Their questions and Basil's replies were taken down by tachygraphers and eventually became the "Small Asketikon," first published in 366. The "Regula Basilii" is a Latin translation of this work, done by Rufinus of Aquileia in 397. It is one of the major sources of the Rule of Saint Benedict, and Benedict recommends it to zealous monks, calling it "the rule of our holy father Basil."

This volume represents a new Latin edition, translated and annotated in English by Anna M. Silvas. It is based on the Latin text Basili Regula - A Rufino Latine Versa from Klaus Zelzer: Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiastricoum Latinorum, Vol. 86. It also includes three extra questions and answers that survive only in the Syriac translation. Silvas balances masterfully between the rigors of academic research and the interests of an intelligent, non-specialist readership. This volume promises to become an indispensable resource in understanding both the history and the spirituality of monastic life.

Two leading practitioners of new monasticism open up the movement's spiritual landscape and its distinctive calling and gifts within today's church. Practical experiences and stories are set alongside reflection and liturgies as a creative resource for all who are already involved in, or are exploring intentional living in community. Focusing on new monasticism's key characteristics of prayer, mission and community, this book explores: continuity with traditional religious life innovations, such as its use of social networking technology potential for spiritual formation preference for the abandoned places of society transformative approach to mission blend of the traditional and experimental in worship growing international presence Full Text - Short description/annotation (Text)

Historian and Iona Community member Rosemary Power tells the story of the small Hebridean island of Iona and its remarkable spiritual influence over fifteen centuries. Beginning with the earliest Stone Age settlements, she combines new translations of early Gaelic and medieval Latin prayers with original research to chart: the founding of the abbey in 563AD six centuries of monasticism: food, lifestyle, work and the pattern of daily prayer architecture, the high crosses and early art medieval Iona: the nunnery, women's lives, and catering for pilgrims post Reformation Iona: the rebuilding of the Abbey, the lives of the resident population and what visitors from the 17th century onwards experienced

2013 Reprint of 1948 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. "Contemplation" is a word that Thomas Merton used again and again in his writings. It is a theme that he spent much of his life exploring. About contemplation, he wrote "Contemplation is the highest expression of man's intellectual and spiritual life. It is that life itself, fully awake, fully active, fully aware that it is alive. It is spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life, of being. It is a vivid realization of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, transcendent, and infinitely abundant source. Contemplation is above all, awareness of the reality of that source. It knows the Source, obscurely, inexplicably, but with a certitude that goes beyond reason and beyond simple faith...It is a more profound depth of faith, a knowledge too deep to be grasped in images, in words, or even in clear concepts..." This short pamphlet is a good introduction to this important topic in the overall work of Thomas Merton.

2013 Reprint of 1963 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. This is Merton's Guide to basic principles of Roman Catholic spirituality for lay and religious aspirants. With a simplicity of language and an intellectual candor that exemplify the purity of his vision, Merton here traces the basic principles of the spiritual life.

When a small village was plagued by a wild wolf, it is told that a humble friar named Francis came and met the predator with nothing but his gentle words-and turned the wolf from a menace to a welcome citizen. This graceful man, who spoke to each part of Creation as a sister or brother, has become one of the most beloved of all saints. In both joy and adversity, Saint Francis served as a bold example of how to live completely and authentically as a follower of Christ. From his survival as a prisoner of war to the series of awakenings that helped him to reform the Catholic Church, Francis drew his strength from his miraculous, loving union with the natural world. Saint Francis of Assisi is an essential devotional reader for building your personal connection to the spirit of this modest Italian sage. Through stories, prayers, and his own writings, you are invited to share in Francis's nourishing devotion to God, and in his profound compassion toward all living things.

Smaragdus was a monk and abbot of considerable standing in the early ninth century church. His "Diadema Monachorum" ("The Crown of Monks"), together with a later commentary on the Rule of Saint Benedict, established him as one of the most significant interpreters of Benedict's Rule in his day and for succeeding generations.

Smaragdus intended "The Crown of Monks" as a daily resource for monastic communities, to be read at the evening chapter. He sought to arouse well-established monks "to a keener and loftier yearning for the heavenly country" and "to strengthen and instill fear" in weaker monks.

In this gathering of excerpts from various respected sources, a genre known as the "florilegium," Smaragdus addresses a wide variety of topics perennially significant to monks. It offers rich material for "lectio" and meditation, forming monastic minds and hearts for facing whatever challenges come their way, linking them with the formative years of the monastic tradition, and pointing them to the final goal: the kingdom of heaven.

As novice master of the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky, Thomas Merton presented weekly conferences to familiarize his charges with the meaning and purpose of the vows they aspired to undertake. In this setting, he offered a thorough exposition of the theological, canonical, and above al spiritual dimensions of the vows.

Merton set the vows firmly in the context of the anthropological, moral, soteriological, and ecclesial dimensions of human, Christian, and monastic life. He addressed such classical themes of Christian morality as the nature of the human person and his acts; the importance of justice in relation to the Passion of Christ, to friendship and to love; and self-surrender as the key to grace, prayer and the vowed life. Merton's words on these topics clearly spring from a committed heart and often flow with the soaring intensity of style that we have come to expect in his more enthusiastic prose.

The texts of these conferences represent the longest and most systematically organized of any of numerous series of conferences that Merton presented during the decade of his mastership. They may be the most directly pastoral work Merton ever wrote.

"Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was a monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky. He was a renowned writer, theologian, poet, and social activist."

"Patrick F. O'Connell is associate professor in the departments of English and theology at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. He is a founding member and former president of the International Thomas Merton Society. "

2013 Reprint of 1914 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Saint Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), also known as Saint Hildegard, and Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, Benedictine abbess, visionary and polymath. She wrote theological, botanical and medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, and poems, while supervising brilliant miniature illuminations. In addition to her music, Hildegard also wrote three books of visions, the first of which, her Scivias ("Know the Way"), was completed in 1151. Liber vitae meritorum ("Book of Life's Merits" or "Book of the Rewards of Life") and Liber divinorum operum ("Book of Divine Works," also known as De operatione Dei, "On God's Activity") followed. In these volumes, the last of which was completed when she was about 75, Hildegard first describes each vision, then interprets them through Biblical exegesis. Hildegard has also become a figure of reverence within the contemporary New Age movement, mostly due to her holistic and natural view of healing, as well as her status as a mystic.

Brother Roger (1915-2005) founded the ecumenical Taize Community, which continues to welcome tens of thousands of young adult pilgrims each year. The Community is familiar to the faithful of many denominations, who use Taize's meditative songs in their worship. Above all else Brother Roger strived not to be a spiritual master or teacher of methods of prayer and meditation but a listener. So this book presents not a programmme of prayer but an itinerary through the insights at the heart of Brother Roger's life of prayer and of action, telling the story of the Taize Community along the way. It allows readers to know and to pray with a figure who touched thousands of lives and helped, as Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has said, 'Change the whole climate of a religious culture'.

The Community of the Cross of Nails came into being as a result of the bombing of Coventry Cathedral in November 1940. Amid the destruction, two medieval nails were found lying in the shape of a cross - seen as a prophetic sign for the need of forgiveness and reconciliation, the people of Coventry offered forgiveness to the people of Germany at Christmas, just weeks after the bombing. Today, the Community of the Cross of Nails has 160 centres in 40 countries, working and praying to build peace, heal the wounds of history and enable people to grow together in hope through conferences, teaching in schools and prisons, and pilgrimages. This illustrated book tells its remarkable story from the beginning. It is also a work of contextual theology, offering reflection on the meaning of reconciliation in the contemporary world and relating experiences of imaginative forgiveness from Cape Town to Ground Zero. Published as part of Coventry Cathedral's golden jubilee celebrations, this celebrates its continuing ministry of reconciliation.

2012 Reprint of Original 1937 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. This is one of the most distinctly Franciscan of Bonaventure's texts. It was conceived in the wilderness of Mount Alverna where St. Francis received the stigmata. This text is meant to guide a generation of Franciscan clerics through the medium of a new scientific culture, while reminding them that Franciscan life is aimed at true devotion. In this masterpiece, Bonaventure recasts Augustinian illumination along distinctly Franciscan lines.

2012 Reprint of Original 1934 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. This is a one-volume edition of the work published in 1907 in two volumes under the title "The Paradise, or Garden of the Holy Fathers...." The work comprises "The Life of St. Anthony" attributed to Athanasius, "The Paradise" written by Palladius, "The Rule of Pachomius" and "The History of the Monks" by Jerome. The work has long been an important source for the knowledge of Egyptian monasticism. It is a history of the anchorites, recluses, monks, coenobites and ascetic fathers of the deserts of Egypt, between A.D. 250 and A.D. 400.

The monk Grimlaicus (ca. 900) wrote a rule for those who, like himself, pursued the solitary life within a monastic community. Never leaving their cell yet participating in the liturgical life of the monastery through a window into the church, these enclosed" sought to serve God alone. Beyond the details of horarium, reception of newcomers, diet, and clothing, Grimlaicus details practical measures for maintaining spiritual, psychological, and physical health, and for giving counsel to others. Scripture, the Rule of St. Benedict, and the teachings of early ecclesial and monastic writers form the kernel of Grimlaicus's wise and balanced rule, presented here for the first time in English translation.

"Andrew Thornton is a monk of Saint Anselm Abbey and associate professor in the department of Modern Languages at Saint Anselm College, where he teaches German language and Chinese philosophy. He is organist in the abbey church. He translated the poems of the twelfth-century recluse Ava, the first woman to write in a European vernacular ("The Poems of Ava, " Liturgical Press).""

Eight hundred years ago, Albert of Jerusalem gave the hermit-penitents of Mount Carmel a way of life to follow. Since then, this rule has inspired and formed mystics and scholars, men and women, lay and ordained to seek the living God. In "The Carmelite Tradition" Steven Payne, OCD, brings together representative voices to demonstrate the richness and depth of Carmelite spirituality. As he writes, Carmelite spirituality seeks nothing more nor less than to 'stand before the face of the living God' and prophesy with Elijah, to 'hear the word of God and keep it' with Mary, to grow in friendship with God through unceasing prayer with Teresa, to 'become by participation what Christ is by nature' as John of the Cross puts it, and thereby to be made, like Therase of Lisieux, into instruments of God's transforming merciful love in the church and society."

The lives and writings in "The Carmelite Tradition" invite readers to stand with these holy men and women and seek God in the hermitage of the heart.

"Steven Payne, OCD, of the Washington Province of Discalced Carmelite Friars, is a member of the Carmelite Friars' formation team at the Monastery of St. John of the Cross near Nairobi, Kenya, and director of the Institute of Spirituality and Religious Formation (ISRF) at Tangaza College, a constituent college of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) in Nairobi. He is the past editor of ICS Publications and of "Spiritual Life" magazine and the author of several works in philosophy of religion, theology, and Carmelite spirituality. He is a member of the Carmelite Forum and of the Carmelite Institute in Washington DC, of which he is a past president. ""