It is widely known that the monks of early Christian history, called the desert fathers, held an abounding wisdom of the nature and aspirations of the human person. Drawing on their own experience in the cloisters of the desert they became sought after mentors, teachers and spiritual guides. This book is filled with poignant wisdom stories relating their message to modern daily life.

"The ascetics of Scete and the Thebaid in the Egyptian Desert have been more often admired than known or understood. Translations by such scholars as Helen Waddell have done much to restore the true perspective. This new selection from the Latin 'Sayings of the Fathers' (Verba Seniorum) has been made by Thomas Merton with a special purpose. It is not only a translation and selection, but a new monastic redaction in the spirit of our own time. Merton has felt free, as a monk, to do what generations of monks before him have done. He has made a wholly independent and original use of material which is the traditional basis of Christian monastic spirituality." -- Dust jacket.

Once we have encountered the Lord Jesus, how do we keep growing in Christ? How do we let the Lord mold us and make us into missionary disciples capable of spreading the gospel? Instead of just trying to get into heaven, how do we live the life of heaven now so that we can become saints? In this book, Michigan pastor Fr. John Riccardo helps us dive into the Scriptures so that we can apply them to our daily lives. In his inspiring and incisive way, Fr. Riccardo addresses the obstacles we all face in becoming mature disciples. How do we learn to forgive? How do we combat fear and understand suffering? How do we worship the Lord, love others as Christ loves us, and fully surrender our lives to God? If you’ve enjoyed Fr. Riccardo’s gifts of teaching and preaching through his broadcasts and podcasts, this book is for you!

Celebrates the unique quality and gift of each day through small rituals.

"O come let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker, for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture and the flock under His care." Today, if only you would hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day in Massah in the wilderness. (Psalm 95:6-8) You may wonder why a book about storming heaven begins with a prayer about bowing and kneeling. It's because it is from this position of humility and submission that we find our answers and win our battles. In understanding Him, we learn He won't deny us our requests. In pouring out our heart to Him, we learn He would never break our heart. Not only do we grow to understand our place in His Kingdom, we grow to understand His amazing love toward us. He is waiting and longing and expecting to answer our prayers and give us our heart's desire. We are members of His household, children of the King of Kings. We are heirs to all of His incredible promises and recipients of His matchless grace. Like most people, I've had experience with prayers that seem to fall on deaf ears, prayers that appear for all practical purposes to go unanswered. In fact, at one point in my life, I actually told people if there was a God, He was a serious underachiever. It’s amazing to me that He still loves me after such an insult. I'd lost family to devastating illnesses. I tried without success to ease the terrible suffering experienced by four members of my six person family. I watched them die untimely and painful deaths. In some cases it was more like seeing them tortured to death. If there was a formula to reverse suffering or to talk Jesus into showing mercy, I certainly couldn't find it. It was a very black time of my life. That's why I'm excited to share this book. I spent years studying prayer, reading about prayer, praying prayers. For more than twenty years my life has been devoted to discovering how to pray effectively. I don't believe there is a formula, really, though I believe the format of The Lord's Prayer is an excellent blueprint. Daniel, David and Solomon give us beautiful prayers as well. The endorsement I give for the prayers in this book is: they worked. It’s not because of what I studied, read or wrote. It's because during the process of learning what touches the heart of God, what He wants, what pleases Him, I learned to pray His Word.

Allow the mystery of Advent and Christmas to touch and transform you. In A Time of Fulfillment: Spiritual Reflections for Advent and Christmas, Anselm Grün brings fresh meaning to the traditional texts of the season and encourages you to experience the deep peace promised by this holy time of year. Starting with the ancient images of the "O" antiphons, you will rediscover in Advent the profound joy of waiting for Christ's coming. Continuing with the Scriptures of Christmas, you will find new meaning in the mystery of the incarnation. Make your celebration of Advent and Christmas a powerful time of growth and healing. The simple meditations and spiritual exercises in A Time of Fulfillment will help you remember the closeness of Christ in your heart and renew your faith.

New York Times bestselling author John Eldredge offers readers a breathtaking look into God’s promise for a new heaven and a new earth. This revolutionary book about our future is based on the simple idea that, according to the Bible, heaven is not our eternal home--the New Earth is. As Jesus says in the gospel of Matthew, the next chapter of our story begins with "the renewal of all things," by which he means the earth we love in all its beauty, our own selves, and the things that make for a rich life: music, art, food, laughter and all that we hold dear. Everything shall be renewed "when the world is made new." More than anything else, how you envision your future shapes your current experience. If you knew that God was going to restore your life and everything you love any day; if you believed a great and glorious goodness was coming to you--not in a vague heaven but right here on this earth--you would have a hope to see you through anything, an anchor for your soul, "an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God" (Hebrews 6:19). Most Christians (most people for that matter) fail to look forward to their future because their view of heaven is vague, religious, and frankly boring. Hope begins when we understand that for the believer nothing is lost. Heaven is not a life in the clouds; it is not endless harp-strumming or worship-singing. Rather, the life we long for, the paradise Adam and Eve knew, is precisely the life that is coming to us. And that life is coming soon.