Augustine's Confessions is one of the most influential and most innovative works of Latin literature. Written in the author's early forties in the last years of the fourth century A.D. and during his first years as a bishop, they reflect on his life and on the activity of remembering and interpreting a life. Books I-IV are concerned with infancy and learning to talk, schooldays, sexual desire and adolescent rebellion, intense friendships and intellectual exploration. Augustine evolves and analyses his past with all the resources of the reading which shaped his mind: Virgil and Cicero, Neoplatonism and the Bible. This volume, which aims to be usable by students who are new to Augustine, alerts readers to the verbal echoes and allusions of Augustine's brilliant and varied Latin, and explains his theological and philosophical questioning of what God is and what it is to be human. The edition is intended for use by students and scholars of Latin literature, theology and Church history.

In Dark Night of the Soul, Saint John of the Cross presents for us a portrait painted from his own experience of one who advances successfully through the struggles of the spiritual life. The dark night that St. John describes is not abandonment by God but special consideration from Him for those who desire to purify and perfect their souls. With a soul purified from earthly attachments, we can advance through the much quoted but oft misunderstood dark night of the soul into unity with God. By accepting the desolation and difficulty of this process, the soul cooperates with God and opens herself to receiving and revealing more perfectly God's glory. Be not afraid: Dark Night of the Soul, though austere and exacting in its instructions for holy living, is laced with St. John's charity and kindness, his love of all things beautiful and sacred, including you.

Chesterton’s timeless exploration of the essentials of Christian faith and of his pilgrimage to belief (more than 750,000 copies sold in the Image edition) is now reissued. For G.K. Chesterton, orthodoxy carries us into the land of romance, right action, and revolution. In Orthodoxy, a classic in religious autobiography, he tells of his pilgrimage there by way of the doctrines of Christianity set out in the Apostles’ Creed. Where science seeks to explain all things in terms of calculation and necessary law, Chesterton argues on behalf of the Christian doctrines of mystery and free will. Sanity, he says, belongs to the poet who accepts the romance and drama of these beliefs rather than to the logician who does not. This sanity is not static. It does not mean merely learning the right doctrines and then lapsing into a refined meditation on them. Chesterton dismisses such an inactive belief as “the greatest disaster of the nineteenth century.” For him, right thinking is a waste without right action. For Chesterton the populist, political action often spells revolution. He discovers in the doctrines of original sin and the divinity of Christ ever-present seedbeds of revolt in the face of the tyrannies of money and power.

We live in a day and age characterized by an extraordinary amount of agitation and lack of peace. This tendency manifests itself in our spiritual as well as our secular life. In our search for God and holiness, in our service to our neighbor, a kind of restlessness and anxiety take the place of the confidence and peace which ought to be ours. What must we do to overcome the moments of fear and distress which assail us all too often in our lives? How can we learn to place all our confidence in God and abandon ourselves into his loving care? This is what is taught in this simple, yet profound little treatise on peace of heart. Taking concrete examples from our everyday life, the author invites us to respond in a Gospel fashion to the upsetting situations we must all confront. Since peace of heart is a pure gift of God, it is something we should seek, pursue and ask him for without cease. Searching for and Maintaining Peace by Fr. Jacques Philippe is here to help us in that pursuit. About the Author: Father Jacques Philippe is a "Shepherd" in the Community du Lion de Juda in Rome. A priest since 1985, he regularly preaches retreats in France and abroad.

Discover the timeless wisdom of Brother Lawrence in "The Practice of the Presence of God." This 17th-century classic offers insights into cultivating a continuous fellowship with God amidst everyday life. With genuine honesty and simplicity, Lawrence teaches how love and presence can transform mundane tasks into divine experiences. This softcover edition is elegantly translated for modern readers, inviting them to find spiritual nourishment in daily moments.

First published in 1944 and now a spiritual classic for Catholics across the globe, The Reed of God contains meditations on the humanity of Mary, Mother of God. British Catholic writer and artist Caryll Houselander lovingly explores Mary’s intimately human side, depicting Our Lady as a musical instrument who makes divine love known to the world. This refreshed edition is rich and rewarding reading for all Christians who wonder what Mary was really like. While the Second Vatican Council led to a renewed interest in the theology and person of Mary, Caryll Houselander offered a simple yet profound reflection on the Mother of God almost fifteen years before the council began. Confronting the static, surreal “Madonna of the Christmas card,” Houselander provides instead an intuitive, warmly human, and approachable image of the Mother of God. Through the central image of a reed that is played for music, Houselander demonstrates how Mary chose to make herself an instrument for the divine plan, giving her inmost being to the proclamation of God’s greatness. In sharing her distinctive vision of Mary, Houselander offers the Mother of God as a model for all people seeking to be instruments of the Divine. The essays and poems in The Reed of God also reflect on the mysteries of Mary’s life and her impact on salvation history. In the book’s four parts, Houselander explores key events of Mary’s life, including her fiat, finding Jesus in the Temple, and the Assumption, as well as the themes of fruitful emptiness and the eternal search for union with God.

Apply the Rule of St. Benedict to any community setting, whether in the monastery or in your family! Written in the sixth century by the father of Western monasticism himself, St. Benedict, this common-sense guide to living a truly Christian life is applicable to anyone, in or outside of the cloister. Learn from the Rule's wonderful discretion, moderation, and keen insight into the capabilities and weaknesses of human nature. Here is a practical approach to arranging life so that Christian spirituality and virtue can be lived out anytime, anywhere.