Download or read book How to Pray written by Pete Greig and published by NavPress. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pete Greig is a worldwide authority and the face of a generation when it comes to prayer. One of the founders of the 24-7 prayer movement, he has seen, experienced, and chronicled amazing works of God in the world. While you might imagine him to be puffed up, Pete Greig is entirely the opposite. He is enchanting, down-to-earth, friendly, and most of all, very normal–and yet he tells preposterous tales about prayer (and they’re true). He is basically a regular dude who loves to talk with God. How to Pray is written to evoke a passion for prayer in everyone—the committed follower of Jesus as well as the skeptic and the scared. The enormous blessing of How to Pray is that it is accessible, full of surprising stories of answered prayer, and tremendously engaging. The basic idea is that prayer is a conversation between you and God. Pete Greig demystifies and reenchants prayer, helping you to find prayer achievable and enjoyable, and ultimately life-giving and life-changing. How to Pray is designed to be used together with The Prayer Course (a free video curriculum associated with the Alpha course), making it useful for personal and group or church-wide reading.
Download or read book Contemplative Prayer written by Thomas Merton and published by Image. This book was released on 2009-11-17 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this classic text, Thomas Merton offers valuable guidance for prayer. He brings together a wealth of meditative and mystical influences–from John of the Cross to Eastern desert monasticism–to create a spiritual path for today. Most important, he shows how the peace contacted through meditation should not be sought in order to evade the problems of contemporary life, but can instead be directed back out into the world to affect positive change. Contemplative Prayer is one of the most well-known works of spirituality of the last one hundred years, and it is a must-read for all seeking to live a life of purpose in today’s world. In a moving and profound introduction, Thich Nhat Hanh offers his personal recollections of Merton and compares the contemplative traditions of East and West.
Download or read book Beginning Contemplative Prayer written by Kathryn Hermes and published by Charis Books. This book was released on 2001 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A primer for those who are interested in exploring the fundamentals of contemplative prayer, this book takes readers through four stages of contemplation and introduces them to a variety of prayer forms that have been used in the contemplative tradition.
Download or read book Flee Be Silent Pray written by Ed Cyzewski and published by MennoMedia, Inc.. This book was released on 2019-02-12 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What if prayer could be simple rather than strenuous? Anxious, results-driven Christians can never pray enough, serve enough, or study enough. But what if God is calling us not to frenzied activity but to a simple spiritual encounter? What if we must merely receive what God has already given us? In Flee, Be Silent, Pray, writer and contemplative retreat leader Ed Cyzewski guides readers out of the anxiety factory of contemporary Christianity and toward a God whose love astounds those quiet long enough to receive it. With helpful guidance into solitude, contemplative prayer, and practices such as lectio divina and the Examen, Cyzewski guides readers toward the Christ whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light. Ready to shed the fear of the false self and the exhaustion of a duty-driven faith? Flee. Be silent. Pray.
Download or read book What Is Contemplation written by Thomas Merton and published by Ravenio Books. This book was released on with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are so many Christians who do not appreciate the magnificent dignity of their vocation to sanctity, to the knowledge, love and service of God. There are so many Christians who do not realize what possibilities God has placed in the life of Christian perfection — what possibilities for joy in the knowledge and love of Him. There are so many Christians who have practically no idea of the immense love of God for them, and of the power of that Love to do them good, to bring them happiness. Why do we think of the gift of contemplation, infused contemplation, mystical prayer, as something essentially strange and esoteric reserved for a small class of almost unnatural beings and prohibited to everyone else? It is perhaps because we have forgotten that contemplation is the work of the Holy Ghost acting on our souls through His gifts of Wisdom and Understanding with special intensity to increase and perfect our love for Him. These gifts are part of the normal equipment of Christian sanctity. They are given to all in Baptism, and if they are given it is presumably because God wants them to be developed. Their development will always remain the free gift of God and it is true that His wise Providence sees fit to develop them less in some saints than in others. But it is also true that God often measures His gifts by our desire to receive them, and by our cooperation with His grace, and the Holy Spirit will not waste any of His gifts on people who have little or no interest in them.
Download or read book No Man is an Island written by Thomas Merton and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2005 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is a stimulating series of spiritual reflections which will prove helpful for all struggling to find the meaning of human existence and to live the richest, fullest and noblest life. --Chicago Tribune
Download or read book Centering Prayers written by Peter Traben Haas and published by Paraclete Press. This book was released on 2013-12-01 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Centering Prayers is a collection of inspired prayers crafted as brief preludes or postludes to periods of personal, contemplative prayer. Each radiates God’s love. Tailored for the seasons and months of the year, they integrate a spiritual theology with certain mystical depth. You will want to read them slowly and pray them quietly, one day at a time. "In Daily Companion, Peter Haas offers intimate prayers that rest on the deep rooted tradition of his faith. His vulnerability and longing lead you to your own journey. His fearless asking: Strengthen me in love. Draw me into your life, draw you to deeper places. He acknowledges, You are the shadow that crosses near in the silence of prayer. Praying these prayers with Haas becomes a daily chant reminiscent of those in monasteries the world over, kneeling in prayer in the silent hours before dawn." Paula D'Arcy Author of Gift of the Red Bird, Waking Up to This Day
Download or read book Active Meditations for Contemplative Prayer written by Thomas Keating and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 1997-11-01 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Selections from the author's previous works guide the reader toward closer communion with God and a richer spiritual life
Download or read book Contemplative Enigmas written by Donald Haggerty and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2020-01-01 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite signs in recent decades of a crisis in the Church, a countercurrent of intense interest in prayer and a close relationship with God is clearly at work today. A deeper esteem for contemplation has accompanied this turning to prayer, and many people desire spiritual direction and guidance. Written by a recognized expert on contemplative prayer, this book concentrates on the interior hardships experienced by souls who give themselves to God wholeheartedly. More than a summary of the symptoms of interior trial, these poignant observations are the fruit of the author's many years in retreat work. Personal experience, not simply knowledge of the spiritual tradition, inform his concise, carefully crafted comments. Throughout the book, the writing invites the reader to ponder the subject of spiritual darkness, perplexity, and other struggles in the spiritual life always in the light of the loving God, who draws souls into greater surrender to himself.
Download or read book Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening written by Cynthia Bourgeault and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2004 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening is a complete guidebook for all who wish to know the practice of Centering Prayer.
Download or read book Prayers for Today written by Kurt Bjorklund and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2011-10-01 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of classic and contemporary prayers, some derived from Scripture and others from the writings of Christian leaders throughout the centuries, this beautiful volume invites readers into a daily experience of closer intimacy with God. Each day's entry focuses on one of ten traditional types of prayer: * Prayers of Thanksgiving * Prayers of Confession * Prayers of Affirmation * Prayers of Petition * Prayers of Renewal * Prayers of Praise and Adoration * Prayers to Have Christ-like Character * Prayers for Wisdom and Guidance * Prayers of Intercession * Prayers of Surrender With 260 entries -- enough for every weekday of an entire year -- Prayers for Today guides readers through a unique kind of spiritual pilgrimage, a pilgrimage toward the very throne room of God. For any reader who's ever wanted more out of prayer or who's ever hungered for a greater sense of God's presence, Prayers for Today promises deepened communion with the One who treasures the words and longings of His people.
Download or read book Centering Prayer for Everyone written by Lindsay Boyer and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2020-03-19 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contemplative prayer is a way of saying yes to God’s transformative presence. Centering Prayer for Everyone is the most welcoming and accessible guide to Christian contemplative practice available. Focusing on five practices—lectio divina, visio divina, walking meditation, chanting the Psalms, and the silent practice of centering prayer—this practical guide collects in one volume everything needed to learn these practices, including concise instructions, readings, and programs. Clearly formatted so that instructions and programs are easy to find at a glance, Centering Prayer for Everyone can inspire beginners to enter the practices immediately and includes detailed instructions for starting and facilitating both in-person and digital prayer groups. This inclusive handbook explicitly welcomes everyone to these practices, whatever their beliefs or doubts, including Christians, meditators from other traditions, twelve-step members, and anyone filled with longing for spiritual transformation and connection with God.
Download or read book The Signature of Jesus written by Brennan Manning and published by Multnomah. This book was released on 2004-07-06 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Signature of Jesus challenges the gospel of "cheap grace" and calls the church to radical discipleship. With passion and boldness, author Brennan Manning invites readers to risk living life as Jesus lived—committed to simplicity, purity of heart, and obedience to the gospel. As a radical alternative this book is offered to Christians who want to live by faith and not by mere “religion,” for those who recognize that many of the burning theological issues in the church today are neither burning nor theological; who see Christianity neither as a moral code or a belief system but as a love affair; who have not forgotten that they are followers of a crucified Christ; who know that following him means living dangerously; who want to live the gospel without compromise; who have no greater desire than to have his signature written on the pages of their lives. “Behold,” Jesus proclaims, “I stand at the door and knock.” You may have already met him at the door…but do you truly know him? Have you been transformed by His furious, passionate, unexplainable love? Join Brennan Manning, the bestselling author of The Ragamuffin Gospel, on a personal journey to experience Christ’s love and live with His passion.
Download or read book Contemplative Studies and Hinduism written by Rita D. Sherma and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2020-10-05 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is one of the first wide-ranging academic surveys of the major types and categories of Hindu contemplative praxis. It explores diverse spiritual and religious practices within the Hindu traditions and Indic hermeneutical perspectives to understand the intricate culture of meditative communion and contemplation, devotion, spiritual formation, prayer, ritual, and worship. The volume extends and expands the conceptual reach of the fields of Contemplative Studies and Hindu Studies. The chapters in the volume cover themes in Hindu contemplative experience from various texts and traditions including classical Sāṃkhya and Patañjali Yoga, the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, the role of Sādhana in Advaita Vedānta, Śrīvidyā and the Śrīcakra, the body in Tantra, the semiotics and illocution of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sādhana, mantra in Mīmāṃsā, Vaiṣṇava liturgy, as well as cross-cultural reflections and interreligious comparative contemplative praxis. The volume presents indigenous vocabulary and frameworks to examine categories and concerns particular to the Hindu contemplative traditions. It traces patterns that cut across Hindu traditions and systems and discusses contrasting methods of different theological/philosophical schools evincing a strong plurality in Hindu religious thought and practice. The volume provides intra-religious comparisons that reveal internal complexity, nuances, and a variety of contemplative states and transformative practices that exist under the rubric of Hindu practices of interiority and reflection. With key insights on forms and functions of the contemplative experience along with their theologies and philosophies, the volume suggests new hermeneutical directions that will advance the field of contemplative studies. This book will be useful to scholars and researchers of religious and theological studies, contemplative studies, Hindu studies, consciousness studies, yoga studies, Indian philosophy and religion, sociology of religion, philosophy of religion, comparative religion, and South Asian studies, as well as general readers interested in the topic.
Download or read book Contemplating Christ written by Vincent Pizzuto and published by Liturgical Press. This book was released on 2018-03-26 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The incarnation has made mystics of us all. What if we read the gospels as if that were true? In his book Contemplating Christ,Vincent Pizzuto offers an exploration of the interior life for modern contemplatives that is as beautiful as it is compelling. With an emphasis on the gospels and Christian mystical tradition, his book explores ancient themes in new and surprising ways. Drawing on his rich experience as an academic and priest, Pizzuto gradually unfolds the Christian mystery of deification to which the whole of biblical revelation and the Christian contemplative life are ordered: through the incarnation, we have all been made “other Christs” in the world.
Download or read book The Heart of Centering Prayer written by Cynthia Bourgeault and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2016-12-27 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The best-selling author of The Wisdom Jesus and The Meaning of Mary Magdalene demystifies the popular Christian meditation method rooted in contemplative prayer Centering Prayer is the path to a wonderful and radical new way of seeing the world. It is not, as is sometimes thought, simply an act of devotional piety, nor is it simply a Christianized form of other meditation methods. Cynthia Bourgeault here cuts through the misconceptions to show that Centering Prayer is in fact a pioneering development within the Christian contemplative tradition. She provides a practical, complete course in the practice and then goes deeper to analyze what actually happens in Centering Prayer: the mind effectively switches to a new operating system that makes possible the perception of nonduality. With this understanding in place, she then takes us on a journey through one of the sources of the practice, the Christian contemplative classic The Cloud of Unknowing, revealing it to be among the earliest Christian explorations of the phenomenology of consciousness. Cynthia Bourgeault’s illumination of the Centering Prayer path provides compelling evidence of how important the practice has become in the half-century since it first arose among American Trappist monks, and of its maturation and refinement over the ensuing years of sincere study and practice. It will resonate with beginners on the Centering Prayer path as well as with seasoned practitioners.
Download or read book The Inner Experience written by Thomas Merton and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2012-09-11 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now in paperback, revised and redesigned: This is Thomas Merton's last book, in which he draws on both Eastern and Western traditions to explore the hot topic of contemplation/meditation in depth and to show how we can practice true contemplation in everyday life. Never before published except as a series of articles (one per chapter) in an academic journal, this book on contemplation was revised by Merton shortly before his untimely death. The material bridges Merton's early work on Catholic monasticism, mysticism, and contemplation with his later writing on Eastern, especially Buddhist, traditions of meditation and spirituality. This book thus provides a comprehensive understanding of contemplation that draws on the best of Western and Eastern traditions. Merton was still tinkering with this book when he died; it was the book he struggled with most during his career as a writer. But now the Merton Legacy Trust and experts have determined that the book makes such a valuable contribution as his major comprehensive presentation of contemplation that they have allowed its publication.
