Download or read book Introduction to the Devout Life written by Saint Francis De Sales and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2015-06-08 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written over 400 years ago, Introduction to the Devout Life is still one of the most popular books for those pursuing holiness. St. Francis de Sales explains how to turn that desire for sanctity into resolutions that yield grace-filled results. Themes include: Pursuing a devout life whole-heartedly Incorporating prayer and sacraments into a busy schedule Growing in virtue Battling wisely against temptation Making spiritual progress through daily, monthly, and yearly exercises Whether you are just beginning your spiritual journey or are more advanced in the spiritual life, you’ll be able to apply this timeless wisdom immediately. Let St. Francis de Sales illumine the path to holiness and strengthen your desire to walk that road with the Lord. St. Francis de Sales (1567–1622) was the Bishop of Geneva and a renowned spiritual director. Preaching during the Counter-Reformation, he is estimated to have converted 70,000 Calvinists in his short lifetime. He was a fervent proponent of the universal call to holiness and spent much of his time guiding lay people on the road to sanctity. Declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1877, St. Francis is still helping to form saints through his many writings, of which Introduction to the Devout Life is the most famous.

Download or read book Committed Life written by William Meninger and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2000-01-12 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A masterful updating of a classic work.St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622), bishop of Geneva and founder of the Visitation Order of nuns, was renowned for his teachings on spirituality. His masterpiece in the field of spiritual literature was "The Introduction to the Devout Life." Revolutionary in its day and noted for its charm, warmth, and clarity of language, it set forth a spirituality oriented toward life in the world, an approach quite different from that of St. Francis de Sales's contemporaries,who saw spiritual perfection as possible only in religious life.While the message of "The Introduction to Devout Life" is still valid today, the fact is that its expression is quite dated. In this book, as in "Bringing 'The Imitation of Christ' Into the 21st Cemtury," Father Meninger is not offering a new translation or paraphrase of a spiritual classic. Rather, he is attempting to express the teachings of the original in a wholly contemporary idiom. Father Meninger has not hesitated to change, omit, or add to the original where necessary, the better to highlight the heart and charisma of St. Francis de Sales's teachings.

Download or read book Authentic Devotion written by Francis De Sales and published by Shaw Books. This book was released on 2002 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This modern-day interpretation of "Introduction to the Devout Life" by Francis de Sales can gently guide readers down the clearest path imaginable into a deeper and more authentic religious life.

Download or read book A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life written by William Law and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This examination of the Christian life constitutes one of the most remarkable books of devotion ever written. William Law's book dates from 1728, a decade before England's great evangelical revival, during which it exercised a significant influence on the movement's leaders. A Serious Call has been praised by readers as varied as Samuel Johnson, Edward Gibbon, and John Wesley. "If Mr. Law finds a spark of piety in a reader's mind, he will soon kindle it into a flame," declared Gibbon, and Wesley pronounced Law's work as one of the books that formed his "explicit resolve to be all devoted to God." Three hundred years after its initial publication, this volume continues to win accolades from modern readers who appreciate its guidelines on prayer, personal holiness, and charity. Simple but profound, it features brief chapters that make it particularly suitable for daily devotions.

Download or read book Lift Up Your Heart written by Fr. John Burns and published by Ave Maria Press. This book was released on 2017-04-28 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of a 2018 Catholic Press Association Award: First-Time Author, Spirituality Softcover (First Place) and a 2018 Association of Catholic Publishers Award: Inspirational (Second Place). For more than four-hundred years, Introduction to the Devout Life by Doctor of the Church St. Francis de Sales has been regarded as the essential guide to holiness and loving God. This spiritual classic takes on new life in Lift Up Your Heart, where Rev. John Burns has interpreted ten meditations for the modern reader and distilled them into a ten-day mini-retreat that can easily be completed in the midst of a busy life. This practical book goes right to the heart of helping you kick the habit of floating along on your spiritual journey to start actively pursuing holiness and devotion to God. During the course of the retreat, you'll learn the basics of forming a daily prayer routine, including how to offer yourself to God, meditate on his love, and maintain peace in the face of suffering and clarity in the midst of temptation. The meditations will help you: Adopt gratitude as a daily prayer practice. Examine and reorder your priorities and relationships to better reflect your love for God. Discern between good and evil in your life. Desire to love and serve as Jesus did. In a very real sense, Burns helps you take St. Francis de Sales as your spiritual director for ten days. As you do so, you’ll feel God’s fatherly love and restart your faith life, equipped with the tools to connect with God and live for heaven now.

Download or read book A Catholic Introduction to the Bible written by John Bergsma and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2018-09-04 with total page 1066 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although many Catholics are familiar with the four Gospels and other writings of the New Testament, for most, reading the Old Testament is like walking into a foreign land. Who wrote these forty-six books? When were they written? Why were they written? What are we to make of their laws, stories, histories, and prophecies? Should the Old Testament be read by itself or in light of the New Testament? John Bergsma and Brant Pitre offer readable in-depth answers to these questions as they introduce each book of the Old Testament. They not only examine the literature from a historical and cultural perspective but also interpret it theologically, drawing on the New Testament and the faith of the Catholic Church. Unique among introductions, this volume places the Old Testament in its liturgical context, showing how its passages are employed in the current Lectionary used at Mass. Accessible to nonexperts, this thorough and up-to-date introduction to the Old Testament can serve as an idea textbook for biblical studies. Its unique approach, along with its maps, illustrations, and other reference materials, makes it a valuable resource for seminarians, priests, Scripture scholars, theologians, and catechists, as well as anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the Bible.

Download or read book Introduction to the Devout Life written by Saint Francis (de Sales) and published by . This book was released on 1924 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Consoling Thoughts of St Francis de Sales written by Saint Francis (de Sales) and published by . This book was released on 1877 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Live Today Well written by Fr. Thomas Dailey and published by Sophia Institute Press. This book was released on 2015-07-06 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Living the Christian life requires a strategy. Most of us won’t get to heaven through heroic feats of sanctity, but by learning to live the devout life through our everyday activities. St. Francis de Sales has developed for you a spiritual plan of action — a plan that will help you acquire holiness despite the many responsibilities and mundane realities that take up all your time and effort. In these pages, Fr. Thomas Dailey — an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales — gently guides you through St. Francis de Sales’s spiritual plan, showing how you can balance time devoted to God with the time needed to complete your many tasks each day. You’ll learn St. Francis de Sales’s technique of daily prayer and grace-filled awareness that will transform your life one day at a time — no matter how busy your lifestyle. From making a spiritual retreat during the day to fending off the many temptations you face, Live Today Wellwill help you commune with God throughout your day. And by practicing the little virtues you learn here, you’ll soon find yourself moving toward the heavenly heights as you become the saint you are called by God to be. You’ll also learn: Four ways to become aware of God’s presence Tips for spiritual time-management Simple methods of praying, whether in Church or not How to avoid the three dangerous tendencies that appear in conversations How to conquer your greatest temptations The one virtue which gives greatest assurance for reaching perfection The two critical elements of any good confession

Download or read book A Selection from the Spiritual Letters of S Francis de Sales written by H. L. Sidney Lear and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2024-03-13 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reprint of the original, first published in 1876.

Download or read book Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life written by Robert Spitzer and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2009-09-03 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Saint Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, espoused the ideal of becoming "contemplatives in action." He was convinced that contemplation (the deep awareness and appropriation of the unconditional love of God) should affect our actions, and that our actions need to be brought back to contemplation. These five dimensions of the spiritual life: (1) the Holy Eucharist, (2) spontaneous prayer, (3) the Beatitudes, (4) partnership with the Holy Spirit, and (5) the contemplative life itself, generally do not develop simultaneously or even in parallel ways. Some develop very quickly, but do not achieve significant depth; while others develop quite slowly, but seem to be almost unending in the depth of wisdom, trust, hope, virtue, and love they engender. The best way of explaining this is to look at each of the pillars individually. Before doing this, however, it is indispensable for each of us to acknowledge (at least intellectually) the fundamental basis for Christian contemplation, namely, the unconditional Love of God. Jesus taught us to address God as Abba. If God really is Abba; if His love is like the father of the prodigal son; if Jesus' passion and Eucharist are confirmations of that unconditional Love; if God really did so love the world that He sent His only begotten Son into the world not to condemn us, but to save us and bring us to eternal life (Jn 3:16-19); if nothing really can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Rm 8:31-39); and if God really has prepared us "to grasp fully, with all the holy ones, the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ's love, and experience this love which surpasses all understanding, so that we may attain to the fullness of God Himself" (Eph 3:18-20), then God's love is unconditional, and it is, therefore, the foundation for unconditional trust and unconditional hope. There can be nothing more important than contemplating, affirming, appropriating, and living in this Unconditional Love. This is the purpose of contemplation; indeed, the purpose of the spiritual life itself.

Download or read book A Map of Life written by Frank Sheed and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2011-05-09 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Considered one of Frank Sheed's best books, A Map of Life is also regarded as one of the best and most popular short summaries of the Catholic faith ever written. Focusing on the major truths of our existence and purpose in life, Sheed draws on God's revelation to show what the divine master plan is for us and how each part of the plan is related. Beginning with "The Problem of Life's Purpose" and "The Problem of Life's Laws", he covers such important parts of the map of life as "The Creation and Fall", "The Incarnation", "The Mystical Body", "The Trinity, "Law and Sin", "The Supernatural Life", and "Heaven, Purgatory, Hell".

Download or read book Consoling Thoughts on Trials of an Interior Life written by St. Francis de Sales and published by TAN Books. This book was released on 2013-01-24 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Consoling Thoughts on Trials of an Interior Life St. Francis de Sales, beloved Doctor of the Church, gives us treasured insight from the master of spiritual direction. How can the soul persevere in piety in the midst of affliction? How should we conduct ourselves when suffering interior trials? How can we profit from our own faults? St. Francis de Sales explains all this and more. In this masterful collection, St. Francis speaks to every soul on the riches to be gained from suffering trials and temptations, the advantages we can draw from our own defects, and how to choose and carry the best crosses. Also included are uplifting passages on suffering sadness, or what we would now call depression. Readers of Consoling Thoughts will experience firsthand why St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) is known to history as the Gentle Saint. St. Francis was Bishop of Geneva and a tireless preacher, who yet made time to correspond with numerous souls who wrote him for his insight and guidance. His Consoling Thoughts are compiled from these letters as well as from his other spiritual works.

Download or read book A Simple Life Changing Prayer written by Jim Manney and published by Messenger Publications. This book was released on 2021-03-01 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A Simple, Life-Changing Prayer is a valuable and thoughtful book, and a very practical one, which can be put with confidence into the hands of anyone who wishes to learn to pray the Examen and to find the presence and action of God in their lives.” —Andrea Kelly, Thinking Faith Sometimes we can experience prayer as formal, dry, and repetitious. But what might happen if we discovered a simple prayer that changed all that? In A Simple, Life-Changing Prayer, Jim Manney introduces Christians to a 500-year-old form of prayer that dramatically altered his perception of prayer and the way he prayed. The prayer is the Examen, which St. Ignatius Loyola developed for the purpose of nurturing a reflective habit of mind that is constantly attuned to God’s presence. What makes the prayer so powerful is its capacity to dispel any notion that God is somewhere “up there,” detached from our day-to-day tasks and concerns. Instead, the examen leads us into a relationship with a God who desires to be personally caught up in the lives of those whom he created.

Download or read book The Flame of Love written by Elizabeth Kindelmann and published by . This book was released on 2020-07-07 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The devotion of the Flame of Love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was given to the Church for the specific purpose of blinding Satan so that he loses his influence over our families, our communities-over all people. The movement began with the heart of the poor and humble Hungarian mystic and Third-Order Carmelite, Elizabeth Kindelmann (1913-1985), when she heard the voices of Jesus and Mary through interior locutions between the years 1961 and 1983. The result is this Spiritual Diary, written at the request of Our Lord Jesus, which has received the Imprimatur of the Church and gifted the world untold blessings for our critical times.Jesus said to Kindelmann, "My Mother is Noah's Ark," and Mary told her, "I assure you, my little one, that I have never before given into your hands such a powerful force of grace, the burning flame of the love of my heart. Ever since the Word became Flesh, I have not undertaken a greater movement than the Flame of Love of my heart who rushes to you. Until now, nothing could blind Satan as much. And it is up to you not to reject it, for this rejection would simply spell disaster."The Flame of Love movement is an official Church association of the faithful, enjoying the heartfelt approval of His Eminence Cardinal Péter Erdö, Primate of Hungary, Archbishop of Eszertom-Budapest, and the approval of various bishops in whose dioceses it flourishes, as well as a 2013 apostolic blessing from Pope Francis.God is seeking to build up a holy army of souls in order help us to fight the battle ahead that leads to sure victory for those firm in faith. In this remarkable Spiritual Diary, you follow the life and divine conversations of one of the greatest mystics of the 20th century, learn of the prayers and weekly prayer schedule that effectively blind Satan, and of the divine promises Our Lord wishes to give to us through the intercession of His Mother's Immaculate Heart.

Download or read book Introduction To The Devout Life written by St Francis De Sales and published by St Pauls BYB. This book was released on with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Masterpiece of Mystical and Devotional Literature

Download or read book Introduction to the Devout Life written by St Francis De Sales and published by . This book was released on 2011-08 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2011 Reprint of 1956 Edition Translated by Michael Day at The Newman Press. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. "Introduction to the Devout Life" is the most popular Catholic "self-help" book of all time. First published in the early 17th century, it has proven its value as a daily spiritual guide and helpful reference for living an authentic Christian life. Written specifically for laymen, it began as letters from Saint Francis to a married woman who was seeking holiness amidst the distractions of her life of wealth and status. It contains treasures of wisdom for every reader, from eager beginner to lifelong Christian. Devout life does not require withdrawal from the world. This was the central insight of Saint Francis de Sales, a 16th-century priest whose "Introduction to the Devout Life" has not gone out of print in almost four centuries. Francis served the church at a dangerous time in a dangerous place: during the Reformation, in Calvinist areas of France, when celebrating mass was punishable by death. He was a popular minister and a prolific letter writer whose correspondence was cherished for its clear and direct instruction in the ways of piety. The book collects passages from many of those letters, organized as one message addressed to the allegorical character Philothea (which means "lover of God"). The book includes long sections about prayer, temptation, and how to maintain and renew devotion to God. But it is most distinguished by its discussion of how to live a holy life in the secular world. Each chapter (such as "How to Combine Due Care for a Good Reputation with Humility") is frank, uncannily modern, and precise. --Michael Joseph Gross