Contemplative Prayer: Your Guide to Lectio Divina, Centering Prayer, Mysticism, and Spirituality

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How do you find God? When your soul longs for the spiritual, how do you find the time to turn within? Now, this profound series invites you to look to the contemplative tradition for inspiration and answers. Prayer is one of the most essential acts of the Christian life. In this spiritually edifying 24-lecture series, you will join celebrated author and Pauline sister Kathryn James Hermes, F.S.P., in exploring the tradition of contemplative prayer. Regardless of your level of experience, you will find nourishment in this unique series. Sr. Hermes weaves together various strands of Christian living into a tapestry of spiritual development and Christian maturity. In these presentations, you will find new horizons of contemplative living in today's society. You will explore a variety of practical teachings on contemplative prayer from saints and the Catholic tradition that will help you develop your own spiritual life. You will explore what the ancient mystical tradition of the Church means today in our ever-changing world. You will also learn how to avoid the pitfalls of merely tacking prayer onto your routine, or being too busy for prayer altogether. Instead, you will find paths to inner peace when your heart needs healing. This is a truly essential course for all Christians wishing to live prayerfully.

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From the best-selling author of "The Return of the Prodigal Son," essential listening for Christians, Catholics, and all spiritual seekers. You are no doubt familiar with beloved spiritual master Henri Nouwen, who published 40 highly influential books during his lifetime. Now you can glean additional insights from three edifying Nouwen works published posthumously. Each session was carefully prepared by Dr. Michael Christensen, an award-winning professor of Christian ministry and practice, and Dr. Rebecca Laird, who was Nouwen's student at Yale Divinity School. Each volume of The Nouwen Trilogy collects Nouwen's unpublished homilies, interviews, classes, and speeches, as well as excerpts from his published writings. Editing these works into a definitive guide to the Christian life, Drs. Christensen and Laird memorialize his popular teachings. "Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit" is part of this trilogy. Available for the first time in audio format, these convenient sessions move you through the five stages of spiritual development: awakening, purgation, illumination, dark night, and unification. The audiobook is performed by Joe Abbey-Colborne, a veteran of pastoral ministry who played Nouwen in Gabrielle Earnshaw's presentation "Love, Henri: Letters on the Spiritual Life" with the Henri Nouwen Society. Enhance your spiritual development with Nouwen's wisdom today.

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From the best-selling author of "The Return of the Prodigal Son," essential listening for Christians, Catholics, and all spiritual seekers. We lead our spiritual lives in relationship with others. A faithful community gives us opportunities to worship, share burdens, offer forgiveness, and celebrate life. Wherever he went, Henri Nouwen created such communities, and within them, he offered spiritual direction. Available as an audiobook for the first time ever, "Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith" is part of The Nouwen Trilogy. These convenient audio sessions let you adopt Nouwen as your personal spiritual director. As you listen, you will come to see the spiritual life as he did: a transformative journey that takes on meaning through interpersonal connections. Each session was carefully prepared by Dr. Michael Christensen, an award-winning professor of Christian ministry and practice, and Dr. Rebecca Laird, who was Nouwen's student at Yale Divinity School. Each volume of The Nouwen Trilogy collects Nouwen's unpublished homilies, interviews, classes, and speeches, as well as excerpts from his published writings. Editing these works into a cohesive and definitive guide to the Christian life, Drs. Christensen and Laird memorialize his popular teachings. With Nouwen's guidance, you hold the key to true and lasting spiritual transformation.

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Can a faithful Catholic benefit from understanding Sufism? Merton thought so. Now you can discover why. In the twentieth century, Thomas Merton, one of Christianity’s great mystics, encountered the ancient Eastern mystical tradition known as Sufism. The result was an outpouring of mystical insight and spiritual wisdom. In these talks, you will discover what first electrified Merton. The Sufi mystics have given us one of the world’s most read poets, Rumi, the beautiful mystical dance of whirling dervishes, interreligious insight, and new forms of contemplation. A visionary who sought to synthesize the best of Eastern and Western spiritualities, Thomas Merton’s profound interest in the Sufi mystics is more relevant today than ever. Merton explores the contemplative wisdom of Sufism to enhance our Christian understanding of mysticism and spiritual practice. In one of his talks to the novices at Gethsemani, he said, “The Sufis are seeking to know God and have ways of seeking to know God, and this should have some success with us...We should be closer to the Sufis.” In these talks, you will watch the development of Merton’s spirituality as he moved towards a greater understanding of interreligious dialogue. Merton believed that the Sufis had much to teach us about prayer, mysticism, and contemplation. Merton will bring you to new and exciting places as he reflects on Sufism and the mystical life. What Merton taught in the mid-twentieth century is prophetic for spiritual seekers in the contemporary world. ***Photographs of Thomas Merton by Sybille Akers and John Howard Griffin. Used with Permission of the Merton Legacy Trust and the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University.

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In this brilliantly taught course, you will explore the theology and practice of the Catholic Mass with one of the world's leading liturgical professors as your guide. Catholics believe that every time they gather to celebrate, they are acting in obedience to Jesus' command to ""do this in memory of me. "" Catholics have obeyed this command for nearly two thousand years, and now you can explore anew the spiritual and theological meaning of this vital celebration. Your guide is Fr. John Baldovin, S.J. (Ph.D. Yale), a celebrated professor of liturgical theology at Boston College and past president of the Past president of the North American Academy of Liturgy. Under his guidance, you will gain powerful answers to the most important questions about the Mass: -How did Vatican II influence Eucharistic Liturgy? -How does what we celebrate today find its roots in the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of the Lord? -How has the celebration of the Mass developed over the centuries? How were the Scripture passages used in the Sunday lectionary chosen? -What language and ritual gestures are suitable for our celebrations? -How does the Mass unite us to the Lord and to one another? -How does it participate in the Paschal Mystery? What is the meaning of transubstantiation? Fr. Baldovin answers these and many more questions. Anyone looking for a deeper understanding of the Liturgy of the Eucharist will treasure this course.

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"The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius Loyola" has been one of the greatest classics of Western spirituality for more than 400 years. Whether you are discovering it for the first time or you are an expert seeking fresh insight into the Exercises, you will profit from this unique new series. Your guide is Fr. Brian McDermott, S.J., former academic dean of the Weston Jesuit School of Theology. A spiritual director for 35 years, he has been Jesuit tertian director for the Maryland and New York Jesuit provinces since 1996. "The Exercises" have guided countless Jesuits, other religious and lay people into a profound experience of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. It gained immeasurable success by staying close to the life of Christ, as revealed in the Gospels, and inviting believers to accompany Jesus in his being born, his ministry, his passion and death, and resurrection. These 18 lectures will introduce you to the powerful dynamics of this timeless classic. Drawing on his own experience of directing the Exercises, Fr. McDermott will guide you into the riches of this text with expert commentaries and relevant contemporary theology. Ignatius' imagination was orderly and vibrant. Because of his conviction that believers are best able to grow in their spiritual lives through a combination of structure and flexibility, he developed his Exercises to offer both strengths. You'll explore the series of progressive and cumulative prayer exercises, through which the believer experiences all the most important 'moments' of the Christian journey.

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Gain fresh insights into the New Testament in this life-changing course by a celebrated Bible translator and Oxford professor. Perhaps no other text has so greatly influenced Western civilization as the New Testament. And yet, it also remains widely misunderstood, even among lifelong Christians. Now, "The New Testament: A Bible Study Course" answers your most important questions about its 27 books. Brilliantly presented by Fr. Nicholas King, these 36 engaging lectures give you access to modern scholarship on the New Testament. Fr. King's original translations breathe new life into the words you have so often heard and studied, accurately conveying the mood of the original documents. After a fascinating general introduction to the New Testament, you will take a fresh look at the Pauline epistles. You will enjoy four lectures on each of the Gospels before looking at Acts of the Apostles, the general epistles, and Revelation. Finally, you will consider the important themes of Christ's Resurrection, divine inspiration, and the necessity of the Old Testament. Above all, you will gain a fuller sense of Jesus as a devout Jew who was telling the old story of God and the People of God in a new way. And as Jesus preached, the gospel message is open to all. This scriptural journey will fill you with the excitement that pervades the writings of the New Testament. Embark on it today.

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How do you find God? When your soul longs for the spiritual, how do you find the time to turn within? Now, this profound series invites you to look to the contemplative tradition for inspiration and answers. Prayer is one of the most essential acts of the Christian life. In this spiritually edifying 24-lecture series, you will join celebrated author and Pauline sister Kathryn James Hermes, F.S.P., in exploring the tradition of contemplative prayer. Regardless of your level of experience, you will find nourishment in this unique series. Sr. Hermes weaves together various strands of Christian living into a tapestry of spiritual development and Christian maturity. In these presentations, you will find new horizons of contemplative living in today's society. You will explore a variety of practical teachings on contemplative prayer from saints and the Catholic tradition that will help you develop your own spiritual life. You will explore what the ancient mystical tradition of the Church means today in our ever-changing world. You will also learn how to avoid the pitfalls of merely tacking prayer onto your routine, or being too busy for prayer altogether. Instead, you will find paths to inner peace when your heart needs healing. This is a truly essential course for all Christians wishing to live prayerfully.