In this age of relentless activity, it is easy for Christians, particularly those involved in good works, to fall into the pattern of the activist. But mere activity and material results are not sufficient for a successful apostolate. Dom Chartraud demonstrates that the very foundation of all apostolic work must be the Interior Life. The apostle of Christ will grow to become an instrument and true channel of God’s graces to the world only through prayer, meditation, and the cultivation of the Interior Life. When one is involved in works of spiritual or corporal charity, his work can only be efficacious when he anchors his Interior Life to in Christ. Without Christ, we can do nothing.

Author: Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard, O.C.S.O.

Intimate revelations of Our Lord to three 20th-century mystics: Sr. Josefa Menendez, Sr. Mary of the Trinity, and Sr. Consolata Betrone on a host of subjects. Surprising revelations on how and why Our Lord acts as He does toward people. Beautiful!

Who shall find a valiant woman? far and from the uttermost coasts is the price of her.

Women are attacked on all sides. One side of the attack finds its origin in Protestantism, in which women are sub-par creatures, not helpmates but slaves to men, never to develop the immense talents given by God. On the other side, far more common in our age, women are to remake themselves entirely into the strict imitation of men, breaking down all of the distinctions and differences that are the glory of women. But what is the solution? Are we stuck in one or the other?

This excellent work The Nature, Dignity, and Mission of Woman is a resounding cry by Fr. Karl Stehlin against both of these errors. Fr. Stehlin, a priest with over 25 years of pastoral experience, takes up his pen to examine, explain, and defend real femininity. This book, the fruit of a series of talks given to young ladies at a Catholic boarding school, will help all Catholics, but especially the young, rediscover the immense dignity of being a woman, as lived out in accord with the plan of God‰Û¡ó»s creation.

Topics Covered Include:

The Human Being is the Image of God
Union of Opposites
The Essential Vocation of Woman: Virgo, Sponsa, Mater, Icona Immaculata
Woman as Home-Maker
Woman‰Û¡ó»s Mission in Serving, Suffering, and Hoping
Today‰Û¡ó»s Problems
Preserving Her Beauty
Finding Her Vocation
The Specific Choice of a Husband
Much more!
This book is perfect for any woman or young lady who wishes to understand her important role as a Catholic woman created in the image of God and given a beautiful nature, dignity, and mission!

Calm and spirituality—the true hallmarks of Carthusian writings—distinguish this book. The first part sets out the principles of the interior life; the second works out a method of prayer. There follow eleven sermons, originally given to monks in the chapter, which illustrate this approach. The final portion discusses the complex doctrine of the Trinity with extraordinary clarity. Broken into short chapters, the book is designed for personal reflection and meditation.

Author:  A Carthusian

The present treatise on prayer was first of all printed privately in the French language, and was intended exclusively for the instruction of the daughters of St Benedict. All souls, however, who are aiming at perfection may derive profit and edification from its pages. The spirit of the venerable Abbot Gueranger breathes through the whole work. What this distinguished man thought on the all-important subject of prayer, what he expressed in his conferences, and what he wrote in many parts of his classical work, "The Liturgical Year," is found here systematically arranged. Some of the chapters are real masterpieces.

-Mgr. Paul Leopold Haffner, Bishop of Mayence, September 10, 1896."

Spiritual Life and Prayer according to the Monastic Tradition, is a spiritual treatise on the soul's journey to God. Carefully considering the spiritual life as lived among the trials of the world, the Sacraments, the author considers who are the true worshipers of God and how we become such based on the testimony of Sacred Tradition and the Holy Fathers. Though it is a century old, being based on such timeless testimony it has not lost its luster.

Rule of St. Benedict in English and Latin (side by side)

"Remarkable for its discretion and its clarity." - St. Gregory the Great.
It was 594 when Pope St. Gregory the Great - himself a Benedictine - wrote this tribute to the little book which had shaped his life, and stands today as one of the cornerstones of religious life.
St. Benedict - credited with saving Western Civilization through his monastery system - adopted a remarkably common approach to growing in grace.
In part, St. Benedict was reacting to the extreme ascetical practices of the East where hermits starved themselves, went without sleep, and dressed in rags. Without minimizing the importance of that self-sacrifice, St. Benedict insisted that monks could not attend properly to their work and study, let alone their celebration of Mass and the Divine Office, if they were denied nutritious meals, ample rest, proper clothing - and daily structure.
The Benedictine historian, Dom David Knowles, wrote that in the Rule, St. Benedict created a new type of monastery, one that was "neither a penitentiary nor a school of ascetic mountaineering, but a family, a home for those seeking God."
If Benedict was comparatively lenient about disciplining the body, he was adamant about the need to subdue the will. His Rule emphasizes:• obedience • humility • fraternal charity • These virtues, once acquired, root out pride. Then, to the standard vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, St. Benedict added the vow of stability, in which a monk promised to remain in his monastery until death (unless his superiors sent him elsewhere). By this fourth vow, Benedict made each monastery a brotherhood, a family, in which each member works for the good of the whole.
Furthermore, each member of the monastic family found in the Rule a standard against which he could measure his every action. By being moderate and flexible in day-to-day concerns, but uncompromising in spiritual matters, St. Benedict's Rule has endured for 1,500 years as a living code, a guiding light that has shown untold numbers of religious men and women the path to holiness. No rectory, no religious house, and no Catholic family, should be without a copy of this seminal work.

Translated & Edited by - Abbot Justin McCann, O.S.B.
Paperback

St Catherine of Siena's Dialogue describes the entire spiritual life through a series of conversations between God and the soul, represented by Catherine herself. Readers of The Dialogue of Saint Catherine of Siena, will find her revelations from God as informative - and formative - as those who recognized her sanctity during her life.

Author: St. Catherine of Siena
 

THE book on devotion to the Sacred Heart! Commissioned by Our Lord Himself through St. Margaret Mary and received, through her, His endorsement. Responsible for the early, rapid spread of the Sacred Heart devotion. Contains the Saint's life, her prayers to the Sacred Heart, the Sacred Heart Promises (far more than the famous "12 Promises"), and much, much more! Great!

This practical guide to the spiritual life, cherished by monks, beguines, and layfolk for eight centuries, can still lead men and women to God.

A true treasure of spiritual insights, this little booklet contains the remarkable meditations on the Agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane by Blessed Padre Pio, the stigmatist priest. One of his few writings, the booklet also includes many pictures of Blessed Padre Pio from throughout his ministry. Padre Pio's beautiful and descriptive manner of writing provides a wonderful spiritual insight into that last night of Jesus' human life.

Excerpt:

"Jesus has returned to His place of prayer, and another picture, more terrible than the first, presents itself to Him. All our sins with their entire ugliness parade before Him in every detail. He must clothe Himself with this entire unclean mass of human corruption and present Himself before the sanctity of His Father, to expiate everything with individual pains, to render Him all that glory of which they have robbed Him, to cleanse that human cesspool in which man wallows with contemptible indifference.

And all this does not make Him retreat. As a raging sea, this mass inundates Him, enfolds Him, and oppresses Him. Behold Him before His Father the God of Justice, facing the full penalty of divine justice. He, the essence of purity, sanctity by nature, in contact with sin, indeed, as if He Himself had become a sinner! Who can fathom the disgust that He feels in His innermost spirit? The horror He feels? The nausea, the contempt He senses so vividly? And having taken all upon Himself, nothing excepted, He is crushed by this immense weight, oppressed, thrown down, prostrated. Exhausted, He groans beneath the weight of Divine Justice, before His Father, Who has permitted His Son to offer Himself as a Victim for sin, as one accursed."

The Meditation Prayer on Mary Immaculate is one of Padre Pio's few published writings, penned before he was forbidden by the Church to publish or to engage in correspondence for fear a cult would arise around him. Here we encounter a profound spiritual penetration into the mystery of Mary's unique and sublime role in our salvation. Though brief, it can be read over and over with great benefit since it is –just as the title suggests a meditation and a prayer on the meaning of Mary. This booklet also contains a brief sketch of Padre Pio's life and numerous edifying pictures of this saintly stigmatist.

Those seeking to deepen their spiritual lives by visiting monasteries rarely have enough time to absorb as much as they would like. In this book, an experienced spiritual master provides an intensive directed retreat that relies heavily on the rich Cistercian spiritual tradition. Readers may read and digest at their own pace, savoring the author's contagious enthusiasm for the monastic way and the medieval monks who formed this distinctive contemplative tradition.

"Mary's Troubadour" is the way most people remember St. Bernard of Clairvaux, so refined was his tremendous devotion to the Mother of God. On the eighth centenary of his death, Pope Pius XII dubbed him the "Mellifluous Doctor," thus paying tribute to the sweet accents of his flowing prose. This "Last of the Fathers of the Church" has never ceased to inspire his readers with a deeper love of the Lord. His pursuit of charity, his zeal for the purity of the monastic lifestyle, his fidelity to the Faith, and his promotion of contemplative prayer have endeared him to generations of the faithful down through the ages. In this collection of his writings, emphasis has been placed on abridging his better-known works and letters with the hope that, as a sampler, more people may be inspired to read them in their entirety. This book will serve as an introduction to a great saint whose message is, if anything, more timely today than it ever was.

Author: St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Blessed Padre Pio, a humble peasant, and world-famous stigmatist, spoke simple words of Christian encouragement and inspiration to all who approached him seeking counsel. This biographical sketch and collection of memorable sayings is a compact and accessible introduction to the life and message of one of the great religious figures of the 20th century.

Compiled by Anthony F. Chiffolo

The always eloquent Bernard of Clairvaux preaches on the joys and spiritual opportunities of summertime festivals: Rogationtide, Ascension Day, the Pentecost season, and the feasts of Saint John the Baptist and SS Peter and Paul. From a world still in touch with the seasons of nature and a lifestyle integrating prayer and physical work, he speaks to moderns with insight and calm sanity.

Translated by Beverly Kienzle with James Jarzembowski
 

We live in an age characterized by 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 that ought to be ours. What must we do to overcome the moments of fear and distress which assail us? How can we learn to place all our confidence in God and abandon ourselves to his loving care? This is what is taught in this simple, yet profound little treatise on peace of mind. Taking concrete examples from our everyday lives, 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 ceasing. This book is here to help us in that pursuit.

Author: Jacques Philippe

By Marie Vincent Bernadot, O.P.

From the Eucharist to the Trinity is the culminating work of Fr. Marie Vincent Bernadot’s reflection on the practice of receiving the Eucharist. In the Introduction to this new edition, Sr. Maria of the Angels writes, “The basic idea, as the title suggests, is that ardent reception of the Eucharist makes possible the indwelling of the entire Trinity; through Holy Communion, each divine Person is increasingly present in the soul and active according to the particular properties of each.” The Introduction highlights how Fr. Bernadot saw the written word as a fruitful way of communicating God’s desire to dwell within us. Bernadot engages the wisdom of the saints and offers practical advice about how to maintain union with the Trinity in work and suffering. From the Eucharist to the Trinity is a wonderful book for those hoping to deepen their desire for the Eucharist and let the Trinity take root in their hearts.

“The Sacrament of the Altar...[is]...the Sacrament in which all the rest receive their consummation and crown.”

Marie Vincent Bernadot, O.P. (1883–1941) was ordained a priest in 1906 and entered the Order of Preachers in 1912. He founded the weekly magazine Sept, a journal, La Vie spirituelle, and a Parisian publishing house, Les Éditions du Cerf. He founded another journal, La Vie Intellectuelle, with the help of Jacques Maritain. Fr. Bernadot preached retreats, and wrote and translated numerous works with a desire to enrich the intellectual and spiritual lives of the faithful.

Devotion to St. Benedict

This Book of Meditations is a classic and is seeped in Carmelite spirituality. For every day it offers two meditations, in liturgical arrangement, that enable the soul to enter the conscious presence of God and to reflect on the theme of the day. These are followed by a ‘Colloquy’ that helps the person at prayer to start a friendly conversation with God where acts of praise and love, petition, and thanksgiving are made, together with good resolutions for the future. Here we are at the very heart of prayer, which is a heart-to-heart encounter in faith with the living God. -  by Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.

Divine Intimacy is the highest state attainable on earth. In this union of love, the soul produces acts of love that have an immense apostolic influence on a multitude of souls. This knowledge of the ways that lead to God, according to the teaching of the renowned Spanish mystics, is distilled into the pages of this book.

Dom Gabriel Sortais: An Amazing Abbot in Turbulent Times is an engaging biography of one of the most colorful Abbot Generals among the Trappists. Dom Gabriel put his stamp on the order in a very personal way, a form that remains with us today despite his best efforts to bring the Order up to date. His tragic death during the course of Vatican Two impeded the implementation of his vision for the whole Order. Dom Guy Oury, a Benedictine monk of Solesmes, has written the story with remarkable clarity. As much as possible, Fr. Oury works from the primary sources, which include witnesses and documents from the Abbey of Bellefontaine in France, where he was a monk and later abbot before being elected Abbot General of the order, as well as the archives of the Generalate in Rome. This book offers insight into the lives of the Trappists during the troubled times of World War II and also throughout the changes of Vatican Two.

Fr. Guy Oury, OSB, was asked by Dom Emmanuel Coutant, the Abbot of Bellefontaine, to write the biography of his predecessor, Dom Gabriel Sortais. He was given all the papers in the archives at Bellefontaine that were gathered together following Dom Gabriel's death. There is an admirable objectivity in the present biography, which was ably translated into English by Br. Brian Kerns of the Abbey of the Genesee, near Piffard, New York. The Afterword by Fr. Laurence Bourget of St. Joseph's Abbey, Spencer, Massachusettes, demonstrates an appreciation by a monk who worked closely with Dom Gabriel Sortais during the last years of his life. Fr. Guy Oury himself died on November 2, 2000, at the age of 71.