What does God want for our lives? How can we assess when feelings, even pleasant ones, are signs that God is calling us in a particular direction? In Spiritual Consolation, Timothy Gallagher, a retreat leader and popular author of The Examen Prayer and The Discernment of Spirits, introduces us to the teachings of Ignatius of Loyola on this crucial question. Through the use of real-life examples and the Ignatian principles from the Second Rule, Fr. Gallagher shows how all of us, especially those with busy religious lives, can learn to hear and follow God's leading. This book is both the completion of Dr. Gallagher's esteemed Ignatian trilogy and a provocative work in its own right.

Satan is always at work breeding sadness and anxiety while providing obstacles that prevent souls from making spiritual progress. In this concise yet powerful book, author Dan Burke presents the venerable, time-tested wisdom of Catholic mystics to help you understand the influence of the Enemy on your mind and heart, and the tactics you need to combat him. With St. Ignatius as his guide, Burke presents here an indispensable, authoritative manual for engaging in daily battle with the Adversary—combat that is both inevitable and winnable. Burke will help you recognize the ebbs and flows of consolation and desolation, and distinguish between the voices of God and of Satan. Best of all, you'll come to see the spiritual life not as a science to be learned, but as an intuitive art to be practiced as you move with increasing success from habitual sin to sanctity. The battle for our souls is unavoidable. The saints won theirs by learning how to be spiritual warriors and by recognizing that we become stronger through battle and grow weaker from avoidance. With this book as your guide, you'll grow in strength and contentment as you learn: How to take captive every negative thought and make it obedient to Christ St. Ignatius's revelations exposing how the Devil seeks to influence us The Paradigm of Ascent and the Five Steps to Sanctity The three ways you can discern “Good Spirits” from “Bad Spirits” The three principal causes of desolation—and what you must do when it afflicts your soul Proven methods for moving away from sin and toward self-giving love of God and neighbor.

For most of us, mourning is something to be endured. We are often merely passive spectators of our own pain, and we see our grief period as a grim mountain that we must climb over. But Maurice Lamm tells us it can be much more. Bereavement, he says, can often be an enriching experience, even as it is a sorrowful and often tragic one. Our faith in a higher power can move us to not only live through the present but also to stride into the future with renewed energy and a revitalized outlook on life. In this, his sequel to the best-selling The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning (over 350,000 copies sold), Rabbi Lamm helps mourners not just get through their grief, but also grow through it. He gently steers mourners on the path that allows their sorrow to teach them important lessons about life. And he shows consolers how to listen and speak with their hearts so that they can provide real comfort to others. His marvelous insights on the days of shiva, the year of kaddish, and the lovingkindness of others reveal the richness and true purpose of Jewish mourning rituals and customs. They prepare us to receive consolation and ready us for the journey that will take us beyond grief. His "Words for a Loss When at a Loss for Words" is a treasury of readings for finding and giving comfort by transforming the spiritual ideas of an ancient faith into contemporary language. Here there are stories and fables that illuminate our complicated lives, meditations from the depths of human experience, and a gallery of unforgettable images that speak to our souls during times of loss. Rabbi Lamm's words will help all who walk the path of grief to find their way to consolation--and then beyond, to an appreciation of the blessings and opportunities that present themselves to us when we confront loss. And they can even take us further, to discover the celebrated Jewish art--of wringing blessing out of tragedy.

Many of us do not trust our own thoughts, feelings, and desires when it comes to discerning God’s will. Instead we look outside ourselves to determine what God wants from and for us. In God’s Voice Within, spiritual director Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ, shows us how to use Ignatian discernment to access our own spiritual intuition and understand that the most trustworthy wisdom of all comes not from outside sources, but from God working through us. God’s Voice Within is intended for people who know that there is more to the spiritual life than they are currently experiencing and are ready to take the next step in their walk of faith by making effective discernment—specifically Ignatian discernment—a daily practice. Ultimately, God’s Voice Within teaches us to discern what is at the root of our actions and emotions, which in turn allows us to respond to God’s promptings inside us rather than unconsciously reacting to life around us.

To navigate the inevitable ups and downs of our spiritual lives, countless souls have found comfort and guidance in St. Ignatius of Loyola's Rules for Discernment. For the past forty years, popular retreat master and author Fr. Timothy Gallagher has been at the forefront of making St. Ignatius's Rules understandable and applicable to hundreds of thousands of Catholics seeking greater sensitivity to the "movements of their souls. Now Fr. Gallagher returns with a more focused mission: to help you apply these rules to your role as a husband or a wife. In Discernment of Spirits in Marriage, Fr. Gallagher aims to free you from discouragement and assist you in finding peace in your spiritual life and in your marriage. He will help you determine what is of God and what is not and will show you how the enemy works to discourage you in your daily spousal interactions in order to undermine both your spiritual growth and your marital bond. Best of all, you'll learn what to do about it! With St. Ignatius and Fr. Gallagher as your guides, you'll learn: How to identify and remove spiritually harmful habits The eleven forms of spiritual desolation — and the four things you must do to combat it Why God permits spiritual dryness The easiest way to resist temptation Your marriage's most vulnerable place — and how to strengthen it The four tactics of the enemy — and the grace-filled responses you can offer to each. The five ways in which God strengthens husbands and wives who seek to grow spiritually

For anyone who is curious to go deeper in their relationship with Jesus Christ, Seeking First the Kingdom: 30 Meditations on How to Love God with All Your Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength was written to help those pursuing Christ to take the next step in spiritual maturity. You want to go deeper and grow closer, but how? By identifying four core areas of your relationship with God (heart, soul, mind, and strength), Fr. John Bartunek helps determine what areas you're stuck in. Short chapters and reflection/discussion questions make this book digestible and applicable to your life. By identifying where you need to grow, you'll experience renewed enthusiasm and discover a new depth to your prayer life.Seeking First the Kingdom is full of practical examples and down-to-earth wisdom which will show you how to bring Christ into each facet of your life. In these 30 meditations, you'll learn:-How to bring every dimension of your being into your relationship with God-How to handle the emotional roller coaster of everyday life-How to overcome spiritual obstacles and roadblocks-Ways to develop virtue and grow in holinessAlong the way, you'll discover how to cultivate a deep and joy-filled friendship with Christ - an adventure that begins today, here on earth, and continues for all eternity.

If we're honest, most of us feel bored, distracted, or discouraged in prayer. We look for resources to give us the "right" words or teach us the "right" technique and are disappointed when they don't seem to help. What we fail to realize is that prayer isn't a place for us to be good or right, and it isn't a place for us to perform or prove our worth. It's a place for us to be honest, present, and known--a place for us to offer ourselves and receive God. Spiritual formation experts Kyle Strobel and John Coe want to show you what you've been missing when it comes to prayer. In this down-to-earth book, they show you how to fearlessly draw near to a holy God, pray without ceasing (and without posturing), and delight in the experience of being fully known and fully loved. Each chapter ends with prayer projects or practices to help you see a difference in your prayer life, starting now.

Throughout Antiquity and the Middle Ages, literature was read with the ear as much as with the eye: silent reading was the exception; audible reading, the norm. This highly original book shows that Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy - one of the most widely-read texts in Western history - aims to affect the listener through the designs of its rhythmic sound. Stephen Blackwood argues that the Consolation's metres are arranged in patterns that have a therapeutic and liturgical purpose: as a bodily mediation of the text's consolation, these rhythmic patterns enable the listener to discern the eternal in the motion of time. The Consolation of Boethius as Poetic Liturgy vividly explores how in this acoustic encounter with the text philosophy becomes a lived reality, and reading a kind of prayer.