The writing of Henry David Thoreau is as full of life today as it was when he published Walden one hundred years ago. In seeking to understand nature, Thoreau sought to "lead a fresh, simple life with God." In 1848 a seeker named Harrison Blake, yearning for a spiritual life of his own, asked the then-fledgling writer for guidance. The fifty letters that ensued, collected here for the first time in their own volume by Thoreau specialist Bradley P. Dean, are by turns earnest, oracular, witty, playful, practical— and deeply insightful and inspiring, as one would expect from America's best prose stylist and great moral philosopher.

Apart from her celebrity status as 'the art nun', generated by her television programmes, Sister Wendy has been approached throughout her life for counsel on the spiritual life and the life of prayer. Here, for the first time, are collected some of the finest of her responses in the form of letters, kept and treasured by their receipients over the years. Sister Wendy herself has written a charming and very personal autobiographical preface in which she sets these letters in their context. This little book is a treasure trove of wisdom and sound simple advice.

Abbott Chapman's Spiritual Letters, collected and edited posthumously by Dom Roger Hudleston, have been read and found of profound help by countless thousands since they were first published almost half a century ago. This book includes a range of Abbot Chapman's letters both to lay people, including two married ladies and the editor of The Dublin Review, and to religious such as a Benedictine monk, a Servite nun and a Jesuit Scholastic. In his new introduction, Sebastian Moore OSB says 'As a guide to praying, the Letters are superb. As a guide to living, too, Chapman is decades ahead of his time.'

When Amy Andrews and Jessica Mesman Griffith met in a creative writing class in graduate school, they both confessed to writing about God. They bonded one night while reading the Book of Ruth and came to truly understand the unlikely friendship of Ruth and Naomi. In these two Old Testament women, they witnessed a beautiful spiritual friendship and a way of walking with one another toward God. But how could they travel this path together when they would be separated by distance and time and leading busy lives as they established marriages and careers? They decided to write letters to each other—at first, for each day of Lent, but those days extended into years. Their letters became a memoir in real time and reveal deeply personal and profound accounts of conversion, motherhood, and crushing tragedy; through it all, their faith and friendship sustained them. Told through the timeless medium of letters—in prose that is raw and intimate, humorous and poetic—Love & Salt is at its core the emotional struggle of how one spiritual friendship is formed and tested in tragedy, tempered and proven in hope.

When medium Monica Teurlings looks back on her life, she sees all the little breadcrumbs dropped on her path to get her where she is standing today. It's the same for all of us. We are each given so many breadcrumbs on our trails to guide us where we each need to be. Do we see them? Are we looking? Letters from Spirit is a collection of channeled letters given to Monica by her spirit guides, Edgar. Through the letters, you will receive teachings from Edgar-easy, practical, and modern teachings intended to nudge you along your chosen path. Each letter contains specific, simple messages that aim to uplift, inspire, and help us forward in life. Like Monica, you have guides who walk with you, too. We each have our own wonderful, loving helpers that give us guidance and put things on our trail. It is our choice to follow the breadcrumbs toward a destined purpose or ignore them and live lackluster lives. Are you ready to start living with purpose?

One of the key figures in Christian history, St. Ignatius of Loyola (c. 1491-1556) was a passionate and unique spiritual thinker and visionary. The works gathered here provide a first-hand, personal introduction to this remarkable character: a man who turned away from the Spanish nobility to create the revolutionary Jesuit Order, inspired by the desire to help people follow Christ. His Reminiscences describe his early life, his religious conversion following near-paralysis in battle, and his spiritual and physical ordeals as he struggled to assist those in need, including plague, persecution and imprisonment. The Spiritual Exercises offer guidelines to those seeking the will of God, and the Spiritual Diary shows Ignatius in daily mystical contact with God during a personal strugg;e. The Letters collected here provide an insight into Ignatius' ceaseless campaign to assist those seeking enlightenment and to direct the young Society of Jesus.

This is the first book in the author's series on Christian maturity.

In this collection of Francis Schaeffer's letters, the personal, spiritual, and practical side of Dr. Schaeffer's work comes shining through so clearly. Each of us will find here something of ourselves, our frailty and our human need, but also something of what we might become through the transforming presence of Jesus Christ in our lives.