Few people have ever seen or heard of The Spirit of Simplicity: it has been hidden for almost seventy years after quietly being published by the Abbey of Gethsemani in 1948. Anonymously translated and annotated by a young monk named Thomas Merton, the book’s author—who also is not mentioned by name in the original edition—is Jean-Baptiste Chautard, the famous French Cistercian whose only other book, The Soul of the Apostolate, has been a favorite of modern saints and popes, including Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Every generation struggles with the question of simplicity. In the history of our faith, there have been no more eloquent voices calling us back to simplicity than the monks of the Cistercian Order, from Bernard of Clairvaux to Chautard to Merton—all of whom contribute to this powerful book. Merton surrounds Chautard’s text with his own remarks on simplicity, translations of classic texts by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and commentary that allows readers to pursue the themes of simplicity in their own lives. "Only a very inadequate idea of exterior simplicity can be arrived at if we do not trace it back to its true source: interior simplicity. Without this, our resolution to practice exterior simplicity would be without light, without love …," Chautard wrote at the beginning of the book. He is writing to his fellow Cistercians, but he might as well be speaking to twenty-first century Christians. He goes on to lay out the best disciplines that a monk—or anyone—might practice to find the elusive simplicity, with quotations from St. Benedict, St. Bernard, and other pillars of monastic life and spirituality. A dozen photographs of Cistercian architecture illustrate how principles of simplicity are incorporated into Cistercian daily life. In Part 2, Merton opens up the teachings of St. Bernard, a great mystic and doctor of the Church, offering excerpts from St. Bernard’s writings on the original simplicity in the Garden of Eden, the difficulty of intellectual simplicity, the simplicity of the will (obedience), and other kindred topics. Merton also offers personal reflections from the perspective of one who had recently exchanged an active life in pursuit of worldly things for the solitude of a monk.

Discover the answer to our culture’s need for simplicity and peace—by doing less and loving more. If you crave simplicity, yearn for peace and calm, this is the book for you. Author Chip Ingram goes beyond quick fixes and speaks to all of us who find it impossible to break free of our busy lifestyles, filled with too many good and important things that fill our schedules. The message of this book is simple: Spiritual simplicity will not be achieved by strategic attempts to control our lives and schedules but through doing less because we are able to love more. As you learn the practice of loving people, you will experience a shift from complex to simple, from hurried to peaceful, from “never enough time” to “time enough for those you love.” It’s time to redirect our focus from the complex, overextended lifestyle that keeps us running but never arriving. In Spiritual Simplicity, learn how to “reorient your life around life. The result is a life whose priorities are so radically rearranged that” (Dave Stone, author of the Faithful Families series) lasting change is finally within your reach.

Richard J. Foster’s Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth is hailed by many as the best modern book on Christian spirituality with millions of copies sold since its original publication in 1978. In Celebration of Discipline, Foster explores the "classic Disciplines," or central spiritual practices, of the Christian faith to show how each of these areas contribute to a balanced spiritual life. Foster, the bestselling author of several books (Prayer and Streams of Living Water) and intrachurch movement founder of Renovaré, helps motivate Christians everywhere to embark on a journey of prayer and spiritual growth.

The doctrine of divine simplicity has long played a crucial role in Western Christianity's understanding of God. It claimed that by denying that God is composed of parts Christians are able to account for his absolute self-sufficiency and his ultimate sufficiency as the absolute Creator of the world. If God were a composite being then something other than the Godhead itself would be required to explain or account for God. If this were the case then God would not be most absolute and would not be able to adequately know or account for himself without reference to something other than himself. This book develops these arguments by examining the implications of divine simplicity for God's existence, attributes, knowledge, and will. Along the way there is extensive interaction with older writers, such as Thomas Aquinas and the Reformed scholastics, as well as more recent philosophers and theologians. An attempt is made to answer some of the currently popular criticisms of divine simplicity and to reassert the vital importance of continuing to confess that God is without parts, even in the modern philosophical-theological milieu.

Our closets, our garages, our cupboards, our lives are--let's face it--cluttered. Stuff is everywhere: old yearbooks, projects we started years ago but never finished, commitments to activities that we now regret making but don't feel we can pull out of. Are you longing for space--for simplicity? Here is a book to bring you there. Soul Care® Resources are designed to be simple, but not simplistic, guides to maintaining or recovering the life and health of your soul, that essential personhood created by God as you. In four sections Mindy Caliguire helps you discover and embrace who you are, set healthy boundaries and embrace simplicity as a lifestyle that brings freedom. You use this book in small chunks of daily reading, covering the whole book in the course of four weeks. Also included are four guided group discussions for use with a small group or a spiritual friend. Are you ready to start your journey toward simplicity?

Which activities give you energy and connect you with God? Do you know what behaviors are life-draining for you, separating you from God? In this book Jan Johnson provides small experiments with simplicity as well as questions for discussion or reflection to help you discover the unhurried rhythms of grace.

From the best-selling author of God Is a Verb, the classic spiritual retreat guide that enables anyone to create their own self-guided spiritual retreat at home. The ancient mystics looked to spiritual retreat as a way of cleansing the body and healing the soul. In Silence, Simplicity & Solitude, David A. Cooper traces the path of the mystics and the practice of spiritual retreat in all the major faith traditions, sharing the common techniques and practices of the retreat experience for beginner and advanced meditators alike. Cooper shows the way to the self-discovery and discipline of the spiritual retreat experience and clearly instructs how to create an effective, self-guided spiritual retreat in your own home. Silence, Simplicity & Solitude teaches that not only is silence a great healer, but that inner spiritual retreat can provide life-changing insight into deeper spiritual truths

We search the world for spirituality and peace--only to discover that happiness and satisfaction are not found "out there" in the world but right here, in our houses and in our hearts. "There's no place like home" holds true whether we live in a castle or a condo, a mansion or a studio apartment. Home Sweeter Home offers creative insights and suggestions for making our home life more nurturing, spiritual, and rewarding for ourselves, our families, and our friends.

A revised and updated edition of the manifesto that shows how simplicity is not merely having less stress and more leisure but an essential spiritual discipline for the health of our soul.

At last — a spiritual book for Catholics who have to devote more time to making dinner and picking up the kids than to meditation and prayer! Essential (and easy) reading for busy Catholics, Strength in Simplicity shows you how to grow closer to God in the things you already do every day, without burdening you with numerous devotions or complicated methods. Author Emmanuel de Gibergues explores the virtue of simplicity — that is, having the single intention of pleasing God in all that you do. You'll learn what a difference simplicity can make for you — as it did for our Lord and our Lady. You'll come to recognize the signs of true simplicity and find out how to practice simplicity toward God and in your life's activities. Even better, you'll find the secrets of practicing simplicity within yourself — a deceptively difficult spiritual discipline that de Gibergues makes easy here. As this book helps you bring the calming and transforming virtue of simplicity into every part of your life, you'll become better able to direct all things to God and learn new ways to be attentive to His presence in your life. Don't rush through life without this saving message! “Readers will be richly rewarded with spiritual insight.” Publishers Weekly Strength in Simplicity reveals to you: True simplicity: how it isn’t willful ignorance or simple-mindednessYour intentions: are they pure? Why this could be the most important question you’ll ever answerTwo advantages of simplicity: what you’ll gain by clearing your life of complicationsHow simplicity can make you generous, courageous, and more lovingFailure: your attitude toward it may be crippling your spiritual life. Find out howThe most dreaded enemy of your soul’s progress: is it keeping you from deepening your happiness and love for God?Two indispensable qualities for beginners in the spiritual life: do you have them?And much more to help you simplify your life and come closer to God!