Fairacres Publications 179 The way of life of the fourth-century Desert Fathers, with its emphasis on solitude, silence and unceasing prayer, has inspired many modern spiritual writers. Why do the Desert Fathers have so much to say to us? To answer this question, Sister Benedicta presents some of the best and most illuminating stories and sayings from the desert. Readers will find spiritual wisdom, along with sharp humour and startling insight into human nature.

`Give me a word, Father', visitors to early desert monks asked. The responses of these pioneer ascetics were remembered and in the fourth century written down in Coptic, Syriac, Greek, and later Latin. Their Sayings were collected, in this case in the alphabetical order of the monks and nuns who uttered them, and read by generations of Christians as life-giving words that would help readers along the path to salvation.

The Desert Fathers were the first Christian monks, living in solitude in the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. In contrast to the formalised and official theology of the "founding fathers" of the church, the Desert Fathers were ordinary Christians who chose to renounce the world and live lives of celibacy, fasting, vigil, prayer and poverty in direct and simple response to the gospel. Their sayings were first recorded in the 4th century and consist of spiritual advice, anecdotes and parables. The Desert Fathers' teachings and lives have inspired poetry, opera and art, as well as providing spiritual nourishment and a template for monastic life.

In the first few centuries of Christianity, thousands of believers left the cities for the desert, in order to seek a purer spirituality than they could find among the distractions of ordinary life. Their teachings began our rich heritage of Christian mysticism, and continue to inspire people today who desire to be transformed in the counter-cultural image of Christ. This collection of short sayings from the desert fathers and mothers provides a powerful word of wisdom for every day of the year. Together, they show us how the desert, or any place of inner solitude, is fertile ground for a relationship with God to grow and flourish.

"In this revised edition of Becoming Fire: Through the Year with the Desert Fathers and Mothers, Tim Vivian arranges the sayings of the desert monks of the fifth and sixth centuries in short daily readings. This volume provides sayings and stories for each day of the year to use for lectio divina; saints and revered persons from the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Episcopalian traditions; sayings from the Philokalia and the fourth-fifth century monastic writers Neilos of Ancyra and Hyperechios, among others"--

Fairacres Publications 218 This is a book about the nature and practice of prayer for the serious Christian, lay and clerical, in which the problems of the spiritual life in the modern world are presented as a challenge. Mother Mary Clare, who was one of the Anglican Church’s leading spiritual directors, takes the major contemplative themes and brings to them her unique blend of spiritual realism, vision and authority. Prayer begins and ends in the inescapable necessity of a relationship with God; the dimension of silence reveals that praying is not only an action but a still contemplation; the path of spiritual progress is to discern in the union of action and contemplation a deeper listening which leads to an apostolate of prayer renewing the action of contemplation. It is all God’s Work. In his foreword, Bishop Michael Ramsey writes: ‘I hope this little book will have many readers, as I am sure it will help them as it has helped me … Christian lives which know contemplation will be lives nearer the love of God…’

Fairacres Publications 160 These theological reflections on the Cross and Passion of Jesus Christ touch upon some central paradoxes of the Christian faith. Jesus was put to death publicly by crucifixion which, according to traditional Jewish teaching, was a scandal and an affront to God. Yet a Roman centurion present was able to exclaim in awe, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’ The book invites us to ponder instances where strength was manifested in weakness, not only for Jesus – in Gethsemane, at his Trial and on the Cross – but also for those two pillars of the early Church, Peter and Paul, as they too wrestled with ‘the Scandal of the Cross’.

Thomas Campion (1567–1620) was a composer of lute song and the author a significant body of Latin and English poetry and masques written for the Stuart court. This volume collects all of Campion’s sacred poetry in one place for the first time. Campion’s lyric style was influenced by Sir Philip Sidney, but also by the music to which it was most often set: the lines flow gracefully, with an elegant and direct communication of depth and sincerity. Campion’s faith is evident and his texts speak as vividly to us today as they did to those who copied and shared them during his lifetime and beyond.

Fairacres Publications 217 In his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, the Venerable Bede (673–735) recorded not simply the biographies of the early saints of Britain, but the stories and myths about them, deliberately passed down from those who knew them, describing the impact they had on those close to them. Bede gave a very full account of Alban, despite the chronological distance separating them, but his sources for information about St Cuthbert were those who had known the saint personally, giving Bede’s account considerable authority. His texts are first-rate hagiographies, providing us with compelling prose images of the enduring power of genuine, selfless holiness in the early church. From Bede and other sources, Sister Benedicta is able to paint a picture of the spirituality of these two saints who are so crucial to understanding early Christianity in Britain.

Fairacres Publications 136 The English mystic Walter Hilton was born c. 1340–5 and died at the Priory of St Peter at Thurgarton, Nottinghamshire in 1396. Little is known of his life, but after beginning a legal and administrative career he attempted the solitary life, but finally discovered his true vocation as an Augustinian Canon. His spiritual writings in English and Latin are ranked alongside those of the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing and Julian of Norwich, and include Angels’ Song (also translated by Rosemary Dorward and published by SLG Press in 1983), commentaries on Psalm texts, and a number of letters of spiritual guidance. Mixed Life was originally intended to be read as the third part of Hilton’s best-known work, The Scale of Perfection, and is a set of instructions for a ‘worldly lord’ on balancing the spiritual and practical aspects of leading a godly life. This new edition includes the first full print publication of a diplomatic transcription of the ‘Vernon MS’ text from which this translation was made.