The Soul of the Apostolate was the favorite book of Pope St. Pius X. This book shows how prayer is the soul of every apostolic work and is absolutely critical for apostolic success. Explores all the proved methods of developing and maintaining the interior life amid the bustle of daily activity. This excellent book will help you to understand the economy of salvation, as well as the many dead-ends that we fallen creatures tend to follow. A critically important introduction to the spiritual life! This important book has been recommended by Pope St. Pius X and his successor, Pope Benedict XV. Pope St. Pius X said, "If you desire that God should bless your apostolate and make it fruitful, undertake everything for His glory, saturate yourself and your devoted fellow-workers with the spirit of Jesus Christ, animating yourself and them with an intense interior life. To this end, I can offer you no better guide than The Soul of the Apostolate by Dom Chautard, Cistercian Abbot. I warmly recommend this book to you, as I value it very highly, and have myself made it my bedside book."

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.

The perfect gift! A specially priced, beautifully designed hardcover edition of The Joy of the Gospel with a foreword by Robert Barron and an afterword by James Martin, SJ. “The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus… In this Exhortation I wish to encourage the Christian faithful to embark upon a new chapter of evangelization marked by this joy, while pointing out new paths for the Church’s journey in years to come.” – Pope Francis This special edition of Pope Francis's popular message of hope explores themes that are important for believers in the 21st century. Examining the many obstacles to faith and what can be done to overcome those hurdles, he emphasizes the importance of service to God and all his creation. Advocating for “the homeless, the addicted, refugees, indigenous peoples, the elderly who are increasingly isolated and abandoned,” the Holy Father shows us how to respond to poverty and current economic challenges that affect us locally and globally. Ultimately, Pope Francis demonstrates how to develop a more personal relationship with Jesus Christ, “to recognize the traces of God’s Spirit in events great and small.” Profound in its insight, yet warm and accessible in its tone, The Joy of the Gospel is a call to action to live a life motivated by divine love and, in turn, to experience heaven on earth. Includes a foreword by Robert Barron, author of Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith and James Martin, SJ, author of Jesus: A Pilgrimage

Published on February 11, 1984, Salvifici Doloris addresses the question of why God allows suffering. This 30th anniversary edition includes the complete text of the letter plus commentary by Myles N. Sheehan, SJ, MD, a priest and physician trained in geriatrics with an expertise in palliative care. Acknowledgments of recent episodes of violence bring the papal document into a modern context. Insightful questions suited for individual or group use, applicable prayers, and ideas for meaningful action invite readers to personally respond to the mystery of suffering.

“Today bring to Me all mankind, especially all sinners, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy.” — Jesus to St. Faustina Throughout her Diary, St. Faustina speaks of Jesus' call for the conversion of souls. Through prayer and sacrifice, the Lord calls us all to strive for our own conversion, and for the conversion of the whole world. Perhaps you've tried everything to draw your friend or family member back to faith in God. In St. Faustina Prayer Book for the Conversion of Sinners, best-selling author Susan Tassone shows you how to place the lives of all you love into God's merciful hands. Known worldwide as leading the “purgatory movement,” Susan invites you to learn how to live the message of conversion daily, to avoid purgatory, and to become more faithful in praying for others. “St. Faustina Prayer Book for the Conversion of Sinners is a much-needed treasure which allows us to glimpse the mercy of God and his call to conversion. I pray that all who read this book will be touched by God's love and experience the grace needed to follow Jesus more closely as his disciples” — Cardinal Seán Patrick O'Malley, OFM Cap. “Use [the St. Faustina Prayer Book for the Conversion of Sinners] faithfully to pray for relatives and friends, and apply it to yourself to help with your own growth in holiness.” — Greg Erlandson, Editor in Chief, Catholic News Service “This is a great book to help you pray for others, but it's more than that. Filled with prayers and inspiration for the continual, day-by-day conversion of our own hearts, it's a book for each one of us.” — Vinny Flynn, author of Mercy's Gaze

This document's purpose is to spell out the Church's understanding of the nature of revelation--the process whereby God communicates with human beings. It touches upon questions about Scripture, tradition, and the teaching authority of the Church. The major concern of the document is to proclaim a Catholic understanding of the Bible as the "word of God." Key elements include: Trinitarian structure, roles of apostles and bishops, and biblical reading in a historical context.

A book looking at Catholic education and what is possible

You are made for greatness. Not mediocrity. Not mere goodness. Greatness. The structure of your life, your human nature, your unique body, your emotions--everything about you is oriented to your perfection. But how are we to reach greatness? In this thought-provoking book, Father Ezra Sullivan provides the forgotten key to discovering the soul's potential for greatness: heroic habits. A habit is what makes us into saints or sinners. Just as the body can become stronger through exercise and effort, or weaker through wounds or neglect, so the entire person can develop an almost permanent state of goodness or evil through habituation to virtue or vice. Habits both reveal and shape who you are; they speak about what you have been, and they predict what you will be. Unique for a spirituality book, Heroic Habits explores and combines three realms of thought: The psychological science of habits St. Thomas Aquinas's theory of habits Practical advice on habits Utilizing humor, everyday examples, and serious scholarship, Fr. Ezra gets to the root of one of the things most mysterious to us--ourselves. Because habits are biological, psychological, and spiritual realities, Heroic Habits provides a panoramic vision of the whole human person. Front and center are why we are the way we are, how we make habits, how habits influence our lives, and how to develop good ones and eradicate bad ones, all with the help of God, as well the saints, who lived out their good habits heroically and provide a blueprint for you to do the same. Heroic Habits will help you achieve long-lasting insight about yourself, to open yourself to the transforming grace of Christ, and to develop the good habits you have always desired.