Devotion to St. Benedict

Who shall find a valiant woman? far and from the uttermost coasts is the price of her.

Women are attacked on all sides. One side of the attack finds its origin in Protestantism, in which women are sub-par creatures, not helpmates but slaves to men, never to develop the immense talents given by God. On the other side, far more common in our age, women are to remake themselves entirely into the strict imitation of men, breaking down all of the distinctions and differences that are the glory of women. But what is the solution? Are we stuck in one or the other?

This excellent work The Nature, Dignity, and Mission of Woman is a resounding cry by Fr. Karl Stehlin against both of these errors. Fr. Stehlin, a priest with over 25 years of pastoral experience, takes up his pen to examine, explain, and defend real femininity. This book, the fruit of a series of talks given to young ladies at a Catholic boarding school, will help all Catholics, but especially the young, rediscover the immense dignity of being a woman, as lived out in accord with the plan of God‰Û¡ó»s creation.

Topics Covered Include:

The Human Being is the Image of God
Union of Opposites
The Essential Vocation of Woman: Virgo, Sponsa, Mater, Icona Immaculata
Woman as Home-Maker
Woman‰Û¡ó»s Mission in Serving, Suffering, and Hoping
Today‰Û¡ó»s Problems
Preserving Her Beauty
Finding Her Vocation
The Specific Choice of a Husband
Much more!
This book is perfect for any woman or young lady who wishes to understand her important role as a Catholic woman created in the image of God and given a beautiful nature, dignity, and mission!

Clearly explains what mental prayer or "meditation" is and how to do it. This little book succeeds effortlessly whereas larger ones fail. Takes the beginner step-by-step through the 3 basic aspects. Mental prayer is for all--so is this book.

Author: Very Rev. Joseph Simler

Dom Gabriel Sortais: An Amazing Abbot in Turbulent Times is an engaging biography of one of the most colorful Abbot Generals among the Trappists. Dom Gabriel put his stamp on the order in a very personal way, a form that remains with us today despite his best efforts to bring the Order up to date. His tragic death during the course of Vatican Two impeded the implementation of his vision for the whole Order. Dom Guy Oury, a Benedictine monk of Solesmes, has written the story with remarkable clarity. As much as possible, Fr. Oury works from the primary sources, which include witnesses and documents from the Abbey of Bellefontaine in France, where he was a monk and later abbot before being elected Abbot General of the order, as well as the archives of the Generalate in Rome. This book offers insight into the lives of the Trappists during the troubled times of World War II and also throughout the changes of Vatican Two.

Fr. Guy Oury, OSB, was asked by Dom Emmanuel Coutant, the Abbot of Bellefontaine, to write the biography of his predecessor, Dom Gabriel Sortais. He was given all the papers in the archives at Bellefontaine that were gathered together following Dom Gabriel's death. There is an admirable objectivity in the present biography, which was ably translated into English by Br. Brian Kerns of the Abbey of the Genesee, near Piffard, New York. The Afterword by Fr. Laurence Bourget of St. Joseph's Abbey, Spencer, Massachusettes, demonstrates an appreciation by a monk who worked closely with Dom Gabriel Sortais during the last years of his life. Fr. Guy Oury himself died on November 2, 2000, at the age of 71.

The Meditation Prayer on Mary Immaculate is one of Padre Pio's few published writings, penned before he was forbidden by the Church to publish or to engage in correspondence for fear a cult would arise around him. Here we encounter a profound spiritual penetration into the mystery of Mary's unique and sublime role in our salvation. Though brief, it can be read over and over with great benefit since it is –just as the title suggests a meditation and a prayer on the meaning of Mary. This booklet also contains a brief sketch of Padre Pio's life and numerous edifying pictures of this saintly stigmatist.

The present treatise on prayer was first of all printed privately in the French language, and was intended exclusively for the instruction of the daughters of St Benedict. All souls, however, who are aiming at perfection may derive profit and edification from its pages. The spirit of the venerable Abbot Gueranger breathes through the whole work. What this distinguished man thought on the all-important subject of prayer, what he expressed in his conferences, and what he wrote in many parts of his classical work, "The Liturgical Year," is found here systematically arranged. Some of the chapters are real masterpieces.

-Mgr. Paul Leopold Haffner, Bishop of Mayence, September 10, 1896."

Spiritual Life and Prayer according to the Monastic Tradition, is a spiritual treatise on the soul's journey to God. Carefully considering the spiritual life as lived among the trials of the world, the Sacraments, the author considers who are the true worshipers of God and how we become such based on the testimony of Sacred Tradition and the Holy Fathers. Though it is a century old, being based on such timeless testimony it has not lost its luster.

Rule of St. Benedict in English and Latin (side by side)

"Remarkable for its discretion and its clarity." - St. Gregory the Great.
It was 594 when Pope St. Gregory the Great - himself a Benedictine - wrote this tribute to the little book which had shaped his life, and stands today as one of the cornerstones of religious life.
St. Benedict - credited with saving Western Civilization through his monastery system - adopted a remarkably common approach to growing in grace.
In part, St. Benedict was reacting to the extreme ascetical practices of the East where hermits starved themselves, went without sleep, and dressed in rags. Without minimizing the importance of that self-sacrifice, St. Benedict insisted that monks could not attend properly to their work and study, let alone their celebration of Mass and the Divine Office, if they were denied nutritious meals, ample rest, proper clothing - and daily structure.
The Benedictine historian, Dom David Knowles, wrote that in the Rule, St. Benedict created a new type of monastery, one that was "neither a penitentiary nor a school of ascetic mountaineering, but a family, a home for those seeking God."
If Benedict was comparatively lenient about disciplining the body, he was adamant about the need to subdue the will. His Rule emphasizes:• obedience • humility • fraternal charity • These virtues, once acquired, root out pride. Then, to the standard vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, St. Benedict added the vow of stability, in which a monk promised to remain in his monastery until death (unless his superiors sent him elsewhere). By this fourth vow, Benedict made each monastery a brotherhood, a family, in which each member works for the good of the whole.
Furthermore, each member of the monastic family found in the Rule a standard against which he could measure his every action. By being moderate and flexible in day-to-day concerns, but uncompromising in spiritual matters, St. Benedict's Rule has endured for 1,500 years as a living code, a guiding light that has shown untold numbers of religious men and women the path to holiness. No rectory, no religious house, and no Catholic family, should be without a copy of this seminal work.

Translated & Edited by - Abbot Justin McCann, O.S.B.
Paperback

Written in 1709. "Go to Joseph" is the advice of the Church. This book shows the way. Tremendous insights on St. Joseph, plus reasons for our devotion to him. Learn about the man God chose to represent the ideal of fatherhood in the Holy Family! Includes prayers, novenas, and hymns.

This Book of Meditations is a classic and is seeped in Carmelite spirituality. For every day it offers two meditations, in liturgical arrangement, that enable the soul to enter the conscious presence of God and to reflect on the theme of the day. These are followed by a ‘Colloquy’ that helps the person at prayer to start a friendly conversation with God where acts of praise and love, petition, and thanksgiving are made, together with good resolutions for the future. Here we are at the very heart of prayer, which is a heart-to-heart encounter in faith with the living God. -  by Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.

Divine Intimacy is the highest state attainable on earth. In this union of love, the soul produces acts of love that have an immense apostolic influence on a multitude of souls. This knowledge of the ways that lead to God, according to the teaching of the renowned Spanish mystics, is distilled into the pages of this book.

Intimate revelations of Our Lord to three 20th-century mystics: Sr. Josefa Menendez, Sr. Mary of the Trinity, and Sr. Consolata Betrone on a host of subjects. Surprising revelations on how and why Our Lord acts as He does toward people. Beautiful!

Calm and spirituality—the true hallmarks of Carthusian writings—distinguish this book. The first part sets out the principles of the interior life; the second works out a method of prayer. There follow eleven sermons, originally given to monks in the chapter, which illustrate this approach. The final portion discusses the complex doctrine of the Trinity with extraordinary clarity. Broken into short chapters, the book is designed for personal reflection and meditation.

Author:  A Carthusian

St Catherine of Siena's Dialogue describes the entire spiritual life through a series of conversations between God and the soul, represented by Catherine herself. Readers of The Dialogue of Saint Catherine of Siena, will find her revelations from God as informative - and formative - as those who recognized her sanctity during her life.

Author: St. Catherine of Siena
 

This practical guide to the spiritual life, cherished by monks, beguines, and layfolk for eight centuries, can still lead men and women to God.

A true treasure of spiritual insights, this little booklet contains the remarkable meditations on the Agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane by Blessed Padre Pio, the stigmatist priest. One of his few writings, the booklet also includes many pictures of Blessed Padre Pio from throughout his ministry. Padre Pio's beautiful and descriptive manner of writing provides a wonderful spiritual insight into that last night of Jesus' human life.

Excerpt:

"Jesus has returned to His place of prayer, and another picture, more terrible than the first, presents itself to Him. All our sins with their entire ugliness parade before Him in every detail. He must clothe Himself with this entire unclean mass of human corruption and present Himself before the sanctity of His Father, to expiate everything with individual pains, to render Him all that glory of which they have robbed Him, to cleanse that human cesspool in which man wallows with contemptible indifference.

And all this does not make Him retreat. As a raging sea, this mass inundates Him, enfolds Him, and oppresses Him. Behold Him before His Father the God of Justice, facing the full penalty of divine justice. He, the essence of purity, sanctity by nature, in contact with sin, indeed, as if He Himself had become a sinner! Who can fathom the disgust that He feels in His innermost spirit? The horror He feels? The nausea, the contempt He senses so vividly? And having taken all upon Himself, nothing excepted, He is crushed by this immense weight, oppressed, thrown down, prostrated. Exhausted, He groans beneath the weight of Divine Justice, before His Father, Who has permitted His Son to offer Himself as a Victim for sin, as one accursed."

Those seeking to deepen their spiritual lives by visiting monasteries rarely have enough time to absorb as much as they would like. In this book, an experienced spiritual master provides an intensive directed retreat that relies heavily on the rich Cistercian spiritual tradition. Readers may read and digest at their own pace, savoring the author's contagious enthusiasm for the monastic way and the medieval monks who formed this distinctive contemplative tradition.

Blessed Padre Pio, a humble peasant, and world-famous stigmatist, spoke simple words of Christian encouragement and inspiration to all who approached him seeking counsel. This biographical sketch and collection of memorable sayings is a compact and accessible introduction to the life and message of one of the great religious figures of the 20th century.

Compiled by Anthony F. Chiffolo

We live in an age characterized by agitation and lack of peace. This tendency manifests itself in our spiritual as well as our secular life. In our search for God and holiness, in our service to our neighbor, a kind of restlessness and anxiety take the place of the confidence and peace that ought to be ours. What must we do to overcome the moments of fear and distress which assail us? How can we learn to place all our confidence in God and abandon ourselves to his loving care? This is what is taught in this simple, yet profound little treatise on peace of mind. Taking concrete examples from our everyday lives, the author invites us to respond in a Gospel fashion to the upsetting situations we must all confront. Since peace of heart is a pure gift of God, it is something we should seek, pursue, and ask him for without ceasing. This book is here to help us in that pursuit.

Author: Jacques Philippe

The Commentary on the Rule takes into account the long history of commentary on St. Benedict's rule and discusses this history at length in the introduction. Each chapter has a selection of the rule, following the divisions of dates on which sections of the rule are read in monasteries, then a commentary on that section, followed by an application. The commentary makes use of the very lengthy Monastic Tradition, works of the Church Fathers, Eastern Monasticism, the Scholastics, and others, as well as commentary on text criticism in regards to the original Latin of the rule itself.

This wonderful text, though it is intended for Benedictine Oblates, is a worthy resource for anyone who would like to know more about the rule of St. Benedict. It is also available in hardcover.

Written in Old French by the famed Capuchin theologian, Ambroise de Lombez, this book, first published in 1756, immediately gained enormous popularity and a reading audience sufficient to necessitate its being reprinted in thirteen different editions right up to our own times. A French classic, it involves an in-depth analysis of the psychological, philosophical, and theological aspects of growth in the spiritual life of those in search of interior peace, the obstacles to that peace and how to conquer them, where the proper means to this peace are to be found, and some practical aspects of interior peace. “The teaching of this book is consistent with that of all other earlier Christian spiritual authors from the great ascetics and mystics of the desert of the 4th century through the Middle Ages down to our present time… This classic is grounded in the wisdom and prudence of St. Francis de Sales, yet is still solidly relevant to all modern Christians who seriously wish to attain that inner peace which comes from our union with the indwelling Trinity.” George A. Maloney, SJ in the Foreword to the book.

The translator of this work, Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821), the first native-born American saint, was a pioneer of Catholic education in the United States and the founder of the Sisters of Charity. Translating religious works was, to her, instructive, stimulating, necessary, and personally gratifying in fulfilling her role as educator and founder at a time when religious works in English were not readily available.

Author: Ambroise de Lombez OFM Cap.

The 281 letters of Zélie and the 16 letters of Louis Martin reproduced in these pages provide us with a treasury of rich insights into the lives and spirituality of these two individuals who the Church beatified on October 19, 2008, at the Basilica of St. Therese in Lisieux, France. We are given here a series of snapshots revealing the tone and texture of the lives of these two saintly, and in many ways, very ordinary people. The incidents described in these pages give us access to the honesty and intimacy of the lives of the parents of St. Therese never meant for the general public. They greatly enrich our understanding of this charismatic couple who radiated holiness and brought to life the greatest saint of the modern age. They underscore the fact that sainthood is a family project of parents and children immersed in the God of love. They call us to a deeper love for God, for each other, and for the poor in our midst and invite us to accept whatever the will of God be for us in our lives, however confusing and painful that may be, and to have total trust and confidence in Him. The anguish of losing four of their nine children, the economic reverses that threatened their businesses, Zélie's losing about with breast cancer, and the Alzheimer's disease suffered by Louis are all brought vividly to light in these letters as is the undying love of this model couple for one another. As St. Therese wrote: "God has given me a father and mother more worthy of heaven than of earth." The present volume has been invaluably by Dr. Fran Renda through a large number of expanded footnotes and other introductory material explaining the background, the times, and the customs that prevailed in France during the years in which these letters were written. Guy Gaucher, Auxiliary Bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux, and the Sisters of Lisieux are responsible for the preface, the notes, and the overall presentation of the text which has been flawlessly translated into English by Ann C. Hess.