Book Suggestions
Richard Rohr
Saint Francis found an “alternative way” to follow Jesus, one that disregarded power and privilege and held fast to the narrow path of the Gospel. Rohr reminds us of the long tradition founded on his revolutionary, radical, and life-changing embrace of the teachings of Jesus.
Richard Rohr
One of my favorite books. This is the book that articulated everything I knew to be true in my heart, but could not explain to others. Fr. Richard clearly explains the universality of Love, and the experiencing of Christ in every one and every thing.
Bill Plotkin
Addressing the pervasive longing for meaning and fulfillment in this time of crisis, Nature and the Human Soul introduces a visionary ecopsychology of human development that reveals how fully and creatively we can mature when soul and wild nature guide us.
Susan S. Phillips
Candlelight offers an intimate view of spiritual direction through written re-enactments of actual spiritual direction sessions. The book includes the stories of nine men and women whose stories illustrate how the journey of Christian discipleship is helped by spiritual direction.
Thomas Merton
New Seeds of Contemplation is one of Thomas Merton's most widely read and best-loved books. Christians and non-Christians alike have joined in praising it as a notable successor in the meditative tradition of St. John of the Cross, The Cloud of Unknowing, and the medieval mystics.
Ronald Rolheiser
Using examples and stories relevant for today, and with great sensitivity to modern challenges to religious faith, Ronald Rolheiser explains the essentials of spiritual life, including the importance of community worship, the imperatives surrounding social action, and the centrality of the Incarnation, to outline a Christian spirituality that reflects the yearning and search for meaning at the core of the human experience.
Richard Rohr, Andreas Ebert
Richard Rohr and Andrea Ebert's runaway best-seller shows both the basic logic of the Enneagram and its harmony with the core truths of Christian thought from the time of the early Church forward
Victoria Loorz
Church of the Wild uncovers the wild roots of faith and helps us deepen our commitment to a suffering earth by falling in love with it—and calling it church.
Robin Wall Kimmerer
One of my favorite books. An excellent introduction to Native American Spirituality. An excellent combination of science and Native American wisdom... all in one beautifully written book.
John G. Neihardt
Black Elk’s searing visions of the unity of humanity and Earth, conveyed by John G. Neihardt, have made this book a classic that crosses multiple genres. Whether appreciated as the poignant tale of a Lakota life, as a history of a Native nation, or as an enduring spiritual testament, Black Elk Speaks is unforgettable.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Strength to Love is more than a blueprint, it is a template for personal authenticity in a time when social and economic change depend on personal integrity. The insight, luminously conveyed in this classic text hints at a personal transformation at the root of social justice. Dr. King states, "By reaching into and beyond ourselves and tapping the transcendent moral ethic of love, we shall overcome these evils."
Olga M. Segura
Birth of a Movement presents a radical call to dignity and equality for all people. In relating the story of the Black Lives Matter movement through a Christian lens, readers—Catholic and others—will gain insights and a deeper understanding of the movement and why it can help the church, and the country, move closer to racial equality.
Mark and Louise Zwick
This book is the Zwicks' story, a Catholic Worker story, interwoven with the stories, the joys, hopes, and tragedies of immigrants who have come to Houston, and an impassioned plea for a change in the political and economic forces that drive people to immigrate.
Gregory Boyle
In Tattoos on the Heart, Gregory Boyle distills his experience working in the ghetto into a breathtaking series of parables inspired by faith. Arranged by theme and filled with sparkling humor and glowing generosity, these essays offer a stirring look at how full our lives could be if we could find the joy in loving others and in being loved unconditionally.
Dorothy Day
This inspiring and fascinating memoir, subtitled, is Dorothy Day’s compelling autobiographical testament to her life of social activism and her spiritual pilgrimage. The Long Loneliness recounts her remarkable journey from the Greenwich Village political and literary scene of the 1920s through her conversion to Catholicism and her lifelong struggle to help bring about “the kind of society where it is easier to be good.”
Kate Hennessy
Dorothy Day was a prominent Catholic, writer, social activist, and co-founder of a movement dedicated to serving the poorest of the poor. Dorothy Day: The World Will Be Saved by Beauty is a frank and reflective, heartfelt and humorous portrayal written by her granddaughter, Kate Hennessy.
Brennan Manning
Brennan Manning’s now-classic meditation on grace and what it takes to access it—simple honesty—has changed thousands of lives. God gives us His grace, willingly, no matter what we’ve done. We come to Him as ragamuffins—dirty, bedraggled, and beat-up. And when we sit at His feet, He smiles upon us, the chosen objects of His “furious love.”
Walter Wangerin Jr.
This award–winning classic interweaves vivid stories, deep meditations, and provocative allegories that together explore the power and meaning of love within an often inhumane urban landscape. The opening chapter, "Ragman," remains one of Walter Wangerin Jr.'s most beloved works and leads the reader to thirty–three other writings, all bearing the author's trademark poignancy and lyricism.
James Martin
Building a Bridge provides a roadmap for repairing and strengthening the bonds that unite all of us as God's children. Martin uses the image of a two-way bridge to enable LGBT Catholics and the Church to come together in a call to end the "us" versus "them" mentality.
Mary Oliver
Carefully curated, these 200 plus poems feature Oliver's work from her very first book of poetry, No Voyage and Other Poems, published in 1963 at the age of 28, through her most recent collection, Felicity, published in 2015. This timeless volume, arranged by Oliver herself, showcases the beloved poet at her edifying best.
Joy Harjo
In this stunning collection, Joy Harjo finds blessings in the abundance of her homeland and confronts the site where the Mvskoke people, including her own ancestors, were forcibly displaced.
Richard Rohr
In Falling Upward, Fr. Richard Rohr seeks to help readers understand the tasks of the two halves of life and to show them that those who have fallen, failed, or "gone down" are the only ones who understand "up."
Rumi
Through his lyrical translations, Coleman Barks has made the ecstatic, spiritual poetry of thirteenth-century Sufi Mystic Rumi more popular than ever. The Essential Rumi continues to be the definitive selection of his beautiful, mystical poetry.
Thich Nhat Hahn
Thich Nhat Hanh has been part of a decades-long dialogue between two great contemplative traditions, and brings to Christianity an appreciation of its beauty that could be conveyed only by an outsider.
Saint Therese of Lisieux
The beautiful style of St. Therese’s writing will capture your heart, but it will be the power and efficacy of her lessons that will keep you returning. St. Therese’s autobiography conveys the secrets of her great holiness, which she achieved through her simple and ordinary life.
Walter J. Ciszek
Captured by a Russian army during World War II and convicted of being a "Vatican spy," Jesuit Father Walter J. Ciszek spent 23 agonizing years in Soviet prisons and the labor camps of Siberia. Only through an utter reliance on God's will did he manage to endure the extreme hardship. He tells of the courage he found in prayer--a courage that eased the loneliness, the pain, the frustration, the anguish, the fears, the despair.
Felix Timmermans
In this classic, Felix Timmermans reveals a deep understanding and penetrating interpretation of the man Francis and the ideals that enabled him to move and to shake the whole world. Filled with humor, pathos and a strange kind of beauty, it is a combination of artistry, poetry and simplicity that plumbs the soul of Saint Francis.
Murray Bodo
As a young Franciscan friar, Murray Bodo wrote a unique book about the life of St. Francis of Assisi. Francis: The Journey and the Dream offered readers a unique combination of lyrical prose and brief, absorbing vignettes that inspired hundreds of thousands of people all over the world to contemplate the life of the famous saint and see him in a new way.
Ilia Delio
Masterfully written and intensely enlightening, Franciscan Prayer could very well be considered the essential handbook for all those seeking to pray and live the Franciscan way.
Ilia Delio
Clare was not simply a follower of Francis, she was a formidable, resolute, devout and loving saint whose life centered on this essence of human identity—Christ is in each of us—and who sought to teach us to just be ourselves and to let God dwell within us.
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