Reflections: a Spiritual Anthology on Human Wholeness


Book Description

In her book Reflections, author Jean Benson conveys spiritual wisdom gleaned from her own life experiences. She does so in a way that invites the reader to personal meditation and growth. Through devotional essays, poems, and letters, the author shares from the depth of her own personal spiritual journey. Abundant grace and compassion emanate from these pages, drawing the reader in and encouraging the reader to make his or her own soulful connections to the divine. You will want to read these reflections again and again, as you will gain newer and deeper self awareness with each reading.




I Asked for Wonder


Book Description

Considered by many to be one of the most significant Jewish theologians of the 20th century, Abraham Heschel finds just the right words to startle the mind and delight the heart. He addresses and challenges the whole person, portraying that rarest of human phenomena--the holy man.




All Things Mary


Book Description

All Things Mary provides reflections on all Scripture texts associated with celebrations in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary during the liturgical year, in addition to biblical texts presented in the Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It honors the Mother of God as the exemplar of the Christian life by presenting an anthology of Marian reflections grounded in Scripture texts, litanies, and catechetical teaching about Mary. This book is designed to be used by individuals for private study and prayer and by ministers for study, prayer, and preaching. The goal of this book is to foster ordinary Marian spirituality as it flows from the Bible. An eight-part exercise is offered for each of the entries: (1) a title; (2) a footnote listing where a specific Scripture passage is used in Marian masses; (3) a text giving the notation for the biblical passage; (4) a few verses from the biblical text; (5) a two-paragraph reflection on the biblical text and its application to the Blessed Virgin Mary; (6) a second footnote identifying references to various post-Vatican II documents about Mary; (7) a journal/meditation question for personal appropriation of Mariology; and (8) a concluding prayer.




Shhh! The Sound of Sheer Silence


Book Description

The title of this book, Shhh! The Sound of Sheer Silence: A Biblical Spirituality that Transforms, comes from the biblical narrative about the prophet Elijah experiencing God on a mountain in a sound of sheer silence. Many people seek a way of life that involves silence because it nourishes the individual spirit connected to Spirit. Developing a spirituality of silence enables the individual spirit to connect to the divine Spirit. The transformation that occurs through silence here and now is an experience of what awaits after the last transfiguring experience of our lives: death. The goal of this book is to foster a spirituality of silence as it flows from the Bible. Through the sounds of sheer silence, the reader develops a biblical spirituality that transforms him or her into a raised awareness of, a deeper knowledge of, and a closer relationship with the divine.




An Abecedarian of Sacred Trees


Book Description

Every person has seen a tree and maybe planted or climbed one! In all world religions, various trees are considered sacred. Trees have the ability to help us reach wholeness if we learn their wisdom and integrate it into our lives. This abecedarian--a book whose contents are in alphabetical order--explores the spiritual growth that is possible by reflecting on the wisdom of woody plants, which help humans experience the divine. In these pages you can explore trees from Acacia to Zaqqum. For each of the forty entries, the author presents a text identifying the tree, a reflective study, a question for journaling or personal meditation, and a concluding prayer. Some trees you may have heard about, and some may be new to you. The spiritual life is enhanced by the trees that surround and share the earth with us while also disclosing the divine to us.




Smothered with Inexhaustible Mercy


Book Description

Smothered with Inexhaustible Mercy: An Anthology of Poems represents almost fifty years of well-known spiritual master Mark G. Boyer’s poetry writing. After writing seventy books of prose on spirituality and history, he has collected over two hundred of his poems and divided them into nineteen chapters (collections). You will find poems on Alaska, Christmas, Colorado, day and night, Easter, friendship, ocean, seasons, wind and rain, and more. Over the years, a few were published in now out-of-print journals, magazines, newspapers, and books, but most are taken from his handwritten files and organized according to themes, arranged alphabetically in this book. The poetry lover will find a variety of styles, rhythm, and length in this collection of poems that delve into the insight of things and people, because there is also more than what is at first perceived. As the title indicates, the author hopes that this book of poems smothers the reader with inexhaustible mercy.




My Life of Ministry, Writing, Teaching, and Traveling


Book Description

In My Life of Ministry, Writing, Teaching, and Traveling: The Autobiography of an Old Mines Missionary, I present my life as a child growing up in a French village about sixty miles south of St. Louis in the middle of the twentieth century. After eighteen years of life in Old Mines, the oldest settlement in the state of Missouri, I moved to St. Louis for four years and then to St. Meinrad, Indiana, for four years where education opened my eyes to a world very much larger than my village of origin. Life continued for me after ordination as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church in Springfield and Joplin, Missouri. Because my life is the thread stitching together this book, I have made it manageable by dividing it into four categories: ministry, writing, teaching, and travel. These categories contain the stories of others whose life threads of seventy years are woven into my lifetime tapestry. This is my autobiography—one of a missionary from Old Mines to the thirty-nine counties forming the southern third of the state of Missouri—composed during my seventieth year of life.




Mining for Gold


Book Description

Godly thriving leaders are precious and valuable, but developing those leaders is not easy. Many leaders feel stuck, tired and frustrated in their growth and calling. This can change. In Mining for Gold, pastor and master-coach, Tom Camacho, offers a fresh perspective on how to draw out the best in ourselves and in those around us. Cutting through the complexity and challenges of leadership development, he gives us practical and effective tools to help leaders grow personally and develop those around them. Coaching, through the power of the Holy Spirit, provides the clarity and momentum we need to grow. When we get clarity, everything changes. Coaching helps us better understand our identity in Christ, our God-given wiring, and how we naturally bear the most fruit. There is gold in God’s people, waiting to be discovered. Let’s learn to draw out that treasure and help others flourish in their life and leadership.




On the Other Hand


Book Description

A straight from the shoulder look at life in which the author asks some awkward questions that we might prefer to swat away like an annoying fly. Questions like: Who am I? What is this life really about? What is the mind? Why do we resist change? These are the questions we lock away in a tall tower like some inconvenient relative whose 'lost her marbles' and become an embarrassment to the family. Perhaps you've been asking 'comfortable' questions and avoiding the hard-hitting ones, preferring to hide away from them and pretending that they don't exist. We hope that someone, somewhere, will put it all right for us. They won't! This book is not for the faint of heart as it brings you face to face with yourself ... but not the one you see when you look in the mirror. If you've locked yourself up in protective custody and thrown away the key, this book could well pick the lock and let you out again. There's something wonderful waiting to be discovered if we care to take a look. If you're prepared to be brutally honest when thinking about the questions raised in this book and to be your own harshest critic, then pop over to the cash desk or place it in your basket online and, go for it. You're not alone and help is always available ... far closer than you can imagine.




The Spirit of the Lord God


Book Description

The Spirit of the Lord God presents seventy-three biblical-based reflections on the invisible power and life-source of God, known as Spirit, in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), Old Testament (Apocrypha), and the Christian Bible (New Testament). Each exercise begins with a biblical quotation about the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, or Spirit. The biblical words are followed by an in-depth reflection highlighting both the names for and the images of the Holy Spirit scattered throughout the Bible. The entries are arranged in an abecedarian (alphabetical) order, and they are designed to help the reader nourish his or her spirit. Meditation or journal questions are provided to assist the latter process. Each exercise ends with a few verses of a psalm that serve to close the exercise and further emphasize the role of the Spirit in one's life. This work completes a series: Names for Jesus (2017) and Biblical Names for God (2023). Beginning with A (Abide, Spirit of Adoption, Advocate, and Agape [Love]), individual entries continue through the alphabet to Z (Zeitgeist). By reflecting on biblical names for the Holy Spirit, the reader comes to know better the Holy One who breathes Spirit everywhere and transforms all life.