A Retreat With.... Series

These books offer seven days of prayer, dialogue and deepening acquaintance with holy men and women from history.

A Retreat With.... Series

A Retreat With Anthony of Padua $8.95 Finding Our Way by Carol Ann Morrow In this seven-day retreat, Finding Our Way, your director is Anthony of Padua, one of the earliest followers of Saint Francis of Assisi. Beyond his reputation as a finder of lost objects, much more can be known about this complex yet simple genius the Catholic Church calls saint and doctor. Inspired as a young man by the example of the first Franciscan martyrs, Anthony embarked upon a life balanced by preaching and example, learning and love. Through excerpts of his sermons, he invites readers to search with him to find Jesus and to live the gospel.

A Retreat With Benedict and Bernard $7.95 Seeking God Alone-Together by Linus Mundy Benedict, heralded as the founder of Western monasticism, hungered for a "better way" to God. He radically shaped that better way for himself and for centuries of followers with his Rule and his lived example. Six hundred years after the Rule was written, Bernard appeared on the scene to return Western monasticism to its roots-and its sole mission of guiding men and women to holiness. Both Benedict and Bernard challenge us seekers to reduce the God-and-us relationship to its essence, just as Christ's gospel dictates: by way of love, pure and simple.

A Retreat With Catherine of Siena $8.95 Living the Truth in Love by Elizabeth A. Dreyer, Ph.D. In this seven-day retreat, Living the Truth in Love, your director is Catherine of Siena, the 14th-century Italian laywoman with the strong will and staunch commitment to carry out what she thought God was directing her to do. Catherine, declared Doctor of the Church in 1970, clung to the truth, lived by the truth and sought after the truth throughout her life. With her we will meet the God whom she called "Gentle Truth," struggle with the sin and glory of our own truth and ponder the fruits of truth-discernment, freedom and wisdom.

A Retreat With Francis de Sales, Jane de Chantal & Aelred of Rievaulx $8.95 Befriending Each Other in God by Wendy M. Wright Your directors for this retreat, Befriending Each Other in God, are Francis de Sales, charismatic bishop of Geneva and author of the popular devotional guide, Introduction to the Devout Life; Jane de Chantal, wife, mother, widow and foundress of the religious community for women, the Visitation of Holy Mary; and Aelred of Rievaulx, twelfth-century prior of the Cistercian monastery of Rievaulx in England and author of On Spiritual Friendship. With Francis, Jane and Aelred, you will explore the dynamics and texture of the spiritual friendships so essential to becoming more open to God and helping you become who you want to be.

A Retreat With Mary of Magdala and Augustine $8.95 Rejoicing in Human Sexuality by Sidney Callahan Your directors for this retreat, Rejoicing in Human Sexuality, are Mary, devoted disciple of Jesus and first person to witness the Resurrection, and Augustine, bishop, theologian and writer, who exercised a decisive influence on the Church. Both saints have a genius for giving and receiving the gift of friendship. They are leaders and exemplars of holiness who have thrilled and magnetically attracted people throughout the centuries. As passionate spirits they don't hold back; they live to the fullest in wholehearted love and celebrate the gift and grace of embodied existence. Each of these great hearts experienced healing and conversion in their encounters with Christ's love; they seek to be transformed in the new creation of the kingdom. We can gladly turn to these two magnetic personalities when we in our own turbulent times seek to reflect on love, sex and marriage. Augustine and Mary Magdala can serve as wonderful guides for today's Christians seeking to become mature lovers of God and others.

A Retreat With Mother Teresa and Damien of Molokai $8.95 Caring For Those Who Suffer by Joan Guntzelman Mother Teresa and Father Damien refused to look the other way, refused to pretend. They chose to walk head-on into all that we want to avoid, the most extreme situations of suffering and death that continue to be part of life. -From "Day One" In this seven-day retreat, Caring for Those Who Suffer, your directors are Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Father Damien of Molokai. Through their courageous ministry, they show us how to find God "in his most distressing disguise. Their witness challenges us to become aware of and respond to needs in our own communities.

A Retreat With Our Lady of Guadalupe and Juan Diego $7.95 Heeding the Call by Virgilio Elizondo and Friends Mary appeared to a poor Indian Christian named Juan Diego. She revealed both a loving God and the God-given dignity of the Indian people. Her coming marks the turning point in the sixteenth-century history of Latin America. Juan Diego heeded Mary's call to proclaim the word of God even against powerful obstacles of disbelief and discrimination against his people. From one rejected and silenced we draw strength and courage. Quantity

A Retreat With Teresa of Avila $8.95 Living By Holy Wit by Gloria Hutchinson Teresa of Avila, one of the most popular and influential saints Catholicism ever produced, is director for this seven-day retreat. She was a highly-regarded religious reformer, administrator, spiritual director and mystic who openly shared her midlife memory loss, her inability to do what she exhorted others to do and her shortcomings as an author. This Doctor of the Church mastered the art of living lightly and well, and she invites us to profit from one of her outstanding gifts: her ability to live by holy wit.