Because My Soul Longs For You

"Contributors to this volume share how they welcome God's presence into their lives, as well as the theological language they use to think and speak about this presence. Chapters explore how we experience God through prayer, text study, poetry, food, music, service, movement, meditation, interpersonal connection, and much more"--

Because My Soul Longs for You seeks to answer one of the most enduring human questions: Where can we find God in our lives? While Jewish theologians have long pondered the "God question" from ethical and philosophical perspectives, the last century has made space for a more experiential theology: God is present in our lived experiences. Radical amazement, to use Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel's phrase, can be found in everyday life. Contributors to this volume share how they welcome God's presence into their lives, as well as the theological language they use to think and speak about this presence. Chapters explore how we experience God through prayer, text study, poetry, food, music, service, movement, meditation, interpersonal connection, and much more. Published by CCAR Press, a division of the Central Conference of American Rabbis

A collection of poetry about how to become more open to God so as to grow in the spiritual life, "My Soul Longs for You, My God" is written in humility for every person in the world, for indeed each person has the capacity to experience the loving presence of God in his life. No matter how lost one may seem, God is still there, extending an invitation of love and compassion, mercy and peace to every person. There is nothing we can do to stop His love from coming, no sin to commit that is too heinous that He will not be there. This collection of poetry is written in the hope that more and more people will experience the love of God in their lives and therefore come to share that infinite love with all they meet. May God's will be done.

"An eerie epic. I loved this novel." -- Stephen King The award-winning master of horror, acclaimed author, screenwriter, and scholar Tananarive Due’s classic African Immortals series starts with an electrifying piece of dark fantasy, My Soul to Keep. When Jessica marries David, he is everything she wants in a family man: brilliant, attentive, ever youthful. Yet she still feels something about him is just out of reach. Soon, as people close to Jessica begin to meet violent, mysterious deaths, David makes an unimaginable confession: More than 400 years ago, he and other members of an Ethiopian sect traded their humanity so they would never die, a secret he must protect at any cost. Now, his immortal brethren have decided David must return and leave his family in Miami. Instead, David vows to invoke a forbidden ritual to keep Jessica and his daughter with him forever. Harrowing, engrossing and skillfully rendered, My Soul to Keep traps Jessica between the desperation of immortals who want to rob her of her life and a husband who wants to rob her of her soul. With deft plotting and an unforgettable climax, this tour de force that Stephen King called 'An eerie epic' is sure to win Due a legion of new fans.

King David has an important role in the Old and New Testaments and huge impact on the nation of Israel. The Father witnessed and said about David, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart.” (Acts 13:22) The Lord Jesus, Son of David, witnessed, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying ...” (Matthew 22:43) The Holy Bible said about him, “Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and the Lord is with him.” (1 Samuel 16:18) A great man like that, who went through a lot in his life from being uncounted among his brothers to become a king of all Israel, who experienced distress, joy, victory, defeat, with a heart after God’s heart—it is worthy to know how he, by the Holy Spirit, expressed all these feelings and put them in the psalms. This book will search that heart to bring out of his treasure things new and old. (Matthew 13:52)

The search of your life is the search for your life. What you are holding right now is an exploration of the human spirit; a journey into our deepest longings, our desires, our needs, our cravings, our souls. Our need for intimacy, meaning, and destiny point to the existence of God and our need to connect with Him. This book will deeply stir you to consider and chase after the spiritual implications of your souls' deepest longings.

The Catholic Lectionary guides us through the liturgical year, presenting Old and New Testament readings that together reveal God’s unfolding plan for our salvation. In The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Mass Readings for Solemnities and Feasts, biblical scholar Dr. John Bergsma provides commentary alongside each celebration’s readings. Whether you are a homilist seeking insight into the meaning of difficult scriptural passages or a Catholic desiring a deepened understanding of the readings you hear at Mass, The Word of the Lord serves as an invaluable guide. This volume includes commentaries for liturgies that utilize the same readings across Cycles A, B, and C for The Season of Christmas The Season of Lent The Sacred Triduum The Season of Easter And Solemnities and Feasts of the Lord and His Saints Series Description The Lectionary guides our reading of Scripture through the liturgical year, presenting Old and New Testament readings that together reveal God’s unfolding plan for our salvation. In The Word of the Lord series, biblical scholar Dr. John Bergsma provides commentary on each Sunday’s selection of readings. Whether you are a homilist seeking insight into the meaning of difficult scriptural passages or a Catholic desiring a deepened understanding of the readings you hear at Mass, The Word of the Lord series is an invaluable guide.

This book does not go into the volumes of rules, discourses, and teachings set out in the Buddhist canon but addresses directly the essential doctrines of the Buddhist faith shared by all the different sects of Buddhism. It is essentially written for easy reading while capturing the essence of the Buddhist faith and that of Christianity. More importantly, it dicusses the major doctrine of self-denial, meditation methods, enlightenment, and the Samsara cycles, etc., came from. The book will compare the beginnings and the basic tenets of the Buddhist faith with that of Christianity. It briefly describes the basics of both faiths and the different definitions of what happiness and blessings are. It addresses fundamental doctrines of the Buddhist faith regarding the Samsara cycle, self-denial meditation, Nirvana, and hell, as compared to the Christian beliefs in salvation, resurrections, eternal life, and hell. This second edition cites from the ancient sacred Vedic Hindu texts, from whence the Buddhist's major doctrines were derived. You can compare it for yourself and draw your own conclusions. It also explores the Gautama Siddhartha's famous Path to Enlightenment with the Four Noble Truths and the Golden Rule of the Noble Eightfold Path. It delves into Buddhist meditation of chanting and mantras versus Christian meditation. The basic doctrine of Buddhism is that only man can save himself, and that is compared with the Christian doctrine of salvation and eternal life. And finally, a comparison is made between Buddha (Gautama Siddhartha) with Jesus Christ of the Bible. Theravada Buddhism does not have any gods or deities, but all the other forms of Buddhism gave common gods with the Hittite, Matanni, Hurrian, Canaanite, and Sumerian civilizations.