Sacred Companions

ECPA Gold Medallion Finalist We need companions on our spiritual journey. The modern world has taught us to value autonomy and individualism. Our churches often see spirituality as personal and private. But we cannot go long in our Christian pilgrimage before realizing that isolation leads to spiritual barrenness. We soon discover that our souls long for accompaniment, intimacy and spiritual friendship. As a result, many Christians today are rediscovering the ancient practice of spiritual direction. In this inviting guide, David G. Benner introduces readers to the riches of spiritual friendship and direction, explaining what they are and how they are practiced. Spiritual direction moves beyond mere moral lifestyle accountability and goes deeper than popular notions of mentoring or discipling. Through prayerful, guided attunement to God's activity, sacred companions provide care for the soul. If we are to experience significant spiritual formation and growth, our souls must be nurtured through spiritual companions. Benner, well-accustomed to God's work through relationships, models the kind of traveling companion who can move us toward deeper intimacy with God.

Sacred Companions Sacred Community is a practical and sacred journey into holy companionship. It speaks to the longing inside each of us as we traverse this earth in search of love.

In these days of pandemic, war and political turbulence, hope can seem to be in short supply. But hope is one of the theological virtues and it is far more profound than mere optimism. Today, pessimism and despair seem all too prevalent. What can we do about the poor and starving, about those who seem to be locked in interminable conflict and families weighed down by the consequences of breakdown? Sister Teresa White's book is an antidote to all this and it is written with beautiful simplicity and directness. There is no hiding behind complicated or technical language. In one of the most forceful chapters in the book, the author shows how hope breeds courage and courage breeds hope. But hope is not a matter of wishful thinking. Drawing on St Augustine, the author shows moreover that hope has two essential components. Not just courage but anger as well. The expression of our anger can lead to greater clarity with our discernment and spiritual perception. Hope too can lead us to understand God's solidarity with us in times of sorrow and struggle. Teresa White in this Lent Book draws on inspiration from writers as diverse as Julian of Norwich and Karl Rahner, Elizabeth Barrett-Browning and Henri Nouwen, but throughout the book there is strong scriptural underpinning which the author uses to great effect.

You are never alone... whatever your nationality, religion or belief, you have a spirit guide to assist your journey through life. A spirit guide doesn't have to be dead - everything that lives has a spirit that could potentially be a spiritual guide including pets and animals, plants, and elemental and otherworldly spirit allies. We can also be our own guides, and be guides to other people. This collection of spirit guide encounters from around the world will inspire you in your own quest for spirit guide contact with practical 'how to' advice. Learn how to recognise the signs and talk with the spirit beings guiding your life. This diverse collection of over 40 experiences, united in one book, will inspire you on your spiritual path to know that you are not alone, but that we are 'all-one'.

When we quit sabotaging intimacy in our relationships by demanding unconditional love, we discover something much greater—the deeply satisfying, transformational love that is companionship. In these pages psychologist Kelly Flanagan shows how each of us has within ourselves, exactly the way we are, the gifts that are needed to cultivate the life-long relationships we are longing for, whether it is within marriage or friendship. He shows us how self-knowledge leads the way to growing in love for both God and others. He shows us how understanding our own loneliness can help us relieve the pressure on our companions. And he shows us how understanding our own psychological and emotional defenses can help us to make the choice to love more vulnerably. More than a marriage book, this is a companionship book. Anyone—from single young adults to elderly married couples, from the divorced to the widowed, from siblings to friends—can benefit from the wisdom it uncovers about what it means to be human and to be true companions. Groups, couples, and individuals can use the companion study guide for five sessions on how to show up in your most important relationships.

Meditations with Teresa of Avila invites you to explore the depths of your inner being by following the pathway of the beloved mystic Teresa of Avila. Born into Spanish nobility in 1515, Teresa entered the monastic life at twenty and was eventually guided to reform the Carmelite Order. She blended a rich mystical inner life with everyday work in the secular world, and she remains an unparalleled source of inspiration for living deeply and effectively in both realms. Always concerned with the practical application of her beliefs, Teresa wrestled with questions of worth and place. She sought to understand what her visions and experiences meant and whether she was doing all she could for the divinity she loved and served. Her ideas were rejected by many of her contemporaries, and she struggled against the many male clerics who tried to invalidate her mystical experiences. Her spiritual exploration formed the basis of the prolific body of writing she left to the world. Megan Don makes Teresa's timeless wisdom fully contemporary through translations of Teresa's words followed by practical interpretations and brief, inviting meditations. In this award-winning book, Teresa of Avila and Don guide you to explore the voice of the Beloved and knowledge of the self, the restlessness of the mind and the care of the body, doubt, loss, intimacy, and more.

Those familiar with the music of Dan Schutte are in for a great treat here. As in his music, he deals with themes of longing and desire for God, the hungers of the human heart, unfulfilled human hopes and dreams, and the profound happiness of finding ones home in God. The exercises here are loosely based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, and the goal is the same for both: to draw readers into a personal, living, growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

A wide-ranging yet accessible investigation into the importance of religion in Shakespeare's works, from a team of eminent international scholars.