Cistercian

How did the monks of the Egyptian desert fight against the demons that attacked them with tempting thoughts? How could Christians resist the thoughts of gluttony, fornication, or pride that assailed them and obstructed their contemplation of God? According to Evagrius of Pontus (345-399), one of the greatest spiritual directors of ancient monasticism, the monk should "talk back" to demons with relevant passages from the Bible. His book Talking Back (Antirrh?tikos) lists over 500 thoughts or circumstances in which the demon-fighting monk might find himself, along with the biblical passages with which the monk should respond. It became one of the most popular books among the ascetics of Late Antiquity and the Byzantine East, but until now the entire text had not been translated into English. From Talking Back we gain a better understanding of Evagrius's eight primary demons: gluttony, fornication, love of money, sadness, anger, listlessness, vainglory, and pride. We can explore a central aspect of early monastic spirituality, and we get a glimpse of the temptations and anxieties that the first desert monks faced.

During the Middle Ages the act of reading was experienced intensively in the monastic exercise of lectio divina the prayerful scrutiny of passages of Scripture, savored in meditation, memorized, recited, and rediscovered in the reader s own religious life. The rich literary tradition that arose from this culture includes theoretical writings from the Conferences of John Cassian (fifth century) through the twelfth-century treatises of Hugh of St. Victor and the Carthusian Guigo II; it also includes compilations, literary meditations, and scriptural commentary, notably on the Song of Songs. This study brings medievalist research together with modern theoretical reflections on the act of reading in a consolidation of historical scholarship, spirituality, and literary criticism.

Hildegard of Bingen s Homilies on the Gospels are here translated for the first time from Latin into English. Hildegard s sisters recorded and preserved her informal preaching in this collection of homilies on twenty-seven gospel pericopes. As teacher and superior to her sisters, Hildegard probably spoke to them in the chapter house, with the scriptural text either before her or recited from memory, according to Benedictine liturgical practice. The Homilies on the Gospels prove essential for comprehending the coherent theological vision that Hildegard constructs throughout her works, including the themes of salvation history, the drama of the individual soul, the struggle of virtues against vices, and the life-giving and animating force of greenness (uiriditas). Moreover, the Homilies on the Gospels establish Hildegard as the only known female systematic exegete of the Middle Ages.

Cistercian Spirituality: An Ashram Perspective is a spiritual directory written by Fr. Francis Acharya for the monastic community that he founded at Kurisumala (Kerala, India). As the editor, Fr. Michael Casey, relates in the introduction:"This book is offered to a wider world in the hope that it will serve as a means of making and deepening contact with the spirit of the Cistercian tradition not so much as it is written but as it has been lived for over six decades by a deeply spiritual man. To those who know of Kurisumala Ashram or who have read the biography of Fr. Francis, it will provide a gateway to an understanding of the interior life of this remarkable monk. In particular, his description of the stages of the experience of prayer will certainly be helpful to many who, like him, are lifelong seekers of the unseen God."

This selection of conferences on Saint Benedict's Rule for Monasteries by the former abbot of Assumption Abbey of Ava, Missouri, was delivered to the brothers there as a way show what Saint Benedict and his sixth-century Rule might have to offer monks of the early twenty-first century. It is hoped that this publication will now speak to men and women outside of the monastic cloister, so they may come to feel at home with Saint Benedict.

Three treatises by twelfth-century Cistercians, who reflect on the human person as the image of God and capax Dei, capable of God, of being reformed to the divine Image. Of the three-Isaac of Stella, an anonymous Cistercian, and William of Saint Thierry- only the last discusses the nature ('the physics') of the body as well as of the soul, giving us an insight into medieval medical theory as well as to theological anthrology.

The Carthusian's traditional doctrine on prayer - from its very beginnings to the simplicity of its highest forms. Far from being abstract and theoretical, we learn about the prayer process by sharing the novices' concrete spiritual journey. Their problems and difficulties, and the many pitfalls they encounter on the way, are expressed in anongoing dialogue with their guide who relates to each one individually. Illuminating, even dazzling, insights, in one of the most profound books on Christian prayer available today. Many will find help here in their own quest for God and the ultimate purpose of life.

Come and See is a look inside the mind of a monk. Monastic spirituality is a universal spirituality that is the common inheritance of every human being; it is a search for God. From the atheist to the saint there is in the heart of all creatures a desire for ultimate meaning, a desire for God. In this sense everyone has the heart of a monk. As you read this book you will meet some of the great themes of monastic life: silence, solitude, community life, prayer. You will also be helped to find your most authentic self, the self Thomas Merton spoke of when he said at the center of our being is a point of nothingness, a point of pure truth. The place of the heart is highlighted in these conferences and homilies as an ancient theme so relevant to the modern person.

Spiritual Friendship is today the best known and perhaps most influential of the thirteen surviving works of Aelred, abbot of the great English Cistercian abbey of Rievaulx from 1147 1167. This fresh new translation makes the work crisply readable, allowing the intellectual and Christian insight of this great Cistercian teacher and writer to speak clearly to today's seekers of love, wisdom, and truth.

Lectio divina, the ancient practice of prayerful reading, is a font whose waters are waiting to quench the thirst of spiritual seekers, both beginners and experienced travelers. Reading to Live traces the practice of lectio divina from its roots in the ascetic movement in the early church and monasticism to its rediscovery in recent times. It invites people of all faiths to embrace the venerable practice of lectio divina and provides abundant creative testimonies to its practice and to its life-changing effects.