General Topics on Spiritual Life

  1. First Steps in Prayer
  2. The Specificity of Christian Prayer
  3. The Immersion in the Trinity
  4. The Dormant Good Catholic, When the Baptismal Life Has Not Yet Become Fully Operative
  5. What Does Spiritual Mean?
  6. The Unavoidable Mystical Dimension of Christianity
  7. Christ, the Unifying Principle of Human Life
  8. “Hallowed be Thy Name”
  9. Liturgy as Prayer I
  10. Liturgy as Prayer II (With St. Teresa of Avila)
  11. Liturgy and Prayer (Pope Benedict)
  12. Transfiguration and Mass
  13. Sunday, Day of Formation
  14. Pope Benedict 44 Catecheses on Prayer: School of Prayer
  15. The Union of the Priest with Jesus and its Effects in Liturgy
  16. The Stronghold of the Church
  17. Waking the Dead: The Resurrection as Present Reality, Not Deferred Hope
  18. The Soul He Gives Us: Holy Communion and the Union of Souls
  19. The Crossing of the Sea of Galilee: Geography as Theology. The Lake of Gennesareth as Narrative Threshold in the Gospels and the Mystical Tradition.
  20. The Heart Transformed into a River of Forgiveness
  21. Breathing the Breath of God: The Fulfilment of the First Commandment and the Transformation of Christian Life
  22. The Anagogical Acts of St. John of the Cross and Hugh of Balma’s Theologia Mystica

Spiritual Warfare

  1. The Two Systems of Christian Life (very important)
  2. Purity of Heart in Spiritual Life
  3. Old Man & New Man Functioning (with diagrams)
  4. Old Man and New Man in Pauline Theology: Spiritual Transformation and Growth
  5. Old Man and New Man in Pauline and Carmelite Theology: Spiritual Transformation and Radical Purification
  6. Waking the Dead: The Resurrection as Present Reality, Not Deferred Hope
  7. The Evil One in Spiritual Life (Temptation)
  8. Lead us Not Into Temptation
  9. Do Temptations Diminish?
  10. Suffering
  11. A Mysterious Warfare
  12. Intercessory Prayer
  13. What is Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit?
  14. The Anagogical Acts, (How to fight temptation)
  15. The Pascal Movement of Our Spiritual Life
  16. Our Mindset Determines the God we Get
  17. Dwelling in the Cross’ Sanctuary
  18. Purification of the Bride-to-Be
  19. Is The Spiritual Life a Double Life?
  20. Mother Teresa of Calcutta Varanasi Letter
  21. The Reception and Integration of the Contemplative-Active Distinction: From Augustine to Teresa and John of the Cross
  22. The Folly of the Cross: From the Old Man to the New Man
  1. Luke’s Final Pentecost
  2. The Transfiguration of the Lord in Spiritual Life
  3. Chastity and “Union with the Will of God”
  4. Quarantined Mass and Lectio Divina / Prayer of the Heart
  5. Mother Teresa: Dark Night or Something Else?
  6. The Meaning of Our Life: Bearing Children for Jesus
  7. Act of Desire or Just Desire?
  8. Forgiveness, the Core of Martyrdom
  9. “Spirit” or “Heart” in Spiritual Theology
  10. Father Gardeil OP, explaining the “spirit” or “mens” in St. Thomas Aquinas and in St. Augustine (in French), from his book: “Structure de l’âme et l’expérience mystique” Vol. I, 1927.
  11. The Tripartite Biblical Vision of Man: A Key to Christian Life, by Mgr Arthur Calkins.
  12. Tripartite Biblical Anthropology Illustrated by a Few Saints, by Mgr Arthur Calkins.
  13. “Tipartite Anthropology”, in “Theology in History” by Henri de Lubac, Ignatius Press, 1996.
  14. How do Saints Know About Creatures?
  15. Body, Soul, Death & Resurrection
  16. “The Circumcision Done by Christ” (Col. 2:11)
  17. A Comparative Study of Ignatian and Carmelite Spiritualities
  18. Lectio Divina and Contemplative Prayer According to Carmelite Spirituality
  19. The Incarnated Truth: From the Church Fathers to Jung

History of Spiritual Theology

  1. The Twelfth-Century Revival of the Song of Songs: William of Saint-Thierry, Bernard of Clairvaux and the Emergence of a Theology of Mystical Experience
  2. Scientia and Sapientia: The Twelfth-Century Crisis of Knowledge and What It Still Teaches Us
  3. From the Unity of Theology and Spiritual Life to Three Theological Threads
  4. The Twelfth-Century Revival of the Song of Songs: William of Saint-Thierry, Bernard of Clairvaux and the Emergence of a Theology of Mystical Experience

 

 

Spiritual Masters

  1. THE Master, the Holy Spirit
  2. Origen and the Birth of Mystical Theology: The Architecture of the Mystical Life Before “Mystical Theology”
  3. The Desert Fathers (Wiki)
  4. St. John Cassian
  5. Dionysius the Areopagite: Mystical Theology D. and Scripture
  6. St. Teresa of Avila
  7. St. John of the Cross
  8. St. Therese of the Child Jesus the Holy Face
  9. Bl. Marie Eugene of the Child Jesus OCD
  10. St. Elisabeth of the Trinity
  11. St. Francis of Sales
  12. The Carmelite and Ignatian Ways in Comparison, Distinguishing Prayer, Method, and Spirituality
  13. Fr. Louis Guillet OCD (1902-1992)

 

Spiritual Direction

“Whoever wants to stand alone without the support of a master and guide will be like the tree that stands alone in a field without a proprietor. No matter how much the tree bears, passers-by will pick the fruit before it ripens.” (St. John of the Cross, Sayings, 5)

  1. What Does Spiritual Mean?
  2. What is Spiritual Direction?
  3. Spiritual Direction, an Incredible Grace
  4. “Spiritual Formation” vs. “Spiritual Director” in the Church
  5. Articles on Jesus’ Call
  6. The Five Modes of Activity of the Holy Spirit
  7. Old Man & New Man Functioning
  8. Spiritual Direction and the Three Main Phases of Spiritual Life
  9. Human Maturity and Spiritual Growth
  10. How to Emerge from a Lukewarm Spiritual Life
  11. The Duties of my State
  12. Ensuring Steady Growth
  13. Discernement in Spiritual Life (Ignatian vs. Carmelite Discernement)
  14. The Second Level of Discernment
  15. Therese’s Copernican Revolution
  16. Pope Francis’ Fourteen Catechesis on Discernment
  17. We Cannot Help Enjoying Sense Pleasures
  18. Fortitude and Sacred Threshold
  19. A New Threshold in Spiritual Life
  20. The Rich Young Man and Perfection
  21. What Kind of Person Makes a Good Spiritual Director? (Jungian Orientation for Discernment and Formation)
  22. Jungian Personality Types and Qualities Conducive to Spiritual Direction
  23. Spiritual Fatherhood as the Fruit of Charity: A Path for Spiritual Directors
  24. The Shadow and the Truth in Spiritual Direction
  25. Can Chatgpt offer Spiritual Direction? Chatgpt Answers
  26. St. John of the Cross, Spiritual Director
  27. Listening as Surrender: The Holy Spirit in the Counselling Room
  28. Connecting the Dots of Grace: Spiritual Direction and the Fidelity of God
  29. El director espiritual según Teresa de Jesús y Juan de la Cruz, Maria del Pilar
  30. ‘In Persona Christi Pastoris’, What Is Unique About Spiritual Direction Given by a Priest
  31. Leading to the Fountain: Catechesis, Spiritual Formation, and the Responsibility of the Seeker
  32. Lectio Divina: The Best School for the Spiritual Director? Learning to Listen to God in the Directee

Texts/Books

– St. Athanasius, “The Life of Saint Anthony”.

– St. John Cassian, “The Conferences”.

– The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection

– Irénée Hausherr, “Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East”.

– Bishop Kallistos Ware, “The Spiritual Father in Saint John Climacus and Saint Symeon the New Theologian”.

– Boniface Hicks and Thomas Acklin, “Spiritual Direction: A Guide for Sharing the Father’s Love”.

– St. Francis Sales, “The Spiritual Director, of Devout and Religious Souls”.

– St. Francis Sales, “Introduction to Devout Life”

– H.J.M. Turner, “St. Symeon the New Theologian and Spiritual Fatherhood”.

– Gabriel Bunge, “Spiritual Fatherhood: Evagrius Ponticus on the Role of the Spiritual Father”. 

– Thomas Merton on Spiritual Direction

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