General Topics on Spiritual Life

  1. First Steps in Prayer
  2. The Specificity of Christian Prayer
  3. The Immersion in the Trinity
  4. What Does Spiritual Mean?
  5. The Unavoidable Mystical Dimension of Christianity
  6. Christ, the Unifying Principle of Human Life
  7. “Hallowed be Thy Name”
  8. Liturgy as Prayer I
  9. Liturgy as Prayer II (With St. Teresa of Avila)
  10. Liturgy and Prayer (Pope Benedict)
  11. Transfiguration and Mass
  12. Sunday, Day of Formation
  13. Pope Benedict 44 Catecheses on Prayer: School of Prayer
  14. The Union of the Priest with Jesus and its Effects in Liturgy
  15. The Stronghold of the Church
  16. Waking the Dead: The Resurrection as Present Reality, Not Deferred Hope
  1. The Two Systems of Christian Life (very important)
  2. Purity of Heart in Spiritual Life
  3. Old Man & New Man Functioning
  4. The Evil One in Spiritual Life (Temptation)
  5. Lead us Not Into Temptation
  6. Do Temptations Diminish?
  7. Suffering
  8. A Mysterious Warfare
  9. Intercessory Prayer
  10. What is Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit?
  11. The Anagogical Acts, (How to fight temptation)
  12. The Pascal Movement of Our Spiritual Life
  13. Our Mindset Determines the God we Get
  14. Dwelling in the Cross’ Sanctuary
  15. Purification of the Bride-to-Be
  16. Is The Spiritual Life a Double Life?
  17. Mother Teresa of Calcutta Varanasi Letter
  18. The Reception and Integration of the Contemplative-Active Distinction: From Augustine to Teresa and John of the Cross
  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. Old Man and New Man in Pauline Theology: Spiritual Transformation and Growth
  17. “The Circumcision Done by Christ” (Col. 2:11)
  18. A Comparative Study of Ignatian and Carmelite Spiritualities
  19. Lectio Divina and Contemplative Prayer According to Carmelite Spirituality
  20. The Incarnated Truth: From the Church Fathers to Jung

 


Spiritual Masters

  1. THE Master, the Holy Spirit
  2. The Desert Fathers (Wiki)
  3. St. John Cassian
  4. Dionysius the Areopagite: Mystical Theology D. and Scripture
  5. St. Teresa of Avila
  6. St. John of the Cross
  7. St. Therese of the Child Jesus the Holy Face
  8. Bl. Marie Eugene of the Child Jesus OCD
  9. St. Elisabeth of the Trinity
  10. St. Francis of Sales
  11. The Carmelite and Ignatian Ways in Comparison, Distinguishing Prayer, Method, and Spirituality
  12. 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. Spiritual Fatherhood as the Fruit of Charity: A Path for Spiritual Directors
  22. The Shadow and the Truth in Spiritual Direction
  23. Can Chatgpt offer Spiritual Direction? Chatgpt Answers
  24. St. John of the Cross, Spiritual Director

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