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This book tells the story of one of the Catholic Church's most lovable and loving saints, St. Philip Neri. Despite his wisdom and learning, he was a simple, childlike soul who never ceased, even in his old age, to make jokes and play with his many pets.

Another of the popular historical novels by the distinguished de Wohl, telling the dramatic story of St. Benedict, the father of Western monasticism, who played such a major role in the Christianization and civilization of post-Roman Europe in the sixth century. De Wohl weaves an intricate tapestry of love, violence and piety to recount with historical accuracy the story of St. Benedict and the tempestuous era in which he lived. Since there are no contemporary biographies of this major saint of history and the Church, de Wohl's inspired account is of significant importance on the subject of saint's lives for today's spiritual seekers. Having lived in an era of great immorality and vice, not unlike our world today, Benedict's story has a strong message for modern Christians who seek, as he did, to turn away from the wickedness of the world to find Christ in prayer, study and solitude.

One of the great Catholic philosophers of our day reflects on the way language has been abused so that, instead of being a means of communicating the truth and entering more deeply into it, and of the acquisition of wisdom, it is being used to control people and manipulate them to achieve practical ends. Reality becomes intelligible through words. Man speaks so that through naming things, what is real may become intelligible. This mediating character of language, however, is being increasingly corrupted. Tyranny, propaganda, mass-media destroy and distort words. They offer us apparent realities whose fictive character threatens to become opaque. Josef Pieper shows with energetic zeal, but also with ascetical restraint, the path out of this dangerous situation. We are constrained to see things again as they are and from the truth thus grasped, to live and to work.

This book is neither a deriding of the worldly "profane" nor a splitting up of reality into a supposedly unholy realm over against one which alone is consecrated to God. But something which threatens to be forgotten, to disappear from the memory of man is fixed upon here: namely, that in this world which is given us as our life's environment, not only does the striving to take care of our daily needs possess an obvious right, as well the marketplace, the economy, scholarly research etc.; but in their very midst there is something in the fullest sense beyond our daily concerns: "God's tent" among men, the sanctuary where, set off from the round of daily work, the bodily presence of the eternal Logos become man is honored and celebrated.

"Josef Pieper's account of the centrality and meaning of the virtues is a needed primer to teach us exactly the meaning and relationship of the virtues and how they relate to the faith and its own special virtues. Pieper's attention is ever to the particular virtue, its precise meaning, and to its contribution to the wholeness that constituted an ordered, active, and truthful human life. No better brief account of the virtues can be found. Pieper has long instructed us in these realities that need to be made operative in each life as it touches all else 'that is', as Pieper himself often puts it." -James V. Schall, S.J., Georgetown University "A fine and thought provoking examination of the relationship between the mind, heart, and moral life of the human person." -John Cardinal O'Connor, Archbishop of New York "Pieper's sentences are admirably constructed and his ideas are expressed with maximum clarity. He restores to philosophy what common sense obstinately tells us ought to be found there: wisdom and insight." -T. S. Eliot

Introduction by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Commentary by Hans Urs von Balthasar. Pope John Paul II's only encyclical on our Blessed Mother, with introduction by the Cardinal Prefect of the congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, and commentary by one of the world's leading Catholic theologians, Hans Urs von Balthasar. The Church's supreme magisterium and representative of the Church's most penetrating theological reflection combine to provide for all the faithful a rich and concise compendium of the Mother of the Redeemer. The development of traditional Marian dogma in the light of the present day bears the Pope's unmistakable personal stamp. The three parts of the encyclical ("Mary in the Mystery of Christ", "The Mother of God in the Midst of the Pilgrim Church" and "Motherly Mediation") draw predominantly from two sources: Sacred Scripture and the central documents of the Second Vatican Council. There is a particular emphasis on ecumenism. What binds all Christians to Mary becomes ever clearer: she is the model of their faith. "Preparing for the advent of the year 2000, the great memorial of Christ's birth, is a fundamental concern of the encyclical. In the liturgy, Advent is a Marian time: the time when Mary made room in her womb for the Savior of the world and bore within her humanity's hope and expectation. Celebrating Advent means becoming Marian, imitating Mary's unconditional Yes which is ever anew the place of God's birth, the 'fullness of time'" � Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

When it comes to meditation the decisive question, according to Hans Urs von Balthasar, is whether God has spoken or "whether the Absolute remains the Silence beyond all words". Christianity claims God has spoken, and spoken fully, in his Son, the Word made flesh. While God remains mysterious, he is not utterly unknown or unknowable. Von Balthasar insists through Christian meditation we enter with mind and heart into God's self-disclosure. In Jesus, God reveals his own inner depths to us. At the same time, because Jesus is God-made-man, he also reveals our inner depths to ourselves. Christian Meditation is at once a book about what meditation is, in light of God's revelation, and a book that assists believers to meditate. In a treatment that is both fresh and profound, von Balthasar describes the central elements of all Christian meditation, provides a guide for meditation and then points the way to the union that prayer achieves in the footsteps of Mary, within the Church and in and for the world. "Christian meditation is entirely trinitarian and at the same time entirely human. In order to find God, no one need reject being human personally or socially, but in order to find God all must see the world and themselves in the Holy Spirit as they are in God's sight." - Hans Urs von Balthasar

This is the introduction to the second part of the trilogy which is von Balthasar's major work. The Glory of the Lord approaches revelation from the standpoint of the beautiful. The final part of the trilogy, the Theo-Logic, will treat Christian revelation from the standpoint of the true.In this first volume von Balthasar shows how many of the trends of modern theology (e.g. "event", "history", "orthopraxy", "dialogue", "political theology") point to an understanding of human and cosmic reality as a divine drama. He will then consider objections to such a theological dramatic theory and also the relationship between the Church and the theatre. This volume assembles the materials and the themes that will make it possible in subsequent volumes to develop this theological dramatic theory."...meeting Balthasar was for me the beginning of a lifelong friendship I can only be thankful for. Never again have I found anyone with such a comprehensive theological and humanistic education as Balthasar and de Lubac, and I cannot even begin to say how much I owe to my encounter with them." --Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI)

This is perhaps the best and most comprehensive book on prayer ever written. From the persons of the Trinity through the Incarnation to the Church and the very structure of the human person, this book is a powerful synthesis of what prayer is and how to pray. The testament of a great theologian on something which is most personal and interior, contemplative prayer. "This is a book that changes, not only your mind, but your life. It lays out, in language both theologically precise and spiritually vivid, what it is like to enter into a relationship with the three persons of the Trinity. One of its major emphases is how authentic Christian prayer is always conducted in and through the words given to us by God himself in the Scriptures, so that our speech to God always mirrors and mimics God speech to us. This single volume also functions as a remarkably good introduction to Balthasar's architectonic thought as a whole." - Fr. Robert Barron, Author & Host of CatholicismIn this modern classic, von Balthasar illumines the nature and practice of contemplative prayer in explicit and vital connection with the mysteries of Christian revelation. His extraordinary flair for drawing spiritual implications from the most profound theological insights is brilliantly displayed on so many of its pages. This is a book on prayer that stimulates our yearning for God as it points us toward ever-deepening and authentic encounters with Him. - Margaret M. Turek, S.T.D., Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, St. Patrick's Seminary and University

In this profound and illuminating work, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger turns the gaze of an accomplished theologian upon the crucified Savior. This synthetic and meditative work is theological without being abstract or dry, and spiritual without being sentimental. The pierced heart of Christ must be the heart of theology and Christian life as well.Proceeding from the prayerful dialogue between the Incarnate Son and his Eternal Father, Joseph Ratzinger shows how one can approach the mystery of the Heart of Christ only through the imitation of this prayer. To know and understand Jesus we must participate in his prayer. The prayer of Christ must be the interior life of all who are joined to him in his Body, the Church. Using the Old and New Testaments and the Church Fathers, Ratzinger shows that the ecclesial community (the Church) was born from the pierced Heart of Christ on the Cross.

Daughter Zion explores the biblical witness to the Church's Marian dogmas- Mary's role as Mother of God, her virginity, the Immaculate Conception, and her Assumption into heaven. Cardinal Ratzinger examines how these beliefs are linked to the Churchs faith in Jesus Christ. Far from competing with the truth about Christ, the Churchs Marian beliefs uphold and underscore that truth. Marys role in salvation, according to Cardinal Ratzinger, was anticipated in the Old Testament. She was prefigured in Eve, the Mother of the Living; in the holy women of the Old Testament, such as Sarah, Hannah, Deborah, Esther, and Judith; and in the prophetic image of the daughter Zion. Cardinal Ratzinger also considers Marys place as the embodiment of created wisdom, who faithfully received the Uncreated Wisdom of the World of God in the Incarnation. Daughter Zion avoids the extremes of denying any biblical foundation for Marian doctrine on the one hand and fundamentalistic proof-texting on the other. Instead, the author beautifully and lucidly develops key biblical themes to help readers understand and appreciate the Mother of God.

In response to actual questions many people have asked him about angels & demons, well-known author and philosophy professor Peter Kreeft separates fact from fantasy and myth from reality as he answers 101 common questions about these spiritual beings. Based on a very popular college course he teaches on this subject, this book responds to the incredible amount of interest in angelic beings and attempts to clear up some of the misinformation abounding in numerous books today on what we really know about these mysterious spirits.

Written over three decades ago, Cardinal Ratzinger's profound treatise on the true meaning of Christian brotherhood is perhaps even more timely and important now as a clear statement on the biblical grounds for cooperation among believing Christians. In treating Christian brotherhood from the perspective of salvation history, Ratzinger opens up the meaning of both the Old and New Testament in this most essential area. After establishing the distinctively Christian sense of brotherhood (vis-a-vis Judaism, Hellenism, Stoicism, the Enlightenment, and Marxism), he shows how fraternal charity can only be perfected through God's fatherhood, Christ's divine sonship, and our brotherhood in Christ.