Bøker av Basil Pennington

This look at the popular contemplative technique known as Centering Prayer is your key to a richer spiritual life. In easy-to-understand, non-technical language, internationally renowned author M. Basil Pennington combines testimonies of practitioners, updated guidelines, theological reflections, and helpful hints for teaching others in an exploration of all the essential information about Centering Prayer.For millions of Christians worldwide, it is the experience of prayer rather than the words which constitute it that are most important. In its simplicity, Centering Prayer opens our hearts to God, cleanses the mind, and soothes the soul.More than just a catalog of facts and practical suggestions, this book benefits even the most seasoned practitioner or teacher of Centering Prayer. However, the clarity of Father Pennington's approach also enables newcomers, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, to develop a firm grasp of the practice.Paperback

Well-known retreat master and author of the bestselling Centering Prayer, Basil Pennington now demonstrates the spiritually enriching power of that ancient prayer technique when used in conjunction with scripture. Just as a centering prayer involves listening to a call, he explains, so too our encounters with the Word of God are a listening experience.This devotional book contains thirty excerpts from Matthew''s Gospel with corresponding meditational essays that invite prayerful reflection through "centering." We are guided through such areas as poverty of spirit, self-alienation, the transformation of consciousness, authentic love, abandonment and "letting go," and openness to the Spirit.Equally suites for a personal at-home retreat or in a prayer-group setting, this treasury of Gospel spirituality brings even greater joy to the experience of centering prayer.

In this enriching book, Father Pennington reveals how the spiritual insights of "centering" have profoundly changed the lives of contemporary Christians everywhere.  "I believe in its simplicity," he writes, "it readily adapts itself to wherever one is on [life''s] journey.  It can open the space for God to lead us all the way into the fullness of the life he offers us...It is truly a gift that belongs to all the People of God."  Centered Living is an excellent guidebook for those who already practice centering prayer, as well as those just discovering it.

This devotional guide commemorates the saints universally honored in the Roman Catholic Church. Father Pennington has written an insightful Introduction which illuminates the spiritual graces we can experience when meditating on and praying with the saints throughout the year.The entries are arranged chronologically, corresponding to the feasts observed at weekday liturgies. Pennington opens each one with a brief note on the saint's life or role in the Church. There follows an excerpt by or about the saint drawn from the saint's life, writings, or spoken words. The author invites us to begin to walk with the saints. "Get to know them better," he suggests, and "listen to them speak to us here now through these, their recorded words." To further assist us, Pennington offers a Select Bibliography of works on the saints.This unique compendium can be used year after year for private use, parish use, worship, and study. For all who seek a clearer understanding of the feast days and their relevance in our lives, it is a welcome spiritual aid. Through the Year with the Saints will enhance our friendship with the company of the saints.

The call of every Christian is a call to discipleship. But Christians through the ages have puzzled over this call. "How do I become a good follower of Christ as He intended?" M. Basil Pennington, the well-known spiritual writer, addresses this question by using Peter, the first of the Apostles, as the prime example of the maturing follower of Christ. Through Peter, he demonstrates, the Gospel takes on an immediacy and relevance that is unique -- and from which the contemporary Christian can learn a valuable lesson. Peter's spiritual awakening and growth points the way for us to live out our call, with its inevitable challenges, frustrations, and occasional failures. Jesus calls us, as He did the first Apostles, into a special filial relationship with Him. "It is our life's work," Pennington writes, "to learn to think and act in accord with who we are by creation and by the recreation of baptism." DAILY WE FOLLOW HIM will be of great help to anyone struggling with the demands of faith, built on the premise that we are all called to be disciples, called to give Christian witness in our everyday life. Pennington's spiritual reflections enable us to respond to that call in the only way possible.