When we choose retreat we make a generous investment in our friendship with Christ. Seasoned spiritual director Ruth Haley Barton gently and eloquently leads us into an exploration of retreat as a key practice that opens us to God, guiding us through seven invitations to retreat. You will discover how to say yes to God's winsome invitation to greater freedom and surrender.

The intent of the ACTS Retreat Manual is to provide all priests, deacons, and lay ACTS Retreat Team leaders and members with the necessary information to facilitate the ACTS Retreat process in a way that grounds the experience in the invitation to encounter Jesus Christ and be His disciple.

The TEEN ACTS Retreats Manual intends to provide all priests, deacons, and lay ACTS Retreat Team leaders and members with the necessary information to facilitate the TEEN ACTS Retreat process in a way that grounds the experience in the invitation to encounter Jesus Christ and be His disciple.

For readers of Walden, Wild, Pilgrim at Tinker’s Creek, A Book of Silence, A Gift from the Sea and other celebrations of the inner adventure. An utterly engaging dive into our modern ways of retreat — where we go, why we’re drawn, and how it’s urgent From pilgrim paths to forest cabins, and from rented hermitages to arts temples and quiet havens for yoga and meditation, In Praise of Retreat explores the pleasures and powers of this ancient practice for modern people. Kirsteen MacLeod draws on the history of retreat and personal experiences to reveal the many ways readers can step back from society to reconnect with their deepest selves — and to their loftiest aspirations in life. In the 21st century, disengaging, even briefly, is seen by many as self-indulgent, unproductive, and antisocial. Yet to retreat is as basic a human need as being social, and everyone can benefit, whether it’s for a weekend, a month, or a lifetime. Retreat is an uncertain adventure with as many peaks and valleys as any mountain expedition, except we head inward, to recharge and find fresh energy and brave new ideas to bring back into our everyday lives.

An Indispensable Resource for Pastoral Agents Responding to the need for resources to set up, sponsor, and lead retreats, Planning and Implementing Retreats: A Parish Handbook provides an array of simple yet creative tools to achieve a successful outcome. This book is a practical, time-saving guide for those who are involved in designing experiences to enhance people's spiritual lives--in parishes especially, but also in hospitals, campus ministries or other locales where Christian adults gather for spiritual formation. At the heart of this resource are five planning and design strategies for professionals and volunteers who want to create a well-organized and spiritually sensitive retreat experience. Other chapters deal with the theological and scriptural bases for retreat design, as well as special areas of concern, worship and liturgy, and participation evaluation. The strategies and tips outlined in this book can help planners--novice or experienced--nourish their own spiritual life as they prepare for the task of journeying with those in search of the living God. This is truly a fundamental and much-needed resource.

Everyday Holiness presents the spiritual journey to and with Christ as possible, noble, challenging, and rewarding. It describes the many aspects of holiness and how it is essential to our growth in Christ. Holiness is the most important developmental area in life and the greatest goal to which we can aspire. The Doctor of the Church St. Francis de Sales wrote: "All of us can attain Christian virtue and holiness no matter in what condition of life we live and no matter what our life's work may be." This book should be read slowly, prayerfully, and seriously. It invites us to ponder the meaning of life and how holiness benefits every aspect of our church, our society, and ourselves. Because all good things lead to God, the book infuses a deeper meaning into the ordinary circumstances of daily life, thus showing how holiness is not a static reality but a dynamic force that transforms every aspect of our day. The book is replete with concrete examples and practical illustrations that show how living holiness is possible today. Indeed, holiness is our greatest need, deepest joy, and hardest challenge. Everyday Holiness is for everyone who wants to love God more and serve him better.

This is Part II of the story which began with the previous volume, The Ice Meadows, which introduced the Reverend Joseph Stevenson and the many characters and events which shaped his life. As he contends against an impossible wall of denial and the love he feels for his wife and son, he continues to try to maintain a stable home and shepherd a growing congregation in a confusing and troubled world. Although life is a vale of tears and he faces abandonment by the church he has loved since childhood, he continues to strive and gain strength from a compassionate God. With a sense of humor and love of the beauty of creation, he carries on with confidence that the battle has already been won for us.

The Catechist's Guide is the heart and soul of the Confirmation preparation process. Using solid doctrinal content, active learning strategies, and creative prayer services, lesson plans for twenty-three sessions include checklists of materials and preparations, background for the catechist, an outline, and reflection questions for each session.

Since 1918, the Missionary Society of St. Columban has been sharing the Gospel in solidarity with the poor throughout the world. Today, Columbans including priests, Sisters and lay missionaries work in fifteen countries around the globe in conjunction with lay men and women within the local communities. Columban Fr. Peter Woodruff spent several years traveling around the Columban world and interviewing the men and women engaged in mission work. The stories collected here provide a rare look at a moment in time in the continuing mission work and the ongoing Columban story. Each story is unique and different, but all of them share in furthering the work of mission today. Explore their first-hand accounts of what it means to be a missionary in today’s ever changing world.