15 Days of Prayer with Saint Teresa of Avila - Softcover

Abiven, Jean

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1565483669 ISBN 13: 9781565483668

Publisher: New City Press, 2011

Synopsis

ABOUT THE BOOK As spiritual guide and director, Teresa of Avila placed prayer at the centre of the relationship between the human person and God. She is best known for her mysticism, but this volume presents the many other kinds of prayer that sustain us over the course of our lives. She places steadfast trust in God as the cornerstone of a holy life, but insists upon intellectual engagement and good judgment, objectives this 15-day journey will help readers achieve. Teresa of Avila is a faithful mentor for anyone seeking a spiritual education. Saint Teresa of Avila, a 16th-century Carmelite nun and Doctor of the Church, withstood tremendous opposition to revive the primitive monastic rule and conditions of poverty, hardship and solitude for religious life. With Saint John of the Cross, Teresa became an influential spiritual director, leaving a legacy of classic writings that include The Way of Perfection and The Interior Castle, her most complete statement on prayer and contemplation. ABOUT THE SERIES Spiritual journeys are best experienced with a guide. 15 Days of PrayerA" provides such direction from foundational spiritual figures. Each volume in the series contains: * A brief biography of the saint or spiritual leader introduced in that volume * A guide to creating a format for prayer and retreat * 15 meditations sessions with focus points and reflection guides

About this title

Review:

Jean Abiven's expert yet approachable text will be welcomed throughout the Carmelite family of friars, nuns, religious sisters and lay people in vocation discernment, formation, and private prayer. Equally, it will appeal to any seeker after God, lending itself as much to individual contemplation as to retreat center or parish prayer programs. -- Tracy E Martin ""Theological Book Review""

From the Back Cover:

Jean Abiven was a diocesan priest and teacher of spiritual philosophy for thirty years before he responded totally to the apostolic and contemplative charism of two outstanding figures of the Counter-Reformation: Teresa of Įvila (1515-82) and her helpmeet John of the Cross (1542-91). Abiven's classic analyses of Teresa and the spiritual life written since his becoming a Discalced Carmelite friar are concentrated in this 15 Days of Prayer title introduced by Thomas M Santa CSsR.

Santa insists that the purpose of each book in the series is not to forge a pious bond between reader and subject but to serve as a pilgrim's guide towards a closer relationship with God. Teresa of Įvila with her emphasis upon living in God's presence, actively and interiorly, would approve of Santa's rubric. She might even be considered his model spiritual director. Nonetheless, despite Abiven's profound understanding of Teresa, the choice of content for this slight volume from her substantial and diverse oeuvre could not have been easy. He has succeeded beyond my expectation.

Each of the fifteen chapters opens with a focus point and concludes with ideas for prayerful reflection. Abiven sets Teresa's life and writings alongside modern Carmelite formation methods, drawing in what has been learned from the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), in covering six key stages of Teresian direction from starting to pray to the intimacy of mystical union. Jean Abiven's expert yet approachable text will be welcomed throughout the Carmelite family of friars, nuns, religious sisters and lay people in vocation discernment, formation, and private prayer. Equally, it will appeal to any seeker after God, lending itself as much to individual contemplation as to retreat center or parish prayer programs. Readers will find Constant Tonnelier's 15 Days of Prayer volume on Saint John of the Cross, to be reissued in 2012, to be an ideal companion text.

Tracy E Martin, Theological Book Review

About this edition

• Publisher: New City Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1565483669
• ISBN 13: 9781565483668
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 149