Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life: A Practical Guide to Prayer for Active People by Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J.

Saint Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, espoused the ideal of becoming “contemplatives in action.” He was convinced that contemplation (the deep awareness and appropriation of the unconditional love of God) should affect our actions, and that our actions need to be brought back to contemplation.

These are five dimensions of the spiritual life:

  1.  the Holy Eucharist
  2.  spontaneous prayer
  3.  the Beatitudes
  4.  partnership with the Holy Spirit
  5.  the contemplative life itself

This book is a “jump start” to a deeper spiritual life for today’s active people, and it will enflame the desire to read the masters and to enter even more deeply into the heart of God.

Topics include:

  •  God as Abba
  •  The Heart of Jesus
  •  The importance of agape love
  •  A checklist for spiritual growth
  •  The role of the Holy Spirit in the spiritual life
  •  Incorporating the active life with the contemplative life

Click here to read a sample.

About the Author

Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J. is a philosopher, educator, author, and President of the Magis Center, dedicated to public education on the relationship among the disciplines of physics, philosophy, reason, and faith. He is the head of the Ethics and Performance Institute, which delivers web-based ethics education to corporations, and he is also President of the Spitzer Center for Visionary Leadership, which delivers similar curricula to non-profit organizations. His other books include Finding True Happiness, The Soul’s Upward Yearning, and Healing the Culture.

Details

• Paperback
• Dimensions: 5.25 x 8
• 208 pages
• Abridged Edition
  

Praise for Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life

“The publication of Father Spitzer’s book is a happy coincidence, coming after Pope Benedict’s Jesus of Nazareth. Both are strong statements of New Testament spirituality and provide an escape from the ‘bleaching of Christ’s image,’ caused by the exclusive use of the historical-critical method. Informed Catholic readers are summoned by this book to take the Christ of the Gospels intelligently and seriously.”

– Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., author, A Still Small Voice