Showing posts with label catholic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label catholic. Show all posts

16 September 2015

New Release: Under the Sign of the Waterbearer: A Life of Thomas Merton

Under the Sign of the Waterbearer A Life of Thomas Merton Book Cover
In an ongoing agreement with Green Hills Press, Grave Distractions Publications has released  a second edition of Western Kentucky University history professor James T. Baker's play Under the Sign of the Waterbearer: A Life of Thomas Merton. This play was originally published in the late 1970s and this edition has new material and an afterword from the author. Under the Sign of Waterbearer is perfect for high school, college, or community theater productions.

About Under the Sign of the Waterbearer: A Life of Thomas Merton

Thomas Merton, known in religion as Father Louis, was born in France, in his words "under the sign of the waterbearer," in 1915. He studied at Cambridge in England and at Columbia in New York. As a student he lived what his friends have described as a bawdy life but turned from it to become a devout Roman Catholic. As America entered World War II he entered the abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky, and for 27 years he was a Trappist monk, in the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance. During his early days there he wrote an autobiography which became the third bestselling nonfiction book of the year 1949 and went on to write more than 50 more until in 1968 he at last went back into the world to meet with monastic leaders in Asia.

He had entered Gethsemani on December 10, 1941, when he was nearing his twenty-seventh birthday; and on December 10, 1968, as he was nearing his fifty-fourth birthday, he was accidentally electrocuted while attending a religious conference in Bangkok, Thailand. Many in the West consider him a saint and many in the East consider him a manifestation of the Buddha. His autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, has been compared to the Confessions of Saint Augustine No one who reads it or any other of his books is ever the same again.

The author of this play, James Thomas Baker, knew Thomas Merton and wrote the original version of the play soon after Merton's death. This completely revised and rewritten version, done as an expression of love and admiration in 2015, is to commemorate his hundred birthday.

Under the Sign of the Waterbearer: A Life of Thomas Merton is now available in print and eBook editions at Amazon and will shortly be carried by other major online retailers.


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18 April 2015

The Love Letters: Saint Francis and Saint Clare or Assist Meet Pope Francis by Bruce Davis, Ph. D.

The Love Letters: Saint Francis and Saint Clare or Assist Meet Pope Francis Bruce Davis
The Love Letters: Saint Francis and Saint Clare of Assisi Meet Pope Francis asks who is Pope Francis and where is he leading the Church? To understand the impact of Pope Francis and his inspiration to the Catholic Church, indeed people of all religions, we turn to the two saints who are his inspiration, Saint Francis and Saint Clare of Assisi and the great love of their spirituality. Eight hundred years ago when the Church had fallen into scandal and hard times, Saint Francis and Saint Clare lifted the Church to new life, new beginnings. Today the Church suffers the same crises. Today Pope Francis is looking at the heart full spirituality of Saint Francis and Saint Clare to lift the Church with less pomp and ceremony and more embracing the poor and unwanted. The Love Letters is the love story of Francis and Clare and the challenge for Pope Francis and the world to discover the same love in our hearts, our neighbor, nature, and all creation.


The Love Letters: Saint Francis and Saint Clare of Assisi Meet Pope Francis is historical fiction. What if Saint Francis and Saint Clare were to meet Pope Francis? What would be their thoughts, dreams and hopes for a new Church? The Love Letters is the mystical love discovered by two of the world's greatest mystics long ago asking who is the new Pope Francis? Can he rebuild the Church into a living Church, a church less concerned with rules and order and more about forgiveness and compassion? In the silence of our hearts, in giving to those in need, Saint Francis, Saint Clare, and Pope Francis offer a new vision for us all to become instruments of true peace and joy.


This title is available in traditional print and eBook formats at fine online retails such as Alibris, Amazon, Amazon Canada, Amazon UK, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, Book Depository, Booktopia, Copia, Google Books, iBookstore, Scribd, and Smashwords.
 
About Author Bruce Davis, Ph. D.
Bruce Davis, Ph.D. was trained as a psychologist but discovered early that true happiness is not possible without a meaningful spiritual life. Through the years he traveled and lived in many cultures in different parts of the world. But it was in Assisi, Italy, the historic home of Saint Francis and Saint Clare, that he found a peace and inner path which seemed universal in its language and presence. In Assisi, pilgrims from every part of the world, of all religions find a spirituality that speaks of simple peace.
 
After years of bringing groups to Assisi, Bruce and his wife, Ruth, decided to live in Assisi. In the spirit of Saint Francis, they created The Assisi Retreat Center with altars to all the world’s major religions. Their center was given an official blessing by Pope John Paul. The Assisi Retreat Center was listed as one of the top ten meditation retreats in the world by Travel and Leisure Magazine. More recently CNN listed the center again as one of the top ten meditation centers in the world.

After many years of leading retreats, Bruce found the main ingredients for personal transformation included spending time in silence, nature, and heartfulness meditation. The peace and quiet of silence helps people to discover an inner presence in the heart that is lost by many in our busy world. Ruth has created a movement practice called Sacred Movement Ritual which is prayer through movement. Since creating the Assisi Retreat Center, Bruce and Ruth have started Silent Stay, a retreat center near Napa, California.

Bruce is the author of several books including: The Magical Child Within You, The Heart of Healing, Monastery Without Walls, My Little Flowers, The Calling of Joy, and Simple Peace-The Spiritual Life of St. Francis of Assisi. Bruce is also a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post. For more information about Bruce’s and Ruth’s current activities visit their website at: www.SilentStay.com.