Brandon Vogt's Blog, page 6

Learning from a Model of Joy in All Circumstances

Today we continue our regular series called “Learning from the Saints.” Our guide is expert Bert Ghezzi, a dear friend of mine and the author of numerous books including Voices of the Saints, Saints at Heart, and Discover Christ: Developing a Personal Relationship with Jesus.

His more recent books are The Power of Daily Mass and The Heart of Catholicism. You can learn more about Bert and his work at BertGhezzi.com.

Today, Bert profiles St. Théophane Vénard, a French missionary and martyr whose feast day is today—on Thanksgiving!

 

 

One day, nine-year-old Jean-Théophane Vénard read about a priest who had been beheaded in Tonkin, which now is North Vietnam. Perhaps because the martyr was from Poitiers, his home town, the story affected him profoundly. “Me, too! I want to go to Tonkin!” he shouted. “Me, too! I want to be a martyr!” By coincidence or by grace, his wish would come true 22 years later.

St. Théophane Vénard came from a close-knit family. But at age 12 he was sent away to school at Doué, from that time returning home only occasionally. He completed his seminary education in 1850 and a year later he joined the Society of Foreign Missions in Paris. His decision caused his family great pain, as the society was a factory for martyrs.

Théophane was ordained in 1852. That same year he went to Hong Kong for training, where he was sick a great part of the time. Originally, he was to serve in China. However, circumstances changed and he was sent to Vietnam in 1854. Thus the stage was set for the realization of his childish wish.

A general persecution of Christians was underway in Vietnam, but for five years the saint worked secretly with other priests to care for tens of thousands of converts. In 1859, when the persecution intensified, he was forced to hide in the home of an elderly women. “What an enviable situation!” he wrote a friend:

“Three missionaries, one of whom is a bishop, lying side by side, day and night, in a space a yard-and-a-half square, getting a dim light from three holes the size of a little finger, made in the mud wall, which a poor old woman conceals with some sticks thrown down outside. Under our feet is a brick cellar, constructed with great skill by one of my catechists. We have enjoyed the old woman’s hospitality for three weeks, during which time I am afraid you would have been rather scandalized at our gaiety.”

Betrayed by a visitor, the priest was arrested on November 30, 1859. While awaiting execution, he was imprisoned for two months in a small cage. He wrote these words in a farewell to his father:

“All those around me are civil and respectful, and a good number love me. From the great mandarin down to the last soldier, they all regret that the laws of the country condemn me to death. I have not had to endure any torture, like so many of my brothers. One light saber blow will separate my head from my body, like a spring flower that the master of the garden picks for his pleasure. We are all flowers planted on this earth for God to pluck when he will, some sooner, some later. One is a blushing rose, another a virginal lily, a third a humble violet. Let us all try to please our sovereign Lord and Master by the gift and the fragrance he has given us.”

However, Théophane’s decapitation at the hands of a brutal executioner was a gruesome event. He died, a martyr of Vietnam, on February 2, 1861.

The best word to describe St. Théophane Vénard is “happy.” He was happy at home, happy at school and seminary, happy when he was sick, happy to be sent to Vietnam. And he was happy in his hiding hole, happy in his cage, and happy to bend his neck for the executioner’s sabre. I don’t wish for martyrdom, but I would like to be infected with a joy like St. Théophane Vénard.

 

 

Read more from Bert at his website www.BertGhezzi.com, or check out his many books on Amazon.

The post Learning from a Model of Joy in All Circumstances appeared first on Brandon Vogt.

Book Giveaway (10 copies): “A Daily Defense“ by Jimmy Akin

“Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others.” — St. Augustine

Since I’ve built up a large collection of extra books and resources, every week I give some away absolutely free, no strings attached. Each giveaway lasts seven days with a new one beginning every Friday. You can enter any time during the week. Check out my past giveaways here.

Thanks to Catholic Answers, today I’m giving away TEN copies of a great new book by Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist. Learn more and enter below!

 

A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist

by Jimmy Akin

Catholic Answers Press, 384 pages, paperback

Do you want to learn how to defend and explain the existence of God, the reliability of the Bible, and scores of other truths—but you don’t have a lot of time? Don’t worry. Jimmy Akin has done the hard work for you. All you need is five minutes a day.

In A Daily Defense, Jimmy compiles 365 challenges that Catholics often hear from skeptics and non-Catholics—about God, Jesus, Scripture, morality, Mary, and a host of doctrines and teaches you how to answer them. Combining deep learning with decades of experience explaining Catholic belief and practice on a popular level, he cuts to the heart of each subject, offering pithy but powerful replies that are both effective and easy to master. Perfect reading before bed or during breakfast, for down time or prayer time, part of a regular routine or picked up on the go-whatever your day is like, spend just a few minutes in these pages to equip you with the knowledge and skills you need to defend the Catholic Faith.

 

 

I’m using Gleam to help with the giveaway, which is cool because it allows you multiple entries for posting on Facebook, sharing on Twitter, etc. Click below to enter:

(If you’re reading this through email or RSS and don’t see the giveaway widget, click here.)

By entering this giveaway you agree to occasionally receive email updates from me—no spam, just updates about free books, cool links, and exciting news.

 

 

The winner(s) will be randomly selected next Friday and the books will be sent out, free of charge, shortly thereafter.

(Since I’m covering the shipping costs, only residents within the continental United States are eligible to win.)

The post Book Giveaway (10 copies): “A Daily Defense“ by Jimmy Akin appeared first on Brandon Vogt.

Learning from a Humble Champion of Mercy

Today we continue our regular series called “Learning from the Saints.” Our guide is expert Bert Ghezzi, a dear friend of mine and the author of numerous books including Voices of the Saints, Saints at Heart, and Discover Christ: Developing a Personal Relationship with Jesus.

His more recent books are The Power of Daily Mass and The Heart of Catholicism. You can learn more about Bert and his work at BertGhezzi.com.

Today, Bert profiles St. Faustina Kowalska, the Polish nun who launched the worldwide Divine Mercy devotion.

 

 

Helena Kowalska was the third of ten children of a peasant family who lived in Glogowiec, Poland. She was simple, uneducated, and attractive. As a child, she began to sense God’s call, but she was 20 before she found it irresistible. In 1925, Helena entered the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. She took the name Faustina and was assigned to domestic service.

On the evening of February 22, 1931, Jesus appeared to Faustina. He wore a white robe, and two rays, one white and one red, flowed from his breast. In this and subsequent visions, Christ directed Faustina to propagate devotion to the Divine Mercy. He instructed her to make a painting of his image, promising that anyone who honored it would be saved. He also told Faustina that he wanted the whole Church to celebrate the first Sunday after Easter as the Feast of Mercy.

Faustina’s first efforts met with ridicule, doubt and only lukewarm support. However, after 1933 with the aid of her spiritual director, Father Michael Sopocko, she made good, but slow progress. By 1935, thousands in Poland were participating in the Divine Mercy movement.

The Divine Mercy meant not only receiving mercy, but also giving it. With Faustina we can pray that we too might become merciful:

“O Most Holy Trinity! As many times as I breathe, as many times as my heart beats, as many times as my blood pulsates through my body, so many thousand times do I want to glorify your mercy.

 

“I want to be completely transformed into Your mercy and to be Your living reflection, O Lord. May the greatest of all divine attributes, that of Your unfathomable mercy, pass through my heart and soul to my neighbor.

 

“Help me, O Lord, that my eyes may be merciful, so that I may never suspect or judge from appearances, but look for what is beautiful in my neighbor’s souls and come to their rescue.

 

“Help me, that my ears may be merciful, so that I may give heed to my neighbors’ needs and not be indifferent to their pains and moanings.

 

“Help me, O Lord, that my tongue may be merciful, so that I should never speak negatively of my neighbor, but have a word of comfort and forgiveness for all.

 

“Help me, O Lord, that my hands may be merciful and filled with good deeds, so that I may do only good to my neighbor and take upon myself the more difficult and toilsome tasks.

 

“Help me, that my feet may be merciful, so that I may hurry to assist my neighbor, overcoming my own fatigue and weariness. My true rest is in the service of my neighbor.

 

“Help me, O Lord, that my heart may be merciful so that I myself may feel all the sufferings of my neighbor. I will refuse my heart to no one. I will be sincere even with those who, I know, will abuse my kindness. And I will lock myself up in the most merciful heart of Jesus. I will bear my own suffering in silence. May Your mercy, O Lord, rest upon us.”

Faustina died of tuberculosis in 1938. After her death, the Divine Mercy devotion has grown steadily. With the support of Pope John Paul II, it became popularly established throughout the entire Church.

Faustina, and other saints like Margaret Mary Alacoque, Joan of Arc and even the Virgin Mary were simple and unassuming young women. What makes them extraordinary is God’s grace. He seems to favor ordinary folks with his mercy, which is very good news.

 

 

Read more from Bert at his website www.BertGhezzi.com, or check out his many books on Amazon.

The post Learning from a Humble Champion of Mercy appeared first on Brandon Vogt.

Learning from a Model of Mercy

Today we continue our regular series called “Learning from the Saints.” Our guide is expert Bert Ghezzi, a dear friend of mine and the author of numerous books including Voices of the Saints, Saints at Heart, and Discover Christ: Developing a Personal Relationship with Jesus.

His more recent books are The Power of Daily Mass and The Heart of Catholicism. You can learn more about Bert and his work at BertGhezzi.com.

Today, Bert profiles St. Vincent de Paul, the patron of charities, hospitals, and volunteers.

 

 

St. Vincent de Paul spent the early years of his priesthood ministering among the wealthy in the French countryside near Paris. In 1609, he became tutor to the children of the Gondi family, an involvement that taught him a principle for his work: evangelize the rich and direct them to serve the poor.

At that time, Vincent observed that many poorly catechized peasants were not making good confessions. He also noticed that inadequately trained priests did not know how to administer the sacrament of Penance. Encouraged by Madame Gondi, in 1617 Vincent preached a parish mission that pointed to his future. He stirred so many people to repentance, that Jesuits from a nearby town had to help hear confessions.

In 1625, Vincent founded the Congregation of the Mission, a community of priests with a threefold commitment. Members obligated themselves to pattern their lives on Christ, to take the gospel to the rural poor and to help educate priests in their practical duties. The priests mainly conducted parish missions, preaching and hearing confessions.

Vincent gave his brothers a rule that displayed his commonsensical application of Scripture. For example:

“Jesus, the Lord, expects us to have the simplicity of a dove. This means giving a straightforward opinion about things in the way we honestly see them, without needless reservations. It also means doing things without double-dealing or manipulation, our intention being focused solely on God. Each of us, then, should take care to behave always in the spirit of simplicity, remembering that God likes to deal with the simple, and that he conceals the secrets of heaven from the wise and prudent of this world and reveals them to little ones.

 

“But while Christ recommends a dove’s simplicity, he also tells us to have a serpent’s prudence. He means that we should speak and behave with discretion. We ought, therefore, to keep quiet about matters which should not be made known, especially if they are unsuitable or unlawful. When we are discussing things which it is good and proper to talk about we should hold back any details which would not be for God’s glory, or which could harm some other person, or which would make us foolishly smug.

 

“In actual practice this virtue is about choosing the right way to do things. We should make it a sacred principle, then, without exception, that since we are serving God we will always choose God-related ways for accomplishing our work, and see and judge things from Christ’s point of view and not from a worldly-wise one; and not according to the feeble reasoning of our own mind.”

With the collaboration of St. Louise de Marillac, in 1633 Vincent founded the Sisters of Charity, the first community of “unenclosed” women dedicated to care of the sick and the poor. To support the sisters, Vincent recruited rich women, who as Ladies of Charity gave their time and money.

In his last years Vincent was confined to an armchair with swollen and ulcerous legs. But he remained cheerful, directing his charitable works by writing hundreds of letters. He was nearly 80 years old when he died in 1660.

St. Vincent de Paul stumbled into his life’s work. Thus, he is a healthful model for those who suffer stress trying “to find God’s plan” for their lives. Vincent did not start with grandiose plans. He began much more simply. When he observed a need, he figured out a Christian way to meet it. If we would do more of that, we would be better Christians with lower blood pressure.

 

 

Read more from Bert at his website www.BertGhezzi.com, or check out his many books on Amazon.

The post Learning from a Model of Mercy appeared first on Brandon Vogt.

Dr. Peter Kreeft said THIS course is better than 99% of all others (!!)

Did you see what Dr. Peter Kreeft said about my new “Read More Books Now” Video Course?? I’m blown away:

And here’s what blogger T.J. Burdick recently tweeted:

There’s still time for YOU to sign up before time runs out!

Just click here to join hundreds of others who are learning how to DOUBLE their reading:

Click here → “Read More Books Now” Video Course

See you on the inside!

 

PS. Remember that registration closes this Thursday, September 29 at midnight ET. After that the doors close, the bonuses disappear, and you will NOT be able to sign up. So even if you don’t think you’ll be able to watch the videos until some time in the future, you want to sign up NOW before registration closes for good.

The post Dr. Peter Kreeft said THIS course is better than 99% of all others (!!) appeared first on Brandon Vogt.

It’s FINALLY Here! –> “Read More Books Now” Video Course

Over the last couple weeks, thousands of people have joined in for our free video series on becoming a better reader.

I hope you enjoyed the videos! I was blown away by all the comments. Over 800+ people left comments including many who said they’re already reading more!

Well, I have some exciting news today…

In the last video, I promised to let you know about a brand new 10-part video course I’ve been working on….

….and so here it is!

The course just went live a few minutes ago:

Click here → “Read More Books Now” Video Course

If you liked the free video series, you’re going to LOVE this full-blown course!

I only had a small amount of time in the free video series, but there was SO much more to cover. That’s why I created this full-blown video course. It goes 10x deeper than the free videos and gathers the BEST reading tips from the world’s BEST readers.

Imagine how much better your life would be if you could DOUBLE the number of books you read!

What would you want to learn?

Would you try to learn a new language or skill?

Start a new business?

Read those novels you’ve been wanting to enjoy?

The possibilities are literally endless.

And that’s what you’ll be able to do after finishing the “Read More Books Now” Video Course.

But here’s the thing:

You definitely want to sign up NOW.

Two reasons why:

First, registration for the video course will CLOSE next week on Thursday, September 29 at midnight ET. After that, you WILL NOT be able to get in. So don’t delay! Don’t procrastinate! Don’t say, “Ah, I’ll do it later”. We both know you’ll forget and then you’ll miss out. Now is the time!

Second, if you sign up TODAY, I’ll toss in two FREE bonuses:

BONUS #1 – Teddy Roosevelt’s FIVE Reading Secrets eBook (PDF)

Discover how the President was able to read an ENTIRE book before breakfast, and often a few more books by the end of the day!


BONUS #2 – Special Reading Strategy Bookmarks

Printable PDF bookmarks that summarize the main strategies from the video course.

Sign up today → Get Video Course + 2 FREE Bonuses!

(Note: the bonuses will also expire on Thursday, September 29. You will not be able to get them after that.)

So if you want to get access to the complete 10-part “Read More Books Now” Video Course AND both special bonuses, then sign up NOW:

https://readmorebooksnow.com/reading-course

The skills you learn in this course will serve you for the REST of your life.

You’ll look back and think this was one of the best decisions you could have made.

So don’t miss out!

Take advantage now.

And I’ll see you on the inside of the course!

 

PS. Thousands of people will be clicking over to the registration page today, so if you aren’t able to get in right away, please hang tight and try reloading the page. I just want to make sure you have a chance to get in!

The post It’s FINALLY Here! –> “Read More Books Now” Video Course appeared first on Brandon Vogt.

[Video] The Secrets of Deep Reading (and How to Stop Forgetting Everything You Read!)

It’s here! Click below to watch Video #3 in my FREE video series on how to double the number of books you read:

Watch Video #3 → The Secrets of Deep Reading

We’ve already covered the “2 Reasons You Don’t Read More Books” (Video #1) and “How to Make More Time for Reading” (Video #2).

Several people commented saying those videos have already helped them read better!

In Video #3 you’ll learn The Secrets of Deep Reading:

http://readmorebooksnow.com/video-3-the-secrets-of-deep-reading

People tell me all the time, “One of my big struggles is that I can’t focus when reading. I zone out, lose focus, and by the time the next day rolls around, I can’t even remember what I read!”

Does that sound familiar?

In Video #3 today, you’ll learn how to fix that, including:

The dangers of “Zombie Reading” and how to avoid them
#1 best way to remember what you read
2 things all good readers change up when reading

Enjoy!

PS. Be sure to stick around to the end of the video because you’ll get a sneak peek at an EXCITING new program I’m releasing on Thursday! Wanted you to be the first to know…

The post [Video] The Secrets of Deep Reading (and How to Stop Forgetting Everything You Read!) appeared first on Brandon Vogt.

[Video] How the World’s Best Readers Find More Time to Read

I hope you’re enjoying the FREE video series on how to double the number of books you read!

In Video #1, which I posted a couple days ago, I revealed the two biggest challenges people face when reading:

“I don’t have enough time to read”

and

“I just can’t focus when I read.”

Today, in Video #2, I’ll help you conquer that first challenge (“I don’t have enough time to read”).

You’ll discover several powerful ways to squeeze more books into your life….

….even if you’re the busiest person on earth!

Click here to watch the video:

https://readmorebooksnow.com/video-2-make-more-time-for-reading

If you’re like me, your life is really, really busy. With work and family, meetings and practices and all sorts of responsibilities, it’s just hard to find time to read.

But in this video you’ll get 2 simple strategies that the world’s best readers use every day to squeeze books into their busy schedule.

Just click here to watch and learn:

Watch Video #2 → How to Make More Time for Reading

Be sure to leave a comment underneath the video answering the question at the end. I’d love to hear from you!

Also, be on the lookout for Video #3, which I’ll post in a few days.

Enjoy!

PS. Can you do me a favor? Please share this link on Facebook or email it to friends. I really want to help more people: http://ReadMoreBooksNow.com

The post [Video] How the World’s Best Readers Find More Time to Read appeared first on Brandon Vogt.

Dear Catholic Techies: Help G.K. Chesterton’s Cause for Sainthood!

[TL;DR: If you’re a web designer, developer, or database specialist, and you like G.K. Chesterton, please email me at brandon@brandonvogt.com. Play a key role in Chesterton’s cause for sainthood! We need your expertise!]

 

 

Last month, I attended the 2016 G.K. Chesterton Conference in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. It was such a blast. I joined over 300 fellow Chestertonians to celebrate GKC’s wit and prophetic witness.

I spent long hours talking with several people, but one conversation was especially interesting. Nancy Carpentier Brown, who has authored several books about Chesterton including a magnificent biography of his wife, Frances, revealed to me an incredible project that’s been quietly operating behind the scenes among Chesterton fans.

It’s called the Chesterton Digital Library.

The goal? To digitize all of Chesterton’s prolific writings and put them online so anyone can access them. Many of his works are already available through public domain repositories, including his novels and major essay collections, but these are only the tip of his massive literary iceberg. We’re still discovering new essays he wrote.

Thus the Chesterton Digital Library was born. The group hopes to collect all of his extant writings and share them online with the world.

To do this, they’ve gathered a small team of intrepid volunteers who visit obscure libraries and archives, tracking down long-forgotten Chesterton essays, stories, poems, and book reviews. Many of these haven’t been seen for decades. They scan or photograph the texts, then pass the images to another small team of transcribers who carefully type out each page.

(On a side note, Nancy invited me to join the transcribing team and I’ve already tapped out a few essays myself. It’s a strange thrill to type out the very same words that Chesterton once dictated or put to paper. You feel as if you’re channeling his own creative spirit!)

The Chesterton Digital Library has already made great progress. So far, the team has formatted text files for 5,771 (87%) of the estimated 6,600 unique works authored by G.K. Chesterton, and they’re on pace to have 90-95% of all works finished by the end of 2016.

Obviously, the big victory is that this will make Chesterton’s works more accessible than ever before. Anyone will soon be able to browse all of his writings online, in a searchable database, free of charge.

But there’s another reason this project is so exciting and important:

It will help Chesterton’s cause for sainthood!

You may have heard that back in 2013, the Diocese of Northampton in England took the first steps toward opening the cause of G.K. Chesterton. But in order for the cause to progress (i.e., in order for the Church to recognize him as a saint), the Vatican requires a thorough review of all his published work…which requires that someone first collect all that work!

For less prolific saints, such as Louis and Zélie Martin, who Pope Francis recently canonized, that task is pretty simple—they didn’t write much. But for a saint like G.K. Chesterton, who published a mind-bending 15 million words in his lifetime, it’s a bit more difficult.

And that’s why we need your help.

So far the Chesterton Digital Library has operated on a shoestring budget, mostly with volunteers and a few minor donations.

But to build the website and accompanying database, we need a bit more. An effort like this will undoubtedly require the professional skill of web designers, developers, and database specialists, people who know exactly how to orchestrate large, data-heavy projects.

We know there are thousands (perhaps millions) of Catholics around the world who have this sort of expertise, and if that’s you, we’re requesting your help! We’re inviting you to work on a once-in-a-lifetime project to help get G.K. Chesterton’s works online and facilitate his cause for canonization.

If you’re a designer or developer, and you’re open to volunteering your talent for this very worthwhile endeavor, please reach out. (If money is a sticking point, let me know; we’re open to a running a crowdsourcing campaign to raise the funds, though everyone involved in the project so far has donated their time and energy.)

Whether you’re an individual, team, or firm, if you have technical skills that could help this project, please email me (brandon@brandonvogt.com) and we’ll get the ball rolling.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do we need the Chesterton Digital Library (CDL)?

Because our insane world demands an apostle of sanity…and that’s G.K. Chesterton  

The Fulfillment of All Desire: An Interview with Dr. Ralph Martin

Ten years ago, when Dr. Ralph Martin published The Fulfillment of All Desire (Emmaus Road Publishing, 2006), he thought he would produce a helpful guide to the Catholic spiritual tradition that perhaps a few thousand people would use.

Little did he know it would become a modern spiritual classic.

The book is one of the bestselling Catholic books of our time and has been hailed by cardinals, bishops, and spiritual teachers as one of the best guides to prayer. (Read Msgr. Charles Pope’s recent blog post on the book, titled “If you’re looking for a book on prayer, get this one first.”)

In addition to writing this, and several other books, Ralph is the president of Renewal Ministries, an organization devoted to Catholic renewal and evangelization. Renewal Ministries is the sponsor of “The Choices We Face” a widely viewed weekly Catholic television and radio program distributed throughout the world.

Ralph is also the Director of Graduate Theology Programs in Evangelization and an associate professor of theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in the Archdiocese of Detroit. He holds a doctorate in theology from the Angelicum University in Rome.

Pope Benedict XVI appointed Ralph as a Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization. He was also appointed as a peritus for the Synod on the New Evangelization which was held in Rome in 2012.

Today, I sit down with Ralph to discuss his classic book and the stages of the spiritual life. Enjoy!

 

 

 

BRANDON VOGT: When you first published The Fulfillment of All Desire ten years ago, did you think it would take off the way it did? It’s now the bestselling book ever published by Emmaus Road, and it has endorsements from several bishops, priests, theologians, and scholars (many of whom say it is their favorite spiritual book). What was your hope when you first released it?

Dr. RALPH MARTIN: I hoped it would make accessible the best wisdom the Catholic Church has on the spiritual journey—the wisdom of the Doctors of the Church in the area of spirituality—that is often inaccessible to the average Catholic who has a hard time making sense out of some of the terminology and style of these writers.

I also hoped that it would transcend the isolation of the various schools of spirituality—Carmelite, Dominican, Salesian, Benedictine, etc.—and show how at heart they are all talking about the same thing, the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in the human person, and yet how each can bring to the table unique insights that very helpfully fill in the “map.” I hoped to create a comprehensive “map” for the journey from baptism to the beatific vision—coordinating, clarifying, organizing—the best insights these great saints have to offer.

I hoped it would be a help to many but when one of the initial reviewers, a former president of the University of St. Thomas in Houston, declared that it would become the standard textbook on Catholic spirituality, “for years to come.” I thought that was somewhat unbelievable and unattainable. And yet now I’ve heard from professors and novice masters and mistresses from more than 25 colleges, universities, seminaries, and novitiates that they are using the book as a basic text.

I’m happy about that but I was even happier when I heard from someone with an 8th grade education who said that the book had transformed his life, and from many ordinary people who are using it for spiritual reading, study groups, and the like.

BRANDON VOGT: In the book, you explore many topics and lessons, but it’s essentially a roadmap to God. It can help people at all points along the journey, whether you’re a beginner in prayer or have been praying for many years. I like the “guidebook” language, because it implies it’s difficult to find the right path on our own. Why is it important to look to others and tap into this rich spiritual tradition? Why can’t we just push forward on our own?

Dr. RALPH MARTIN: We can just push forward on our own, but when we do that, we often run into difficulties that sorely tempt us to give up. We’re also more vulnerable to the many subtle (and not so subtle) deceptions that the world, the flesh, and the devil regularly throw our way.

Many people who are serious about the spiritual life hit a “plateau” or a “ceiling” where they think they’ve gone as far as they can and become either resigned or complacent about the place that they’ve gotten to. They may have run into what they feel are fatal weaknesses that will forever limit their progress. One of the great blessings of the wisdom of these saints is that all witness to the fact that there is a great deal more that the Lord wants to give us in our relationship to him, and that it is truly possible for each one of us to keep going, never stopping, always yielding our life to the Lordship of Christ, the Love of the Father, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Not only do these saints increase our desire and deepen our hope for deeper union with God but they precisely identify those things that hold us back and what we can do to dispose ourselves for God’s grace to overcome them.

BRANDON VOGT: In the book, you draw on the teaching of seven spiritual masters. Who are these figures?

Dr. RALPH MARTIN: Since life is short, and the world is full of spiritual writings and advice, I thought I should “start at the top” and spend my time studying the best the Church has. That led me to the Doctors of the Church, which include certain saints it has recognized who have been given a depth of wisdom by God useful for the whole Church.

There are only 36 Doctors of the Church. Some have been given that title because of their great contribution to systematic theology, such as Thomas Aquinas; some for their contribution to moral theology, such as Alphonsus Liguori; some for their commentaries on sacred scripture, such as John Chrysostom. But some have been recognized because of the deep wisdom God has given them to grow in the spiritual life.

The ones whose wisdom I integrate in an orderly, understandable way in my book are:

St. Teresa of Avila
St. John of the Cross
St. Thérèse of Lisieux
St. Bernard of Clairvaux
St. Catherine of Siena
St. Francis de Sales
St. Augustine

BRANDON VOGT: The book is arranged in three parts which correlate to three stages in the spiritual life. Can you give us an overview of each stage?

Dr. RALPH MARTIN: These stages have in traditional spiritual literature been referred to as the purgative, illuminative, and unitive stages (or ways). A simple way of understanding this is to think of them as the beginning, middle, and the end of the spiritual journey.

I try to avoid technical language as much as I can and put things in ordinary language to make these teachings more accessible. As someone recently told me: “You break down the teachings of these saints without watering them down.”

The purgative way deals with initial conversion, repentance, turning away from sin, avoiding beginning temptations, establishing a good order and balance in our life.

The illuminative way deals with growing in union with God, growing in love of neighbor, growing in virtue, deepening our prayer, allowing God to free us from disordered attachments and the like. Part of the purification that this stage eventually leads to is characterized by John of the Cross as “dark nights” and I devote several chapters to unpacking the meaning of these purifying experiences and point out the tremendous joy and freedom on the “other side” of the dark nights.

The unitive way comes usually after a good number of years of seriously living the spiritual life and deep purification and is characterized by a habitual joy, freedom, and apostolic fruitfulness.

BRANDON VOGT: Some of the book’s lessons are expected, things like cultivating a daily prayer life, regularly reading Scripture, etc. But what are some lessons the saints give that might be a bit surprising or outside-the-box?

Dr. RALPH MARTIN: My favorite chapter right now is chapter 10, “Growing in Freedom,” which deals with the amazing insights the saints have into how we often wrap our souls around things seeking, from them a happiness, peace, security, pleasure, that only a life under the Lordship of Christ can give.

These saints have amazing insights into how concerns about our appearance, reputation, money, our health, sexuality, possessions, relationships, entertainment, and so many other things as well can greatly slow down the process of transformation

And yet their wisdom is no harsh wisdom that tells us to be “detached” from all these things “right away,” but by virtue of the beautiful truth they show to us we find ourselves receiving the grace to allow these things to take their rightful place in our life, under the rule of the Spirit—or as St. Bernard of Clairvaux describes it, allowing the Lord to put our loves in order.

As Jesus once said: you will know the truth and the truth will set you free!

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