One of the secrets of the spirit is to recognize the bond of love that exists because God has reached out to us, has loved us so much that he asked his Son to die for us. Once we have a sense of how inexhaustible, how great, how limitless that love is, then we can open ourselves up, then we can truly invite the Holy Spirit into our lives.

The final week in the "Pray to Your Father in Secret" Lenten Book Club.

The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.The concept is tricky: our God is three, but is also one. I remember as a child when my mother explained the classic water-ice-steam analogy to me, describing something with essentially the same properties but that takes different forms. It didn’t exactly clarify things for me; I was left vaguely wondering if God manifested himself differently at different temperatures—in the desert, say, or in Antarctica.B...

Welcome to the Online Lenten Book Club!During these six weeks of Lent, we are reading and reflecting on the classic on prayer, Pray To Your Father in Secret by Jean Lafrance.  For more information about the book club, visit this blog post.  You can find Pray To Your Father in Secret at www.PaulineStore.com . Week 5, Chapter 4 - The Dialogue with GodYour real center of gravity is in adoration, in reaching ever upward. Too many people fall into the habi...

Welcome to the Online Lenten Book Club!During these six weeks of Lent, we are reading and reflecting on the classic on prayer, Pray To Your Father in Secret by Jean Lafrance. For more information about the book club, visit this blog post. Week 4, Chapter 3 - The Working Out of SalvationWe read Scripture to integrate Christ’s life into our own lives, not just to hear his story. Everything we do—reading, praying, working—is to become one with Christ. We don&rs...

Welcome to Week 3 of the Online Lenten Book Club!During these six weeks of Lent, we are reading and reflecting on the classic on prayer, Pray To Your Father in Secret by Jean Lafrance. For more information about the book club, visit this blog post. Week 3, Chapter 2 - The Way of SalvationThe world changed when God sent his son to become part of it; we have, in the process, become part of God, and he of us. We need to focus, daily, on a constant awareness of that presence.Our ...

There is little doubt that one of our newest books, Brigid and the Butter, is based on folklore about St. Brigid of Ireland rather than on fact. Does that make it any less compelling for children to read? Our tradition says no: Jesus himself used parables (stories) to illustrate what he was talking about, and folklore (stories) often tells us more about who we are than any law or date can ever do. The farther back in time we go, the less we tend to know about people. Sometimes no one writes...

Everyone knows about St. Patrick. Or, rather, everyone thinks they know about St. Patrick. He was Irish, right? And he drove the snakes out of Ireland? And he has something to do with…green beer?

Welcome to the Online Lenten Book Club!During these six weeks of Lent, we are reading and reflecting on the classic on prayer, Pray To Your Father in Secret by Jean Lafrance. For more information about the book club, visit this blog post. Week 2, Section 1 - The God of DialogueFr. Lafrance urges us to walk in the steps of God’s people in Scripture. As Moses discovered, God isn’t accessible through our minds: he is mystery. Moses, Elijah, and the psalmist all knew ...

Week 1 of the weekly guide to the "Pray To Your Father in Secret" Lenten Book Club: Preface.