Thomas Merton was one of the greatest contemporary spiritual writers, whose books have enabled millions of readers to rediscover the importance of prayer in their inner lives. Yet until now Merton's own personal interior life has remained something of a mystery. In Thomas Merton: Master of Attention one of the most distinguished Merton scholars reveals his 'way of prayer'. An ideal introduction to Merton, and essential reading for every admirer of his work.
During his lifetime, priest-poet Gerard Manley Hopkins appeared to be a failure. His daring conversion to Catholicism and entry into the Society of Jesus in Victorian England alienated him from friends and family and dashed his chances for the brilliant academic career that would have been his. Because he championed the theology of Duns Scotus over that of Thomas Aquinas, he “failed” his final theology exams and never achieved the top rank of professed Jesuit father. As for his poetry, even his best friends didn’t understand it, and he met with consistent lack of success in getting it published. Today Hopkins is regarded as one of the greatest poets in the English language as readers have come to understand and love his provocative, challenging verse with its startling vocabulary and unusual rhythms. He is also a standard-setter for those looking to espouse a Christ-centered ecology. In Walking with Gerard Manley Hopkins Robert Waldron takes us on a psychological and spiritual journey with this remarkable poet and priest. Hopkins’ self-imposed repression of his enjoyment of beauty and of his creativity, his frustration at his seeming inability to accomplish anything worthwhile, his unwavering devotion to Jesus, his depression and its influence on the “Terrible Sonnets”—Waldron offers a probing exploration of them all. To longtime Hopkins aficionados as well as newcomers to Hopkins’ life and work, Waldron is unfailingly a sensitive and sympathetic guide. †
Robert Waldron's new book serves as an introduction to the life of the world's favorite saint. The author explores Francis from three perspectives: biographical, psychological and aesthetic. His book is innovative because he understands Francis through our new science of psychology and through the beauty of Bellini's masterpiece St. Francis in the Desert, the painting shown on the cover of the book. For a psychological understanding Waldron employes Carl Jung's theory of individuation: the steps taken by Francis to become his True Self. Waldron also employs Bellini's painting to shed light on St. Francis the mystic, he who was gifted by God with the Stigmata. Waldron also addresses Francis's poem The Canticle of the Creatures, offering an exegesis of the poem that also provides insights into the saint's life as Christian and as a mystic. Waldron's book provides a Study Guide that encourages the reader to go more deeply into understanding Francis's life.
At the age of twenty-five, Benjamin James Brenkert--a young man from Long Island, a social work student, and an internet vocation to the priesthood--entered one of the historically boldest, influential, apostolic religious orders of the Roman Catholic Church. Aged thirty-four, and a member of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in good standing, Brenkert was missioned to the laity by his last religious superior. Brenkert could not come out publicly as a gay Jesuit and support his LGBTQ peers who were being fired from various church employment and volunteer activities because of whom they loved. Brenkert had never concealed his sexuality from his religious superiors, he knew all too well what was written in the Church's Catechism about homoseuxals. Still, he felt uniquely called to respond to God's invitation to serve him in total love as a priest, something confirmed in him in prayer during his thirty-day silent retreat and affirmed to him by his religious superiors and peers throughout his life in the Jesuits. In his Open Letter to Pope Francis in 2014 Brenkert wrote, ""Pope Francis . . .I ask you to instruct the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to tell Catholic institutions not to fire any more LGBTQ Catholics. I ask you to speak out against laws that criminalize and oppress LGBTQ people around the globe. These actions would bring true life to your statement, 'Who am I to judge'"" In 2015, the United States Supreme Court struck down bans on same-sex marriage in Obergell v. Hodges and in 2020, the United States Supreme Court expanded the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Despite these landmark achievements in the public sector, LGBTQ Catholics still cannot receive communion and must always seek reconciliation. Their flourishing as part of their religious community is always frustrated. Brenkert's account of his life before, in, and after the Jesuits is interwoven with trials and tribulations, but remains always full of hope, written candidly and with bracing honesty. Brenkert offers readers the opportunity to join him on a theological and spiritual pilgrimage, one that ends with readers making a discernment. The world today is full of distraction, misinformation, and timidity, Brenkert's pilgrimage is full of conviction, heartful, written with an eagerness to help people of faith and no faith at all find their true selves, all for the greater glory of God.
