By the Order of St. Helena (OSH)

For several years, the sisters of The Order of Saint Helena, a monastic community in the Episcopal Church, have been revising their services of worship. The primary goal of the revision is opening up the human vocabulary of prayer and expanding the ways in which we name and worship God. This version of the Psalter, based upon the translation in the Book of Common Prayer, softens the exclusively male Hebrew terminology for the Creator God and recasts texts in ways that avoid the need for a he (or she) personal pronoun.

By Daniel Ladinsky

In this luminous collection, Daniel Ladinsky interprets the work of twelve of the world’s finest spiritual writers, six from the East and six from the West. Ladinsky reveals his talent for culling the essence of classic poetry for a modern audience. Ladinsky’s poems are not translations in a literal sense. Rather than capture the form of a particular classical work, Ladinsky crafts poems that release the spirit of these timeless writers.

By Matsuo Basho

A masterful translation of one of the most-loved classics of Japanese literature—part travelogue, part haiku collection, part account of spiritual awakening. Bashō (1644–1694)—a great luminary of Asian literature who elevated the haiku to an art form of utter simplicity and intense spiritual beauty—is renowned in the West as the author of Narrow Road to the Interior, a travel diary of linked prose and haiku recounting his journey through the far northern provinces of Japan.

By Hafiz

Poetry has always been a central element of Christian spirituality and is used in worship, in pastoral services and guided meditation. In Sounding the Seasons, Cambridge poet and priest Malcolm Guite transforms lectionary readings into lucid, inspiring poems, for use in regular worship, seasonal services, meditative reading or on retreat.

By Robert Bly

Robert Bly's ground-breaking anthology of spiritual poems, the result of over a decade of personal research, celebrates the ongoing role of the divine in literature. For as long as people have lived together in communities and built enduring cultures, they have sung and written about their relationship with the god or gods they believed in. In the words of the Irish writer Sean O'Faolain, "all good writing in the end is the writer's argument with God."

By Malcolm Guite

Poetry has always been a central element of Christian spirituality and is used in worship, in pastoral services and guided meditation. In Sounding the Seasons, Cambridge poet and priest Malcolm Guite transforms lectionary readings into lucid, inspiring poems, for use in regular worship, seasonal services, meditative reading or on retreat.

By Christopher Southgate

As a spiritual director, theologian, teacher and chaplain, Christopher Southgate's poetry resonates deeply with human experience and has received wide recognition. Here he collects together new and some of his most popular poems that touch on spiritual themes. A number of commissioned poems feature in this collection, including one on the King James Bible, quoted by Rowan Williams at the 400th anniversary service in Westminster Abbey.

By Mary Lou Kownacki

Between Two Souls presents a spiritually uplifting conversation in poetry between a gifted modern-day Roman Catholic nun and a nineteenth-century Zen monk. Offering a unique entree into spiritual contemplation, this book pairs inspirational writing from two distinct but mutually enriching faith traditions, revealing the religious joy, wisdom, and all-embracing compassion that transcend temporal, cultural, and theological differences.

By Howard Thurman

This is the second volume of "Walking with God," the best of Howard Thurman's "sermon series," previously unpublished sermons that Thurman organized about a common theme. This volume highlights his series on the mystics. Thurman tended not to speak of his own mystical inclinations, conscious that the word mysticism was likely to be misunderstood. And yet he is commonly recognized as a mystic in the sense that he used the word to describe someone who had an acute experience of the Divine Life.

By Howard Thurman

This is the first volume of "Walking with God," the best of Howard Thurman's "sermon series," previously unpublished sermons that Thurman organized about a common theme. The sermons presented in Moral Struggles and the Prophets, all delivered in the 1940s and 50s, cover Jesus, Paul, and the great prophets of Israel, as well as figures who exemplified the "moral struggle" and others who "walked with God.”

By Howard Thurman

Howard Thurman’s Meditations of the Heart is a beautiful collection of over 150 prayers, poems, and meditations on prayer, community, and the joys and rituals of life by one of our greatest spiritual leaders. Thurman, a spiritualist and mystic, was renowned for the quiet beauty of his reflections on humanity and our relationship with God.

By Edward C. Sellner

“Listen with your hearts to the stories and sayings of these Celtic saints,” suggests Edward Sellner. “Allow them to become spiritual mentors again, teaching contemporary Christians about soul friendship and about an ancient spiritual heritage.” Faithfully presenting the lives and legacies of twenty Celtic saints of the sixth to ninth centuries, he reveals their wisdom in a way that can be understood and appreciated by contemporary readers.

Edited by Esther de Waal

Devotees of Irish spirituality—and those interested in Irish heritage—will cherish this authentic collection of Celtic wisdom and prayer. Assembled from the original six volumes of Alexander Carmichael’s Carmina Gaelic by noted Celtic author, Esther de Waal, this rich array includes elements of piety that address every side of life.

By John O’Donohue

To Bless the Space Between Us is a compelling blend of elegant, poetic language and spiritual insight to offer readers comfort and encouragement on their journeys through life. John O’Donohue, Irish teacher and poet, looks at life’s thresholds—getting married, having children, starting a new job—and offers invaluable guidelines for making the transition from a known, familiar world into a new, unmapped territory.

By Mary Margaret Funk

Lectio divina is a way of praying by sustained immersion into a revelatory text. While Scripture is the classic place of encounter with God, the text could also be the book of life or the book of nature. In Lectio Matters, respected spiritual guide Meg Funk accompanies the reader in exploring the various levels of lectio divina as taught by the ancient church writers and by sharing her own long experience.

By Thomas Merton

Merton looks at the psalms as poetry; in this book he regards them as prayer. Guiding the reader through the more representative psalms, he explains why the Church also considers the psalms as the best way to praise God.

By Thomas Merton

New Seeds of Contemplation is one of Thomas Merton's most widely read and best-loved books. Christians and non-Christians alike have joined in praising it as a notable successor in the meditative tradition of St. John of the Cross, The Cloud of Unknowing, and the medieval mystics, while others have compared Merton's reflections with those of Thoreau. New Seeds of Contemplation seeks to awaken the dormant inner depths of the spirit so long neglected by Western man, to nurture a deeply contemplative and mystical dimension in our lives. For Merton, "Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them: for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the soil of freedom, spontaneity and love."

By Thomas Merton

Thoughtful and eloquent, as timely (or timeless) now as when it was originally published in 1956, Thoughts in Solitude addresses the pleasure of a solitary life, as well as the necessity for quiet reflection in an age when so little is private. Thomas Merton writes: "When society is made up of men who know no interior solitude it can no longer be held together by love: and consequently it is held together by a violent and abusive authority. But when men are violently deprived of the solitude and freedom which are their due, the society in which they live becomes putrid, it festers with servility, resentment and hate."

By Thomas Merton

Revised directly before his untimely death and released in full for the first time ever, Merton’s book on contemplation has captivated readers for decades. In it, Merton takes us down a different spiritual journey than his previous books, one that bridges eastern and western religions in his signature brilliant insightfulness.

By Thomas Keating

Following upon Open Mind, Open Heart, which presents a profound formation in Christian prayer, this book demonstrates the contemplative dimension of Christian worship. Here Father Keating recovers the deeper sense of the liturgical year and shares a theological and mystical perspective on the major feasts of the annual cycle. The reader is immersed in the wonder of faith in the mystery of Christ and of the unique nature of God's action and presence in and through the liturgy of our lives.