The Years of Ripening focuses on personal transformation, the wonder and goodness of our hidden self, how the qualities of our personhood have been expressed, and in what ways we can claim ever more of the truest reality of our inner being.

As old age takes place, our physical being naturally weakens and wrinkles. At the same time, our non-physical being smooths out with a peaceful satisfaction. The tight ridges of past failures recede and dark illusions fade as we increasingly trust our life to be a harmonious song rooted in love. This encourages us to shed our self-willed, false control until we become freed from what binds our spirit. We let go of who we imagined ourself to be and grow in a transparency that reveals our seasoned-with-love self.

All is not ended with our final departure. We leave behind the beauty and bounty that resided within our aged selves. Like a ripened melon on the vine, so the matured fruit of our loving heart and weathered wisdom leaves a beneficial legacy to nurture a future generation.

Bestselling author and beloved retreat leader Joyce Rupp has offered companionship and gentle guidance throughout the seasons in such books as May I Have This Dance? and Anchors for the Soul. In Jesus, Friend of My Soul, each two-page daily reflection brings our attention to the Lenten season, providing reflections for growth and inviting us to follow Jesus and become more like him.

“As Christians,” Joyce Rupp writes, “we look to the person of Jesus to learn from him.” Because our lives are filled to the brim with activity, it is easy to drift away from trying to live as Jesus did, and we find ourselves in need of time to focus on drawing close to him again and learning from his example. In Jesus, Friend of My Soul, Rupp guides us from Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday illustrating both how Jesus called his followers to change and how his actions provide us a blueprint for growth.

Rupp helps us learn from the qualities of Jesus and the actions and teachings that marked his time on earth, including:

Each day’s reflection begins with a verse from scripture and a meditation centered on Jesus’ life, actions, and teachings that are applied to our lives. We are then offered a prayer and an intention to carry with us throughout the day. Each brief reflection gently leads us to new growth in our lives and invites us to reach new depths in our faith. Questions for individual or group study are included.

Lent can be a time of bearing heavy burdens, of carrying the worries, pains, and sorrows that weigh on our hearts. Joyce Rupp reminds us that even though we may feel alone during these times of personal distress, we have the loving, empathetic, and ever-present companionship of Jesus by our side.

In Jesus, Companion in My Suffering, Rupp—bestselling author of several books on grief, loss, and suffering, including Praying Our Goodbyes and Jesus, Friend of My Soul—will guide you to see Jesus not only as someone who understands deeply what you have experienced but also as a teacher whose wisdom you can apply to your own life. By allowing Jesus to accompany you in times of trial, Rupp says, you’ll be encouraged to move toward more compassion for yourself and others.

For each of the forty days of Lent, Rupp offers a brief reflection on a story from the life of Jesus, applying his actions and teachings to our own experiences. She also includes a prayer and daily intention that invites us to spiritual growth and to reach fuller depths in our faith. Questions for personal reflection or group discussion are included.

In Jesus, Guide of My Life, bestselling and award-winning author and retreat leader Joyce Rupp takes us by the hand this Lent to explore the words and actions of Jesus in the gospels so that his teachings and living presence can inspire our spiritual transformation.

In this third installment in her trilogy of Lenten daily reflection books, Rupp offers her insight and personal experience of the power of the Gospel to shape our lives. She explains that the wisdom and reassurance of Jesus can “pilot us when we are caught in the stormy weather of grief and serve as guardrails when our minds travel on roads made of worry and self-deprecation.” Rupp will help us connect with Jesus as not only a teacher, healer, and counselor who sets direction for our lives, but also as “the Way” (Jn 14:6) in whom we abide in divine love.

For each of the forty days of Lent, Rupp offers a brief reflection that opens new dimensions of a gospel account of Jesus’s ministry and applies his guidance to our lives today. She also includes a prayer and daily intention that invites us to spiritual growth and to reach fuller depths in our faith. Questions for personal reflection or group discussion are included.

For years May I Have This Dance? has been a favorite of readers. This revised edition of Joyce Rupp''s best-selling book (more than 160,000 copies sold) has been updated with new guided meditations for each month of the year. Joyce Rupp invites readers to join God in the dance of life. She explores twelve themes, including "The Road to Life" and "The Playground of God," following each with prayer suggestions such as litanies, guided meditations, and journal keeping. Readers will be delighted to accept the invitation to dance with the Divine Partner—a dance of truth and wholeness—throughout the seasons of the year.

For more than thirty years, Joyce Rupp has been writing bestselling spiritual books that have accompanied readers through the seasons of life and helped them glimpse the Divine. In Anchors for the Soul, prayers, poems, blessings, and meditations from Rupp’s many works are brought together to offer daily wisdom that will guide you and keep you anchored to God throughout the year.

It’s easy, as we rush from one important thing to the next, for our days to feel off-balance, overwhelming, or even lacking in purpose. In Anchors for the Soul, bestselling author and retreat leader Joyce Rupp helps you root each day in the Holy One’s love and the promise of his faithfulness.

Anchors for the Soul, compiled by Kathy Reardon—a spiritual director, retreat leader, and nurse—contains pieces from such Rupp classics as The Circle of Life and Fragments of Your Ancient Name as well as such perennially popular works as The Cup of Our Life and Praying Our Goodbyes. This daily devotional touches on the themes that have marked Rupp’s work as you travel through the seasons of the year. She walks with you as you experience grief, embrace stillness, and see in your daily life the fingerprints of the Divine. She helps you welcome new life, practice selfless acts of kindness, and remember the gift that is the people in your life, all the while showing you glimpses of the heart of God.

Filled with Rupp’s characteristic prayers, poems, meditations, and blessings, this treasury provides a daily retreat to center yourself in the warmth of the Divine embrace and begin the day feeling renewed. Each day’s reading concludes with a practice to carry with you for the rest of the day that brings you back to your center and reminds you to be light to the world.

The Years of Ripening focuses on personal transformation, the wonder and goodness of our hidden self, how the qualities of our personhood have been expressed, and in what ways we can claim ever more of the truest reality of our inner being.

As old age takes place, our physical being naturally weakens and wrinkles. At the same time, our non-physical being smooths out with a peaceful satisfaction. The tight ridges of past failures recede and dark illusions fade as we increasingly trust our life to be a harmonious song rooted in love. This encourages us to shed our self-willed, false control until we become freed from what binds our spirit. We let go of who we imagined ourself to be and grow in a transparency that reveals our seasoned-with-love self.

All is not ended with our final departure. We leave behind the beauty and bounty that resided within our aged selves. Like a ripened melon on the vine, so the matured fruit of our loving heart and weathered wisdom leaves a beneficial legacy to nurture a future generation.

Bestselling author and beloved retreat leader Joyce Rupp has offered companionship and gentle guidance throughout the seasons in such books as May I Have This Dance? and Anchors for the Soul. In Jesus, Friend of My Soul, each two-page daily reflection brings our attention to the Lenten season, providing reflections for growth and inviting us to follow Jesus and become more like him.

“As Christians,” Joyce Rupp writes, “we look to the person of Jesus to learn from him.” Because our lives are filled to the brim with activity, it is easy to drift away from trying to live as Jesus did, and we find ourselves in need of time to focus on drawing close to him again and learning from his example. In Jesus, Friend of My Soul, Rupp guides us from Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday illustrating both how Jesus called his followers to change and how his actions provide us a blueprint for growth.

Rupp helps us learn from the qualities of Jesus and the actions and teachings that marked his time on earth, including:

Each day’s reflection begins with a verse from scripture and a meditation centered on Jesus’ life, actions, and teachings that are applied to our lives. We are then offered a prayer and an intention to carry with us throughout the day. Each brief reflection gently leads us to new growth in our lives and invites us to reach new depths in our faith. Questions for individual or group study are included.

Lent can be a time of bearing heavy burdens, of carrying the worries, pains, and sorrows that weigh on our hearts. Joyce Rupp reminds us that even though we may feel alone during these times of personal distress, we have the loving, empathetic, and ever-present companionship of Jesus by our side.

In Jesus, Companion in My Suffering, Rupp—bestselling author of several books on grief, loss, and suffering, including Praying Our Goodbyes and Jesus, Friend of My Soul—will guide you to see Jesus not only as someone who understands deeply what you have experienced but also as a teacher whose wisdom you can apply to your own life. By allowing Jesus to accompany you in times of trial, Rupp says, you’ll be encouraged to move toward more compassion for yourself and others.

For each of the forty days of Lent, Rupp offers a brief reflection on a story from the life of Jesus, applying his actions and teachings to our own experiences. She also includes a prayer and daily intention that invites us to spiritual growth and to reach fuller depths in our faith. Questions for personal reflection or group discussion are included.

In Jesus, Guide of My Life, bestselling and award-winning author and retreat leader Joyce Rupp takes us by the hand this Lent to explore the words and actions of Jesus in the gospels so that his teachings and living presence can inspire our spiritual transformation.

In this third installment in her trilogy of Lenten daily reflection books, Rupp offers her insight and personal experience of the power of the Gospel to shape our lives. She explains that the wisdom and reassurance of Jesus can “pilot us when we are caught in the stormy weather of grief and serve as guardrails when our minds travel on roads made of worry and self-deprecation.” Rupp will help us connect with Jesus as not only a teacher, healer, and counselor who sets direction for our lives, but also as “the Way” (Jn 14:6) in whom we abide in divine love.

For each of the forty days of Lent, Rupp offers a brief reflection that opens new dimensions of a gospel account of Jesus’s ministry and applies his guidance to our lives today. She also includes a prayer and daily intention that invites us to spiritual growth and to reach fuller depths in our faith. Questions for personal reflection or group discussion are included.

For years May I Have This Dance? has been a favorite of readers. This revised edition of Joyce Rupp''s best-selling book (more than 160,000 copies sold) has been updated with new guided meditations for each month of the year. Joyce Rupp invites readers to join God in the dance of life. She explores twelve themes, including "The Road to Life" and "The Playground of God," following each with prayer suggestions such as litanies, guided meditations, and journal keeping. Readers will be delighted to accept the invitation to dance with the Divine Partner—a dance of truth and wholeness—throughout the seasons of the year.

For more than thirty years, Joyce Rupp has been writing bestselling spiritual books that have accompanied readers through the seasons of life and helped them glimpse the Divine. In Anchors for the Soul, prayers, poems, blessings, and meditations from Rupp’s many works are brought together to offer daily wisdom that will guide you and keep you anchored to God throughout the year.

It’s easy, as we rush from one important thing to the next, for our days to feel off-balance, overwhelming, or even lacking in purpose. In Anchors for the Soul, bestselling author and retreat leader Joyce Rupp helps you root each day in the Holy One’s love and the promise of his faithfulness.

Anchors for the Soul, compiled by Kathy Reardon—a spiritual director, retreat leader, and nurse—contains pieces from such Rupp classics as The Circle of Life and Fragments of Your Ancient Name as well as such perennially popular works as The Cup of Our Life and Praying Our Goodbyes. This daily devotional touches on the themes that have marked Rupp’s work as you travel through the seasons of the year. She walks with you as you experience grief, embrace stillness, and see in your daily life the fingerprints of the Divine. She helps you welcome new life, practice selfless acts of kindness, and remember the gift that is the people in your life, all the while showing you glimpses of the heart of God.

Filled with Rupp’s characteristic prayers, poems, meditations, and blessings, this treasury provides a daily retreat to center yourself in the warmth of the Divine embrace and begin the day feeling renewed. Each day’s reading concludes with a practice to carry with you for the rest of the day that brings you back to your center and reminds you to be light to the world.