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Three tracts exploring the necessary conditions for prayer: the development of the virtues which lead to contemplation; the right use of these virtues; guidance for overcoming external and interior evil.

Instruments of the Passion takes as a starting point the objects associated with the journey of Jesus from Good Friday to Easter, and searches for them in the day-to-day reality of working with vulnerable and marginalized people experiencing homelessness today. In the process it explores themes of forgiveness and grace and offers a way to a deeper understanding of our individual relationship with God. Set in the context of a homeless shelter and a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land, the text follows the traditional narrative sequence of the 'instruments' in twenty meditations which relate real-life stories and invite the reader to see the parallels in their own. Opening our eyes to the reality of the Cross in the world around us can help us also to see it in our own lives, and so to find that the instruments of the Passion are also instruments of Easter, and of hope. The book was written partly In response to the death In one year of thirteen rough sleepers with whom the author had worked. Their stories, told with raw honesty, are real, only the names have been changed. It is a relentless journey that forces us to consider painful realities and uncomfortable truths about ourselves.

This series of heartfelt, thought-provoking meditations originated as daily talks focussing a week-long pre-Lent retreat given for the Sisters of the Love of God at Fairacres Convent in 1982. The intensity of Fr Coutts' words focus us on God and his Son, on his mercy and redeeming love for us, no matter how unworthy we think we are. Indeed our very unworthiness is a matter for rejoicing, since the most unworthy are also the most blessed. There are frequent instances in the text that ask us to pause to consider or meditate; this is an aid to prayerful meditation on our lives and the gifts of the Spirit rather than simply a narrative, and it can form the basis for reflection and spiritual growth at any time.

The call to recognize Christ as the light of the world requires a courageous response from believers. Amidst life's distractions and challenges Christians must maintain a steady heartbeat of prayer. Contemplative prayer is a challenging yet essential practice that leads to deeper self-knowledge and love; it requires patience and perseverance, often resulting in a broken heart rather than immediate comfort, but our longing for God is reflected in our struggle: prayer—even in perceived futility—strengthens our capacity to embody Christ's redemptive love in our lives.

Compiled c. 1390, the Vernon Manuscript is one of the great treasures of Oxford’s Bodleian Library (MS. Eng. poet. a. 1). It is the largest and most important surviving anthology of late-medieval Middle English literature. It is a lavishly decorated manuscript containing over 350 religious texts by authors such as Aelred of Rievaulx and Walter Hilton. It is a treasure trove of English mystical writing, including, the Ancrene Wisse (the medieval book of instruction for anchoresses), Piers Plowman, The Scale of Perfection and the South English Legendary, the extraordinary collection of lives of the saints. Particularly important for religious literature is the collection of ‘lyrics’ at the end of the manuscript: prayers and extended poems on all aspects of Christian faith and life, from which this selection is drawn. The lyrics are sensitively translated by the poet John Gallas into familiar English and crafted to retain the sense of the period in which they were written.

Preachers and poets have made much of the fickleness of the crowds who form the backdrop to the story of Holy Week. In this book Tony Dickinson asks how far this fickleness reflects reality and how far it is a fantasy induced by failure to engage fully with the Gospel narratives. Interwoven with this analysis are depictions of three imagined encounters that might have taken place during the week leading up to the Crucifixion, two involving protagonists in the Gospel narratives and a third introducing a fictional member of the Jewish authorities.

In this bold exposition of the Psalms as the Word of God, Dietrich Bonhoeffer addresses Christians oppressed by an inability to pray. Holy Scripture itself provides us with a prayer book; we can speak to God in God’s own words and by using the Psalms, especially in fellowship with other Christians, we can participate with all humanity in the true prayer offered by the Incarnate Word. With and in Christ we pray the Psalms, confident that our prayer will be heard. ‘With these prayers on our lips we stand at the heart of the New Testament and in the fellowship of the Cross of Jesus Christ.’

Evelyn Underhill (1875–1941) was a poet, novelist and author of numerous works on religion and spiritual practice, she is best known for her book Mysticism published in 1911 and still in print. She became a prominent Anglo-Catholic, proponent of contemplative prayer and member of the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship and prolific author. Exceptionally, for a woman of her time, she gave lectures for the clergy, conducted retreats and established ecumenical links. She became an honorary Doctor of Divinity (University of Aberdeen) and a Fellow of King’s College for Women, London. This book examines Underhill’s approach to mysticism and includes eight hitherto unpublished letters written by her to a novice at the Convent of St Mary the Virgin at Wantage.

This book uncovers what the apocalyptic writings in the Bible were aiming to reveal about God’s action in the world in the age when they were composed. It encourages us to think how their message might be interpreted for people of faith in the present age, which is facing threats at least as serious as those which seemed about to overwhelm believers, whether Jewish or Christian, at the time the apocalyptic texts were written. What is important is the message of hope which accompanies the proclamation of Divine Judgement. Jesus repeatedly urges his disciples to be alert to the signs of the times and to endure steadfastly whatever disasters and betrayals those times may bring.

Most of us, most of the time, prefer not to think about the universal experience of death. Death arouses disturbing instincts, emotions and memories. This is a book for those wishing to understand more about the Christian journey at the end of life, but it is not just a book about death, it is also about living with courage and grace and about facing our fears. The author writes both for the dying and for those who accompany them. He examines the questions that we are often too afraid to ask, and helps us to encompass death through a deeper understanding of the promise of union with God and life everlasting.

From 1972 to 2014 Sr Edmée Kingsmill SLG published a number of articles in the Fairacres Chronicle, the Journal of the Sisters of the Love of God at Fairacres, that were offshoots of her doctoral research on the Song of Songs, or of her excursions into biblical Hebrew. Her essays examining aspects of the Song of Songs have been gathered together and published as Divine Love in the Song of Songs (SLG Press, 2024), while the present volume contains the studies of other texts from the Hebrew Bible and early Christian writers. Each essay is carefully crafted to explore some aspect of biblical interpretation or the literature and beliefs surrounding the origins of the Hebrew Bible, providing the reader with a wealth of information and considerable food for thought.

This volume of essays gathers together some of the articles by Sr Edmée Kingsmill SLG that were published in the Fairacres Chronicle, the Journal of the Sisters of the Love of God, between 1977 and 2018. The collection concludes the series of books of her works collected and published in 2024 and 2025. Its title reflects the ways in which Sr Edmée examined penetratingly all that was around her, looking to all points of the compass in her interests, her reading, and her knowledge. This volume includes the brief essay that she wrote examining the meaning of her life’s journey, prefacing the texts of talks and articles on subjects that fascinated her and exercised her intellectually. She engaged with all of her subjects argumentatively, and in the case of her critiques of the work of other writers extended the reach of the subject of the book under review through her own exploration of its subject matter.

How often we use expressions like, ‘thank you for doing that, you’re such an angel’, without really thinking about it, referring to angels as helpful and rather sweet, possibly with a picture in mind of a tall female with big feathery wings. Despite this typecasting, scripture reveals angels as somewhat fearsome messengers from God who must constantly reassure people not to be afraid. The messages they bring are for the benefit of God's people, for salvation and healing. In this exploration of angels, Sister Raphael reflects on her reading of Bible passages and related texts to examine how angels might lead us into a greater understanding of God's love and purposes for us all.

These short meditations by Donald McChesney on the Stations of the Cross originally published in 1971 are accompanied in this new edition by the extraordinary and moving artwork of Jean-Bernard Lalanne from his exhibition entitled ‘Compassion’ at the Chapelle Notre-dame de la Pitié, Seix, Ariège, in August 2024.

Dementia brings much suffering and puts an immense strain on those who are ill and their carers. It is often seen as the worst that can happen to anyone. This book explores whether there is hope in the illness of forgetting and identifies ways by which people with dementia may teach those without dementia important things about faith.People with dementia can help us by their trust, their humour and their approach to prayer. When we are with them, we have the chance to discover afresh what God is like and to become aware of the fact that he does not depend on our cognitive abilities. If we pay attention, they will teach us that cognitive impairment does not have to mean loss of faith but may open up new ways of being with God.

This is a prayerful companion for those who wish to walk the Way of the Cross with Christ in the light of our own times, reimagined through the lens of suffering and social injustice. Each station offers scripture, reflection, and prayer, inviting the reader to encounter Christ, not as a distant figure of the past, but as a living presence in the world’s wounds today. Following each meditation is a question for self-examination. Written to aid personal contemplation, this book is also suitable for use within the framework of a traditional service of the Stations of the Cross.

Bishop Rowan Williams describes Christian faith as a life of risk, trust, and continual conversion, drawing on figures such as John Wesley and St Paul to explore what it means to live by grace rather than by certainty or self-sufficiency. Wesley emerges not as a religious enthusiast or moral reformer alone, but as a profoundly vulnerable and restless witness to the surprising freedom of God's love.Moving between biblical meditation, theological reflection, and spiritual insight, Williams writes about covenant, obedience, scripture, holiness, and the Cross with his characteristic combination of intellectual depth and pastoral sensitivity. Throughout these essays he returns to the paradox at the heart of the Gospel: that God's grace is most powerfully revealed not in human success or security but in weakness, confusion, and the unexpected places where Divine love chooses to dwell. Rich, searching, and often lyrical in style, these reflections offer a vision of Christian discipleship shaped by humility, attentiveness, and hope.

Time is something we all inhabit, yet rarely pause to examine. In this essay, Kallistos Ware (1934-2022) considers time not as a prison or an enemy but as a gift through which human beings grow into freedom, relationship, and communion with God. Drawing on Scripture, the Church Fathers, theology, literature, and philosophy, he reflects on the interplay between time and eternity, showing how Christian faith understands temporal life as open to the transforming presence of the eternal.The second essay turns to the figure of the martyr and, by extension, the monk, as witnesses to the Kingdom that is both present and yet to come. Martyrdom, whether public or hidden, is presented as a daily offering of fidelity, patience, and hope. Throughout, Ware's characteristic combination of theological depth and intelligence illuminates central themes of Orthodox spirituality while remaining accessible to readers of any tradition. These reflections reveal time itself as a place of encounter with God and of growth into the life of the age to come.

Brian Thorne considers the writings of Julian of Norwich in the light of modern psychotherapy, presenting her not simply as a medieval mystic but as a profoundly radical healer of the human person. Against a background of fear, alienation, violence, and self-hatred in contemporary society, he argues that Julian's vision of God as unconditional love speaks with extraordinary force to the psychological and spiritual wounds of the modern world.In Julian's encounters with suffering, sin, shame, and human vulnerability, Thorne finds trust, intimacy, forgiveness, and the healing of damaged identity. He shows how her conviction that every person is eternally loved by God offers a direct challenge to cultures of judgement, competition, and despair. In this study psychotherapy and contemplative theology are brought into creative dialogue, not to reduce one to the other but to illuminate the deepest human longing for wholeness and communion. Passionate, compassionate, and optimistic, this reflection reveals Julian's enduring power as a guide for troubled hearts and wounded societies.

Rooted in the Anglican contemplative tradition yet deeply engaged with wider Christian mystical inheritance, Sister Isabel (1933-2016) describes Father Gilbert Shaw (1886-1967) as a prophetic teacher of prayer whose whole life was shaped by the call to holiness, spiritual vigilance, and sacrificial love. Through reflections on his ministry, teaching, and personal guidance, she portrays a priest who united profound contemplative insight with practical compassion for the poor, the wounded, and those seeking God amid the confusions of modern life.Sister Isabel explores obedience, spiritual direction, suffering, contemplative vocation, and the recovery of what Gilbert Shaw called the 'Great Tradition' of Christian prayer. Again and again, the emphasis falls on conversion of heart and on prayer as participation in Christ's reconciling work for the healing of humanity and the world. Sister Isabel writes with affection, and spiritual authority, illuminating not only the character of Gilbert Shaw but also the demanding and joyful path of contemplative discipleship. These reflections offer a compelling vision of prayer as 'listening love in action'.

Sister Christine examines difficult themes of aridity, silence, solitude, and the hidden work of God in the soul. Drawing deeply on the Carmelite tradition, especially St John of the Cross, as well as more recent spiritual guides, including Fr Gilbert Shaw, she considers the painful experience of dryness in prayer not as failure but as part of the soul’s purification and growth into deeper trust. Prayer, she suggests, often leads not to consolation but to a stripping away of certainties, drawing the soul into the silence and loneliness of the desert where God alone can sustain it.These essays combine spiritual realism with quiet hope, reflecting on solitude, temptation, contemplative vocation, and the ‘love behind the Passion’ that lies at the heart of Christian prayer. Rooted in lived experience, Sister Christine writes about boredom, fear, inner darkness, and perseverance, while revealing how contemplative prayer gradually enlarges the heart in love for God and for the suffering world.