Amid the noise and distractions of everyday life, is it really possible to choose to love the world? In these times of great uncertainty and anxiety, how can we find God? Thomas Merton felt the urgency of these questions more than 50 years ago, and his reflections upon them are more relevant than ever. One of America's most beloved mystics of the 20th century, Merton's voice was prophetic in the troubled era of the 1960s. In this new collection of thoughts and meditations selected from his most inspiring books and letters, Merton's radiant wisdom and foresight serve as a beacon of light for all of us searching to find true meaning and solace in today's difficult times. "Father Louis," as he was known at the Abbey of Gethsemani, fully embraced the contemplative life of a monk, yet he never held the world at arm's length: "We and our world interpenetrate. It is only in assuming full responsibility for our world, for our lives and for ourselves, that we can be said to live really for God." Sharply honest in his words but balanced by his poet's heart, Merton explores themes that include the inner ground of love, living in wisdom, and dialoguing with silence. He teaches that contemplation is possible for everyone and that the fundamental context for seeking God's presence is always our everyday lives. "In the deep silence, wisdom begins to sing her unending, sunlit, inexpressible song: the private song she speaks to the solitary soul." In Choosing to Love the World, Thomas Merton inspires us to look deep within ourselves and, in the peaceful silence of contemplation, to find and sing our own song. Edited by Jonathan Montaldo, associate director of The Merton Institute for Contemplative Living, and director of Bethany Spring, the Merton Institute retreat center in Trappist, Kentucky.

From the moment we are born and through every day of our lives, each of us is traveling on a mysterious, relentless, passionate, and sometimes perplexing journey in search of the experience of Love. Love, however, isn't simply an emotion, a behavior, or even the bond you feel with another person--it's a supercharged, light-drenched, limitless vibrational field of infinite divine energy that is our essential nature. The true search for love, then, must inevitably direct us within, where we discover that the love we've been seeking in countless ways has been inside of us all along.The Choice for Love is the inspiring and revelatory new book from New York Times best-selling author and renowned transformational teacher Barbara De Angelis, Ph.D. Known for helping millions of people make profound shifts in their relationship with themselves, others, and spirit, Dr. De Angelis has written an eloquent, illuminating, and deeply compassionate guide for transforming your relationship to love and bringing more of it into all aspects of your life. She offers you invaluable wisdom and practical tools for healing, opening, and expanding your emotional and spiritual heart, and teaches you how to use love as the highest spiritual practice. What is the choice for love? It is a revolutionary shift in your relationship with the energy of love itself. It invites you into a new, enlightened experience of love as a vibrational state of being. It isn't the choice for new thoughts about love, new attitudes about love, or a new philosophy about love. It's the choice to enter into the experience of your own unlimited love, and open to the unfathomable treasures that your heart holds. When we think that love originates from the outside, we mistakenly believe that we need to wait until something happens to give us an experience of love. Dr. De Angelis explains that love isn't something we can actually "get" from anyone else. No one can give you any love you don't already have.?Love comes from the inside out. Now more than ever, in these unsettling times on our planet, we're each called to become a living remedy, to not fall in love, but to rise in love. The Choice for Love is a masterful and sacred pilgrimage of words whose enlivened wisdom will move you, awaken you, and liberate you to embrace, embody, and delight in more love than you ever imagined was possible.

What can we hope for at the end of the world? What can we trust in when community has broken our hearts? What would it mean to pursue justice without violence? How can we love in the absence of faith? In a heartbreaking yet hopeful collection of personal essays and prose poems, blending the confessional, political, and literary, Kai Cheng Thom dives deep into the questions that haunt social movements today. With the author’s characteristic eloquence and honesty, I Hope We Choose Love proposes heartfelt solutions on the topics of violence, complicity, family, vengeance, and forgiveness. Taking its cues from contemporary thought leaders in the transformative justice movement such as adrienne maree brown and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, this provocative book is a call for nuance in a time of political polarization, for healing in a time of justice, and for love in an apocalypse. This publication meets the EPUB Accessibility requirements and it also meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG-AA). It is screen-reader friendly and is accessible to persons with disabilities. A Simple book with few images, which is defined with accessible structural markup. This book contains various accessibility features such as alternative text for images, table of contents, page-list, landmark, reading order and semantic structure.

One of the greatest and best-loved spokesmen for the Faith here sets out the Church's beautiful understanding of marriage in his trademark clear and entertaining style. Frankly and charitably, Sheen presents the causes of and solutions to common marital crises, and tells touching real-life stories of people whose lives were transformed through marriage. He emphasizes that our Blessed Lord is at the center of every successful and loving marriage. This is a perfect gift for engaged couples, or for married people as a fruitful occasion for self-examination.

LOVE. It's a huge word! What does it mean? To each of us, it is something different. I Choose Love is an invitation to define love for yourself; to create a brave space where you can be ALL of you; to accept the stuff you like and the stuff you don't; reveling in the light that sets you free, letting go of the darkness that's buried in your soul. Who cares what they think? No one knows you as well as you. The first step to bring love into the world is to love your whole self. Join Sara as she guides you on a journey of the senses, offering different paths to step out of your routines and into your flow, where mind, body, and heart dance together. This interactive journal allows you to connect in your way. Reflect on her anecdotes and words of wisdom. Express yourself in the journaling pages. Find inspiration from her vibrant illustrations. Discover yourself in the quiet moments. This reflective companion can accompany you no matter where you are on your journey. Love is always near.

Hurting people ask heart-felt questions about God and suffering. Some "answers" they receive appeal to mystery: “God’s ways are not our ways”. Some answers say God allows evil for a greater purpose. Some say evil is God's punishment. The usual answers fail. They don't support the truth that God loves everyone all the time. God Can't gives a believable answer to why a good and powerful God doesn't prevent evil. Author Thomas Jay Oord says God’s love is inherently uncontrolling. God loves everyone and everything, so God can't control anyone or anything. This means God cannot prevent evil singlehandedly. God can’t stop evildoers, whether human, animal, organism, or inanimate objects and forces. In God Can't, Oord gives a plausible reason why some are healed, but many others are not. God always works to heal everyone, but sometimes our bodies, organisms, or other creatures do not cooperate with God's healing work. Or the conditions of creation are not right for the healing God wants to do. Some people think God causes or allows suffering to teach us lessons or build our character. God Can't disagrees. Oord says God squeezes good from the evil God didn’t want in the first place. God uses pain and suffering without willing or even allowing it. Most people think God can overcome evil singlehandedly. In God Can't, Oord says God needs cooperation for love to reign now and later. This leads to a better view of the afterlife called “relentless love.” It rejects traditional ideas of heaven, hell, and annihilation. Relentless love holds to the possibility all creatures and all creation will respond to God’s love. God Can't is written in understandable language. As a world-renown theologian, Thomas Jay Oord brings credibility to the book’s radical ideas. He explains these ideas through true stories, illustrations, and scripture. God Can't is for those who want answers to tragedy, abuse, and other evils that make sense! What They're Saying... “If conventional notions of God make less and less sense to you, you’ll find Thomas Jay Oord’s new book a breath of fresh air. Simply put, “God Can’t” presents an understanding of God that thoughtful, ethical people can believe in.” -- Brian D. McLaren, author of The Great Spiritual Migration "I did not want this book to end. I wish Dr. Oord had written it 100 years ago, or 1000 years ago... To find your understanding of life and your love for God renewed, read this book." -- Dr. Karen Strand Winslow, Ph.D., Biblical and Jewish Studies Professor of Bible, Azusa Pacific University "As a clinical psychologist working with people in trauma, I owe Thomas Jay Oord an enormous debt of gratitude for recasting the so-called problem of evil in terms that are conceptually satisfying, theologically consistent, and pastorally liberating.” -- Dr Roger Bretherton- Principal Lecturer at the University of Lincoln (UK), Chair of the British Association of Christians in Psychology “Victims of trauma sometimes hear theological responses that imply their suffering is somehow “God’s will." A more careful theological reflection on the nature of the power of a God who is love can help. Oord gives us a clear and compelling alternative in this profoundly insightful and admirably concrete and accessible book.” -- Dr. Anna Case-Winters, Professor of Theology at McCormick Theological Seminary “I know of no book that speaks to suffering with the depth of theological sophistication and psychological sensitivity as God Can’t. This book is a rare combination of depth and accessibility, truly written for the wounded. I recommend it to my students, parishioners, and therapy clients.” -- Dr. Brad D. Strawn, Professor of the Integration of Psychology and Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary