"Hidden Mountain Secret Garden: a theological contemplation on prayer" helps the reader discover the riches of mental prayer in the Catholic Tradition. In fact, the images of the "Hidden Mountain" and the "Secret Garden" are ancient metaphors for contemplative prayer, a kind of prayer that begins and ends in faith. This book is especially for those whose prayer is a search for the loving eyes of One who has conquered death. This kind of prayer beholds the wonder of Christ's living but hidden presence in one's highest thoughts and most noble aspirations as well as in one's instinctual urges and deepest longings. The ecstasy of this kind of prayer extends beyond even the vast unexplored horizons of the human heart and opens to an immensity of such excessive mercy that all else is forgotten -- and only love remains. The whole world needs this love: it is the secret garden, the hidden mountain, the inexhaustible riches only prayer knows and an excess of grace only prayer can make known. This is why Blessed John Paul II told the Church not to be afraid to open wide the doors of our hearts to Christ and it is why He told the young people of the world to be proud to proclaim the Gospel of the Lord. For those brave souls who have faithfully open their hearts to the Lord through this discipline of this kind of prayer, every Christian owes you a debt of gratitude. For those who want to join them, this work encourages you along the way -- for the journey you endeavor is at once the most perilous, the most heart-rending and the most wonderful adventure this world has ever known. "Dr. Anthony Lilles has authored an introduction to prayer that is inspiring and encouraging. For those desiring to pray this is a resource that is full of practical advice - written simply and attractively. This book bears the mark of a man - husband, father and teacher - who is not only imbued with the wisdom of the Saints, but who has also, through his own prayer, learned how all of us can, through prayer, foster faith in and love for Jesus and his Gospel." THOMAS G. WEINANDY, O.F.M., CAP. Executive Director for the Secretariat for Doctrine United States Conference of Catholic Bishops This is a wonderful book. I've taught spiritual theology many years and I wish I had had this text use. In fact, I wish I had written this book. It is scriptural, patristic, historical, theological, mystical, experiential and user friendly. Dr. Lilles takes us through the spiritual journey of prayer, citing Fathers and doctors, saints and even sinners to guide us on our Christian way toward contemplation. Weaving many themes into a harmonious whole, he opens up the life of contemplation for all Christians, our baptismal birthright in a way that is accessible and attractive. This is a book one will read more than once. FR. GILES DIMOCK, O.P., S.T.D University Parish of St. Thomas Aquinas At the University of Virginia In this book we find the real meat of the new evangelization. The church in America will not be renewed by "facts about Jesus" but only through one's choice to let Christ reach the heart and change it from within. It is an ancient message received by only few: Do not be afraid of letting go of what now defines you. Let Christ tell you who you are. Dr. Lilles is one of the ablest guides to lead us through to such a choice. Will I stay with knowledge about Jesus or will I enter the garden of prayer and finally come to know Him!! Do not be afraid to be loved, read this book. DEACON JAMES KEATING, PH.D, Institute for Priestly Formation, Omaha, NE

Imagine a food garden that you only have to plant once in your life-time, that takes up very little space, that will provide food for you and your family for the next 30 years; that can grow five times more food per square foot than traditional or commercial gardening; and where you never have to weed, never have to use fertilizers and never have to use pesticide-- ever. All diguised as overgrown underbrush, so nobody knows you have food growing there! This book will show you how to do it in one growing season!

Marta McDowell returns with a beautiful, gift-worthy account of how plants and gardening deepy inspired Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of the beloved children's classic The Secret Garden.

A ten-year-old orphan comes to live in a lonely house on the Yorkshire moors and discovers an invalid cousin and the mysteries of a locked garden.

After three days at Grandma and Grandpa’s summer cabin, we knew it was going to be a long, boring summer. Then Jenny got her bright idea: Ghost Hunting at Wormwood! I don’t know about Chuck, but I felt prickles on the back of my neck. The place across the lake looked like something an author named Edgar Allen Poe wrote about in Grandma’s book with the horrible pictures of the ruined castles with bats, and people decaying and dribbling down the sides of their coffins. But Jenny thought it would be fun to poke around and see if the ghost stories Grandma told us were really true. None of us were prepared for the strange noises and suspicious characters we were going to meet. This summer vacation turned out to be plain scary! But if it hadn’t been we would never have found the lost treasure (not one but two treasures) or have helped Sheriff Jenkins solve a real life robbery and murder case!

Green-growing secrets and powerful magic await you at Misselthwaite Manor, now reimagined in this bewitching graphic novel adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s beloved tale. From Mariah Marsden, author of the critically acclaimed Anne of Green Gables: A Graphic Novel, comes the second installment in this series of retold children's classics. Ten-year-old Mary Lennox arrives at a secluded estate on the Yorkshire moors with a scowl and a chip on her shoulder. First, there’s Martha Sowerby: the too-cheery maid with bothersome questions who seems out of place in the dreary manor. Then there’s the elusive Uncle Craven, Mary’s only remaining family—whom she’s not permitted to see. And finally, there are the mysteries that seem to haunt the run-down place: rumors of a lost garden with a tragic past, and a midnight wail that echoes across the moors at night. As Mary begins to explore this new world alongside her ragtag companions—a cocky robin redbreast, a sour-faced gardener, and a boy who can talk to animals—she learns that even the loneliest of hearts can grow roots in rocky soil. Given new life as a graphic novel in illustrator Hanna Luechtefeld's whimsical style, The Secret Garden is more enchanting and relevant than ever before. At the back of the book, readers can learn about the life of Frances Hodgson Burnett and the history of British colonialism that contextualizes the original novel.

A captivating portrait of the greatest British gardens and the lords, ladies and gardeners who own and manage them. Focusing on the counties of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, this stunning book features 20 gardens designed by some of the leading contemporary garden designers from across the world. This beautiful corner of England has a rich tradition of garden making, which is explored in this very personal view by photographer Hugo Rittson-Thomas and journalist Victoria Summerley, both residents of this green pocket with more than its fair share of beautiful and interesting gardens. Some of the gardens are strictly private, while others are regularly open to visitors, but all can now be savoured and enjoyed along with those who know them best.