The Russian word Poustinia means 'desert¿, a place to meet Christ in silence, solitude and prayer. Catherine Doherty combines her insights into the great spiritual traditions of the Russian Church with her very personal experience of life with Christ.

This reading guide to some of the philosophical and theological literature on universalism offers practical help in providing informed material on a topic that is often treated in a superficial and unenlightened manner. The reader may be surprised to learn that universalism was the predominant belief in the early centuries, and that it has always been present in the Christian tradition. Spurred on by Von Balthasar's book, Dare We Hope That All Men Be Saved? Robert Wild's guide provides current studies that support Von Balthasar's arguments that universalism is a legitimate hope for the Christian.

Catherine (1447-1510), a married lay woman, was a mystic and a humanitarian, and a constant contemplative who cared for the sick and destitute. Purgation and Purgatory is a collection of sayings on spiritual purification in this life and the next. The Spiritual Dialogue gives us a readable and coherent inner history of Catherine.

From the Introduction: I live in one of the poustinias at the Madonna House. As many people know from Catherine Doherty’s book Poustinia, the word means “desert” in Russian. A poustinia is a small cabin where people ordinarily go for a day of prayer and fasting, though some, like myself, live there several days a week as a way of life. This book contains “words” that I heard the Lord speaking to me. Many of them were shared at the Eucharist in the form of homilies; some were originally in the form of letters sent to my Madonna House family; some few were written for publication elsewhere; still others were jotted down for no particular reason. Writing from the poustinia is one of my ways of preaching the good news of Jesus, the exalted and unmerited privilege for which I was ordained.

From the introduction: I’m coming to the conclusion that truth is more like God feeding his people in the wilderness. He only fed them a day at a time. I think some of the deepest truths about life are those which God gives us fresh every day. I was thinking of calling this second volume Manna, Food for Only a Day. This is some of the manna with which the Lord fed me.

Catherine de Hueck Doherty (1896-1985), a Russian-born aristocrat who has recently been proposed for canonization, emigrated to North America, dedicated her life to promoting "the gospel without compromise." Her vision combined a deep spirituality with a commitment to social justice. One of her early projects was the Harlem-based Friendship House, which attracted a young Thomas Merton. Later, with her second husband, Eddie Doherty, she established Madonna House in Combermere, Ontario. Though Roman Catholic, Catherine drew on her Russian roots and helped popularize the concept of Poustinia (the Russian word for desert)a place where a person meets God through solitude, prayer, and fasting. These writings, drawn from 25 books, highlight her distinctive spirituality, with its emphasis on the presence of God, the practice of prayer, a love for the church, and a deep apprehension of the social dimension of the gospel.

Strannik is the Russian word for "pilgrim," one with a vocation-a unique, holy calling. Pilgrimage is more than something you `do.' `Being a pilgrim' consumes all of you. The pilgrim is to "be the Gospel and to preach it with his words and with his being." In Strannik, Catherine shows that pilgrimage is not just something for a few spiritual ascetics with wanderlust. Even less does it resemble the modern tourist-style `pilgrimages' that try to cover as many holy places as possible in the briefest time possible. Rather, the true strannik begins by looking within the self, where God already is. While the author does tell us about external pilgrimages such as she herself experienced as a child in Russia, the pilgrimages she is writing about are principally interior. Pilgrimage comes out of a quest for God. Catherine speaks of the "nostalgia for paradise" which all human beings have experienced since Adam and Eve. Without Christ we cannot complete our journey. "Christ was the pilgrim who pilgrimed from the bosom of the Father to the hearts of men and women."