Publisher description

"I am the happiest man in the world because God entrusted me with this mission." In John of God: The Brazilian Healer Who's Touched the Lives of Millions, a seemingly average rancher from Abadiânia, Brazil, offers a powerful message of love, compassion, and hope for humanity. João Teixeira de Faria, the healer and medium known as John of God, allows "spirit doctors" to take over his body three times a week to miraculously treat the thousands of people from all over the world who come in need of remedy. John of God has fulfilled his mission as a medium for more than forty-eight years, making numerous pilgrimages around the world. Drawn by the hope of instantaneous healing, over eight million believers have proceeded in front of him throughout his life, as tens of thousands journey to Brazil each year to see John of God and his home, the Casa de Dom Inácio de Loyola, which is designed to accommodate hundreds of visitors each day. Despite all the media attention paid to this inter-nationally praised healer, little has been revealed about his personal life. Translator Heather Cumming and photographer Karen Leffler have traveled with John of God and chronicled his life and work. What began as an endeavor to document the testimonials of his remarkable healings has now become the first complete, authorized portrait of his world. Stirring words and vivid photographs -- many of which capture the haunting spiritual energy that surrounds John of God and the Casa -- take us on an affecting and deeply personal journey with the humble medium who offers hope for people with none. The result is an intimate portrait of an ordinary individual in extraordinary circumstances and a reading experience that will bring readers of every persuasion closer to their faith. To learn more about John of God and his mission, go to www.beyondword.com and www.friendsofthecasa.org.

This book investigates the growing number of Western followers of John of God, a faith healer who has drawn hundreds of thousands of people, including Oprah Winfrey, to his healing center in Brazil by purportedly performing miraculous surgeries on people with a kitchen knife and no anesthetics. Drawing on multi-sited fieldwork throughout Brazil, the US, UK, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand, Cristina Rocha examines the social and cultural forces that have made it possible for an illiterate, mostly unknown faith healer in Brazil to become a global "guru" of the 21st century.

Experience miraculous healer, John of God, as seen through the eyes of medium Gail Thackray who sees, feels, and hears things that most "normal" people do not. Follow Gail on her personal journey to the spiritual healing center of John of God in Brazil. Experience miraculous healings, supernatural activity, and astonishing psychic events. Gail gives a unique view of the powerful healings that occur in this blessed place. As a medium and healer herself, Gail initially thinks she is going to "assist" in the work here. She is told by the spirits, "you can leave your ego at the door, you're here to be healed too!" She shares the personal details of her own healing which requires an intimate look at her relationships and life. As she starts to open up again, she finds her life taking unexpected twists and turns, and a budding romance appears. It is in this quaint village in Brazil that Gail receives her most profound spiritual experience yet-a direct connection to Source. Overwhelmed with emotion, Gail asks the spirits if she can share this "feeling" with those back home. Upon returning to Los Angeles, Gail unexpectedly finds that her clients are now experiencing the healing energies from Brazil, receiving spontaneous healings through her live events and writings. The spirits in Brazil have taken Gail to a whole new level. Spiritually empowering yet refreshingly funny, Gail takes us on her otherworldly journey while dealing with everyday issues we can relate to.

Christian perfection consists in the twofold way of charity: service of neighbor and our direct quest for God's love. Many of us discover ways to love our neighbor, but few achieve intimacy with God. Why? Because we don't know how to prepare ourselves properly to reach this exalted goal. In these pages, Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen lays out for us a time-tested path toward achieving complete intimacy with God, the path first mapped out centuries ago by the Church's acclaimed master of the contemplative life, St. John of the Cross (1542-1591). St. John showed that God hungers for union with each of us but also requires arduous efforts on our part, the many details of which Father Gabriel explains in these enlightening pages. Do you perceive holiness as an unattainable goal for you? Or is fear of the fatigue of such an effort holding you back? Absorb this book, and allow gentle St. John to take you by the hand and lead y

St John of the Cross testifies to a God who longs to meet us in our deepest need. Whilst rejection and imprisonment played their part in the life of this sixteenth-century Spanish friar, John's poetry and prose reveal the beauty and power of a wondrous God. It gives us courage to believe in the possibility of change in our own lives, however unlikely or impossible this may seem. Father Iain Matthew uses this classic inspirational Christian writing as his starting point, and offers five interpretations which make its richness relevant to the modern reader.