Christus Publishing

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admin — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 18:52:28 +0000

GUIDELINES

1. Catholic Manuscript.

2. Original unpublished work.

3. Electronically submission in MS Word .doc .docx format or PDF.

Peter — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 19:12:27 +0000

Who we are

Peter — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 19:12:03 +0000

Peter J. Mongeau

Peter J. Mongeau is the founder and publisher of Christus Publishing. He has worked in the financial services industry in New York and Boston. His first passion, after his family, God and the Catholic Church, is searching for great books on the Catholic Spiritual Life. After many years of not finding great contemporary books on Catholic Spirituality, he realized that the publishing industry was simply not inviting authors to write on the Catholic Spiritual Life. His response was to start a publishing house devoted to Catholic Spirituality and the New Evangelization. By June of 2008 he was ready to launch Christus Publishing with a mission to discover, publish and make known worthy books on Catholic Spirituality and the New Evangelization espoused by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

In addition, Peter J. Mongeau is the founder and publisher of Tuscany Press. Tuscany Press was launched in June of 2012, and specializes in Catholic fiction books. In addition, Tuscany Press is the sponsor of the Tuscany Prize for Catholic Fiction – novels, novellas and short stories.

He has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Boston University and a Master in Business Administration from Boston College. He and his wife Kelley have been married for over 20 years and they have four children from age 11 to 19.

John Paul II’s — Christ’s Faithful People

“The voice of the Lord clearly resounds in the depths of each of Christ’s followers, who through faith and the sacraments of Christian initiation is made like to Jesus Christ, is incorporated as a living member in the Church and has an active part in her mission of salvation.”

“The whole Church, Pastors and lay faithful alike, standing on the threshold of the Third Millennium, ought to feel more strongly the Church’s responsibility to obey the command of Christ, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation”(Mk 16:15), and take up anew the missionary endeavor. A great venture, both challenging and wonderful, is entrusted to the Church-that of a re-evangelization, which is so much needed by the present world. The lay faithful ought to regard themselves as an active and responsible part of this venture, called as they are to proclaim and to live the gospel in service to the person and to society while respecting the totality of the values and needs of both.”

— John Paul II

December 30, 1988

CHRISTIFIDELES LAICI

Christ’s Faithful People

Thèrèse, The Little Child of God’s Mercy

Peter — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 16:40:42 +0000

Overview

Declaring Saint Thérèse of Lisieux a “Doctor of the Church” in 1997, Pope John Paul II presented her as “an eminent model and guide for Christians today.” In this work, already published in several languages, a Spanish contemplative monk takes us into the depths of Thérèse’s spiritual life. Meditating on her own words in the light of the teaching of Saints Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, the author shows that Thérèse’s “little way,” far from mere childish sentimentality, is “nothing other than the Gospel way of holiness for all” (John Paul II).

“Like the gospels themselves St. Thérèse’s Story of a Soul is told simply and without ornamentation. She writes from a heart that is little and poor, and thus in a literary form that is poor. Once we accept this literary poverty we begin to discover at its core the infinite riches of the love of Jesus that floods her life. The paradox here resembles that of the gospels: in littleness lies true grandeur, and in poverty true riches. The more one reads Thérèse the more one is struck by the depth and coherence of her writings. But like her life, the depth is hidden. Her rapid ascent in the spiritual journey was concealed from her contemporaries. People paid little attention to her: at first, because she was always on the verge of tears, and later, because she always appeared cheerful and content. Inwardly, however, she moved from heroism to heroism, ever on the watch for fresh opportunities to purify the gold of her charity, her heart set toward unexplored heights.”

. . . Forward, Thérèse, The Little Child of God’s Mercy

Never Forget

Peter — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 12:37:26 +0000

Overview

An eminent philosopher, educator, and advocate for women who became a Discalced Carmelite nun, Edith Stein (1891-1942) died like many millions of others of Jewish ancestry in the Auschwitz concentration camp, a victim of Nazi genocide. Today she is increasingly recognized as a major figure of our times.

The Catholic Church’s decision to beatify and canonize Edith Stein as a martyr has inspired many. Yet it has also raised important concerns, especially within the Jewish community, about the implications of this action, and of Edith Stein’s life and death, for Jewish-Christian relations.

The essays in this volume, gathered together by S. Waltraud Herbstrith of the Edith-Stein-Karmel in Tübingen, Germany, and translated by Edith Stein’s niece, Susanne Batzdorff, explore the broad spectrum of Jewish and Christian opinions on the controversy. Also included are the reactions of Edith Stein’s own surviving family members, along with warm remembrances by her former students, friends, and acquaintances. Several important new essays have likewise been added for the American edition.

A useful companion to Edith Stein’s Life in a Jewish Family, this seventh entry in the Carmelite Studies series can help readers better appreciate Edith Stein’s rich and multifaceted personality, along with her significance for the ongoing dialogue between Christians and Jews.

Our being and our life are forced upon us as a problem. We cannot avoid the

question of who we are and what we want. And not just the reflecting mind

confronts us with this question. Living itself has made our life into a problem.

Edith Stein, Zürich, 1932

Contemplation and Transformation

Peter — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 17:12:55 +0000

Overview

Contemplation has been the life of the Carmelite order from its eremitical beginnings in the Holy Land eight centuries ago. Following their great sixteenth-century Spanish mystics, Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, Carmelites understand the contemplative life as a love affair with God that transforms human consciousness. Contemplatives see with God’s eyes, love with Christ’s heart, and respond to life with the Holy Spirit’s guidance. The essays in this volume of Carmelite Studies, written by nine outstanding teachers of the Christian mysticism and Carmelite spirituality, trace the historical development of Carmel’s contemplative tradition, elucidate it with contemporary theological and psychological insight, and explain its practice in concrete detail. The authors thus share Carmel’s spiritual heritage with those today who hunger for a deeper understanding of the contemplative life and reliable guidance in its practice. This book, an effective response to the church’s critical need of education for contemplation, points the way to the individual and social transformation required to build a new world in the new millennium.

Contributors

Donald Buggert, Kevin Culligan, Keith Egan,

Constance FitzGerald, Kieran Kavanaugh,

Ernest Larkin, Bernard McGinn,

Vilma Seelaus, and John Welch

“It (Contemplation) does nothing less, when accompanied by the necessary determination, than draw the Almighty so that He becomes one with our lowliness, transforms us into Himself, and effects a union of the Creator with the creature.”

St. Teresa of Avila, The Way of Perfection 32:11

Experiencing St. Thérèse Today

Peter — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 17:02:59 +0000

Overview

St. Thérèse of Lisieux attracts people today almost a full century after the end of her short life. A recent prize-winning film has borne witness to the fascinating appeal her person and thought have for the most varied audiences. The essays in this volume pay tribute to the spell she casts and mine the perennial spirit of the life-example and writings she has left us.

In 1988 the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance organized a program of talks to explore just how close Thérèse remains to believers today. The text in this volume offer many insights into the richness of the Carmelite nun who was called by one of the popes of our century “the greatest saint of modern times.”

“One sign of appreciation for Thérèse—and it is mentioned several times in the eleven essays—was Alain Cavalier’s beautiful, though flawed feature-length film, “Thérèse.” Exiting from a showing of it here in Washington I heard one woman remark to another, ‘How would you like to be like her?—so pure, so committed.’ Those two characteristics of Thérèse are main poles of her up-to-date spirituality. Purity of intent—symbolized in so many vivid ways in her writings, but maybe none better than the words quoted by Graham Greene a while ago in his novella Monsignor Quixote, ‘Before we die by the sword, let us die by pin stabs’—made of Thérèse a selfless, dedicated lover of personified Good. Her deep sense of commitment to God and neighbor led her to real sacrifices without turning in on herself. By them both, she smilingly directed her attention to people needing help around her: from Pranzini early on, to obnoxious nuns in the monastery, to those at the ‘table of sinners,’ on to will-o’-the-wisp Diana Vaughan who elicited so much of her sympathy. They moved her to deep, adult compliance with the Gospel imperative of touching others by effective love. Pure and committed: traits sought after by so many of us as we start out toward the other end of this decade . . .”

from the Introduction of Experiencing Saint Thérèse Today

My Only Friend is Darkness

Peter — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 16:45:29 +0000

Overview

This wise and widely-acclaimed book is written for those “who have advanced far enough in love to God to enter the Night of Faith and feel the need of explanation, guidance and reassurance.” Drawing upon Scripture, classic spiritual authors—especially St. John of the Cross—and her own deep personal experience, author Barbara Dent examines the deep purifications we undergo as God cleanses us of sinful inclinations and transforms us in love. Using poetry and prose, image and parable, she guides us through the sufferings, temptations, upheavals and workings of grace at the deepest levels of our being, as we journey through the darkness of faith to new life in Christ.

“This book is concerned with what I learned experientially and from reading the works of various fellow travellers, especially John of the Cross, during the two periods when the grain of wheat fell into the ground and died. Then my only friend was darkness—the darkness of faith that would not give up affirming what it believed—yet in that darkness wonders of grace happened.”

Barbara Dent, My Only Friend is Darkness

. . . All in all, for those seeking it and for those who should be, the book shows what fuller surrender to God’s penetrating and healing goodness could mean

Philip C. Fischer, S. J., Review for Religious

Barbara Dent is a retired English teacher in New Zealand and the mother of three. A Secular Carmelite, she has published numerous articles and books throughout the English-speaking world, and now spends much of the time in “prayer and study, writing, and giving spiritual and psychological guidance to those who turn to me for it.”

St. John of the Cross: A Guide in Understanding the Mystical Doctor

Peter — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 16:16:41 +0000

Overview

This volume represents an opportunity for the Discalced Carmelite friars to express their gratitude to the one we call “our Holy Father,” St. John of the Cross, and to explore his timely message, not just for ourselves, but for the whole contemporary church and world.

Yet at the same time, our contributors are well aware of John’s words in “Stanzas concerning an ecstasy experienced in high contemplation”:

This knowledge is unknowing

is so overwhelming

that wise men disputing

can never overthrow it,

for their knowledge does not reach

to the understanding of not understanding

transcending all knowledge.

These essays, then, make no claim to fully explain or capture the inexhaustible riches of John’s doctrine, or the experience of God he describes. Our hope is, rather, that they may provide readers with some guidance in understanding John, and some nourishment for their own journey into the infinite mystery of the divine.

“Where there is no love, put love and you will draw out love.”

St. John of the Cross

Carmelite Culture and St. Teresa of Avila

Peter — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 15:07:32 +0000

Overview

During the papacy of John Paul II a fair amount of reflection about culture and cultural adaptation has gone on. The essays presented here will show how some leading interpreters of thought of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross view the topic against the background of experience of the two Doctors of the Church.

Among the essays included in this collection are:

Response of the Teresian Carmel to the Spiritual Situation

of the Church and the World Today

by Augusto Guerra

Christian, Human and Cultural Values in St Teresa of Jesus

by Jesús Castellano

St. John of the Cross: Cultural, Human and Christian Values

by Federico Ruiz

The Teresian Carmelite: An Overview

by Tomás Alvarez

“O Lord, why is it that we do not remember that the reward is great and everlasting, and that once we have reached such close friendship here below the Lord gives us the reward, and that many remain at the foot of the mount who could ascend to the top?”

(Meditation on the Songs of Songs, 2:17). St. Teresa of Avila