Bruce Epperly
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Simplicity Spirituality Service
$18.99Add to cart“Francis, Clare, and Bonaventure inspire us to re-enchant and heal our spiritual practices and religious institutions and to reclaim our vocation as God’s companions in healing the world.”
Francis was inspired by the simple goal of living a gospel life in the footprints of Jesus. Clare took that vision into a deep, contemplative spirituality. A few decades later, Bonaventure explored the theological structure of Francis’s ideal and put the simplicity and spirituality of Francis and Clare in the service of the Franciscan order, the church, and the world. Their timeless wisdom and unique contributions can guide Christians today in finding ways to be, in the words of Francis’s first biographer, “always new, always fresh, always beginning again.”
As he did in Walking with Francis of Assisi, Bruce Epperly shows us how the lives of three saints from the thirteenth century offer wisdom, insight, and practical solutions to our challenges in the twenty-first century. Many of those challenges they never could have imagined; others would be very familiar: healing divisions among people, caring for God’s creation in a time of climate change, renewing the church’s gospel commitment to the poor and vulnerable, valuing the human person in an increasingly technological society, recognizing the presence of God in an expanding universe.
Faithfulness to Franciscan spirituality involves inviting other companions to join us on the journey. Epperly brings Francis, Clare, and Bonaventure in dialogue with figures such as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Pope Francis, Joshua Heschel, Leonardo Boff, Albert Schweitzer, Dorothy Day. Some of these were influenced by Francis; all of them witness to the need for a world formed, sustained, and sanctified by God’s love.
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Mystic In You
$14.99Add to cartWhat is a mystic? Bruce Epperly defines mystics as people who see holiness in everyday life. God comes to us in the moment-by-moment adventures of daily living, he says. We can be mystics without leaving our families, disengaging from daily responsibilities, becoming a priest, or joining a monastic order. Epperly shows how we can experience the living God in the midst of daily life and never again take everyday events for granted. Bruce Epperly introduces readers to 12 individuals or groups of mystics through the ages – St. Francis of Assisi – The desert mothers and fathers – Benedict of Nursia – The Celtic mystics – Hildegard of Bingen – Mechtild of Madgdeburg – Brother Lawrence – The Baal Shem Tov – Howard Thurman – Etty Hillesum – Rumi – Julian of Norwich Each chapter describes the each mystic’s life, spiritual experiences and worldview, and provides spiritual exercises to help us experience the mystic firsthand. Through his conversational, down-to-earth approach, Epperly inspires us to realize that we can encounter God wherever we are, whatever we are doing.