Spiritual Life

Product Description

This re-published book was a lost classic of Catholic spiritual writing, but is now available to a new generation of Catholics. It was among the cherished works that French Catholics risked torture and death to keep out of the bonfires of the frenzied Jacobins.

Written by the French priest Jean Nicolas Grou (who died in 1803), this book might seem on the face of it to be an odd choice for the embattled Catholics of France to preserve at the risk of the guillotine. After all, it only gives a few small hints here and there of the great crisis that was engulfing France. Yet preserve it they did. A closer look at its contents reveals why: It is a comprehensive, uncompromising handbook to help Catholics better deal with the obligations and particular problems of the spiritual life. As such, it teaches Catholics what they need to know and to do when all the customary comforts and supports of life have been swept away. It’s a call to true believers to do what the angel tells the Church of Sardis in the Book of Revelation: “Awake, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God.”

Our times are not so far removed from the Godless irrationality that swept across France in Fr. Grou’s day. Indeed, Fr. Grou reminds you right at the beginning of this book that salvation is only won at a great price. He wrote this book for Catholics who were willing to pay that price themselves. His focus is firmly on Christ, whom he maintains should be the model for your own spiritual life — not just in theory, but in the hard fact of sacrifice and love so great as to pierce your very heart. 5.5" x 8.25"