There are many times when God calls us to contemplate our sins and his gift of redemption. This book offers a beautiful series of addresses to help us do so. Author John Arnold guides us on a journey of readings and questions that begins with the garden of Eden ... and brings us at last to the Tree of Life in the New Jerusalem.

In each chapter, you'll find an essay that explores one aspect of the story of God's love for humankind. Using biblical passages, pictures by Rembrandt, and masterpieces of Russian literature, the author inspires and uplifts us. As we move from one milestone to the next, our future is stripped of death's fear, and the greatest gift on earth is bestowed on us. Linking the chapters with metaphors of wood, trees, and the cross of Christ, this book helps us fully embrace the passion of Christ and its transforming power ... as life conquers death.
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These daily reflections cover the 40 days leading to Easter, traditionally known as Lent. The readings explore Jesus' teaching that the whole Bible is about himself from beginning to end. On the first Easter Sunday the risen Lord Jesus rebuked his bewildered followers for not understanding the necessity of his death and resurrection. The divine plan should have been evident to them not only from his teaching, but also because; "everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled" (Luke 24:44).
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Lent, the season of preparation for Christ's Resurrection at Easter, is for many Catholics a special time of prayer, fasting, and renewed spiritual focus. There is no other period in the liturgical year that so completely draws our attention to the things of God, and to the great themes and traditions of Christianity.

The Essential Lenten handbook provides everything you need for a richer experience of the forty days before Easter. Whether you wish to follow a traditional program of Lenten devotion centered around prayer, a "modern" program that focuses on Scripture readings, a family model that brings your loved ones together for a shared spiritual journey, or a unique devotional program of your own devising, this all-in-one resource will be a treasured Lenten guide.
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This new edition of Celebrating Common Prayer, the Pocket Version has been produced for those who are used to that compact form of Daily Prayer, especially when they travel or are on holiday, but who would now expect their daily prayer to use the texts that are in Common Worship: Daily Prayer. As 'Daily Prayer' drew heavily on 'Celebrating Common Prayer', so this new edition of the pocket version uses the texts of the Psalter, canticles and prayers from 'Common Worship'.
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In the inner Melbourne suburb of Brunswick, near the busy intersection of Glenlyon and Sydney Roads, stands an Anglican parish church that has been notable for its graceful Italianate architecture since its dedication 150 years ago. The setting of the building (piazza and garden) gives the impression of an oasis in the densely built landscape. During the week the church's interior retains the faint smell of incense from the previous Sunday, and the glowing light, filtered through stained glass, illuminates the dark timber of teh furnishings, the white marble in the baptistery and chancel, the painted pulpit panels, the rich embroidery of the altar frontals, the gleaming brass of the eagle lectern and the cedar-encased pipework of the first classically voiced organ to be installed in a Melbourne church.

The history of the parish of Christ Church Brunswick is nevertheless far nore than a narrative of what might nowadays be called its plant and equipment. It is the story of the difficulties of establishing an Anglican presence in a suburb that is Melbourne in microcosm. What, historically, complicated this parish's mission was the fact that trends in the wider society often mainfested themselves in this district with greater intensity than elsewhere ...
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'Today, when we stand before crucial thresholds in our lives, we have no rituals to protect, encourage and guide us as we cross over into the unknown. For such crosssings, we need to find new words ... This book is an attempt to reach into that tenuous territory of change...'

In sharing words of grace and wisdom, the poet and writer John O'Donohue offers blessings to shelter and comfort us on our journey through life. As he opens our eyes to the natural beauty and splendour of the world that surrounds us, he inspires in us a new confidence and passion for life and helps us to confront key thresholds of human experience.
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Rites of Passage is a collection of sermons relating to the main events in Christ's earthly life, and seeks to relate these to similar landmarks in everyone's Christian experience. Because Fr Murray believes all religious faith has its final destination in God, some of these utterances embrace the insights of Buddhism, Judaism and Islam. Nonethless, they find their essential focus in the unique revelation of Jesus Christ. Mostly given in Christ Church St Laurence in Sydney, many are purely meditations, spoken aloud. Others confront the enemies of Christian belief: doubt, frustration, anger and the like.
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For decades scholars have argued that Jesus' teaching fostered inclusive communities and the full participation of women. Now Kathleen Corley challenges the assumption that Jesus himself fought patriarchal limitations on women. Rather her analysis of his authentic teaching suggests that, while Jesus critiques class and slave/free distinctions in his culture, his critique did not extend to unequal gender distinctions. The presence of women among his disciples, she says, is explained on the basis of the presence of women among many Graeco-Roman religions and philosophical groups, including the Judaism of Jesus' own day.
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Living the Magnificat presents a sustained reflection by leading Anglican and Roman Catholic writers on Mary's great song of praise and transformation, the Magnificat. In the context of contemporary struggles and inequalities across the world the story of Mary is related to issues of international justice, one of the key themes of mission and evangelism.

The contributions stem from a wide range of perspectives. James Alison challenges the reader to 'make space' for an inclusive God, just as Mary 'makes space' for God. Linda Hogan, Margaret Magdalen and Mongezi Guma address the issue of justice and what it means to be human in the light of Mary's story. Mark Chapman takes up the ever-pressing problem of Christian politics, and how easy it is for Christians to become overly-fixated on church affairs at the expense of the suffering world. Similarly, Michael Doe sees the contemporary Anglican struggles about issues in human sexuality as a distraction from far more pressing global issues. Joe Cassidy challenges Christians to think again about the universality of Christian ethics. Finally, Stephen Cottrell offers a vision of a world turned upside down and presents a call for a renewed sense of mission.
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"Although this is a small book on the spirituality of a medieval woman from a glorious past, it is also a book about Christian life today. Clare's decisive emphasis on the person of Jesus Christ is an emphasis on the human person as well, what we are and what we are called to be."

Clare of Assisi: A Heart Full of Love explores Clare's deep desire to live the gospel life, more precisely, her desire for all of us to reflect on Christ and his crucifixion in order to see our own strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly, our capacity to love. Ilia Delio illustrates how Clare, through her life, her writings, letters, prayers and example, is truly a mystic who helped generations of Catholics clearly see how Christ took on human flesh, not just to suffer and die for us, but to help us all in turn reflect back the face of Christ to the world.

Clare was not simply a follower of Francis; she was a formidable, resolute, devout and loving saint whose life centered on this essence of human identity—Christ is in each of us—and who sought to teach us to just be ourselves and to let God dwell within us. In Clare of Assisi: A Heart Full of Love, Ilia Delio shows us just how Clare's simple but powerful beliefs transformed the way we all think about Christ—even today.
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Irma Zaleski was 8 years old when her native Poland was invaded by Germany. Through the many dark days and years of Nazi occupation, occasional glimpses of beauty and joy revealed a larger reality that made her existence bearable.

A chance encounter over 30 years ago with a little book called Christ Within redirected her search for God. Its message—that Christ is the way to the heart of our being—has shaped her thought and faith ever since.

Here Zaleski explores the universal search for meaning and reflects on what Christ has come to mean to her. The true search for God, she believes, must also be a search for true self-knowledge. Like all her books, this work is deceptively simple, deeply spiritual and destined to become a popular classic. Published in numerous languages, her books form a library of wise counsel and insight.
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The years since the restoration of the order of permanent deacons at the Second Vatican Council have witnessed a process of exploration regarding the role and purpose of the diaconate. In , an archbishop, a bishop, and a deacon hold forth on contemporary issues relevant to the Order of Deacons, in particular the theology of restorative justice, and the impact and implementation of the new National Directory for the Formation, Ministry, and Life of Permanent Deacons in the United States. This timely work includes an introduction by the president of the National Association of Diaconate Directors (NADD), Deacon Daniel L Peterson, along with responses from three distinguished authors: Father Michael Kennedy, Deacon Owen F Cummings, and Marti R Jewell.
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Grace in Practice is a challenging call to live life under grace—a concept most Christians secretly have trouble with. Paul Zahl pulls no punches, contending that no matter how much we talk about salvation by grace, in our can-do society we often cling instead to a righteousness by works. Asserting throughout that grace always trumps both law and church, Zahl illuminates an expansive view of grace in all areas of life. Conversationally written and filled with fascinating insights, Grace in Practice will reward any Christian who seeks to understand the full measure of God's grace and the total freedom it offers.

"Paul Zahl is a formidable scholar, an admired colleague, and a courageous churchman, but I especially love Paul Zahl the preacher—his passion and humor, his power of description and illustration, and, above all, his zeal for grace. When he speaks about law and grace, I'm totally caught up init—even when he's beating up on my views! That same enthusiasm comes through in this book. Cascading pop-culture references are flanked with the profoundest of insights. A barrage of illustrations brings home Zahl's message. Martin Luther has his spokesman. In Grace in Practice Zahl sets out a theology of the reality, experience, and expression of grace in the Christian life—and then doesn't mind upsetting your applecart as he applies it specifically to just about everything."
J Ligon Duncan III

What are the principles that can help corporations avoid the ethical quicksand that has pulled down Enron, WorldCom, Arthur Anderson, and others? Through concrete examples drawn from many levels of corporate life, Byron commends ten "old" principles to the minds and consciences of those who are now, or hope soon to be, the decision-makers in the American business system.

"Brings insights from three perspectives: as an acadmeic with an interest in education and research; as a CEO with experience in how to get things done in complex organizations; and as a theologian with a clear understanding of what really counts. What a great combination!"
Merlin Olson, Management Consultant

'The seasons of the church year may come around year after year but they never fail to carry me through pathways which challenge, renew and lead me on into a different future. As I celebrate each period, I also experience a sense of being gathered into the community of the universal church in all its situations and places.'

Dorothy McRae-McMahon believes that the interpretations of the Christian year's themes is related to the way her congregation feels about its life and the life surrounding its church in a struggling, multicultural area of Sydney. From this diversity of races and religions, encompassing young and old, has grown a lively and inspiring collection of liturgies that can be used and adapted for almost any parish.

Liberating and vivid, often drawing on the power of symbol and ritual, these litugies span the church year from Christ the King through to Pentecost. There are also additional sections for Eucharists and Special Occasions. A diversity and freshness, coupled with a revisiting of rich Christian tradition, make Litugies for High Days ideal for all those involved in any aspect of leading worship.
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Questions of religious identity will be central to the way that the twenty-first century unfolds. Anglicanism: The Answer to Modernity is the boldest attempt in recent years to address the intellectual future of the Church of England in a confident, open and faithful way.

The eight young Cambridge deans who have contributed combine academic theological work with practical ministry to students in exploring the credibility, wisdom and coherence of Anglican answers to biblical, moral, philosophical and social issues. They also evaluate the presence of the Church at various levels in the life of the nation.

They believe that the Church of England is not a dying and irrelevant anachronism. Rather, their vision is of a robust and inclusive Anglicanism, from which we may fashion the answers necessary for human life and growth.
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In response to the question: 'Lord, how should we pray', Jesus instituted the Lord's Prayer. The words of the prayer are used by Christians of all denominations (and none) living on every continent, and it is one of the few prayers that most believers are able to say be heart. Yet how often do we pause to consider its meaning?

In this beautifully illustrated book, based on a BBC Songs of Praise programme, Wendy Beckett and Rowan Williams reflect on the significance of the prayer. They help us to see that each phrase is rich in meaning and, if inwardly digested, can lead to a transforming of our lives.
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Desire – so alluring and confusing! This book, a great read and source of much inspiration, shows how desire has been thoroughly corrupted and must be reappropriated in its cosmic, planetary and transpersonal dimensions. Drawing on seminal ideas from contemporary science, religion and spirituality. O'Murchu reveals with consummate skill how the rich webs of life are calling forth new birthing, new thinking and new visions of creative transformation for us to become truly at home on earth. This vision is as practical as it is spiritual; it is a vision grounded in faith and hope for the future of the planet and its people.
Ursula King, University of Bristol

In his usual insightful wisdom O'Murchu has drawn together a wealth of scholarship to show us that Desire is both the root of our earthly problems as it is the key to bringing about God's kind of world.
Adrian Smith

Saint Augustine formulated the classic Christian understanding of desire, that "our hearts are restless until they rest in God." Gilbert Meilaender maintains that this frustrated desire lies at the heart of our existence. In The Way That Leads There he takes Augustine as a "conversation partner" for exploring subjects that human beings have wrestled with for centuries – desire, duty, politics, sex, and grief. Meilaender's carefully reasoned, insightful work rescues Augustine from many of our misperceptions and interacts meaningfully with both C.S. Lewis and Catholic moral theology, generating insights on difficult topics. The picture of life that emerges in these pages is one of incompleteness, of our inability to perfect and unify our moral lives. Yet this inability is not a cause for despair; it is a rather a call to look, with Augustine, to God as the source and object of our greatest desire.
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Is a catholic health minister in a fit position to legislate on women's issues such as the right to an abortion pill? When the prime minister invokes church leaders' support in going to war with Iraq – and those church leaders tacitly approve this – is there a moral issue at stake?

In Acting on Conscience Jesuit priest, human rights lawyer and academic Frank Brennan tackles these issues head on. He explores some of the legal, moral and ethical issues that capture the public imagination – and critically examines the figures in public life who pass judgement on them.

Through detailed analysis of examples from both Australia and the US, Brennan asks: is there a place for personal beliefs in public life? As citizens and votors, how can we ensure that in the future, our leaders will speak for us – but not out of turn?
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