Frank Carlson Library

Thomas Merton wrote The Silent Life a decade after he took orders. In his Prologue, Merton describes the book as "a meditation on the monastic life by one who, without any merit of his own, is privileged to know that life on the inside ... who seeks only to speak as the mouthpiece of a tradition centuries old." It is a remarkable work-one that combines a lucid and informative description of the nature and forms of monasticism, communal and solitary,...

Michael Casey, a monk and scholar who has been publishing his wise teachings on the Rule of St. Benedict for decades, turns to the particular Benedictine values that he considers most urgent for Christians to incorporate into their lives today. Eloquent and incisive, Casey invites readers to accept that gospel living - seen in the light of the Rule - involves accepting the challenge of being different from the secular culture around us. He encourages...

You don't have to live in a monastery in order to live like a monk. Oblates are everyday people with jobs, families, and other responsibilities. Sometimes they are Catholic, sometimes not. In today's hectic, changing world, being an oblate offers a rich spiritual connection to the stability and wisdom of an established monastic community.

This book shares the wisdom of many communities in many locales over the last half century.

Argues that true sustainability must be based in spirituality and looks at religious communities dedicated to the environment. This groundbreaking book explores the inherent interconnectedness of sustainability and spirituality, acknowledging the dependency of one upon the other. John E. Carroll contends that true ecological sustainability, in contrast to the cosmetic attempts at sustainability we see around us, questions our society's fundamental...

If Christians and Muslims are to live in peace, encouraging one another to grow in holiness and working together for the good of all God's creation, they must move beyond politicized and often negative images of one another. Monastic/Muslim dialogue, issuing from friendship and focused on revelation, prayer, and witness, is an important component in this effort. Indeed, it is essential. Monastic Interreligious Dialogue is a commission of the Benedictine...

This new book by Sister Aquinata Böckmann discusses the Prologue and chapters 1, 2, and 3 of the Rule of St. Benedict. In a lectio regulae, she plumbs the depths of Benedict's vision. Listen, the first word of the Prologue, is a keyword that describes the main stance of the individual monastic, the superior, and the entire community. Listening to the Scriptures and in them to Christ guides individuals and the community on how to 'run on the way...

Smaragdus was a monk and abbot of considerable standing in the early ninth century church. His Diadema Monachorum (The Crown of Monks), together with a later commentary on the Rule of Saint Benedict, established him as one of the most significant interpreters of Benedict's Rule in his day and for succeeding generations. Smaragdus intended The Crown of Monks as a daily resource for monastic communities, to be read at the evening chapter. He sought...

Internet readers of the Daily Reflections with Fr. Don Talafous have long urged the author to publish selections in book form. Here is such a collection offering hope and encouragement in the face of the sadness and suffering of our world. While they come from the mind, heart, and PC of a Catholic Benedictine, the topics of these reflections appeal to church-going Christians, readers of a skeptical bent, and even those of no or minimal relation to...