Roses Among Thorns: Simple Advice for Renewing Your Spiritual Journey

From the thousands of personal letters by St. Francis de Sales comes this short, practical guide that will develop in you the soul-nourishing habits that lead to sanctity.

St. Francis de Sales is widely regarded as one of the greatest spiritual advisors in the history of the Church, and we have drawn from his letters the wisest advice for those prepared to take the next step on their spiritual journey.

As he did for saints and sinners in his own time, St. Francis de Sales will strengthen your resolve, help you gain small victories over unruly passions, and restore in you a trusting confidence in Jesus Christ. Soon you'll find yourself delivered from the chains of self-love as your soul opens to divine goodness and your heart shaped into a fitting place for Christ to dwell and reign eternally.

If you find it difficult to live amid the clamor of the world with your eyes fixed on Christ alone, let St. Francis de Sales teach you how to live as a true rose among thorns as you learn . . .

• What to do when you stop finding consolation during prayer
• How to place yourself in the presence of God
• How busy people should pray
• Do you fear vice more than you love virtue? A guide to discernment
• How to be patient with your family
• The dangers of too many devotions
• How to know when your feelings are from God or the devil
• What to do about repeated spiritual dryness
• The three things you must do to be at peace
• How to avoid thoughts that give us anxious and restless minds

Absorb the wisdom in these holy pages, and you'll soon make true progress on your spiritual journey and navigate with confidence the treacherous waters of our secular world.

St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622), bishop, Doctor of the Church, and patron of writers, was ordained a priest in 1593. He reconverted the inhabitants of Chablais from Calvinism. He was elected bishop of Geneva in 1602. With Jane Frances Frémyot, Baroness de Chantal, St. Francis founded the Visitation of Holy Mary in Annecy in Savoy. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Lyons, France, on December 28, 1622. St. Francis de Sales was canonized in 1665.

Christopher O. Blum is Professor of History & Philosophy and Academic Dean of the Augustine Institute. Dr. Christopher Blum teaches courses in philosophy and on the history of evangelization and Catholic culture. He has made a special study of the intellectual virtues as understood by the Catholic tradition, with particular reference to the moral dispositions, practices, and institutional forms that conduce to the attainment of wisdom. As a student of Catholic culture, he has published a number of translations from the French as well as essays and reviews in journals such as Logos, Modern Age, Nova et Vetera, and Pro Ecclesia. Dr. Blum and his wife Kathleen and their two children live in Littleton, Colorado.