The Way of the Wilderness Warrior

Are you ready to leave your comfort zone and embark on a hero’s adventure? You will encounter thrilling mountain climbs, explore caves in frigid winter, and dance around the fire in the wild pursuit of God.

Riveting and accessible, this novelized account of the spiritual life is a hero’s journey for our times. It tells the story of the conversion of a young man named Austin through the ministrations of a tough inner-city priest, Fr. Lawrence Roper, who challenges nine college students to take a leap of faith on the path to holiness.

As his friends set out for England, Ireland, and New York City, Austin heads for a remote monastery where he meets Fr. Aelred, a Benedictine hermit who guides him on the spiritual quest. Through a fictional dialogue, author Fr. Dwight Longenecker unveils a twelve-part plan for union with God that parallels the classic purgative, illuminative, and unitive stages of the spiritual life.

You will discover with Austin:

• How our wounds and weaknesses can lead to growth
• Different forms of Catholic spirituality
• How to stay the course and win the great prize of becoming a saint
• How to surrender to God and answer His call to perfection
• Why Confession and the cultivation of virtue are at the very heart of spiritual growth

This book is profitable for young adults, casual Catholics, and those more advanced in the spiritual life. Drawing from the wisdom of the Carmelite saints, St. Benedict, St. John Cassian, and other spiritual masters, The Way of the Wilderness Warrior opens the treasure house of Catholic spirituality in a creative, positive, and engaging way.

Best of all, this book will show you how to discern God’s will for your life and how to pray without ceasing. In our challenging times, you will be inspired to become a vagabond warrior on your own wilderness journey to the Promised Land.

Fr. Dwight Longenecker was brought up as an Evangelical, studied at fundamentalist Bob Jones University, and later was ordained an Anglican priest in England. After ten years in the Anglican ministry as a curate, a chaplain at Cambridge, and a country parson, he was received into full communion with the Catholic Church in 1995. He is the author of more than twenty books on apologetics and Catholic faith and culture and has published hundreds of articles on websites, in magazines, and in newspapers in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States. Browse his books, read his blog and be in touch at dwightlongenecker.com.