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Complete Fenelon
Includes Newly Translated Letters and Biography
The most engaging collection of the French mystic's writings now available!
By: Francois Fenelon
Brief Description
Retail $24.95 Our Price $16.45
Twenty-first century Christians are now discovering the wisdom of this controversial theologian and spiritual thinker. Fenelon showed how it was possible to have devotion and faith in the original Age of Reason. In many respects, rationality still rules today in religion and culture, and as a result, Fenelon speaks to modern Christians wanting deeper faith and a meaningful inner life.
His writings have never been as accessible as they are now in these lively new translations. The Complete Fénelon includes more than one hundred of Fenelon's letters of spiritual counsel, as well as meditations on eighty-five other topics. Also translated here into English for the first time are Fenelon's personal reflections on twenty-one seasons and holidays of the Christian year. An introduction from bestselling translator Robert J. Edmonson and in-depth recommended reading and bibliography make this the first place to start in any study of Francois Fenelon.
This collection includes The Royal Way of the Cross, Talking With God, Meditations on the Heart of God, and God of My Heart: Meditations on Feasts and Fasts.
François Fénelon was a seventeenth-century French archbishop who rose to a position of influence in the court of Louis XIV. Amid the splendor and decadence of Versailles, Fénelon became a wise mentor to many members of the king's court. Later exiled for political reasons, he set out to improve the lot of peasants of his diocese. His letters of counsel and spiritual meditations have found a wide audience for more than three centuries.
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Table of Contents
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INTRODUCTION TO The Complete Fénelon xiii
ABOUT THIS EDITION xxi
PART ONE: The Royal Way of the Cross
INTRODUCTION TO PART ONE 3
1 Seeing Our True Spiritual State Before God 5
2 Real Conversion 6
3 What Does God Ask of You? 8
4 Fear of Being Wrong 8
5 False and Real Humility 9
6 The Deceitfulness of Self-Love 11
7 Criticizing Others 12
8 False Notions of Spiritual Progress 13
9 The Right Use of Trials 14
10 Prolonged Trials 15
11 Anxiety about the Future 18
12 The Struggle of Self-Will 18
13 Self-Deceit 19
14 The Dangers of Imagination 21
15 The Dangers of Human Praise 22
16 Dealing Wisely with the Faults of Others 23
17 The Dangers of Self-Chosen Plans 25
18 Using Eager Aspirations 26
19 The Need of Calming Natural Activity 27
20 Doing Everything for God 27
21 The Danger of Compromise 28
22 The Life of Peace 29
23 To One in Spiritual Distress 30
24 Bearing the Bad Opinions of the World 31
25 Christian Perfection 33
26 The Burden of Prosperity 36
27 God’s Various Crosses 38
28 Simplicity and Self-Consciousness (1) 40
29 Simplicity and Self-Consciousness (2) 42
30 Simplicity and Self-Consciousness (3) 44
31 Rules for a Busy Life 48
32 God’s Crosses Are Safer Than Self-Chosen Crosses 49
33 Lukewarmness 51
34 The Use of Seasons of Spiritual Peace 52
35 The Dangers of Intellectual Attractions 53
36 The Use of Time 54
37 The Loving Severity of God 56
38 Dryness and Deadness in Prayer 58
39 Peace of Conscience 60
40 Slackness 61
41 Openness and Candor 63
42 Patience Under Contradiction 64
43 Bearing Insults 65
44 Freedom from Self 66
45 The Presence of God 68
46 Seeing Ourselves in God’s Light 70
47 Being Deprived of Conscious Sweetness 73
48 Conformity to the Will of God (1) 74
49 Conformity to the Will of God (2) 75
50 Seeking Help in Inner Trouble 77
51 Legalism and Freedom 78
52 The Right Use of Crosses 79
PART TWO: Talking with God
INTRODUCTION TO PART TWO 83
1 How to Talk with God 85
2 Desiring God’s Will 86
3 True Prayer of the Heart 87
4 Maintaining a Life of Prayer 88
5 Choosing Companions Wisely 91
6 The Practice of Humility 93
7 Conforming to the Life of Jesus 93
8 The Uses of Humiliation 95
9 Bearing Our Faults Patiently 96
10 When Feelings Fail Us 97
11 When We Feel Abandoned by God 98
12 Living in the Present 99
13 Pure Love 100
14 The Refinements of Self-Love 101
15 Listening to God Rather Than Self 103
16 The Miracle of Self-Denial 104
17 Bearing the Criticism of Others 106
18 Meeting Temptations 107
19 The Giver or the Gifts? 109
20 When Undergoing Great Weakness 110
21 The Interior Voice of the Spirit 111
22 Judge Cautiously 114
23 The Last Shall Be First 114
24 When Spiritually Disheartened 116
25 Dealing with Our Faults 117
26 Faithfulness in Small Things 120
27 Exactness and Freedom of Spirit 123
28 Dealing with Contradictory Feelings 125
29 Maintaining Faith Without Feelings 127
30 Undue Attachment to Feelings 129
31 The Proper Use of Crosses 132
32 Joy in Bearing the Cross 135
33 What God Orders Is Best 135
34 Keeping All Our Affections in God 137
35 Two Kinds of Love 137
36 Our Union in God 139
37 Bearing Suffering 140
38 Suffering Rightly 140
39 The Usefulness of Deprivations 142
40 The Value of Moderation 142
41 Regarding Prayer 143
42 Keeping a Spirit of Prayer 144
43 When Spiritual Emotions Fade 145
44 Dealing with Sickness and Grief 146
45 Bearing Spiritual Dryness 147
46 Using Time Wisely 148
47 Preserving Peace with Others 150
48 True Freedom 151
49 Dealing with a Haughty Spirit 152
50 Thinking of Death 153
51 The Cross as a Treasure 154
PART THREE: Meditations on the Heart of God
INTRODUCTION TO PART THREE 159
1 Where Is Our Faith? 161
2 The Kingdom Within 162
3 The Narrow Door 162
4 Molded into Jesus’ Image 163
5 Devotion to God (1) 164
6 Devotion to God (2) 165
7 God’s Wisdom 166
8 A Holy Mind 167
9 Patient Acceptance 167
10 What God Sends Is Right 168
11 Love God’s Will 169
12 Jesus Our Model 169
13 Pray Faithfully 170
14 Never Stop Knocking 171
15 Listen to the Right Voice 171
16 Doing God’s Will 172
17 The Right Use of Crosses 173
18 The Blessing of Suffering 173
19 Be Merciful 174
20 One Thing Is Needful 175
21 Be Ready 176
22 Steadfastness in Hope 177
23 A Harvest of Joy 177
24 Our Daily Bread 178
25 Hunger for Righteousness 179
26 True Peace 180
27 True Joy 181
28 Seek the Water That Satisfies 181
29 Happy Tears 182
30 Eternal Riches 183
31 Earthly Wisdom 184
32 Trust God 184
33 Strength Through Weakness 185
34 God’s Mercy 186
35 Become Mature 186
36 Time Is Precious 187
37 Redeem the Time 188
38 The Radiant Path of Faith 189
39 God’s Kindly Hand (1) 190
40 God’s Kindly Hand (2) 190
41 True Love for God 191
42 Divine Fire 192
43 Set Me Apart 192
44 Set Me Aflame 193
45 The Words of Eternal Life 194
46 Let the Light Shine Through 194
47 The Blind World’s Fate 195
48 Love Not the World (1) 196
49 Love Not the World (2) 196
50 Break My Bonds 197
51 Dangerous Friends 198
52 Fleeing from the World 199
53 The Last Will Be First 199
54 Attention to Love 200
55 Service to Others 201
56 A Humble Heart 201
57 True Glory 202
58 Our Deliverer Is Coming 203
59 The Flesh and the Word 204
60 Christ Lives—In Me 205
61 Rest in God’s Heart 206
62 Teach Us to Pray 207
63 Where Is Our Love? 207
64 Behold My Love 208
65 Strive First for God’s Kingdom 209
66 I Shall Not Want 209
67 Hunger for God 210
68 Unshakable Desire for God 211
69 Learning from the Master (1) 211
70 Learning from the Master (2) 212
71 Learning from the Master (3) 213
72 Make Me Worthy of Your Peace 214
73 See God’s Mercy 215
74 Life-Giving Pain 215
75 The Precious Gift of Suffering 216
76 Sustain My Heart 217
77 Give Me Yourself 217
78 Be My Patience 218
79 Your Servant Is Listening 219
80 Deliver Me from Myself 219
81 Flooded with Grace 220
82 My Strength Fails Me 220
83 Join Me to Yourself 221
84 Set Me Free 221
85 The Sacrifice of My Days 222
Close Table of Contents
PART FOUR: God of My Heart: Meditations on Feasts and Fasts
INTRODUCTION TO PART FOUR 225
1 Advent 229
2 St. Thomas (December 21) 232
3 Christmas Day (December 25) 235
4 St. John the Evangelist (December 27) 238
5 The Circumcision (January 1) 241
6 Epiphany (January 6) 244
7 The Conversion of St. Paul (1) (January 25) 247
8 The Conversion of St. Paul (2) (January 25) 250
9 The Presentation in the Temple (February 2) 253
10 Lent 256
11 Holy Thursday 259
12 Good Friday 262
13 Holy Saturday 265
14 Ascension 268
15 Pentecost 271
16 The Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) 274
17 St. Mary Magdalene (July 22) 277
18 The Assumption (August 15) 279
19 St. Augustine (August 28) 282
20 All Saints’ Day (November 1) 284
21 All Souls’ Day (November 2) 287
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 289
NOTES 291
FOR FURTHER READING 311 -
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The Royal Way of the Cross
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Chapter 1: SEEING OUR TRUE SPIRITUAL STATE BEFORE GOD
In order to make your prayer more profitable, it would be well from
the beginning to picture yourself as a poor, naked, miserable wretch,
perishing of hunger, who knows only one man of whom he can ask or
hope for help. Or picture yourself as a sick person, covered with sores
and ready to die unless some compassionate physician will take him
in hand and heal him. These are true pictures of our condition before
God. Your soul is barer of heavenly treasure than that poor beggar is
of earthly possessions. You need them more urgently, and there is no
one but God of whom you can ask or expect them. Again, your soul is
infinitely more sin-sick than that distressed, stricken patient, and God
alone can heal you. Everything depends on his being moved by your
prayers. He is able for all this: but remember that he wills to act only
when he is asked earnestly and with real neediness.
When once permeated with this truth, then proceed to read over
the subject of your meditation, either in Holy Scripture or in whatever
book you may be using. Pause after a verse or two, to follow out such
reflections as God may put into your mind. In order to help forward
your beginnings, to rouse your mind from its ordinary inattention, you
would do well to thank him for his Word, the oracle by which he
teaches us his will, and for his willingness to teach us. It would be well
to humble yourself and confess that you have not heeded his teaching
better or profited by it more, examining wherein you have specially
neglected it, or are neglecting it, and how far your life has been in
conformity to God’s will or in opposition to it.
Lay your shame before God. Reflect on the occasions that cause you
to commit these faults and the best means of avoiding or remedying
them. Consider what the Lord justly requires of you that you may keep
from such falls and repent of the past. Think of how greatly you are
bound to obey him, however hard it may seem, how profitable it is to
do so, how disgraceful and dangerous it would be to leave it undone.
Remember that we are weakness itself, as daily experience proves, and
offer yourself to Jesus Christ. Abhor your slackness and faithlessness
and ask him to fill your heart with all that he would see in it. Ask him
to strengthen this will, so that you may go on doing better. Trust in
his goodness and in his solemn promises never to forsake us in time of
need. Lean upon his words, and rest in the hope that he will confirm
what he has worked in you so far.
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