Books by Robert Ellsberg
The Saints' Guide to Happiness
A noted spiritual writer seeks answers to life's big questions in the stories of the saints
In All Saints---published in 1997 and already a classic of its kind---Robert Ellsberg told the stories of 365 holy people with great vividness and eloquence. In The Saints' Guide to Happiness, Ellsberg looks to the saints to answer the questions: What is happiness, and how might we find it?
Countless books answer these questions in terms of personal growth, career success, physical fitness, and the like. The Saints' Guide to Happiness proposes instead that happiness consists in a grasp of the deepest dimension of our humanity, which characterizes holy people past and present. The book offers a series of "lessons" in the life of the spirit: the struggle to feel alive in a frenzied society; the search for meaningful work, real friendship, and enduring love; the encounter with suffering and death; and the yearning to grasp the ultimate significance of our lives. In these "lessons," our guides are the saints: historical figures like Augustine, Francis of Assisi, and Teresa of Avila, and moderns such as Dorothy Day, Flannery O'Connor, and Henri J. Nouwen. In the course of the book the figures familiar from stained-glass windows come to seem exemplars, not just of holy piety but of "life in abundance," the quality in which happiness and holiness converge.
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Blessed Among Us: Day by Day with Saintly Witnesses
Since the early centuries, Christians have held up the saints as models of living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. While the church officially recognizes a relatively small number of saints, the actual roster is infinitely wider. Blessed Among Us explores this eclectic “cloud of witnesses”—lay and religious, single and married, canonized and not, and even non-Christians whose faith and wisdom may illuminate our path. Brought to life in the evocative storytelling of Robert Ellsberg, they inspire the moral imagination and give witness to the myriad ways of holiness.
In two stories per day for a full calendar year, Ellsberg sketches figures from biblical times to the present age and from all corners of this world—ordinary figures whose extraordinary lives point to the new age in the world to come.
Blessed Among Us is drawn from Ellsberg’s acclaimed column of the same name in Give Us This Day, a monthly resource for daily prayer published by Liturgical Press.
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The Franciscan Saints
Reading Robert Ellsberg’s profiles of holy men and women is like throwing open a window in a stuffy old church and taking in great gulps of fresh air. Henri Nouwen has described his writing as “evocative without being pious.” He broadens the traditional vision of sanctity and calls modern readers of all stripes to claim their potential for moral and spiritual growth, courage and action. By choosing relevant models and contemporary heroes, he makes holiness accessible and attractive to ordinary people.
These 101 spiritual trailblazers span the centuries from Francis and Clare to Solanus Casey and Mychal Judge, with representatives from every walk of life and corner of the world.
Each entry features the essential biographical facts and adds the insight and depth only Ellsberg can provide. The author’s sharp eye for signs and stories of holiness in the gritty, messy real world informs his selections, making his work unique. Obscure lay peasants, married activists, and controversial social reformers take pride of place alongside better-known theologians, founders, and canonized saints.
The audio edition of this book can be downloaded via Audible.
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Thich Nhat Hanh: Essential Writings (Modern Spiritual Masters Series)
by Thich Nhat Hanh, Robert Ellsberg
Presents a collection of the Vietnamese monk's writings selected from twenty-two of his books which focus on the Buddhist teachings of inner peace and mindfulness.
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All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time
This praised and best-selling daily reader presents short, comprehensive biographies of 365 saints and spiritual masters from Christianity and other faith traditions, including Mary Magdalene, Therese of Lisieux, Thomas Aquinas, Mother Teresa, Moses, Martin Luther, and Gandhi.
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