Catechism of the Spiritual Life

In this dynamic and authoritative book on the spiritual life, Cardinal Robert Sarah shows us how to enter into and progress through the spiritual life. He notes that the goal of this book is “to accompany all those who have set their hearts on responding to God’s love with a full, happy, fruitful life that will culminate in the eternal happiness of contemplating Him.”

Written as a catechism of the spiritual life, this book is organized around the sacraments, prayer, asceticism, and the liturgy and infused with a single goal: to make us all aware that our Baptism is the beginning of a great conversion — the great return to the Father. 

Cardinal Sarah invites you to journey with him through the Gospels and discover the origin and meaning of each of the sacraments and how they are essential to helping you grow in your personal relationship with Jesus, foster your contemplative life, and flourish in communion with the Holy Trinity.

You will learn about the mysteries of our Faith — from the importance of being baptized shortly after birth, and thereby “plunged into the paschal mystery,” to receiving Confirmation as a child so as to be open to the liberating action of the Holy Spirit. 

You will also learn about how the baptized are to prepare for spiritual priesthood — through docility and offering to God all the love, works, joys, prayers, and sufferings of their lives. In like manner, Cardinal Sarah explains how to renew the ordained priesthood, married life, and much more. 

In chapter after chapter, the cardinal provides wise counsel regarding:

• How loss of faith in the Real Presence causes a decline in Christian communities 

• Our need to restore the sacredness of the liturgy and silent Eucharistic adoration

• The power of the Holy Spirit at work through the sacraments of the Church

• The dangers of revisionist doctrines on morality based on sociology and science

• Why laws prohibiting our freedom of worship are more deadly than any virus

• Why the sacrament of Penance is essential for the daily spiritual combat

You will marvel at how the Old Covenant is fulfilled in the New and how we are called to the marriage banquet of the Lamb. “Without the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, the world is doomed to barbarity, decadence, and death,” Cardinal Sarah asserts. “No government, no ecclesiastical authority can legitimately forbid the celebration of the Eucharist.” 

Cardinal Sarah reminds us that from the earliest centuries, Christians were willing to die in order to receive our Lord and celebrate the sacred mysteries and that God is always with us in His Sacrament of Love, waiting for us to receive Him with affection and dwell in His Presence. The sacraments, Cardinal Sarah makes clear, provide our itinerary to Heaven.