Mary is known in tradition as the Mystical Rose, and praying her rosary is meant to be a mystical encounter with the Most Holy Trinity. Mary is the daughter of the Father, mother of the Son, and spouse of the Holy Spirit. GAUDETE is a scriptural rosary written in a lectio divina key, inviting us to contemplate the Trinitarian dimensions of the Mysteries of Joy. About the Author: Philip Krill is a priest in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, MO.

Sufism is perhaps the deepest mystical current in the rich, venerable and multi-faceted spirituality of Islam. Neither Islam, Judaism, or Christianity must be mistaken simply as ‘religion’. All religious practices emerge and develop from a pre-existing apprehension of a Divine Mystery that is too deep for words. Silence about God, whose Name is above and beyond every other name, is a cautionary tale told by each of the world’s three major religions. The Sayings of the Sufi Masters collecte...

This is the last in a trilogy of aphoristic reflections on the mystery of Presence. Unlike my previous two books on this subject, Apokalypteria seeks to bridge the gap between those who are drawn to the mystery of Presence but have no hard and fast religious beliefs, and those devout and religious believers who view ‘Presence’ as a poor substitute when speaking about things sacred, holy and divine. We are currently witnessing the great deconstruction of institutionalized Christianity. This...

Has there been anyone who has grasped the scandal of Christianity more profoundly than René Girard? Is there anyone who understands the paradoxical depths in which the uniqueness of the gospel subverts and dissolves the violent fabric holding together every form of human culture? Commentaries abound on the anthropological ingenuity of Girard’s mimetic theory. This book is an expression of my profound gratitude for Girard’s prescient insights into the scandalous power of the crucified Chris...

Has there been anyone who has grasped the scandal of Christianity more profoundly than René Girard? Is there anyone who understands the paradoxical depths in which the uniqueness of the gospel subverts and dissolves the violent fabric holding together every form of human culture? Commentaries abound on the anthropological ingenuity of Girard’s mimetic theory. This book is an expression of my profound gratitude for Girard’s prescient insights into the scandalous power of the crucified Chris...

If brain-storming is an exercise in mental imagination, Ursprung is an example of soul-storming. Unlike brainstorming, the aphorisms that comprise Ursprung arise from a Source (Ursprung) more ‘beyond and above’ the ideas that brainstorming produces. This book is a collection of such inspirations, originally unconnected but gradually formed into sections and chapters which I hope exhibit a natural, organic affinity. I wrote Ursprung more as an act of obedience than originality. This book of...

To appreciate the theological genius of Hans Urs von Balthasar, we must note his inseparable connection with Adrienne von Speyr. Balthasar referred to Von Speyr as the inspirational source of his theological vision and literary achievements. Says Balthasar: ‘Her work and mine are neither psychologically nor philologically to be separated: two halves of a single whole, which has as its center a unique foundation’ (My Work: In Retrospect, 105, 89). This ‘unique foundation’ is a mystical appr...

If, as Chesterton says, ‘angels can fly because they take themselves lightly,’ then it behooves us to ‘lighten up’ if we wish to come close to God. No one ever entered God’s Presence taking themselves more seriously than the One who beckons them forward. The kingdom of God is a Paradise of peace and joy. Funeral faces are not permitted. Question: Where do we find God? Answer: Wherever one person is fully present to another. Presence creates a mystical space in which angels delight and wher...

This little book is an exercise in theological imagination - a theologumenon. It is a modest attempt, in an intentionally untoward way, to re-acquaint us with a patristic vision of the universally salvific love of God that reconciles and divinizes all things in Christ that he may be ‘all in all’ (1 Cor. 15:28). Aporiae approaches the most controversial issues in theology - universal salvation, freedom, evil, etc. - using an entirely interrogative form. I’m not trying to get anyone to belie...

PRAYING WITH THE FATHERS: A Year of Neo-patristic Mediations is a day-by-day prayer book based on selections from the Early Church Fathers. In these meditations, Philip Krill, whose mission is ‘promoting a Trinitarian vision of deification and contemplative prayer,’’ seeks to introduce the reader to the Fathers’ vision of our divinization in Christ and the universally salvific impact of His Incarnation. It is also his hope that those who read these meditations will be drawn more deeply int...

In 1884, Karl Rahner predicted that ‘the Christian of the future will be a mystic or he will not exist at all.’ These many years later, Rahner’s words are no less prophetic. As organized religion continues to atrophy at an unstoppable rate, the need for a contemplative spirituality continues to grow. Tearing the Veil of this Sweet Encounter is a modest attempt to meet this need. Fr. Philip Krill’s personal mission is to ‘promote a trinitarian vision of deification and contemplative prayer....

The phrase, ‘Divine Love,’ is tautological. ‘God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God and God in them’ (cf. 1 Jn. 4:8,16). Few have appreciated the ecstatic depths of the truth that ‘God is love’ more than Mawln Jall al-Dn al-Rm. Like his spiritual mentor, Shams al-Dn of Tabrz, Rumi saw the whole of creation as a loving extension of, and participation in, the incomparable Source of Divine Love. I pray that the reader will discover in these selections from the poetry of Rumi, a...