Table of Contents
Foreword Paula Huston ix
Introduction xi
Book Called The Way of Perfection
1 Why I Founded This Convent and Established Such Strict Rules 7
2 Why We Should Ignore the Body's Necessities and the Good that Comes from Poverty 10
4 The Three Things that Are Important for the Spiritual Life. Appeal to Love One's Neighbor and a Warning About the Harm Done by Individual Friendships 15
6 Perfect Love 21
7 Spiritual Love and Some Advice on How to Achieve It 26
8 The Benefits of Detachment from all Earthly Things 32
9 Why We Must Avoid Our Families and How We Can Find Our True Spiritual Friends 35
10 How to Attain the Virtue of Self-Detachment and Humility 38
11 On Self-Sacrifice and How to Attain It Even in Times of Sickness 42
12 Why the True Lover of God Must Not Care About Life and Honor 45
13 How True Wisdom Can Be Attained by Sacrifice and Renunciation of the World's Standards of Wisdom 50
14 Why We Should Not Bear Witness to Any Spirit That Is Not God's Spirit 54
15 Why We Are Not Exempt from Unjust Accusations and the Gains Such Accusations Bring 56
16 The Difference Between Perfect Contemplation and Mental Prayer 60
17 Why All People Are Not Destined to Be Contemplatives and the Long Road to Contemplation 66
18 Why the Trials of Contemplatives Are Greater than Those of Others 70
19 On Prayer 75
20 Why We Always Have Consolation on the Road of Prayer 84
21 Why It Is So Important to Have Great Determination in the Practice of Prayer 88
22 Mental Prayer 93
23 Why It Is Important to Continue Along the Road of Prayer and Not Turn Back 97
24 Vocal Prayer 101
25 The Great Blessings of Practicing Vocal Prayer Perfectly 104
26 The Great Blessingsof the Practice of Vocal Prayer 106
27 The First Words of the Our Father and God's Great Love 111
28 The Prayer of Recollection and the Ways We Can Make It a Habit 114
29 The Prayer of Recollection 120
30 The Words in the Our Father: "Hallowed be your Name, your kingdom come" 124
31 The Prayer of Quiet 128
32 The Words of the Our Father: "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" 135
33 The Words of the Our Father: "Give us this day our daily bread" 142
34 The Words of the Our Father: "Give us this day our daily bread," and Why These Words are Perfect for Reading after the Reception of the Most Holy Sacrament 146
35 The Recollection that We Should Practice after Communion 153
36 The Words of the Our Father: "Forgive us our debts" 156
37 The Excellence of the Our Father 162
38 The Words of the Our Father: "Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil" 165
39 Different Temptations and How We May Be Freed from Them 169
40 Why We Should Always Walk in God's Love to Avoid Temptations 172
41 The Fear of God and Why We Must Avoid Venial Sins 176
42 The Last Words of the Our Father: "Deliver us from evil" 180
