Abandonment to Divine Providence: The Classic Text with a Spiritual Commentary by Dennis Billy, Cssr

by Jean-Pierre de Caussade, Dennis Billy (Commentaries by)

Overview

This classic work of Christian spirituality emboldens modern readers to see God’s care and concern for them in the joys and challenges of everyday life.

Jean-Pierre de Caussade, a French Jesuit spiritual director and writer born in the late seventeenth century, is best known for his belief in the sacredness of the present moment, or the "eternal now." His masterpiece, Abandonment to Divine Providence, has been celebrated by spiritual writers as diverse as Richard Foster and Alan Watts for its ability to invoke the mystery of eternity in the now—a tenet of spirituality that resonates across faith traditions.

Accompanied by the probing, expert commentary of Dennis Billy, CSsR, this exemplary edition of de Caussade's Abandonment offers newcomers to mysticism and spiritual direction a clear, compelling path to entering into God's presence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780870612534
Publisher:	Ave Maria Press
Publication date:	04/01/2010
Series:	Classics with Commentary
Pages:	205
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675–1751) was a French Jesuit priest, writer, theologian, and spiritual director. He is best known for his belief that the present moment is a sacrament from God and that self-abandonment to it and its needs is a holy state.


Father Dennis Billy, CSsR, is a teacher, writer, and poet. Ordained a Redemptorist priest in 1980, he taught the history of moral theology and Christian spirituality at the Alphonsian Academy of Rome’s Pontifical Lateran University for more than twenty years, reaching the rank of Ordinary Professor. In 2008 he was installed as the John Cardinal Krol Chair of Moral Theology as a scholar-in-residence at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. He also serves as the Karl Rahner Professor of Catholic Theology at the Graduate Theological Foundation in Mishawaka, Indiana. Raised in Staten Island, New York, and educated there through high school in local Catholic schools, he graduated from Dartmouth College and went on to receive four master's degrees, as well as doctorates from Harvard University, the Pontifical University of St. Thomas, and the Graduate Theological Foundation. Billy is the author of numerous books and articles, both popular and scholarly.

Editorial Reviews

The greatness of Abandonment to Divine Providence and the reason it should be ranked among the classics of Christian devotion is its ability—simply and profoundly—to lead us to God. Caussade has read our soul and spoken to our condition. But even more, he has taken us by the hand and led us to the twin paths of trust and obedience that converge onto the highway of godliness. —Richard J. Foster, Author of Celebration of Discipline

"This book is a marvelous gift. In a time that is practically defined by distractions, we can all find our way to God by reading both Fr. Billy's luminous commentary and the classic text itself. While reading this book, citizens of the frenetic Western world will desire, and perhaps even know, the healing found in receiving God as He comes to us at every moment of our day. In a real way, then, this book assists all of us to know freedom, and the dissolution of anxiety born of a distracted age." —Deacon James Keating, PhD, Institute for Priestly Formation, Creighton University

From the Publisher