LADDER OF THE BEATITUDES ($13)

10.95
ORB: 1-57075-245-1

Drawing on stories from the lives of the saints, scripture, and everyday life, Jim Forest opens up the mysteries of the beatitudes. These ancient blessings, with which Christ began his Sermon on the Mount, are all aspects of communion with God. As Forest shows, they are like rungs on a ladder, each one leading to the next. They appear at the doorway of the New Testament to provide an easily memorized summary of everything that follows, right down to the crucifixion ("Blessed are you who are persecuted") and the resurrection ("Rejoice and be glad").

"The Beatitudes were originally words for ordinary people, for everyone and anyone. Drawing on a wide range of readings from the Desert Fathers to Dorothy Day, Jim Forest re-captures these words for today's world. This is no escapist spirituality, but tough, real, and relevant to a world of suffering, fear, and confusion." --Esther de Waal, author of The Way of Simplicity

"In The Ladder of the Beatitudes, Jim Forest leads the reader on an ascent through levels of meaning, vividly illustrated with stories from the whole history of the Church." --Frederica Mathewes-Green

Jim Forest, a convert to the Russian Orthodox Church, lives in Alkmaar, the Netherlands. He served for twelve years as General Secretary of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation. He is author of Praying with Icon, Love is the Measure: A Biography of Dorothy Day and Living with Wisdom: A Life of Thomas Merton.