Description:
In The Intimate Sharing of Friends, Father O’Keefe presents an overview of St. Teresa’s teaching on prayer while emphasizing its relational aspect. For Teresa, the spiritual life consists of the degrees to which we are attentive and receptive to God’s presence within us. Like all relationships, this supernatural friendship profoundly changes us. O’Keefe guides us through Teresa’s various analogies and explanations of the soul’s personal transformation as it journeys from friendship with God to a more supernatural and deeply intimate union with him. Throughout, O’Keefe directs us to Teresa’s insistence that this transformation is measured not by its extraordinary effects, but by our growth in virtue—especially in charity.
 
Supporting the book's central theme is a clear explanation of Teresa’s teaching on the transition from active to more contemplative forms of prayer. In an excursus, the author offers a critical comparison between contemporary contemplative practices and St. Teresa’s perennial teaching. As always, Father O’Keefe draws on scholarly sources and provides an engaging resource for anyone who desires to become an authentic student of St. Teresa’s school of prayer.
 
 
Author: Mark O'Keefe, O.S.B.
Publisher: ICS Publications
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 2024
ISBN: 9781939272966
No. 2022203001