Be Not Troubled
A 6-Day Personal Retreat with Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade
by Jeffrey Kirby
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Pub Date 26 Apr 2019 | Archive Date 26 Nov 2019
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Description
For more than 250 years, Abandonment to Divine Providence by Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade has offered inspiration and spiritual balm for those plagued with doubt, anxiety, and fear. Motivated by his own life-changing encounter with this spiritual classic and the popular resurgence in practicing Christian mindfulness, bestselling author and retreat leader Rev. Jeffrey Kirby serves up six meditations, rooted in Caussade’s work, for today’s reader and presents them as a personal retreat. Perfect for anyone looking to renew their trust in God and live freely in the present moment, Be Not Troubled invites you to let go of what you can’t control and discover a place of deep serenity in God.
How does the contemporary person who is constantly forced to multitask, is fragmented and torn in different directions, and feels more connection through technology than through face-to-face interaction come to know and experience God’s presence?
In Be Not Troubled, Kirby draws on his decades of experience as a popular retreat leader and speaker to offer you the wisdom of Caussade distilled into a six-day personal retreat that equips you to embrace the present moment and shake fear from your mind—all by recognizing the power of God.
This process begins with time-tested tools drawn from the renowned spiritual classic Abandonment to Divine Providence, which presents a series of influential spiritual reflections from Caussade, a beloved eighteenth-century French Jesuit.
In popularizing this classic for today’s readers, Be Not Troubled
- rejects a spirituality of fear and shame by introducing you to God as a loving provider who knows you and wills your happiness;
- guides you in personally surrendering your will to God—an essential step in developing deep faith;
- helps you see God in the details as you recognize ordinary moments as opportunities to experience God and his love for you; and
- instructs you in embracing the sacrament of the present moment, dispelling doubt and anxiety from your life.
Practical steps, invitations to practice presence, and reflective prayers guide you through these spiritual habits, which are broken out into six days of brief, accessible meditations that can be completed in the midst of your daily life.
Rather than the future or the past, and rather than in cyberspace or somewhere else, God is found in this moment and in this place. The present moment can be lived and cherished as a sacrament, a visible sign of invisible graces. And it’s in this sacrament that we can most know ourselves and encounter the living God.
A Note From the Publisher
In 2016, in recognition of his widespread service to young adults, he received the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest civilian honor.
Kirby is an adjunct professor of theology at Belmont Abbey College and Pontifex University/Holy Spirit College. He is also a spirituality contributor to Crux and a guest columnist for The Catholic Thing. He served in a number of parish and Catholic school positions in South Carolina. He is a veteran of the Army National Guard, for which he received several ribbons and medals. Kirby also has led retreats for various monasteries and schools of the Visitation Sisters throughout the world.
Advance Praise
“Fr. Kirby shows himself to be a gentle but experienced spiritual director in the pages of Be Not Troubled. He guides the reader through the little-known but rich content of the French Jesuit Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade, who preached the radical notion of truly abandoning ourselves to God’s will to find peace and joy. Packed with everyday wisdom and tips, Fr. Kirby's book reminds us of the many ways that God is with each us through all of life’s trials and tumult and that even in the midst of pain, suffering, and confusion, we can know God’s love and will for our lives.
Carrie Gress
Author of The Marian Option
“It hurts to admit it, but I wasted many years worrying about the future. Through the writings of Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade, I discovered that my anxiety was caused by a failure to trust in God's providence. In Be Not Troubled, Fr. Jeff Kirby totally surprised me by presenting the teachings of Caussade in a fresh and practical way. This book is the perfect cure for troubled minds.”
Gary Zimak
Author of Give Up Worry for Lent
"Fr. Kirby has skillfully brought the spiritual classic Abandonment to Divine Providence from the eighteenth century into the twenty-first. With examples from his own life and pastoral experiences, he shows how the daily events and challenges of our lives—far from being distractions—are in fact our way to holiness. He gives us a practical guide and workable resource to develop lives free from anxiety through confidence in God’s grace.”
Abbot Placid Solari, O.S.B.
Chancellor of Belmont Abbey College
“I found this book to be powerful, profound, and very readable. I highly recommend it to all who want to live and learn the joys of surrendering to divine providence. Be Not Troubled walks the reader through a six-day journey towards this surrender. It is a perfect introduction to and application of Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade’s masterpiece, Abandonment to Divine Providence.”
Obianuju Ekeocha
Founder and president of Culture of Life Africa International human rights activist and author of Target Africa
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781594718731 |
| PRICE | $13.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 128 |
Featured Reviews
Michelle K, Reviewer
BE NOT TROUBLED
A 6-DAY PERSONAL RETREAT WITH FR. JEAN-PIERRE DE CAUSSADE
BY JEFFREY KIRBY
AVE MARIA PRESS
CHRISTIAN
PUB DATE 26 APR 2019
I am reviewing a copy of Be Not Troubled through Ava Maria Press and Netgalley:
Jefferey Kirby motivated by his life changing encounter with the 250 plus your old classic book Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre de Caussade has created a spiritual balm and inspiration for those who have been plagued with doubt, anxiety and fear. In this sixth day devotional we are encouraged to let go of what we can’t control and to give it to God, thus discovering a deep serenity in the Lord God.
In this book Kirby tackles the question how does a contemporary person who is often forced to multitask and feels fragmented and torn in many different directions , who feels more connection through technology than with face to face interaction is supposed to feel closer to God.
In Be Not Troubled Jefferey Kirby draws on his years as a popular retreat leader and speaker to offer the reader the wisdom of Caussade distilled into a six-day personal retreat that equips you to embrace the present moment and shake fear from your min by recognizing the power of God.
Be Not Troubled is a perfect little devotional for those who are dealing with doubt, fear or anxiety.
Five out of five stars!
Reviewer 437576
Only rarely, when reviewing a pre-published book, I find that it speaks to issues I’m dealing with right at that moment. So, when I received a digital copy of this book through Netgalley for a review, I did not expect it would become a daily companion on my road. But ‘Be Not Troubled’ somehow arrived on my Kindle right on the moment I needed it… and as I started reading it over 6 days it really spoke to me and comforted me. A little testimony of Gods providence!
Divine Providence - Gods perfect care for you and me - is the theme of this small book (just over 100 pages). Surrendering to God is a challenging subject for many of us as we try to find our way in the midst of the perplexities of our world. The author, Jeffrey Kirby, draws on an ancient spiritual master to guide his 21st century readers through a 6 day personal retreat. Jean-Pierre de Caussade was a Jesuit priest in 18th century France. His writings only reached a wider audience after his death but are relevant to a wide Christian audience to this very day – particularly when it comes to “maintaining a supernatural worldview in the midst of hurt and doubt”, writes Kirby, himself a catholic priest. He did a great job in making him accessible in a new way.
Surrendering to divine providence includes, writes Kirby,
- Drawing close to God,
- Cooperating with his will
- Living in the present moment
- Fulfilling the duties of our lives
- Finding God’s peace in this world
All of these steps need our active participation and can be challenging… By inviting his readers to devote themselves for one full week to the subject of trusting God and his provisions, Kirby helps us to not just skim the surface. Each of the small chapters are accompanied by a set of questions that invite to reflect further on the theme of that day. He illustrates the with stories from his own life, which I found helpful.
The author probably wrote this book with members of his own denomination in mind, but even as to me, a non-Catholic, it was really insightful. At times I would have loved to receive more information on De Caussade and his writings. Only at the very end I discovered that Kirby had included excerpts of the original book in an appendix. Anyway, this little devotional deepened my walk with the Lord, as I try to rely on Him more fully, and made me hungry to go deeper on the theme of Gods Providence.
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