Transformed by God's Word

St. Benedict urged his followers to listen to God’s Word “with the ear of the heart.” Eastern Orthodox spiritual writers focused on gazing at icons, as St. Paul said, with “the eyes of the heart.” Popular speaker and retreat leader Stephen J. Binz draws on the richness of both traditions by combining lectio and visio divina.

Contemplation is more difficult than ever during this digital age and Binz offers a proven and profound way to cut through the noise and pray the gospels. He walks you through six steps: reading, seeing, meditating, praying, contemplating, and acting. Binz also provides simple suggestions for self-reflection that can lead to practical changes in your everyday life.

The book’s twenty Bible passages—starting with the Annunciation and ending with Pentecost—are paired with full-color icons of each story. The original, never-before-published icons, written by Ruta and Kaspars Poikans, are displayed in the Unity Chapel at the Mary of Nazareth International Center in Israel.

Features & Benefits

Stephen J. Binz is the author of more than forty books with cumulative sales of more than 400,000.

This is the first book to combine the practices of lectio divina (sacred reading) and visio divina (sacred seeing).

The book features never-before-published icons created by Ruta and Kaspars Poikans for the Unity Chapel at the Mary of Nazareth International Center in Israel.

Stephen J. Binz is a popular Catholic speaker, biblical scholar, psychotherapist, and an award-winning author of more than forty books in biblical theology, commentary, and spirituality.

Binz, a native of Little Rock, Arkansas, earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Dallas and graduate degrees from the Pontifical Gregorian University, the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and Jerusalem. He is an active member of the Society of Biblical Literature and the Catholic Biblical Association.

Binz is former director of Little Rock Scripture Study and former editor of God’s Word Today magazine. His books include: Scripture—God’s Handbook for Evangelizing Catholics, Threshold to God's Word, Conversing with God in Scripture, Saint Peter: Flawed, Forgiven, and Faithful,and Panorama of the Bible. Binz has earned three first-place awards from the Association of Catholic Publishers and also first- and second-place awards from the Catholic Press Association for his work. He often leads tours and pilgrimages to biblical lands. He and his wife, Pamela D. Pike, live in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Ruta and Kaspars Poikans:

Ruta and Kaspars Poikans are from Riga, Latvia, where they studied at Riga’s Fine Arts Academy and School of Applied Arts. They later studied Icon painting in Russia at the Mirozka Monastery in Pskov. Since 1999, they have lived in France where they joined the Communauté du Chemin Neuf. The Poinkans’s make icons, frescoes, mosaics, sculptures, and liturgical furnishings in their Saint Luke Workshop at Notre Dame des Dombes Abbey.