Philip Krill

Mindfulness is an English synonym for the Oriental term, Mushin. Mushin is a shortened version of the Zen expression mushin no shin (), meaning 'mind without mind' or, simply, 'No Mind'. Mushin or Mindfulness is a state where we become empty of all desires, thoughts, and assumptions, but remain alert, attentive, open and receptive to all that is. In Mindfulness our minds and hearts are free of anger, fear, or ego. In Mindfulness there is an absence of discursive thinking and deliberative judgment, but a fullness of intuitive knowing. In mindfulness we are free to act and respond without disturbance from our thoughts. In Mindfulness we intuitively know how to handle situations which previously baffled us. This book is a continuation of my previous writings on the Mystery of Presence. Mindfulness and Presence are terms pointing to the same ineffable, but immediately accessible encounter with what some people call God. I offer this book as a fruit of Presence, i.e. of my fledgling attempts to practice Mindfulness in every present moment. I have found that only words flowing from Presence, only books written in Mindfulness, have the power to communicate the Mystery of Mindfulness and Presence. I pray this book serves as a sacrament of God's Presence for you and encourages you to begin or deepen your own practice of Mindfulness.

After Jesus of Nazareth fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes (Lk. 9:10-17), his apostles collected twelve wicker baskets of leftover fragments. The perfection of these numbers - seven and twelve - indicates the Divine Abundance of everything that comes from the hands of God. Mystics of the ancient Orient also knew of Divine Abundance. They called this mystery Saccidannda, a Hindu term that connotes the divine Bliss (Ananda) that arises within us when our Awareness (Chit) rests in Being (Sat), not in thinking. The experience of Saccidannda is what Jesus meant when he said, 'The kingdom of God is within you' (Lk. 17:28). One way of entering the kingdom of God, or experiencing Saccidannda, is to contemplate the Mystery of Presence. Presence, like the Mystery of God, is impossible to describe, yet, is as undeniable as it is indefinable. Presence is the experience of being completely empty of thought and devoid of agenda. Presence is the experience of transcendental Awareness that intuits the infinity of Being, and imparts such Divine Bliss that we sense it can only be coming from God. This book is a collection of fragments gleaned from the experience of Presence. They are given here to help the reader be present, and grow in contemplative prayer.

Gelassenheit is a German word with many meanings: relinquishment, surrender, abandonment, submission, detachment, letting go, allowing, acquiescence, etc. Meister Eckhart's favorite term for Gelassenheit is releasement. Eckhart, like mystics of every age, experienced God as a Mystery of Releasement. Gelassenheit involves the whole trinitarian Life. The father 'lets go of' Himself to be begotten in an intra-trinitarian act of Gelassenheit, and together, Father and Son 'release' the Holy Spirit, for the salvation of the world. These meditations on Gelassenheit are offered to help us experience God as a Mystery of Divine Releasement. And since the spiritual life is also a progressive growth in interior Gelassenheit, the author also hopes that this book will inspire a trinitarian vision of deification and contemplative prayer. Meister Eckhart (1260-1328) was a German theologian, philosopher, and mystic. A Dominican priest, his writings, comprised mostly of sermons, were considered heretical during his lifetime but are now considered the mystical gold standard of the Middle Ages.

PRAYING WITH THE FATHERS: A Year of Neo-patristic Mediations is a day-by-day prayer book based on selections from the Early Church Fathers. In these meditations, Philip Krill, whose mission is 'promoting a Trinitarian vision of deification and contemplative prayer, '' seeks to introduce the reader to the Fathers' vision of our divinization in Christ and the universally salvific impact of His Incarnation. It is also his hope that those who read these meditations will be drawn more deeply into contemplative prayer

LISTENING TO THE FATHERS: A Year of Neo-patristic Reflections is a day-by-day prayer journey based on selections from the Early Church Fathers. In this book of prayers, Philip Krill, whose personal mission is 'to promote a Trinitarian vision of deification and contemplative prayer, ' seeks to introduce the reader to the Fathers' vision of divinization in Christ and the universally salvific impact of His Incarnation. It is also his hope that those who pray with these texts will enter more deeply into contemplative prayer.

In 2002, St. Pope John Paul II added the Luminous Mysteries to the rosary, writing that ?the whole mystery of Christ is a mystery of light. He is the ?light of the world (Jn. 8:12). ILLUME is a contemplative reflection upon the Luminous Mysteries in the life of Jesus, written in a lectio divina key, inviting us to enter into the Uncreated Light of the Most Holy Trinity.

MORE THAN Conquerors is a contemplative meditation on the 8th chapter of St. Paul's Letter to the Romans. Modeled on the lectio divina style of Adrienne von Speyr and Erasmo Leiva-Merikakas, this book explores the mystical depths of St. Paul's most famous letter, inviting us to reflect on the deifying power of 'life in Christ.' St. Paul was the first and perhaps greatest Christian mystic. The complexities of his letters to the Romans bear witness to the unfathomable riches of the Mystery of Christ. These reflections seek to bring us into the heart of Pauline mysticism.

THE HOPE OF GLORY is a contemplative reading of St. Paul's first chapter to his letter to the Colossians. Written in the lectio divina key and after the fashion of the works of Adrienne von Speyr and Erasmo Leiva-Merikakas, THE HOPE OF GLORY seeks the mystical meaning of the text. It represents a small contribution to the neo-patristic synthesis and participative exegesis emerging in the contemporary church.

Mary is known in tradition as the Mystical Rose, and praying her rosary is meant to be a mystical encounter with the Most Holy Trinity. Mary is the daughter of the Father, mother of the Son, and spouse of the Holy Spirit. GAUDETE is a scriptural rosary written in a lectio divina key, inviting us to contemplate the Trinitarian dimensions of the Mysteries of Joy. About the Author: Philip Krill is a priest in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, MO.

Inspired by the spiritual exegesis of the early church fathers, and modeled on the revival of an imaginative and contemplative approach to Scripture developed by Adrienne von Speyr, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Joseph Ratzinger, and Erasmo Leiva-Merikakas, BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD takes a small portion of a single letter of St. Paul and invites us to communion with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through an extended exercise in lectio divina. According to the ressourcement theological vision advocated by the authors above, our reading of Scripture should be a living encounter with the Eternal Word in every word of the Bible. BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD invites us into just such an encounter.

DEIFIED VISION: TOWARDS AN ANAGOGICAL CATHOLICISM is an attempt at activating an "anagogical imagination." It requires of us that we pray for a share in God's own contemplation of the world; that we allow our imaginations to get "lifted up" into His own; that we desire to receive, through the illumination of His Holy Spirit, a participation in His own love and desire for all He has created. One author has called this process 'acquiring an "epistemic participation" in the Mind of Christ.'

Inspired by the ressourcement theology of Henri de Lubac, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and Pope Benedict XVI, LIFE IN THE TRINITY is a modest attempt to advance a neo-patristic synthesis crucial to the renewal of the Catholic Faith in our times. Drawing on the early Church Fathers, as well as the personalism of Pope John Paul II, LIFE IN THE TRINITY presents Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as the source, goal, and archetype of human love, and the wellspring of liturgical worship. It furnishes us with a Catholic vision of communion and deification, inspiring hope for the 21st century.