The Way of the Heart

Charles Wright is a French writer, journalist, and a former Jesuit novice. His earlier book, Le Chemin des Estives, narrates his journey through the Massif Central, in south-central France. That book won the fourth annual Prix de la liberté intérieure in 2021. Brian Kerns, OCSO, is a monk at the Abbey of the Genesee in upper New York state. He spent five years at Genesee’s foundation of Novo Mundo in Parana, Brazil. For many years he worked in the libraries of Genesee and Novo Mundo. He has translated two previous works with Cistercian Publications: Dom Gabriel Sortais, an Amazing Abbot in Turbulent Times (2006), and the six volumes of Gregory the Great’s Moral Reflections on the Book of Job (2014–2017).

Contents
Translator’s Preface   xi
Introduction   xiii
Chapter 1  Infancy of a Contemplative   1
Chapter 2  “All Is done, and All Begins”   21
Chapter 3  The Roman Escape   37
Chapter 4  Discovering the Internal Man   47
Chapter 5  The Grace of Collectanea   57
Chapter 6  A Solitary Soul   67
Chapter 7  Habemus Abbatem   85
Chapter 8  A Flemish Staretz   99
Chapter 9  The Exegete of Aggiornamento   107
Chapter 10  The Book of Experience   125
Chapter 11  Spiritual Accompaniment   143
Chapter 12  A Carthusian Heart   169
Chapter 13  A Hesychast Abbot   187
Chapter 14  Toward the One Undivided Church   205
Chapter 15  Oracle of the Trappist Order   225 
Chapter 16  Renunciation   247
Chapter 17  The Hermit of Saint-Lioba   261
Epilogue   285
Sources   295
General Bibliography   309
Notes of Gratitude   315