Christian Asceticism

Foreword by Fr. Roberto Ferrari OSB (Researcher in Mystical and Monastic Spiritual Theology)Anselm Stolz the author of this book was a Benedictine monk of the German abbey of Gerleve. He was called to Rome to teach theology at SantAnselmo the Roman Benedictine college until his early death from typhus in 1942. In his life and teaching as his confrère Elmar Salman points out he united Christian belief and Christian living he not only talked the talk in books and lectures he walked the walk in his life and death. A lifetime later another Benedictine professor Gellért Békés would recall how when he arrived from his Hungarian monastery as a new student his confrères left him to his own devices and as he stood there in the dark alone and somewhat bereft in a strange house and country Anselm Stolz came up and greeted him - in Hungarian! - and made him feel welcomed and at home. This gesture of kindly fraternal charity by a professor to a new student inspired him. The end of Stolzs life was of a piece with this. Sent to minister to typhus patients in hospital he caught the disease and died of it giving his life for others.Stolz taught that mysticism in the sense of having a deep personal relationship with Jesus was for everyone not just the preserve of a spiritual élite - in this he was a precursor of the Second Vatican Councils emphasis on the universal vocation to holiness. As Salman says this book is the final stage of Stolzs journey towards perfection. It is as Abbot Ogliari says intended to provide inspiration for living with inner freedom and joy the following of Christ and his Gospel. So in a succession of chapters Stolz offers advice on the means to come closer to Christ and more importantly to removing obstacles to Christ coming closer to us. He draws his teaching from the Scriptures and the writings of the saints the Fathers and doctors who have followed the same paths and so are reliable guides for us. The demands of the Gospel can seem frighteningly uncompromising costing not less than everything. But if you have found the pearl of great price the treasure hidden in a field if you have found Christ everything falls into place. And there is always that comforting law of graduality to fall back on we are on a pilgrim journey returning to our Father so it is a progress a process not all to be achieved at once. All you have to do is respond to the call of the Master putting one foot in front of the other following Him. This book is your invitation to set out.