In compliance with federal and local directives, Elmbrook has suspended in-person events or activities until further notice. Our efforts are now focused on helping you make the best use of this unique opportunity. While the disruption of all our usual patterns of life can be an occasion for fear and frustration, it also gives us a chance to  radically transform our approach to work, and to take a big step forward in our spiritual life. On this page, we present some resources to help you make the most of this time.

The first step to a fruitful lockdown is to make a schedule for yourself, and set a high bar for each hour of work. At www.optimalwork.com you can find a powerful set of tools to help you achieve this, with specific guidance for overcoming reluctance and anxiety, and for growing in essential virtues like order, intensity and constancy.

With the sudden elimination of so many distractions and commitments, you will be able to finish all your work with plenty of time to spare. That’s why this is the perfect moment to embark on a serious intellectual project, one that will put you in position to generate original and lasting innovations over the course of your career. The following are some texts that are good for everyone to study, whatever your specific professional aspirations.

Finally, this time of greater calm and silence is an ideal period for deepening your spiritual life, discovering new horizons of contemplative prayer.

Fr. Jeff is publishing his weekly meditations to a podcast feed during this time, which you can access here.

We have created electronic copies of two excellent books on contemplative prayer that have been out of print for a long time (click to access the link):

• The Virtue of Trust (Paul de Jaegher)
• Secret Paths of Divine Love (Barbanson)

And here is a longer list of recommended texts, many of which can be found online:

• Augustine – City of God
• Augustine – Confessions of St. Augustine
• Baur – Frequent Confession
• Baur – In Silence with God
• Bouyer – Spirit and Forms of Protestantism
• Boylan – Difficulties in Mental Prayer
• Boylan – This Tremendous Lover
• Catherine of Siena – The Dialogues
• Chautard – Soul of Apostolate
• Chesterton – St. Thomas Aquinas
• Chesterton – St. Francis of Assisi
• Chevrot – Simon Peter
• Cizek – He Leadeth Me
• Caussaude – Abandonment to Divine Providence
• de la Palma – The Sacred Passion
• de Sales – Opera Omnia
• Escriva – Opera Omnia
• Garrigou-Lagrange – Three Ages of Interior Life
• Granada – Sinner’s Guide
• Hildebrand – Transformation in Christ
• John of the Cross – Opera Omnia
• Kempis – The Imitation of Christ
• Liguori – 12 Steps to Holiness and Salvation
• Liguori – The Practice of the Love of God
• Liguori – Uniformity with God’s Will
• Martinez – True Devotion to the Holy Spirit / The Sanctifier
• Montfort – True Devotion to Mary
• Lovasik – The Hidden Power of Kindness
• More – Sadness of Christ –
• Newman – Apologia Pro Vita Sua
• Newman – Essay on Development of Christian Doctrine
• Perquin – Abba Father –
• Pieper – The Four Cardinal Virtues
• Plus –  Winning Souls for Christ
• Rohrbach – Conversation with Christ
• Scheeben — Mysteries of Christianity
• Scupoli – Spiritual Combat
• Sheed – Theology for Beginners
• Sheed – To Know Christ Jesus
• Sheen – Life of Christ
• Sheen – Three to Get Married
• Suarez – Mary of Nazareth
• Tanqueray – Spiritual Life
• St. Teresa of Avila – Opera Omnia
• St. Therese of Lisieux – Story of a Soul
• St. Thomas Aquinas – My Way of Life
• St. Thomas Aquinas – Summa Contra Gentiles, Book IV, Chapters 1-26 on the Blessed Trinity
• Trochu – Cure of Ars
• Walsh – Our Lady of Fatima