The Contemplative Hunger

Author: Fr. Donald Haggerty

A soul desiring to give itself in love to God faces great challenges that require understanding and some encouraging advice. Written in a style of short and effective meditations on prayer and contemplative spirituality, the concise reflections in this book address the heart of a soul's interior response to God. God's desire to draw souls to a deeper gift of themselves is inseparable from his desire to draw them into a deeper encounter with the sacred mystery of his presence.

Offering an abundance of insights into the value of silence, deep faith, trust and interior surrender to God, Father Haggerty also illumines the link between contemplation and love for poverty and the poor, and makes a strong appeal to the importance of prayer as the primary answer to the crisis of faith that afflicts so many people today.

The longing of souls for a deeper contemplative encounter with God is indeed a sign of the times. When it is nurtured properly and begins to burn as a passion of the soul, the love for prayer becomes a lifelong quest.

Fr. Donald Haggerty, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, serves at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. He taught moral theology and worked as a spiritual director in seminaries for twenty years, and has directed many retreats worldwide for the Missionaries of Charity. He is the author of numerous books on spirituality, including The Contemplative Hunger, Conversion, Contemplative Enigmas, and Saint John of the Cross: Master of Contemplation.