Description:
Lift Up Your Heart is a unique introduction to the writings of St. Francis de Sales, offering readers a personal, ten-day mini-retreat based on ten famous meditations from de Sales' spiritual classic, Introduction to the Devout Life.
Brief description:
Fr. John Burns is a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. He is the author of the bestselling books Adore: A Guided Advent Journal for Prayer and Meditation and Lift Up Your Heart: A 10-Day Personal Retreat with St. Francis de Sales. Ordained in 2010, Burns has served as an associate pastor and pastor in Milwaukee in addition to being an adjunct professor of moral theology at the Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology. He completed a doctorate in moral theology at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome in 2019. His doctoral research focused on the theology of healing through forgiveness.
Burns speaks at conferences, preaches for missions, and directs retreats throughout the country. He works extensively with the Sisters of Life and St. Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, and has given retreats, conferences, and spiritual direction for the sisters in Africa, Europe, and the United States.
Review Quotes: "After reading this book, you'll crave holiness in a whole new way and find yourself equipped with time-tested tools for renewing your relationship with God and living a daily life of communion with him." --Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, Archbishop of New York
"Reading this book is a true retreat--it quickly drew my prayer life to new depths. Fr. John takes us through the timeless wisdom of St. Francis de Sales in a way that is accessible and applicable for anyone at any age. A must-read and a real gift!" --Sarah Swafford, Author of Emotional Virtue "This is an altogether beautiful book filled with wholesome and attractive spiritual wisdom. It presents the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales in a lively, accessible style that is utterly sincere. It should gain the widest possible readership, and may very well endure as a small, portable classic in its own right. Highly recommended." --John C. Cavadini, Professor of theology and director of the Institute for Church Life, University of Notre Dame "In this book, Fr. John Burns helps us access the famous meditations of St. Francis de Sales in order to put ourselves in the presence of God. This is a gift that ultimately speaks to our salvation and cultivates the daily decisions that help us choose God now and in everything we do. This book is for all who take their faith seriously but somewhere along the way dismissed the notions of heaven and hell. Through his commentary on St. Francis deSales's themes of judgment and death, heaven and hell, Fr. John Burns reminds us of their centrality to our eternal life and implications for our time here on earth." --Carolyn Woo, Former president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services