The Way of Life: Spiritual Essays from Unam Sanctam Catholicam

Spiritual combat

Essays on temptation, habitual sin, penance, fasting, and perseverance.

Grace

A steady call to recognize God’s providence even in darkness and discouragement.

The interior life

Practical and mystical reflections drawn from the Catholic spiritual tradition.

Catholic realism

Written for Catholics who want holiness amid confusion, scandal, and fatigue.

For spiritual reading

The short essay format makes this a strong companion for slow reading, examination of conscience, and practical meditation.

For Catholics in difficult times

These essays help readers resist fretting, discouragement, and spiritual distraction by returning again and again to grace, prayer, and the concrete duties of one’s state in life.

“Short, shrewd, and encouraging reflections on our need to seek holiness, and on how to do it.”

—Fr. Thomas Crean, O.P.

“Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness (or so it is said), but Phillip Campbell does both in addressing a wide range of issues of concern to Catholics who take seriously God's universal call to holiness. These essays are clearsighted, discerning, challenging, and steeped in the Catholic spiritual tradition—an act of faith in the transformative power of grace in the individual soul and the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church.”

—Fr. Thomas Kocik

“One of the compelling themes running throughout this collection of essays is the need for ordinary Catholics to practice greater mortifications. This is not so much the conclusion of learned argumentation as it is the practical wisdom gained through reflection on the experience of striving and struggling for real growth in virtue, and it is all the more eloquent for that. If you find yourself easily drawn into fruitless fretting about the state of affairs in the Church or in the world, this book will help you to refocus your attention on the one thing necessary, which is to deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow after Jesus Christ on the way of life.”

—Dr. John Joy

“I have often benefited from reading Campbell's wise and gritty reflections, the fruits of a life marked with hardship, a heart steeped in Catholic tradition, and a mind always looking for light. These essays are especially helpful for Catholics who feel seasick in the storm-tossed boat of today's Church, wondering when the Captain of the bark will rise up to calm the waves. Campbell helps us to see that He is still and always in control and we can enter into His rest.”

—Dr. Peter Kwasniewski