Product Description: In the fourth century, the wildernesses of Egypt and Palestine were inhabited by a strange breed of spiritual nonconformists: the first Christian hermits. Thomas Merton's affection for these "Desert Fathers" shines in this much-loved treasury of their acts and words of wisdom...read more

Product Description: "As he was dying, Abba Benjamin taught his sons this: Do this, and you'll be saved: Rejoice always, pray constantly, and in all circumstances give thanks".Each Christian who seeks God through prayer is continuing a tradition that began with the desert fathers and mothers of the fourth and fifth century -- simple peasants whose spiritual progress was marked by inner peace, self-control, poverty, patience, humility, and hospitality...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)