Two New Books by Fr. Robert Keller, OP
New Priory Press is pleased to announce the release of two new books by our own Fr. Robert Keller, OP: "Sealed in the Spirit: The Splendor of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit" and "The Ten Commandments Leading Towards Love: A Practical Spirituality."
Fr. Robert Keller, OP has a graduate degree in sociology of religion from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley where he studied under Fr. John A. Coleman, SJ and the noted sociologist Robert Bellah. Fr. Keller was in campus ministry for 18 years, serving at Emory University, the University of New Mexico and Indiana University Bloomington. He was then appointed novice master for the Province of St. Albert the Great for nine years. He currently teaches theology and serves in campus ministry at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has a passion for learning about and promoting spiritual formation.
"Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit." This consecration seals baptismal grace and provides the believer with the sevenfold grace of the holy Spirit in the sacrament of confirmation. We know of these gifts as fear of the Lord, knowledge, piety, fortitude, counsel, understanding and wisdom. But reception of the sacrament begins the process of maturation; this is an initiation, not an end. This study plumbs the spirituality of these graces as God activates its full potential in us. This study further suggests that the order of the list, given by St. Augustine from Isaiah II, reveals a pattern of maturation, such that, beginning with fear of the Lord, the fully mature Christian will be endowed with divine Wisdom. Each of the gifts are more effective when building upon the previous one. It is these divine gifts, fully activated, that equip a confirmed disciple to be a witness to Jesus Christ in this world.
When Jesus is asked which is the greatest and first commandment, he responds with the great Shema prayer: love the Lord your God with your whole heart, mind, soul and strength. He then adds a second: love your neighbor as yourself. These two are the staples of Christian life. But the whole list of the Ten Commandments is not forgotten as it is the centerpiece of the covenant and a moral measure for living our Christian lives. Jesus poses the great commandments as born out of love. That seems a far reach from the language of the Decalogue that is posed as a series of prohibitions: shall nots. This book demonstrates how the whole list of commandments reveals to us a pattern of loves in their proper order: first, love of God, then love of self and of neighbor. This study probes the purpose of each commandment for the sake of inviting the reader to grow toward our intended nobility as human creatures and children of Almighty God.