Interior Freedom [Paperback]

Jacques Philippe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2007

Interior Freedom leads one to discover that even in the most difficult circumstances we possess within ourselves a space of freedom that nobody can take away, because God is its source and guarantee. Without this discovery we will always be restricted in some way and will never taste true happiness. Author Jacques Philippe develops a simple but important theme: we gain possession of our interior freedom in exact proportion to our growth in faith, hope, and love. He explains that the dynamism between these three theological virtues is the heart of the spiritual life, and he underlines the key role of the virtue of hope in our inner growth.

Product Details

• Paperback: 134 pages
• Publisher: Scepter Publishers (January 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594170525
• ISBN-13: 978-1594170522
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,118 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

With over 400,000 copies sold in 18 languages, Fr. Jacques Philippe's writings on themes such as prayer, interior freedom, and peace of heart have become classics of modern Catholic spirituality.

Jacques Philippe was born into a Christian family on March 12, 1947 in Lorraine, France. After studying mathematics in college, he spent several years teaching and doing scientific research. In 1976, he met the then recently-founded Community of the Beatitudes and answered the Lord's call to follow Him through this vocation (see below for more information on the Community of the Beatitudes). He then spent several years in Jerusalem and Nazareth immersing himself in the study of Hebrew and the Jewish roots of Christianity. In 1981, he traveled to Rome to study theology and canon law and also began his work as a spiritual director, working in the formation of priests and seminarians of the Community. In 1994, he returned to France, where he assumed various responsibilities including spiritual direction, the development of training in the Community, and participation in its General Council. He has also preached retreats regularly in France and abroad and has consolidated his principal retreat themes into five books on spirituality. In recent years, he has devoted himself primarily to spiritual direction, preaching retreats, and working for the development of the Community in Asia and Oceania, where he travels frequently.

Communaute des Beatitudes is an international association of the faithful of Pontifical Right founded in France in 1973. The Community of the Beatitudes gathers faithful from all states of life (married or unmarried lay people, seminarians, priests, permanent deacons, men and women consecrated in celibacy) who wish to conform as closely as possible to the model of the early Christian community through the common life, the sharing of goods, voluntary poverty and an intense sacramental and liturgical life. The members of the Community, which has a contemplative vocation based on Carmelite spirituality, are actively engaged in the service of the poor and the proclamation of the Gospel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Will become a Christian Spiritual Classic!, July 14, 2007

By 

Steven R. McEvoy "MCWPP" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Interior Freedom (Paperback)

This is the third book by Father Jacques Philippe that I have read, and already I wish there were more than 4 available in English. I am certain he will go down in history as one of the spiritual masters like Brother Lawrence, C.S. Lewis and others. This book is written in such simple and accessible language, yet with a message so profound any believer could grow from encountering it.

Fr. Philippe's main message is that freedom, true freedom, comes from God as the source. And that interior peace sought by so many people in so many ways, yet it only truly comes from learning to be content in where God has us. Yet by learning to trust in God despite external circumstances and situations beyond our control, we can find that oft-sought-after peace. He will show you how to appreciate what you can control, which is your response to what life brings your way.

This book seeks to teach us to live from a heart and mind that has been liberated and set free. But it is not the freedom that most seek. It outlines that freedom as being free to do whatever we want, but true freedom is choosing to live for others, living with our responsibilities.

Fr. Jacques draws from many sources to illustrate his points: Holocaust victim Etty Hillesum, Georges Bernanos, Henri J.M. Nouwen, Catherine de Hueck Doherty and many saints from both the eastern and western traditions as well as the Jewish wisdom tradition. He draws most extensively from Hillesum's journals An Interrupted Life which is the story of her life during the year leading up to occupation and leaving for the concentration camps, and her work among the Jewish children at the holding camp. He uses her life and transformation from a secular Jew to someone in touch with God and trying to live that in the most terrible of circumstances.

Fr. Philippe has written an amazing little book that will explain to you the freedom many seek in faith, and how that freedom can lead to Interior Freedom or as a title of an earlier book of his calls it Searching for and Maintaining Peace. Or as Douglas Coupland puts it "Now -- here is my secret: I tell it to you with an openness of heart I doubt I shall ever achieve again, so I pray that you are in a quiet room as you hear these words. My secret is that I need God - that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem capable of giving; to help me to be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond able to love." in his book Life After God. So this is a little book by a little known author that is truly valuable for the spiritual seeker in this life.

(First Published in Imprint 2007-07-13 in the book review column.)

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Abandonment to Divine Providence" for the 21st Century, April 26, 2008

By 

Joseph A. Franceski "Joe Frances" (Stamford, CT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Interior Freedom (Paperback)

Jean-Pierre de Caussade wrote a stunning book called Abandonment to Divine Providence in the 18th Century which lays out a plan of life based upon total trust and reliance upon God. Despite the trials of life; despite tears and toil, the grace of the present moment once embraced will affect a momentous change in the believer, and all the tears of life will be like a communion with the Lord of all. This book, Interior Freedom is a brilliant successor to Caussade. It is a contemporary statement of the road to peace based upon a deep understanding of the virtue of Hope, hope in God as the source of our interior freedom that that can not be damaged regardless of the trials of life. I would be understating the greatness of this book to say that it is simply great. It is not only great to read and a source of great consolation and wonderful ideas, it is a life-changing book. This is a beautifully simply written book that is totally approachable regardless of the level of one's spirituality. Like the Caussade book it is very thin, only around a 100 pages. That is not to say that it is simple, in some ways it can be a bit challenging, challenging of our preconceived notions of interior freedom, and all freedom for that matter. I have read it four times and continue to get great insights from it. Some of the insights are immediate, others take time to sink in. Regardless, this book offers generous spiritual guidance to finding peace in a chaotic world, and not just a chaotic world but in our chaotic lives, families and our sometimes impoverished souls, which are all yearning for peace and hope. It is full of truth and inspiration and one sheds a few tears of joy and thankfulness for this book. Where the French Jesuit Caussade in his book spoke to the Catholics of the French Revolution, this book will touch more cold, cynical, frenetically torn modern hearts. There is not a false note here. This a beautifully translated book. There is a pure gift. Piilippe focuses beautifully on the virtue of hope-- practical spiritual hope which is only kind there really is. This book contains no placebos, not palliatives, this book is about the inner life of the soul in reliance upon the source of all creation and goodness. Any Christian searching for a book on hope and peace could do no better than to start here.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyday Holiness, November 3, 2008

By 

Maria A. Sierchio (Nutley, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Interior Freedom (Paperback)

Interior Freedom came to me at a time when I needed to reflect on the concept of spirituality in my everyday existence. This little book helps you to reflect on where you are with God in the details of every moment. It teaches you how to look away from yourself so that you can be centered in the Holy Spirit. It is premised on our complete trust in God no matter what happens; so eventually that "trusting relationship" does become your life. I love this book, and refer to it frequently when life hurls its casual cruelty at me with a force that overtakes my sensibility. The chapter on "Consenting to the Life You Did Not Choose," was the most illuminating for me. It brings home that everything that happens to you can be made holy, when the truth of your heart, in all things big and small, is given first and foremost to the Lord.