The Fire and the Silence
Prayer, Thought, and the Battle for Inner StillnessBy Fr. John Henry HansonRecorded TrackLength0m
About this audiobook
Why is it so hard to pray without distraction? Why does our mind wander to everything except God when we kneel to speak with him? And what do we do with the flood of thoughts that seem to overtake us in the very act of prayer?
In this deeply contemplative yet practical book, Fr. John Henry Hanson takes us on a journey through the battleground of the mind, where attention, memory, and imagination often seem like saboteurs to prayer. Drawing on Scripture, the Desert Fathers, saints like Teresa of Avila and Augustine, and insights from modern psychology, this book offers not a quick fix, but something far better: a quiet revolution against wayward thoughts, a spiritual reorientation toward God.
Fr. Hanson helps readers understand how God meets us even in mental chaos: how he works not despite our distractions, but sometimes through them. Along the way, readers will discover the role of grace in thought-life, how to respond to distraction, and what it means to have "the mind of Christ."
Audiobook details
GenreSpirituality and Religion, Self-Help
Length0 mins
Narrated byRecorded Track
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateAug 11, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Opening
2Foreword
3Author's Preface
4Chapter 1: A Fire in the Head
5Chapter 2: Confessions and Possibilities
Show all chaptersShow less
6Chapter 3: Listening to Spies
7Chapter 4: Why Your Mind Doesn't Work
8Chapter 5: Cleaning Our Glasses
9Chapter 6: Répondez s’il vous plaît
10Chapter 7: Of Mind and Monastery: Guarding the Senses
11Chapter 8: Love and War: Distractions
12Chapter 9: The Enemy Within: The Problem of Self-Sabotage
13Chapter 10: Fighting for Love
14Chapter 11: Mind Over Matter: The Ghosts of Shame
15Chapter 12: "Do Not Be Anxious"
16Closing
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