February Publishers Newsletter 2026
ida decesaris
Dear Friends,
In these turbulent times it is good to hear voices that beckon us toward peace, building bridges, overcoming divisions, and planting seeds of hope. Some of our newest titles do just that.
Fr. John Dear is a well-known peacemaker, arrested numerous times and twice nominated for the Nobel Prize. Yet, as he confesses, the path toward peace is a lifelong journey on which there is always more to learn. In Universal Love: Surrendering to the God of Peace, he describes how a young man during the COVID lockdown asked him for spiritual counseling. As they struggled to find a common language for God, they came upon “Universal Love.” From this beginning, John discovered a new understanding of spirituality and his life as a peacemaker as an exercise in “surrendering to the God of Peace.” In his short reflections, he outlines what this means, and how it might draw us more deeply into the meaning of discipleship in a world of violence.
Hugo M. Enomiya-Lassalle (d. 1990), a German Jesuit, was assigned to mission in Japan. There he survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. He also served as a pioneer in exploring the integration of Zen meditation and Christian spirituality, thus giving rise to a whole school of spiritual practice. His story is told in Jesuit and Zen Master, a new biography by Ursula Baatz. Among those inspired by his teachings was Jerry Brown, the former governor of California, who has written a foreword to the book. He says: “Lassalle saw a new consciousness emerging in the world. . . His life focused on individual practice and direct experience of the deep reality that unites all human beings.”
The cause of unity, of building bridges among people, was a central concern of Chiara Lubich (d. 2008), founder of the international Focolare Movement. Chiara Lubich: Essential Teachings on Unity, edited by Peter Casarella and Thomas Masters, is the latest volume in our Modern Spiritual Masters Series. Drawing from the Gospel exhortation, “that they all may be one,” Lubich, in the words of one admirer, offered “a spirituality dedicated to building ‘a world united in the variety of peoples,’ offering a much-needed blueprint for healing and hope in our divided world.”
Finally, in Making Hope: Practices, Prayers, and Parables for a Changing Climate, O’neil van Horn explores how slow, still, and often quiet practices can cultivate hope for ourselves, each other, and our planetary home. He shows how the ordinary things we do—mending, seed-saving, composting, and birding—can become new parables that help us make hope where it is least felt and most needed.
May we advance on the path to peace with every breath, every step, and every hopeful deed.
Robert Ellsberg
Publisher