This is the twenty-first volume in the
Great Spiritual Teachers series I have read, it released in 2006, it is the 13th based on publication dates. It was one of three volumes released between the year 2000 and 2020. Two Years ago I read my first book in the series, it was
Born to Do This: 30 Days with Joan of Arc by Jaymie Stuart Wolfe, and loved it and the concept of the series. I have read one almost every month since that first one, and if I can track down all the out of print, will do so until I finish all 25 released to date in the series. After I finished all of them that had eBook editions I have been randomly jumping around. I prefer the digital editions or eBooks with my dyslexia is easier to read.
The description of this volume states:
“The latest addition to the popular 30 Days with a Great Spiritual Teacher series (over 380,000 copies sold) offers readers a simple way to pray with the writings of John the Evangelist, author of the fourth gospel. Discover the distinctive, passionate voice of John as he shares the beauty of what means to love and be loved by God. The spiritual wisdom of John will be a source of inspiration, encouragement and an invitation to abide in love.”
The back of the physical book states:
“Discover a simple way to pray through the writings of John the Evangelist, author of the profoundly mystical fourth gospel. Listen to the distinctive, passionate voice of John as he shares the beauty of what it is like to love and he loved by God. Embrace the spiritual wisdom of John, a source of both inspiration and encouragement, as an invitation to abide in love.
If we are to love God,
we must first love one another,
for love is of God.
Anyone, therefore, who loves
is born of God and knows God.
- John the Evangelist”
About the series we are informed:
“Each book in the Great Spiritual Teachers series provides a month of daily readings from one of Christianity's most beloved spiritual guides. For each day there is a brief and accessible morning meditation drawn from the mystic's writings, a simple mantra for use throughout the day, and a night prayer to focus one's thoughts as the day ends. These easy-to-use books are the perfect prayer companion for busy people who want to root their spiritual practice in the solid ground of these great spiritual teachers.”
About the author we are informed:
“John Kirvan, who conceived this series and has authored most of its titles, writes primarily about classical spirituality. His other recent books include God Hunger, Silent Hope, Raw Faith, and There Is a God, There Is No God.”
I believe there are 19 volumes in this series currently in print, but only 16 of those have digital editions. There was also a new volume released in July of 2026, Stay with Me, Lord: 30 Days with Padre Pio by Susan de Bartoli. There are also a number that are currently out of print, The oldest I have seen are from the late 1990’s and it looks like they went through a rebranding and format change in the mid 00’s, and they have undergone yet another rebranding beginning in the 2020’s including some new titles available in the series.
I must admit I do not recall running across this series prior to that first volume on Joan. I have however added all of them to my ‘to be read list’. I love the recent rebranding, and hope Ave Maria completes the rebranding across all volumes. I hope also that Ave Maria brings back into print some of the volumes currently not available; specifically the volumes on John of the Cross, Evelyn Underhill, Mother Theresa and others. This specific volume was released in 2006, the only one released that year.
The sections in this volume are:
John the Evangelist
How to Pray This Book
Thirty Days with John the Evangelist
One Final Word
While reading this I highlighted numerous passages, some of them are:
“We know that all through the works which we attribute to John, there is a singular, distinctive, and passionate vision of what it is like to love and be loved by God.”
“A man came sent by God.
His name was John.
He came as a witness,
as a witness to speak for the light
so that everyone might believe through him.
He was not the light,
only a witness to speak for the light.”
“I know I need not look for you.
You are waiting for me
in the silent dark.
You have been here
from the beginning.
You have been here
at every moment of this day.”
“Mine is a story of two hearts,
a classic tale of a willing heart and a fragile heart.
In my humanity
they seem always to go together.
My promises go hand in hand with my denials.
But here in the silent darkness,
let me try. Again.
Hear my prayer.”
“You are my friends
if you do the things that I command you.
I will not call you servants,
for a servant does not know
what the master does.
But I have called you friends
because everything I have heard from my Father
I have made known to you.”
“You have called me friend.”
“Who am I
that you should call me friend?
What do you see in me
that I cannot see?
Why have you chosen me?
What is it that you want of me?
What do you expect of a friend?”
“You have taught us
that to love you
is to love one another.
To love you
is to be a child of God,
to know God.
Teach me to love
as you have loved.
For whoever does not love
does not know God,
does not know you.
Hear my prayer.”
“With your beloved John,
let me be caught up in your love.
With him
let me be caught up in the everlasting life
that you have promised
to all who will listen to
and hear your words.”
“Only the food that you have promised,
that you alone can offer^
only your own body and blood
is enough to satisfy the hunger
you have stirred in my soul.
You are the bread of my life.
Hear my prayer.”
“Here in the silence of this night
I can say:
I am of God,
I am of Christ,
I am of you.”
“Let me be unafraid to surrender
my soul to the mystery of your love
and your promise of peace.”
“But I know it will not be easy.
You are asking me
to change my mind,
to change my heart,
to turn my life,
my whole way of seeing,
upside-down.”
“In the darkest of nights
there is something I can rely on.
I know that anyone who is born of you
will be kept by you.”
“But most of all,
in the quiet dark of this night,
remind me that I am not alone,
that I am completely dependent on you,
that without you I am nothing.”
“In time I will understand.”
“Do what I do.
That's the message you lived,
the message that I find so difficult to follow.
That's it.”
“With your beloved John,
let me be caught up in your love.
You are the shepherd of my soul,
the shepherd of all my soul's hopes and desires.”
“We need never go hungry.”
“This book is meant to be nothing more than a gateway to the spiritual wisdom of the evangelist John.
You may decide that the way of John as described and developed in these pages is not what your spirit requires at this moment. But there are many other teachers, and many other traditions. Somewhere there is the right teacher for you — for your own, very special, absolutely unique journey. You will find your teacher; you will discover your path.”
Each day follows the same format with three main sections:
AS OUR DAY BEGINS: “As the day begins set aside a quiet moment in a quiet place to do the reading provided for the day
The passages are short; they never run more than a couple of hundred words. They have been carefully selected, though, to give a spiritual focus, a spiritual center to your whole day. They are designed to remind you, as another day begins, of your own existence at a spiritual level. They are meant to put you in the presence of the spiritual master who is your companion and teacher on this journey. This is especially true of this journey with Catherine of Siena. The readings are her report of God’s words to her, God’s side of the dialogue. And since the purpose of the passage is to remind you that at every moment during you are in the presence of a God who invites you continually, but quietly, to live in and through him, what better source than the words of God himself?”
ALL THROUGH YOUR DAY: “Immediately following the day’s reading you will find a single sentence, a meditation in the form of a mantra, a phrase meant as a companion for your spirit as it moves through a busy day. Write it down on a 3" x 5" card or on the appropriate page of your daybook. Look at it as often as you can. Repeat it quietly to yourself, and go on your way.
It is not meant to stop you in your tracks or to distract you from responsibilities but simply, gently, to remind you of the presence of God and your desire to respond to this presence.”
AS YOUR DAY IS ENDING: “This is a time for letting go of the day, for entering a world of imaginative prayer … This exercise is not meant to last more than a few minutes. End it when you are comfortable doing so. It has two parts. The first, in keeping with Catherine’s model, is a personal response to the words spoken by God in the day’s reading. Just as God has spoken to you, so you speak to God. Second, you are invited to turn to the familiarity of a prayer based on Catherine’s own words. It is an act of trust and confidence, an entryway into peaceful sleep, a simple evening prayer that gathers together the spiritual character of the day that is now ending as it began—in the presence of God.
It is a time for summary and closure.”
A sample day is:
“DAY 13
My Day Begins
Dear friends, . . . we must be born anew.
Now there was a ruler of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night
and said to him: "Rabbi, we know
that you are a teacher come from God;
for no one can do the signs that you do
unless God is with him."
Jesus answered him: "Truly, truly, I say to you:
No one can enter the kingdom of God
without being born from above."
Nicodemus said to him:
"How can anyone be born who has grown old?
Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb
and be born again?"
Jesus answered:
"Unless one is born of water and the Holy Spirit,
one cannot enter the kingdom of God.
"What is born of the flesh is flesh,
and what is born of the spirit is spirit.
Do not marvel that I said to you:
You must be born anew.
The wind blows where it will
and you hear the sound of it,
but you do not know where it comes from,
or where it goes.
So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit.
"I say to you:
we speak of what we know
and bear witness to what we have seen.
But you do not receive our testimony.
"If I have told you earthly things
and you do not believe,
how can you believe
if I tell you heavenly things?"
—John 3:1-12
All Through The Day
The wind blows where it will.
My Day Is Ending
Here in the gathering silence of this night,
let not my heart be troubled
nor let it be afraid.
Rather, let me take heart
from your promise of unending love
and your gift of peace.
Let me be unafraid to surrender
my soul to the mystery of your love
and your promise of peace.
But I know it will not be easy.
You are asking me
to change my mind,
to change my heart,
to turn my life,
my whole way of seeing,
upside-down.
You are telling me that
I must begin
to see my life and my world
as you see them.
I must be born again.
Hear my prayer.”
I hope those quotes and sample day give you a feel for this volume. I have now read 21 books in this series from the 25 I believe have ever been in print. And this is one is another excellent volume in the series. But it is very different from most of the rest in that all of the first sections each day is taken directly from scriptures. I was really blessed by this volume I have recommended it to a number of friends, if they can track it down, my own copy has already been given away.
I have benefited from every volume I have read in the series and I have now completed most of them. I have now read 21 volumes in this series, and currently working on a twenty-second I can state this is another great offering in the series. I find that some speak to me more than others. I can state I benefited from the month with each person being profiled. If I went back and did a volume again at a different point or season in life I might interact with it differently. I already plan to circle back to the volume on Joan and some of the others and reread them once I have completed the series, and this would be towards the top of that list.
This is a great read, it is one I really enjoyed reading. I can easily recommend this volume, and the series as a whole, and I look forward to reading others in the series. If you can track it down I highly recommend this volume.
