The Divine Heart

Colette Lafia is a San Francisco-based writer, spiritual director, and retreat leader. A graduate of the Spiritual Directors’ Institute at Mercy Center in Burlingame, California, Colette recently completed the Living School program in the Christian contemplative and mystical traditions guided by Fr. Richard Rohr, Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault, and Dr. James Finley.

Colette has a passion for helping people connect more deeply with the presence of the sacred in daily life. She designs and facilitates retreats for an international audience, has an active practice as a spiritual director, and is an adjunct faculty member at Mercy Center.

Colette Lafia is the author of Comfort and Joy: Simple Ways to Care for Ourselves and Others (Conari Press, 2008), named one of the best spiritual books of the year, and Seeking Surrender: How My Friendship with a Trappist Monk Taught Me to Trust and Embrace Life (Sorin Books/Ave Maria Press, 2015).

Please visit www.colettelafia.com.

“During these turbulent times, we need the steadying voice of feminine wisdom more urgently than ever. In this luminous book, spiritual guide Colette Lafia offers the fruits of her tenderly cultivated inner life to feed people of all genders who thirst for a direct encounter with the embodiment of love, which she recognizes as our own true nature.” — Mirabai Starr, translator of John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, author of Wild Mercy

“In The Divine Heart, Colette Lafia invites us to enter the vastness and intimacy of God’s love, offering seven simple yet powerful ways to deepen our awareness and open our hearts. This small book with a big heart shows us how to live in the flow of Divine love.” — Richard Rohr, author of The Universal Christ, founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation

“In these seven invitations, Colette Lafia leads us into the depths of the heart: our own heart hidden within the Divine Heart. With wisdom born of life experience, she is a loving and compassionate guide.” — Veronica Mary Rolf, author of Julian’s Gospel: Illuminating the Life and Revelations of Julian of Norwich

“A generous offering of insights and encouragement that lend themselves to pausing and resting in God’s presence, a state of sustained attentiveness infused with love. Colette Lafia includes a host of practical suggestions to help us carry this Divine love into the graces and challenges of each day.” — James Finley, PhD, contemplative teacher and author of Merton’s Palace of Nowhere

“Beautifully written and deeply contemplative, The Divine Heart is more than just a rich and nuanced meditation on the heart – although it certainly is that. It’s a love song, inviting us into ever deepening intimacy with the One who is the source of all Love.” — Carl McColman, author of The Big Book of Christian Mysticism and Eternal Heart.

“Colette Lafia’s new book is intimate, accessible, and consoling. The Divine Heart offers us profound insight and a way to deepen the path of love in our own lives. Its design is the ripened fruit of slow thought and attentive action. A continuing student in the school of her life, Colette has proven a reliable study partner in the school of my own inner experiences. I do not doubt her book will earn your gratitude.” —Jonathan Montaldo, coeditor of Bridges to Contemplative Living with Thomas Merton and The Intimate Merton: His Life from His Journals

“The Divine Heart offers simple yet profoundly elegant pathways to deepening one’s love relationship with God, and Colette Lafia lays out each step on the path with exquisite promise. Recognizing that we navigate the depths of our spiritual lives directly in the midst of life as it is, Colette brings God to life for those seeking to deepen or establish living with greater humility, reverence, and faith—qualities that can serve us immeasurably in the world and times we are navigating. Readers can trust that each of the seven pathways that are laid out in The Divine Heart lead to the very center of what matters most—love in life and love for life.” — Kristi Nelson, Author of Wake Up Grateful and Executive Director of A Network for Grateful Living

“This inspiring paperback is a guidebook to help you learn to grow and renew yourself Divine Love. She writes: ‘Each of us has a Divine heart, an identity we share. We not only align ourselves with love and connect to love, but we recognize that we are love.’” — Spirituality & Practice

Reader’s Guide