John Henry Newman Meditations and Devotions

These meditations, devotions and prayers have been selected by Ian Ker from the collection gathered together and published after Newman’s death by his secretary and literary executor William Neville of the Birmingham Oratory.

Often surprisingly simple and direct, they combine the traditional language of Catholic devotion with Newman’s own distinct voice. The bulk of the material is made up of meditations on Christian doctrine, with a selection of his devotions to Mary.Also included is his profound but delightful ‘A Short Road to Perfection’, which expresses vividly Newman’s guiding conviction that we have no more to do to love and obey God than to perform our ordinary duties well.

‘He is perfect who does the work of the day perfectly, and we need not go beyond this to seek for perfection.’