Deep Conversion, Deep Prayer

by Thomas Dubay

Fr. Thomas Dubay is one of the most popular and respected retreat masters and spiritual directors in the USA. He is the author of the perennial best-selling book on prayer and contemplation,  Fire Within.  In this book, he responds to the call to priests by both Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI to help believers and all those interested in spirituality to develop a deeper prayer life and union with God. As in his other popular writings, Dubay's style is profound and meditative yet clear and readable. He gives an overview of the spiritual life and journey for anyone seeking to grow in the love of God and neighbor. An expert on the teachings and writings of the two great mystical doctors of prayer and the spiritual life, Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, Dubay gives solid practical advice for a deepening moral and spiritual conversion, and a radical growth in holiness. Topics covered in depth in this book

Genres: Catholic, Prayer, Spirituality, Religion, Nonfiction, Christianity, Faith

125 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Father Thomas Dubay, S.M., was a well-known retreat master and expert in the spiritual life.

A Marist Priest, Father took a Ph.D. from Catholic University of America and taught at major seminary level for about fifteen years. He spent the last three decades giving retreats and writing books (over twenty at last count) on various aspects of the spiritual life.

He is an expert on the teachings and writings of the two mystical doctors of the Church, John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila.

Reviews

[Michael Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I have some work to do...This is a great easy to read no-nonsense exploration into what it takes to go from good to great (saint) in your life. It assumes that you have made the long journey from a life full of sin to a place where grace can now operate. GREAT! Now what? Well here it is, this will answer all those questions of what do I need to achieve perfection as our heavenly father asks us to. You will either grow tired of this book quickly and say forget it, life is fine or make the trek which requires us to do something.
My wife and I will read this together, make highlights, read each others highlights, create notes for ourselves, check back in on our plans and truly examine our lives. This book will be around the living room table a long time. I can't say it's fool-proof as there is a commitment involved to follow the formula but there is no question in my mind, if we follow we will become better people. Freezing myself as a statue is not an option as it equates to being a worse person just the same. I want to make the right choice.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did you think it was impossible to become a saint? You won't after you read this!

The gist of the book is that in order to be happy and fulfilled, we must continually grow deeper in prayer and deeper conversion. As we are better in communion with God, we become the beautiful and happy people God created us to be, becoming a light that will ignite others as well- our families and beyond. He tells you step by step why we should and how we can go about starting this today in an inspiring and persuasive style.

Brief, direct. to-the-point, and broken into easy steps (i.e. a chapter on the "surefire program" for sainthood), this is the best book on how to get started on getting closer with God! Not filled with poetic language, but focused on simplifying the confusing path to growing in prayer life and conversion. Written by a knowledgeable Catholic priest and spiritual retreat master with spiritual direction experience - he even wrote a book about spiritual direction called the Fire Within, based on spiritualities of St. Therese of Avila, St. John of the Cross. These are also direct and to the point.

Go light that fire!

[Victoria Claire]

Fr. Dubay's writing appeals to me. I think he is a very analytical thinker, so everything he says makes a lot of sense. Not only is he analytical, but extremely sincere, and he draws constantly from the wealth of the Gospel and the richness of the lives of the saints. He weighs his arguments carefully, and ultimately he can't get around the simple truth that the Gospel and the lives of the saints clearly tip the scale. He is also very practical, and I always find that reading his book a second time, I get WAY more out of it, as I experienced with his book Happy Are You Poor. The second time through I felt that I grasped the practical advice he gave and could really apply it, and the first time was mostly just understanding and agreeing. I feel it may be the same with this one. My surface-scratching reading introduced me to his very convincing and practical discussion of why is is important for us to not be lukewarm in our faith but to pursue higher degrees of holiness, as is all our our calling. While other books may be more inspiring through the means of sparking emotion, Fr. Dubay's words and insights have such common sense practicality in application and soundness in reasoning, that for me it is a delight to read and a compelling inspiration. I hope to read it again soon and take it to prayer so that I may act on what he said and truly let it affect my life. One of the biggest take-aways for me reading it the first time through was the realization that the saints really did pour their lives into doing God's will, and that this is truly my calling as well, that saints are not made overnight, but through a constant pressing forward in Love for God, largely involving a constant battle for virtue and against sin. We must persevere, and never be give up in ridding ourselves of even the littlest sin, because the more we fight for holiness...well...Fr. Dubay lists many reasons....but not resolving to repent daily from sin causes stagnation in our faith. Always press onward, depending on the love, mercy, and grace of the Lord, because He wants your holiness way more than you do, because He wants you to have eternal joy and communion with Him. P.S. It's very short. A very unintimidating book to spend a single day reading for spiritual enrichment, or to spread out over a week.

[Leo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book and doing what it recommends will render psychiatrists and psychologists largely unnecessary. It will bring peace to an individual and thereby a family, a nation and a world by loving God instead of self.

It's a practical guide to choose the right city in The City of God.

[Stef · Rating 5 out of 5]

started a blog conversation with a friend who's reading the book along with me: http://www.andthesethygifts.com/2013/...

[Charles Klous · Rating 4 out of 5]

Convicting

[Ann Yeong · Rating 4 out of 5]

"There are more people converted from mortal sin to grace, than there are religious converted from good to better." These words by St. Bernard of Clairvaux struck Fr Thomas Dubay the first time he read it, and his many years of life experience and directing sincere disciples in the spiritual life has convinced him of the truth of it - not only about religious, but for Christians in every vocation and state of life.

The essence of this book is in its title. It is about conversion - not just initial conversion, but deep and total conversion, and the deep prayer life that necessarily precipitates and sustains deep conversion. What I find unique and appreciate about this book is the way Fr Dubay shows how deep conversion/deep prayer affects the quality of our relationships with people, especially within marriage, family life, and religious life. Fr Dubay writes succinctly about the difficulties we face in growing beyond an initial conversion experience, provides us with a list of compelling motivations for deep conversion, and gives us a simple yet powerful "program" that would help sincere disciples keep growing intentionally towards greater sanctity.

This book is only 124 pages in length and is written in an accessible, conversation-like tone. I recommend this book for anyone who desires to become more than a lukewarm Christian and who is looking for inspiration and guidance. This book would also serve well those who have had conversion experiences in the past, but who find that they have stagnated or back-slided, and are in need of inspiration and guidance to keep running the race to the finish.

The only reason I don't give this book 5 stars is because I wished Fr Dubay could have written on some of his excellent points in greater depth. After finishing this book I am left wanting more. Thankfully, I can always re-read his other (better known) books "The Prayer Primer" and "Fire Within"!

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, concise, straightforward

I recommend this book to anyone seriously wanting to more act as a loving person toward God and others. The burning question after reading this book is how one can deepen one's love of God through praying as we ought. How do we do pray as we ought? Without loving the God who loves us we can no more carry out the author's program than we can bring ourselves into being.

[Leslie Moellering · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple to read and understand, but may take decades to fully implement. Fr Dubay gives a few practical steps for those who want to live virtuously but seem stuck in a pattern of venial sins.

[John Bolin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed how straightforward this book was. It gave practical advice on how we may not currently live in deep conversion and how we can make changes to be sanctified.

[Rachel Thooft · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good book with a very convicting message. He does a great job laying out the issue he was trying to address: how most Christians only make the first step of conversion and never actually make progress toward true holiness and rooting out venial sins. I wish he spent more time giving a solution. I was convinced of the problem by halfway through his explanation of it. Then there was an interesting thing about people taking too long in confession at the end which seemed a little bit overdone for the context of the book. Not that I disagree with his point.

[Megan Barta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes I struggle with spiritual reading as the takeaways tend to be too abstract for my liking/application. This book was an exception! I found the insights and application strategies understandable, compelling, and applicable. I will be coming back to it again and again for reminders on the reasons it gives for pursuing deep conversion and deep prayer, and the ways to pursue such goals.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this from my Formed app for free.

Well worth a read. How can an okay Christian become good then better then best? He relies heavily on scripture.

He tells us that most of our problems come from not living the gospel. I will read again.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book I will read again, explaining the need for deep conversion and deep prayer in our lives. My plan is to come back to this review at a later date after I try to implement the ideas this author has shared.

[Susannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love love love Fr. Thomas Dubay. He’s like a modern-day anthology of all the great contemplatives starting with the Carmelites. This book is so practical for people today who keep falling into the same imperfections. Please don’t dismiss it as repeat of the Gospels, as he puts a good chunk of his personal journey into prayer and conversion that it’s almost his autobiography. For anyone struggling with the same pitfalls, this is a must-read. I wish there were more of his books readily available. Until then, I’m going to have to content myself with reading this through Formed app every few years!

[Dan McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Sure Fire Plan to Move Forward

So often we are in ruts doing and confessing the same things over and over with seemingly no hope of ever changing. This book outlines a easy to understand way of really changing that pattern and moving far beyond what we thought was possible.

Why do we all shoot for simply not going to hell? Why not go for what Jesus wants us to be and experience His joy in us? With His grace, our mind opens up to see truth that is hidden when we are satisfied with all our "lessor sins."

[Ingrid Pera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Fr Thomas Dubay. Fire within is one of my favorites. Although this takes some of his thoughts and writings from Fire within- this is a great addition to his body of work on conversion and living a life of holiness. So many great explanations on why one should commit themselves to a life lived in holiness. This book will make you aspire to greater heights in your faith journey. Read this along with Fr Gaitleys 33 days to merciful love and you are sure to progress and get out of one of the many Spiritual plateaus that we hit in life!

[Acenith Claassen · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I love and wholeheartedly agree with the overriding premise of the book, which is that our lives should be a continual conversion and deepening of faith. I found that sometimes the author breaks away from what I personally understand to be fairly hard and fast understandings of what being a Catholic Christian is. Some of his notions actually seem to contradict at least my own understanding of our Catholic faith. Overall it was a thought provoking and interesting read.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

10/10. A very easy to read but a challenging book on how to grow out of mediocrity and into holiness. Going to be referring to this one a lot. There is one section at the very end on confession I found extremely good, with a strong argument for short confessions to benefit the priest and the penitent.

[Hernande Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the beginning I really struggled to get into this book. It's simply written with practical advice to further notable growth in our daily and spiritual life. The second half, more than made up for the slow beginning.

[Wanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a helpful book.

* * * * * * * * * *

Well its been about half a year since I read this book, and its time to read it again!

[Aimee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A simple yet profound study. I love everything he writes.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book. I'd like more practical advice rather than philosophy. Dubay's writing style is repetitive, but the information is good.

[gabriela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gonna be thinking about this one for a while. The chapter on Conflict & Conversion went crazy, I love how straightforward he is

[Cody Hawkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a good primer on going deeper in personal conversion. However, there are some chapters and passages that seem to lose focus and devolve into rambling. Furthermore, the author's digression on love in chapter 7 is poor, even misleading because he, restraining himself to English, fails to distinguish between different types of love that are recognized in classical philosophy/theology. "There is no such thing as love at first sight" is patently false, if what you mean is erotic / eros love--this literally happens to couples all the time. But if what he means (and he does mean) is "There is no such thing as charity / agape love (Christian love) at first sight" then he is correct. But someone without deeper understanding could draw a very destructive conclusion from his statements here. They might think that erotic love is bad, or immature, or useless.

The reality is that man is a finite, dependent creature and thus requires love from others (God and people), in order to be fully himself; this is part of our design. We cannot live on self-willed, self-giving agape alone, especially in a marriage; otherwise you could marry the first person you see at the bus stop because loving them would simply be a "choice". Intuitively we know this is wrong and foolish. At some point, we need something of the natural loves to be poured into us (whatever kind is appropriate for our particular situation--eros in a marriage, storge in a family, philia among friends), and we especially require the agape love of God. Agape redeems and directs the other natural loves which themselves all ascend back into agape.

I would advise those who read this book to check out CS Lewis's The Four Loves or Pope Benedict XVI's Deus Caritas Est for a better unpacking of the Christian understanding of love in all its forms

[Matt Lenzen · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first inclination was to give this book 3 stars. But after reviewing my notes and highlights, I realize that I took at least 4 stars of content from the book, frustrations aside.

Deep Conversion/Deep Prayer is not a theological or philosophical treatise; it is essentially a spiritual self-help book, a genre I'm less than enthusiastic about. Don't approach it expecting robust explanations or rhetoric, despite his assertive positions. Dubay's strength is as a retreat-master, and this book is written as a retreat guide to live an exemplary life. Perhaps less theology is exactly what Christianity needs right now. Perhaps the Church needs a call to action and conversion.

His thesis is that many Christians live to be "good" people, but few try to become "great", and even fewer try to lives worthy of emulating. To become great we must fight egocentrism, and instead live for others. He calls us away from platitudes and theology, and instead towards "focusing daily on improving our lesser faults."

My most significant takeaway was the reminder that my words mean nothing. I should hang up the spiritual platitudes and advice I like to give, and instead strive to actually live for others. As a soon to be father, I need to keep the following at top of mind:

"You show love for wife and children by putting bread on the table and a roof over their heads, but the best proof of genuine love is found in the example of an exemplary life: a tremendous spur to their eternal enthrallment, and yours as well"

[Darren Cary · Rating 5 out of 5]

A most excellent book. Clearly written without a lot of wasted words. Concise. He discusses the fact that many people are able to repent of large, mortal sins, but few are able to find deeper conversion in seemingly lesser matters, such as overeating, gossiping, intentional viewing of immodest materials, outbursts of anger, bickering, etc.

I'm impressed with chapter 9 especially, in which he elucidates his "Seven Be's"—that is, seven things to "be" doing to help us overcome our commonly committed venial sins that we commit year after year, decade after decade, without meaningful progress.

In the next chapter he also clarifies the importance of being brief in Confession and how to do it.

This fairly short volume could serve as a perfect personal weekend retreat book. An abundance to consider without an abundance of words.

[Tom Kopff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book issues a challenge: are you satisfied being a mediocre Christian or do you want to reach for the heights? It's rather frightening, because striving to be better will involve giving up some things I am quite comfortable with. for example, is my overeating really a sin? Do I have to give it up? What if I just cut back a little? I am willing to change my eating habits to lose weight, but to grow closer to the Lord? This must be the resistance that Fr. Dubay talks about. Hmmm. An unsettling book, if, like me, you want easy answers to growing in the spiritual life.

[Sarah Kantor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super practical and accessible. This book does not dilute prayer to "methods" and "programs," but is straightforward: make an effort, rid yourself of sin, stop kidding yourself, and become deeply converted. Deep conversion is the only way to holiness. There is no reason NOT to strive for this.

[Richard Cain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Straight forward timeless wisdom

Excellent concise practical advice on how step by step to grow in holiness and divine charity. A must-read for today’s Christian serious about loving Christ.