The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

by Ralph Martin

Ralph Martin, drawing upon the teaching of seven acknowledged “Spiritual Doctors” of the Church, presents an in-depth study of the journey to God. This book provides encouragement and direction for the pilgrim who desires to know, love, and serve our Lord. Whether the reader is beginning the spiritual journey or has been traveling the road for many years, he will find a treasure of wisdom in The Fulfillment of All Desire. It is destined to be a modern classic on the spiritual life.

Genres: Catholic, Religion, Spirituality, Theology, Faith, Christian, Christianity

500 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Ralph Martin has been a leader in renewal movements in the Catholic Church for many years. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame, he did graduate work in philosophy at Princeton University and holds an MA in Theology from Sacred Heart School of Theology in the Archdiocese of Detroit, a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.) from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., and a Doctorate in Sacred Theology (S.T.D.) from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (the “Angelicum”) in Rome. He worked for a number of years for the National Office of the Cursillo Movement and subsequently became a leader in the national and international development of the charismatic renewal movement in the Catholic Church. He was the founding editor of New Covenant Magazine, as well as the founding director of the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Office, currently located in Rome.

Currently, Ralph is president of Renewal Ministries, an organization devoted to Catholic renewal and evangelization (www.renewalministries.net). Ralph is also the host of “The Choices We Face” a widely viewed weekly Catholic television and radio program distributed throughout the world. Renewal Ministries is accountable in its work to a Board of Directors in the United States, which Archbishop Robert Carlson of St. Louis, serves as Episcopal Advisor, and to a Board in Canada that Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto, serves as Episcopal Advisor. Renewal Ministries is also actively involved in assisting the Church in more than 30 different countries through leadership training, evangelistic conferences and retreats, and the publication and distribution of Catholic resources.

Ralph is also an associate professor and Director of Graduate Theology Programs in the New Evangelization at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in the Archdiocese of Detroit (www.shms.edu) and a Visiting Professor of Theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. He was named by Pope Benedict XVI as a Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization and was also appointed as a “peritus” to the Synod on the New Evangelization in October of 2012.

He and his wife Anne have six children and 14 grandchildren and reside in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Reviews

[Wanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book! It is similar in some respects to Fire Within by Fr. Dubay, yet different enough to warrant reading it even if you have read Fire Within. The book is full of quotes by Saints Augustine, Bernard, Francis de Sales, Catherine (of Siena), Teresa (of Avila), John (of the Cross), and Therese (the Little Flower). The book describes the spiritual journey, as discovered by the 7 saints, through the call to holiness, the purgative way, the illuminative way and the unitive way. I always find it exhilarating to read about this journey, although the discussion of the "dark night" always scares me more than a little! This is a book that I will return to often for a refresher course.

In my own Scripture reading, I had always been somewhat puzzled by Jesus' teaching that He would be in us and we would be in Him. I could readily understand how He was in us, especially in light of the Eucharist, but I have never been certain what it means for us to be in Him. In Fulfillment of All Desire, p. 381, Martin writes:

"At another time Bernard uses the strong imagery of 'eating' the Lord and 'being eaten' by Him to convey a mutuality of complete indwelling that, while redolent with Eucharistic imagery, extends to an abiding state of relationship."

Martin then quotes Saint Bernard:

"I myself am his food. . . I am chewed as I am reproved by him; I am swallowed as I am taught; I am digested as I am changed; I am assimilated as I am transformed; I am made one as I am conformed. Do not wonder at this. (Jn. 5:28), for he feeds upon us and is fed by us that we may be the more closely bound to him. Otherwise we are not perfectly united with him. For if I eat and am not eaten, then he is in me but I am not yet in him (Jn. 6:57). . . But he eats me that he may have me in himself, and he in turn is eaten by me that he may be in me, and the bond between us will be strong and the union complete, for I shall be in him and he likewise will be in me. . . feeding somehow upon God, and being fed by God."

There is much food for thought here. (No pun intended, lol). What I am left with is a feeling that Jesus LOVES us so much, and so wants us to be close to Him, to be in Him. Jesus sincerely desires us more than we can probably ever know while on this earth, and this ongoing revelation stokes the fires within me, making me yearn to strive even harder to somehow be worthy of someday being close to Him.

Now if I could just learn to behave....

[Kris McGregor · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook for the Journey to God based on the Wisdom of the Saints” is one of my all time favorite books…period! What Ralph Martin accomplishes is extraordinary. He synthesizes the teachings of the great mystical doctors of the Church (St. Augustine, St. Francis De Sales, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Therese of Lisieux, with Blessed John Paul II as an “instructor”) and leads on the path towards heaven. And the great thing is that it begins today, now…holiness is a universal calling for all of us. If there was one book I would recommend to have, besides the Bible of course, it is this one first and foremost! Click here for my interview with Ralph Martin

[Stef · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm starting to get tired of myself saying that "this book is life changing", but it seems that's how so many of the books I've read recently are. This was the perfect follow up to Fire Within and I read it because the good folks at the Facebook group Authentic Contemplative Prayer were reading it.

This is such a clear, definitive synopsis of St John of the Cross, St Teresa of Avila, St Therese of Lisieux, and St Bernard of Clairvaux's writings on the spiritual life and specifically spiritual marriage. What a revelation to see their thoughts on a particular aspect of prayer or holiness put together. The unity and similarity can only have come from One Source. I've marked so many passages to further meditate on, practice, and share with loved ones. A blessing to grow through these saints' guidance this Lent.

This book is also included in Dan Burke's spiritual reading plan, which I am following roughly, as I've. already read some of the books. I intend to follow it more closely now.

[Caroline Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read. This. Book. Even though Fulfillment of all Desire took me almost 9 months to read and dried out my favorite highlighter, it was 100% worth the time commitment and trip to Amazon to get more highlighters. Every single time I opened this book, it somehow said exactly what I needed to hear. Martin took the profound wisdom of the saints that I never could have understood at this point in my spiritual life and made it tangible. I would recommend this book to anyone striving to grow in the Christian life! Don’t be intimated by the length, it is worth every single page. I don’t say this often, but if I didn’t have such a long list of books to read, I’d read this again right now!

[Janelle Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is it possible to give a book more than 5 stars??

This book was absolutely incredible! Every Catholic needs to prioritize this book and read it ASAP. Ralph Martin answers every question you’ve ever had or will have about the spiritual journey in a comprehensive and easy to understand format. The wisdom from the 7 saints and Martin has made everything about the faith so much clearer.

Do not be intimidated by this book! Just start reading and you’ll quickly fall in love. I plan on rereading this book at least once a year to assess my own spiritual journey and my next steps.

God Bless you Ralph Martin!!

[booklady]

Just comparing books for Adoration and Wanda recommended this one which I'd never heard of. Also, I just noticed that goodreads added the feature, 'how many times I've read this book'. Maybe it's been there awhile, but this is the first time I've seen it. Not sure if I'm happy about it or not...

[Audrey Monahan · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS was the fulfillmment of all my desires in a book about the spiritual journey. I know that I often “highly recommend” books but I seriously cannot stop talking about this one! TFAD is thought-provoking, practical, and well-written. I was anticipating such a thick and theologically heavy book to be difficult to read but it was far too interesting and profound for that to be the case. TFAD is a comprehensive guide for the pilgrimage from sinner to Saint, heavily relying on Scripture, Church teachings, and wisdom from the Saints. It is also a great introduction to reading the Saints as Ralph Martin does a great job breaking down the words of the Doctors of the Church in a manner that is a bit easier to grasp.

I highlighted too many passages in this book to include them in this review but some of the most illuminative sections for me were the chapters on “The Transformation of Thought, Desire, and Action” and “Temptations and Trials”. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that these resonated with me the most since they were both in “The Purgative Way” where the initial transformative stages of spiritual growth are occuring. The final chapters in on the unitive way were much harder to get through because it felt too unrelatable for my current state in life. Perhaps if I read it again at a point when I am more “formed”, sections from the higher mansions will resonate with me more (fingers crossed). This is certainly a book that I will be re-reading in the future!

[Juraj Skelin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Odlična knjiga o putu duhovnog rasta i općem pozivu na svetost. Više kao neki sustavni pregled literature 7 naučitelja crkve, pogotovo jer postoji i priručnik sa pitanjima o tome što si pročitao u zadnjem poglavlju + pitanja za razmatranje, tako da nije neš za pročitat u tjedan, dva nego malo po malo, ali se svejedno lako čita. Ako bih trebao preporučiti jednu knjigu o putu duhovnog rasta onda bi to bila ova... tako da preporučam.

[Ray Schneider]

This is one of those books which draws you into the primary materials. It is about the great mystics especially folks like Teresa Avila and John of the Cross and about five others. I think it is very valuable for those who wish to decide what direction to go in their reading about contemplative prayer. I was struck by how many five star ratings there were on Amazon for it.

[Becca Hadley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took my time with this book- and it’s beautiful. Great read for anyone who wants to take their spiritual life seriously!

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok so 2 years later this book is finished. But wow. I will be reading this again and again and again if I am wise.

This book basically pieces together the works of 7 Doctors of the Church - Augustine, Thérèse, Teresa, Bernard, John of the Cross, Francis, and Catherine of Siena - to create a roadmap for the spiritual journey. The author’s writing in this is more summary or clarification of the great writings of the saints than anything of his own. Which is amazing, it made these writings easier to understand. Also, what could he possibly say that hasn’t been said by these 7? He linked their spiritual insights wonderfully in a way I never would have been able to pull together for myself.

This is a humbling read and I imagine it will only become more humbling as I progress on my own spiritual journey. It really hit home for me how much work my life needs and how incapable I am of doing that work. But how good the mercy of God is and saving for those who rely on it. The road to heaven certainly seems narrow after reading this but I am inspired all the more to pursue it.

[Cecilia Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorough overview of the spiritual life. I appreciated how he pulled from many of the doctors of the church to show the universality of the stages of the spiritual life. Not always a page turner but an important read for anyone who wants to take holiness seriously.

[Matthew Purt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This the most important, the best, the most rewarding and the most consoling book I have and likely will ever read.

Thank you Ralph Martin for writing it and thank you God for giving it to me to read!

[Karin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot say enough about this book. It is truly a work of grace! Dr. Ralph Martin enlists the writings and teachings of seven of the great Doctors of the Church who teach us what holiness is and how we are to travel along its path in order to reach that fulfillment of all desires~ the Beatific Vision.
These saints and Doctors: Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux, Francis deSales, John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Therese of Liseux and Catherine of Siena, become your teachers and companions as you prayerfully read through this book. Dr. Martin gives us bite size pieces of some of the most profound and sometimes difficult works by these saints, such as John of the Cross' Dark Night of the Soul and Teresa's Interior Castles.
This book is for anyone no matter where they are on their spiritual journey. Through prayerful reading, the reader becomes aware that God calls all of us to holiness, to become saints, and that what awaits us in heaven is worth all the trials and sufferings endured in this life.
Their is also a companion study guide available with questions for comprehension of the text as well as questions for reflection. I highly recommend using the study guide as the questions will help you review and process what you have read, and the questions for reflection will help you to go deeper into your own spiritual life and see where and how the teachings of the saints as well as Holy Scripture can be applied to your own daily life.
I will close this review with St John of the Cross' prayer:
May the most sweet Jesus, Bridegroom of faithful souls, be pleased to bring all who invoke His name to this marriage.

[Gregory Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a comprehensive guide to the spiritual life taking a person from the beginning all the way to sainthood. It draws heavily from the writings of some of the great spiritual doctors of the Church, including Saints Augustine, Bernard, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Thérèse of Lisieux, and Francis de Sales. This thick book is loaded with quotes, with at least one appearing on just about every page, but it ties them together with explanations that help modern readers make sense of writings that can sometimes be baffling outside of the right context. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is serious about the spiritual life. The book is quite readable and does not require a lot of theological background, but I did find that it required a lot of effort to get through. I think the effort, however, was not so much intellectual as much as an effort of the will. The spiritual life is not easy, and our sin tainted natures resist it. However, I found the book well worth the effort, and I'm glad I persevered and finished it.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to read this book over and over again in my lifetime. There is so many nuggets of wonderful information to meditate on. This book is a gateway "drug" to researching the saints. Ralph Martin does a good job of piecing information from saints together and painting an overall picture of prayer and the journey to God.

[Father Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tremendous compendium of wisdom on spiritual growth from the great saints of the Catholic Church. It is not a book one would read again, but it does offer the reader many ideas of where one might look to go deeper in pursuit of spiritual wisdom.

[Rachel Thooft · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book. My dad ordered it from EWTN and I read it after him (we do that a lot). It makes you think. The further you go the more you think "Have so far to go". Great for spiritual reading.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t understand what all the hype is with this book. For me it was too disjointed and read more like a compendium of quotes. On the bright side, this book has inspired me to read biographies of the saints.

[Bailey L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book upon a recommendation in a podcast. It has some useful/interesting perspectives on some really specific areas of our spiritual lives that I hadn't read much about before, e.g. some unusual ways of how God speaks to us, how to welcome suffering AKA "the dark night of the soul", and provided a good resource for me to go back to when I suffer physical pain in the future. The book is almost 500 pages, and because they're using excerpts from the saints' writings about their union with Christ, at times it felt a bit unrelatable. Unrelataable in a good way -- like I want to understand more of what they mean and go back to this book in a few decades. I bet I would get a lot more out of it late in life.

Still found lots of good quotes to keep from this one :)

[Meghan Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initially the length and content of this book I found daunting. It had been highly recommended, but I kept putting it off. Finally I started reading it and became engrossed. Ralph Martin synthesizes the great works of our Church Doctors simply and beautifully. This book is remarkable in connecting teachings of the spiritual journey from saints spanning various centuries, cultures, & perspectives. If you want to better understand how God works in a soul, I highly recommend this book! It took me years to finish because I saved the last chapters because it was too good to finish.


“For me, prayer is an inspiration of the heart, it is a simple glance directed to heaven, it is a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trials as well as joy; finally it is something great, supernatural, which expands my soul and unites me to Jesus.” - St. Therese

[Sawyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.8

[Whitney Brophy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific read. Has a lot of wisdom from the doctors of the church distilled down into chapters, in addition to a lot of scripture. I listened to it as an audiobook, and in hindsight, I think having a hard copy would have been better as I’d love to be able to go back and reference things.

[Steven R. McEvoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subtitle of this book is A Guidebook for the Journey to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints. Ralph Martin, a leader within the renewal movement, has taught on this subject in many different settings and in many different ways. In this book he examines seven of the 33 Doctors of the church and how their writings contribute to the understanding of a spiritual journey. These studies are done through the three stages of spiritual growth.

Those three stages are: the purgative way, the illuminative way, and the unitive way. These are also the three major sections in this book. Yet throughout, he draws heavily upon our seven Doctors: Catherine of Siena, Bernard of Clairvaux, Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Augustine, St. Francis De Sales, and St. Therese of Lisieux. This book is at least a third quotations, which takes us back to the source documents and draws out the spirituality of these saints to help us grow in our own lives.

The strength of this work is its accessible language; it is well written and opens up topics and authors that are not always approachable. Martin takes us on a journey through the saints and through our own spiritual lives. This book can be a roadmap that you use for spiritual growth, renewal, and to enrich your life - and through that the lives of those around you. Martin states: "What really holds us back from a wholehearted response to the call of Jesus, of Vatican II, of the repeated urgings of the Spirit, is not really the external circumstances of our lives, but the interior sluggishness of our hearts. We need to be clear that there will never be a better time or a better set of circumstances than now to respond wholeheartedly to the call to holiness. Who knows how much longer we'll be alive on this earth? We don't know how long we'll live or what the future holds. Now is the acceptable time. The very things we think are obstacles are the very means God is giving us to draw us to depend more deeply on Him." p.7 This book is designed to help overcome that internal sluggishness.

Martin then uses the three stages to examine the spiritual journey deeper into God. "Various attempts to classify the stages of spiritual growth have been made over the centuries. The predominant classification, used by a number of the Doctors we are drawing from and many other writers as well, is the three-stage division of purgative, illuminative, and unitive." p.11 Martin outlines how each stage has a number of characteristics and how the saints can help us move through each stage as we grow closer to God.

The drawback of this book is that if you have struggled with the original writings of these saints, there are so many quotes you will feel like you are reading them again. The strength is that Martin brings years of experience teaching and trying to learn from the saints and live out what he has learned. He will open them up to you in new and exciting ways.

This book will be a great pick for many reasons - first if you want to grow deeper in your spiritual life, second if you want to understand some of the Doctors of the church more, and finally if you have struggled with some of the mystics, this book will help you understand them more. This book will be a great addition to any Catholic library.

A differrent review of this book was published in The National Catholic Register January 14th 2007 as 'The Doctors Will See You'.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been meaning to read this for a while as it has been highly recommended for spiritual growth. I'm kind of embarrassed that I did not rate this higher. While I enjoy Ralph Martin and value what this book offers, I had a hard time plowing through this book. I think it is mostly that I had a hard time relating to the verbiage, especially of the Saints quoted... and really that's a statement about me than anything. Perhaps I'm not yet spiritually mature enough for this, I dunno. I also think the book could be a little more concise as I found some repetition. Sorry for the unpopular opinion.

[Leo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the reviews on Amazon.

Peace and Union with Christ means conforming our will to God's will.

Faith in God's love and mercy is the gateway to believing that God's grace is the source of our faith and the inspiration to do good works. We must be open to acting on God's grace and inspiration, but we can do nothing on our own to merit salvation.

This is the best book that I've read for learning how to become closer to God.

[Rachel M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't think of many books that have had as practical and immediate an impact on my spiritual life as this one. The size of the book is intimidating, but I found the structure and format very readable.

Martin condenses and summarizes those great(and sometimes insurmountable) spiritual works, like The Interior Castle and The Dark Night of the Soul. He shows how, while living very different lives, the saints' journeys shared many common elements and common discoveries.

[Ben Valentine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ralph Martin took many years to put together the riches of wisdom from these 7 Doctors of the Church and I can tell. His citing of primary sources from these saints' writings opens up so many aspects of the spiritual life that we all need to know about. God is calling us all to this spiritual marriage and the saints show us how to get there and the beauty of it. Thanks be to God for this book and it's inspiration for greater holiness in my life!

[Jared Bennett · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s a good introduction to the spiritual life, but at this point in my journey I found it annoying to read a book that is simply quotations and commentary. It creates a disjointed experience. This book will help find out what else to read for your spiritual growth. I’m at the point in life where I’d rather spend what time I have reading the primary sources rather than read someone simply quoting them without adding or trying to say something new. But that’s just me and where I am.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a point in this book where the words just stop sinking in and meaning anything. Every time I read this book, I get a bit farther and presumably am a bit more spiritually mature. It's hard though to reach that point where things no longer sink in and realize that I have so much farther to go.