Bruce Davis - Author of "Love Letters"

This month, Suzane welcomes special guest, Bruce Davis.

Bruce is the author of Simple Peace – the Inner Life of St Francis, The Heart of Healing, Monastery Without Walls, My Little Flowers, and The Calling of Joy and, most recently, Love Letters: Saint Francis and Saint Clare of Assisi Meet Pope Francis. As one of the world’s leading secular authorities on the inner life of the revered saint, Davis - who for many years resided in Assisi - is ideally suited to retrace these steps from a fictional standpoint. But he does so with a purpose - to shed light on whether the new namesake Pope can really renew the first Francis’ promise of a compassionate and humble church that protects the poor and underserved.

Much like the subject of his works, Bruce prefers to live a modest and unpretentious life with his wife Ruth. They cater to others who seek the beauty and grace of silence.

One of the world’s leading authors on the power of silence, Bruce Davis for the past 12 years, has been teaching and guiding people in the art of silence. Today, he writes, speaks and coaches people on the art of being silent and the joys that come from it.

Through the years, Bruce studied and lived with spiritual teachers in India, Philippines, Germany and Indonesia. For many years, he and Ruth led a program of taking teenagers from one of America's wealthiest communities into the poorest neighborhood of San Francisco to give food to people living in the streets.

A spiritual psychologist and teacher of world religions, Bruce has been leading retreats worldwide since 1983. Davis gently guides the daily retreat meditations at Silent Stay. His work is based in his deep connection to silence, simplicity and heartfulness. He writes an ongoing column in the Huffington Post on the Gifts of Silence.