God’s Crossfire-Love — the collected prayers, psalms and homilies of Fr. Robert E. Hamm, S.J.
A Jesuit Spiritual Legacy

A Peek Into the Life of Fr. Robert E. Hamm, S.J.

Across fifty years of priesthood — from a Pennsylvania spirituality center to twenty-five years in the mission fields of Benin City, Nigeria — Father Hamm filled a dozen boxes with psalms, Ignatian meditations, Gospel reflections and prayers. God’s Crossfire-Love gathers that lifetime of listening for God into one contemplative companion, inviting you to step inside Scripture and meet a God whose love is given without reserve.

Discover His Journey Meet the Priests

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Reflections

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Parts

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Ignatian Weeks

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Psalm

Discover Enduring Faith

Appreciate Decades
Of Priestly Wisdom

Several lifetimes of a priestly ministry went into making this prose, and several other lifetimes of editorial devotion were brought to bear on shaping it. Together, Fr. Robert Hamm and Fr. Dominic Totaro have created a piece of spiritual substance, a piece that will endure for years to come.

The Idea for This Book
Author
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The Idea for This Book

God's Crossfire-Love

God's Crossfire-Love started in the late 1990s when a group of God's People began discussing and praying prayers that Father Robert E. Hamm, S.J., had written for retreatants and directees. Initially, he was not interested in their publication and asked, “Nah! Who would want to use them? But his friend said, "These prayers can benefit many, many people to deepen their prayer life.

Father Hamm wrote constantly over the years, putting a dozen boxes of prayers, homilies, and reflections. These writings were carefully preserved and form the basis of this book. They are not only a sign of his love for prayer, but also a commitment he has made all his life: to lead others closer to God.

A Spiritual Method
Editor
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A Spiritual Method

Rooted in the Ignatian Tradition

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola have a huge impact on Father Hamm’s writings. The way he did it was straightforward but powerful: He would get the person to “enter into the scripture” and see how God moved in their lives. He frequently used Scripture as God's direct address to the pray-er and/or as the pray-er's direct response to God.

This dialogical style brought prayer to be personal and transformative. His writings brought people to the awareness that at that moment they were experiencing something in themselves, which was a struggle, a desire, a hope, and something God was asking from them.

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"To have prayer that will immerse you in the Bible. In order to see Father Hamm’s special understanding of the Trinity."

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God's Cross Fire Love
The Book

God's Cross Fire Love

An eloquent and extensive body of religious texts that have been compiled over fifty years of priesthood ministry, comprising new Psalms, Ignatian retreat meditations, Gospel reflections, personal prayers, and great feasts homilies of the Church calendar year.

Based on Scripture and influenced by the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, the book is meant for every reader looking for inspiration in their contemplative prayer life. The voice of Fr. Hamm comes from the African mission fields of Benin City, Nigeria, through the Ignatian spiritual tradition – a voice that is personal and universal, a voice that speaks of a God of love without reserve.

Part I Psalms & Scripture 110 reflections
Part II Psalms & Scripture 110 reflections
Part III Psalms & Scripture 110 reflections
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Inside the Book

A glimpse within

The book guides the reader through three great movements of the spiritual life: Scripture, the Ignatian Exercises, and the liturgical year.

Inside the Book

Scripture as Living Word

It's Scripture, not words on a page, but a conversation between God and believer that is at the heart of God's Crossfire-Love. Father Hamm frequently would take a section of scripture and make it into God's word to the pray-er, or the pray-er's word to God.

Inside the Book

The Ignatian Exercises in Practice

Father Hamm's prayers evoke a sense of being “in the scene” and are deeply inspired by the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Readers are called to imagine themselves into moments in the Gospel to experience, see, and hear Christ in their own lives.

Inside the Book

Preaches as prayerful reflections

In addition to prayers, some of Father Hamm's homilies are also included because they are prayerful and insightful. These reflections carry the retreat to the rhythm of the liturgical year, providing wisdom that brings Scripture to life.

Inside the Book

The Spiritual Life moves

In the book, these three movements are presented: Scripture, the Ignatian Exercises, and the liturgical year. One section leads to the next, taking the reader from immersion in the Word, through structured spiritual practice, to the continuous cycle of worship and celebration.

Inside the Book

The simplicity and Presence of prayer

Father Hamm’s writings embody his sacred simplicity. His prayers are full of humility, attention and emptying, and his love for the hymn “'Tis a Gift to be Simple” is evident. They're not theological papers, but invitations to encounter God.

Inside the Book

A Legacy of Love and Mercy

Compiled from twelve boxes of writings, God’s Crossfire-Love is more than a book — it is Father Hamm’s spiritual legacy. He reminds readers that they live and move in God's mercy – his vision of the Trinity as “crossfire-love”.

Ignatian Retreat

A Graced History

A prayer exercise inviting retreatants to look back over their whole life and recognize God's constant presence in it — in the people they've known, the places they've lived, and even in their failures.

Ignatian Retreat

Facing Personal Sinfulness

Drawing on Ignatius's own method, this section guides retreatants toward honest self-examination not through anxious introspection, but by simply listening for what God is saying in the present moment.

Ignatian Retreat

The Call of Peter and Paul

Reflections on how Christ calls each person individually and specifically, using the Gospel accounts of Peter's and Paul's very different calls as a mirror for the retreatant's own.

Ignatian Retreat

The Two Standards

An Ignatian meditation contrasting the pull of riches, honor, and pride against the path of poverty, humility, and service that Christ walked.

Ignatian Retreat

The Mystery of the Incarnation

Contemplations on the Annunciation, the Nativity, and the hidden years in Nazareth, inviting retreatants to enter the Gospel scenes as eyewitnesses.

Ignatian Retreat

The Transfiguration & Shadow of the Cross

A meditation on how the joy of encountering Christ's glory is never separate from the reality of his coming death — light and shadow together.

Homily Reflection

Epiphany

On the light of Christ breaking into the world, and what it means for that light to be found by unlikely travelers from unlikely places.

Homily Reflection

Easter Sunday

A homily on resurrection joy and what it means to live as an Easter people in an ordinary world.

Homily Reflection

Trinity Sunday

Fr. Hamm's own image for the Trinity God's "crossfire-love" first appears here, comparing the Father, Son, and Spirit to a hunter's rifle scope where vertical and horizontal lines meet.

Homily Reflection

Christmas

A meditation on the vulnerability of the Incarnation — God arriving not in power, but "swaddled in our humanity."

Homily Reflection

Feast of Christ the King

On what kind of king kneels to wash feet, and what that says about the nature of real authority.

Homily Reflection

Loving Your Enemies

A homily wrestling honestly with one of the hardest of Christ's teachings, grounded in Fr. Hamm's own pastoral experience.

Reviews Of The Book Readers

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No prayer book that I know of is like God's Crossfire-Love. Through the way in which Father Hamm brings the reader into the scripture, prayers seem alive and personal. His insights helped me listen to God's voice in my life. This book is not for retreatants only; it's for anyone desiring to enhance their spiritual journey.

— Sarah Jenkins
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The simplicity and accessibility of Father Hamm's prayers to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius were what came as most striking to me. The homilies and prayers are humble and clearly written, but have great theological depth. They are like an invitation to sit and chat with God. A book that I go back to many times for quiet contemplation.

— Marcus Vance
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Father Hamm's vision of the Trinity as God's Crossfire-Love is strong and comforting. His writing conveys the simplicity and attentiveness that he lived by. I particularly admired his homilies on how he related Scripture to the liturgical year, thus making prayer a part of daily life. This book is a gift... a gift that lives on after him.

— Elena Rostova
Get in Touch

Reach Fr. Robert or Fr. Dominic

If you have any questions about the book, have an idea for a speaking event, retreat, or consider editorial collaboration, we are happy to hear from you.

Fr. Dominic Totaro, S.J.
Phone Contact +1 (704) 775-5598
Fr. Dominic Totaro, S.J.
Email At dtotaro1935@gmail.com
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