Ten Evenings with God by Ilia Delio
Sep 13, 2026
I didn't find Ten Evenings with God. It found me.
Years ago I was roaming the gift shop at St. Jude's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Florida, looking for a First Communion gift. Then I spotted the used book rack. Confession: I love books, and I love used books even more.
As I pulled out a beautifully bound volume, Ten Evenings with God by Ilia Delio, OSF hopped off the shelf. I liked the description on the back and added it to my stack at the counter. I had no idea it would become my favorite book of all time.
The first time I began reading it, I fell in love with the profound, unintimidating way Sister Ilia writes about happiness, and how much God loves to live through us. It is one of those rare books that offers new wisdom every time you return. I revisit it often, and it never feels finished. Different seasons highlight different sentences. That is part of its gift.
She puts language to something many of us feel but cannot quite name. God's will is not a cold assignment. It is love.
"As we grow in understanding the will of God as the love of God, we let go of the expectations and demands we usually place on ourselves and allow ourselves to stand open in creation." Ilia Delio
That sentence still stops me. So much of our exhaustion comes from gripping our lives like a project we have to get right. We demand more of ourselves than God is asking. We confuse striving with faithfulness. This book invites a different posture: open, listening, willing to let God love through you, not merely at you.
If you have been white-knuckling decisions, treating faith like a performance review, or wondering whether joy is even allowed in a serious spiritual life, this is a spacious companion. Sister Ilia writes big truths in a way that does not intimidate. She makes room for a living relationship with God, the kind that can hold your questions and still call you into freedom.
I keep a handful of books close for a reason. This is the one I return to when I need to remember that love is the starting place, not the prize at the end of self-improvement. It found me in a cathedral gift shop, on a used book rack, while I was shopping for someone else. Grace has a sense of humor like that.
If a used book can hop off a shelf and change the way you stand in creation, imagine what it might do on your nightstand.
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