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Practicing Silence: New and Selected Verses
Although the literary form is poetry, this is a book about the spiritual life. Think of it as an armchair visit to a monastery. Focused around monastic themes, it speaks to the spiritual seeker and curious bystander alike by presenting a range of spiritual experiences in accessible language. The poems are grouped according to a monastic logic. A section on visits to monasteries is followed by poems on questions of vocation or spiritual calling that such visits often raise. Then the reader will follow the horarium, or monastic day, and encounter some fruit of lectio divina, the practice of prayerful reading of scripture. The poems on interior prayer will speak to contemplatives in any religious tradition. The collection closes by exploring the experience of anchorites and solitaries.
- GenresPoetry
112 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2014
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March 29, 2024Wonderful poems written using monastic logic, using the Rule of St. Benedict as a guide. And to think I found this on a free table! This line was especially interesting to read on Good Friday:
“When the culture has gone mad as a March Hare, the steady sanity of quiet people who want to live alone with God appears crazy as crocus poking up through snow, Lenten purple, but promising Easter.”
A few other standout poems/lines:
- “Lucubrations”
- “Monastery of the Holy Spirit”
- “Abram at Haran”
- “School of the Heart”
- “Remember I Am Fragile”
- “Solitude”
“The prison doors of preference and pride must be opened by humility’s patient hand.”
“Give me the quiet courage of hope.”
“A hermit learns the way to keep peace is to give away even the desire of it.”
“When the culture has gone mad as a March Hare, the steady sanity of quiet people who want to live alone with God appears crazy as crocus poking up through snow, Lenten purple, but promising Easter.”
A few other standout poems/lines:
- “Lucubrations”
- “Monastery of the Holy Spirit”
- “Abram at Haran”
- “School of the Heart”
- “Remember I Am Fragile”
- “Solitude”
“The prison doors of preference and pride must be opened by humility’s patient hand.”
“Give me the quiet courage of hope.”
“A hermit learns the way to keep peace is to give away even the desire of it.”
February 26, 2019
Simple beauty
Thoughts and reflections about the monastic life presented in a form that resembles the quiet beauty of that life. She has such great insight and shares it with us in a form just as pleasing. It was powerful to read the Horarium chapter as I prayed the hours.
Thoughts and reflections about the monastic life presented in a form that resembles the quiet beauty of that life. She has such great insight and shares it with us in a form just as pleasing. It was powerful to read the Horarium chapter as I prayed the hours.
August 30, 2017
A beautiful collection of poems inspired by Monastic life and contemplative prayer
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews