The Genesee Diary: Report from a Trappist Monastery

by Henri J.M. Nouwen

During his seven-month stay in a Trappist monastery, Henri Nouwen had a unique opportunity to explore crucial issues of the spiritual life and discover "a quiet stream underneath the fluctuating affirmations and rejections of my little world." Nouwen participated fully in the daily life of the Abbey of the Genesee in upstate New York -- in work and in prayer. From the early weeks in the abbey -- dominated by conflicting desires and concerns -- to the final days of Advent, when he finds a new sense of calm expectation, Nouwen never loses his critical honesty. Insightful, compassionate, often humorous, always realistic, The Genesee Diary is both an inspiration and a challenge to those who are in search of themselves.

"The Genesee Diary beautifully lifts the heart and mind to God."
--Christianity Today

"This is an extraordinary account of a man seeking inner peace and total commitment to God... a fine portrait of cloistered life, a beautifully written account of one man's soul-searching."
--Publisher's Weekly

Genres: Spirituality, Religion, Nonfiction, Christianity, Biography, Theology, Christian

222 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Henri Jozef Machiel Nouwen was a Dutch Catholic priest, theologian, psychologist, professor, and spiritual writer whose work profoundly shaped contemporary Christian spirituality. Born in Nijkerk, the Netherlands, in 1932, Nouwen pursued religious studies and was ordained a priest in 1957. His intellectual curiosity led him to study psychology at the Catholic University of Nijmegen and later at the Menninger Clinic in Kansas, where he explored the connection between faith and mental health. Throughout his life, Nouwen remained committed to integrating pastoral care, psychology, and spiritual theology in a way that addressed the emotional and existential needs of believers.
Nouwen held teaching positions at prestigious institutions including the University of Notre Dame, Yale Divinity School, and Harvard Divinity School. He authored over three dozen books and hundreds of articles, with notable works such as The Wounded Healer, The Return of the Prodigal Son, Life of the Beloved, and The Inner Voice of Love. His writing, often rooted in personal vulnerability and spiritual struggle, resonated with readers across denominations. Nouwen openly explored themes of loneliness, identity, intimacy, and the human desire for love and belonging, making his voice especially relatable and influential.
Though he was a gifted academic and popular speaker, Nouwen found his deepest calling later in life through his involvement with L’Arche, a network of communities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. After a transformative stay at the original L’Arche community in France, Nouwen accepted an invitation to become the pastor of L’Arche Daybreak in Richmond Hill, Ontario. There he developed a close bond with Adam Arnett, a core member with severe disabilities, which inspired the book Adam: God’s Beloved. At Daybreak, Nouwen discovered a deep spiritual home and a community that helped him embrace his humanity in profound ways.
Throughout his life, Nouwen wrestled with issues of identity, including his sexuality and his longing for connection, though he remained faithful to his vows. His openness about depression and inner conflict gave depth to his pastoral message, and his ability to turn personal struggle into shared spiritual insight made him one of the most beloved spiritual writers of the 20th century.
Henri Nouwen died in 1996 of a sudden heart attack, but his legacy endures through his writings, the Henri Nouwen Society, and the continued global reach of his message of belovedness, vulnerability, and compassionate community. His books remain bestsellers, widely read in seminaries, churches, and among individuals seeking a more intimate walk with God.

Reviews

[Leila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting.

[Mike Nicastro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a diary, and thus, has no start-to-finish page-turning narrative engineered to wow and awe. This is, however, a diary, and thus instead of offering premeditated platitudes, messages, and escapes from our humanity, presses into the simple and mundane. It’s honest, so so very honest, the most honest of Henri I’ve read. He talks about what makes him tired, angry, sad, and joyful. He talks about his shame, his guilt, his agony of the hurting world. He struggles to keep up with the manual work of baking bread and moving rocks. He acknowledges his identity struggles in his longing for affirmation and feelings of loneliness. He spends 7 months actively trying not to engage in his compulsive “oughts”, with which I all too heavily relate. He asks really big questions, but deeply engages with the smallest and most important ones. I understand my own heart a little better from this read, and have more importantly gained just a little more insight into how to let God be the center of my being. I highly recommend if these things interest you. It’s not screaming for attention, it’s not lecturing, it’s a collection of gentle thoughts trying to lean into a more Gentle Voice.

[Rachel Wong · Rating 5 out of 5]

(5⭐️) I wish I could give this book more stars. I love reading Nouwen and have read a number of his more well-known titles, but this one is far and away one of my favourites by him. Written well before he wrote some of the titles he is known for today, it is a stunning, raw and honest look into a particular time in his life: a seven-month visit to the Genesee Trappist Abbey in New York.

Taken from his own diary, it provides insight into his thoughts, feelings and reflections on his prayer life, the day-to-day work he engaged in with the other monks, his meetings with the abbot, and most strikingly the things he was upset and angry about.

There was something very poignant about reading his thoughts in a stream of consciousness way, very different from his other writing of course, but still well thought out and put together. You can tell that he is a spiritual person, trying to seek out and understand God in the midst of it all. This makes it not only a very reflective read, but a personal and relatable one.

Nouwen provides many insights on a wide range of topics like prayer, manual work, obedience, community life, love, anger, and other things that can serve as the foundation for so many meditations. I know I’ll be returning to this title again at some point in the future.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely glimpse into Nouwen’s private spiritual growth. His description of Advent is particularly beautiful.

[Sasja Dijkstra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mooi en wijs boek!

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is gentle, thoughtful reading, rather than OMG AMAZING reading. I vacillated between 3 and 4 stars here, because of that, settling on 3 only because I have other gentle thoughtful books that I still enjoyed reading more, and ate up in fewer sessions. But this is very much worth reading, gently and thoughtfully.

It's also a diary, which means it won't always be as thematic or developed as another kind of book would be. This isn't a flaw; just a fact of the book.

I particularly liked Nouwen's conclusion, when he looked back over his time at the abbey, and at his diary, and at the months since leaving the abbey -- and concluded that the abbey hadn't fixed him. Nor, he explained, was that ever really the abbey's job in the first place.

My favorite little moment: Nouwen quotes Thomas Merton, who writes about feeling joyful about being a member of "the race in which God himself became incarnate," as though no trial or tribulation can touch him now that "I realize what we all are." He wishes he could share this joyful knowledge, but it cannot be explained: "There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun."

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've long been meaning to read more Nouwen and this was a natural follow-up from The Seven-Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton since Merton became a Trappist monk. It was a little different than I expected. I thought it would be more about the rhythms of the monastery itself and what it was like to live with monks for seven months. (I still want to know how the Trappists' vow of silence actually works.) It was a little about that, but it's mostly about Nouwen's own interior life and his struggles. The abbot of Genesee is a trained psychologist named John Eudes and Nouwen meets with him once a week for counseling sessions. Nouwen articulated some struggles that I have felt myself, so I felt a real kinship with him as I read. John Eudes is a wise man. I wanted to meet with him myself!

I recommend this not as a polished work on Christian spirituality that Nouwen is so well known for but as an invitation into the daily struggles of lived-out spirituality: How does one make space for prayer? How is work a meaningful part of spirituality? What is my vocation? Nouwen is a good companion for these questions.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful story of life in a Trappist monastery. Although only living there for seven months, Henri is brutally honest in his writing and faces his feelings of inadequacy, anger, confusion, and moodiness. It is refreshing to experience his struggles and how to become a better person. He learns a lot and this book is full of good advice and uplifting quotes and verse. Keep it simple- that seems to be the building block of their lives.
My favorite line is "God is in the gentle breeze with which he touches our back." How beautiful.
My only disappointment was in the conclusion where he admits that he did not come out as changed for the better as he had hoped. But again, his honesty is appreciated.
I learned a lot from his experience with the Brothers- for instance, their main form of communication is sign language and not verbal, in keeping with the code of silence.
And one question............for all the fasting they do, what is up with all the feast days? I couldn't figure out if it is feast or famine in there, ha ha!
Great spiritual reading- really enjoyed it.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I've never read anything by Nouwen but if this is anything like his other works I would love to read more. This is Nouwen's diary from living in a monastery for 7 months. Nouwen's analysis of his own thought life is challenging and by far the most prominent take away. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

[Margaret Mechinus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am going through my bookshelves and found all my notes written in the margins of this book. I read it in 1991 when I was in the midst of being a wife and mother to six kids from 2 years to 21. I think at the time I very much wanted to go live in a monastery myself.

[Joe Terrell]

A quiet, thoughtful, and vulnerable account, The Genesee Diary is an illuminating and contemplative exploration of the monastic lifestyle from a man who spent seven months in a Trappist monastery.

Henri Nouwen is one of my favorite spiritual writers. I don't think there's anyone else — aside from maybe Richard Rohr — who can just cut through the bullshit of performative and ego-driven Christianity in such a way that forces one to turn their gaze inward as well as Nouwen. Attempting to find a balm for his restlessness and feelings that he was living at an unsustainable pace, Nouwen received special permission from a Trappist monastery in upstate New York to join their order for seven months. Beginning in June 1974 and ending on the final days of Advent, Nouwen's stay in the Abbey of the Genesee makes up the narrative of The Genesee Diary, which, as the title implies, is written in the form of a daily diary.

What is perhaps most special about The Genesee Diary is how self-aware Nouwen is about what he's doing and why he's doing it. The early days at the monastery are marked by an enthusiasm at "doing something new," but as the weeks pass, Nouwen's initial enthusiasm gives way to boredom and frustration, and then, finally, to transformation. Nouwen's reckoning with his own ego and anger at the injustices in the world outside the abbey's walls are some of the most piercing (and relatable) aspects of The Genesee Diary. But more than that, The Genesee Diary also offers a compelling day-by-day account of what committing oneself to a monastic lifestyle would actually look and feel like.

It's strange to read The Genesee Diary in 2024. The soul-killing "noise" in the world that necessitated Nouwen's self-imposed exile has only grown more pronounced and unavoidable in the fifty years since this book was published. It's hard not to read about Nouwen's experiences learning how to appreciate silence, nature, meditation, prayer, and deep reading and not feel a sense of longing for the cloistered or monastic lifestyle. For many of us, I suspect, books like The Genesee Diary will be the closest we get to the enlightenment experienced by those who sequestered themselves from the outside and devote themselves fully to one singular ideal.

A beautiful read that'll undoubtedly stir the soul, The Genesee Diary is a highly recommended, and perhaps more needed than ever before.

[Michael McCue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henri Nouwen was an author, Dutch Catholic priest, and academic. He was a professor at Yale among other places. In 1974 he went to live as a monk at the Trappist Abbey of the Genesee near Rochester, New York. He did not join the the Trappists and stay as a professed monk but came to spend 7 months living as a monk and reflecting on his life. The diary he kept during those seven months was published later at the urging of some of his fiends. While at the Abbey Nouwen entered into the balanced monastic life of prayer, contemplation and work. Whole I have never visited the Abbey of the Genesee I have known about it since I first came to Rochester over 20 years ago. The monks are best known for their line of Monk's Bread which is sold in Rochester Area groceries. I am a fan of the Monk's Raisin Bread. In the book the author writes about attending the daily prayers in the chapel with the monks and his regular sessions with the Prior, Fr. John Eudes. I was surprised with his willingness to write about the personal struggles he shared with the Prior. In spite of his wide reputation as an author and authority on Christian Spirituality Nouwen struggled with a strong need for attention and recognition. He tried to stop needing to always be the center of attention and found it very hard. I enjoyed his writing about the work he did while living as a monk. He gathered large rocks for the building of a new chapel. After moving some of these rocks several times, some weighted hundreds of pounds, he began to recognize them almost as friends. He also worked in the bakery and often got the job of washing the raisins for the raisin bread. This is a worthwhile book but not easy to read. Though it is only a bit over 200 pages it takes effort. In the book Henri Nouwen wrote about placing the price tags on the bread bags. The price in 1974 went from 54 to 59 cents a loaf. It is quite a big more than that now in 2020.

[Louise Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ik hoorde een meisje dit boek beschrijven aan haar vriendin, met veel nieuwsgierigheid vroeg ik haar van waar ze het boek had. Jammer genoeg had zij de laatste kopie, maar ze wees me wel vriendelijk zijn overige werken aan.
Een paar momenten later stond datzelfde meisje plots aan mijn zijde en gaf ze me het boek. Ze had het gekocht voor me als cadeau, een vreemdeling die ik nog nooit eerder had gezien.

Wellicht was dat mijn teken van God, of simpelweg een prachtige ontmoeting met een gracieus mens.

Ik heb dit boek met veel verwondering gelezen en alhoewel ik niet gelovig ben, ik ben namelijk een agnost, zijn veel van Nouwen’s lessen toepasselijk op het leven in het algemeen. Ik ben bang dat ik ‘vreemdeling in het paradijs’ te vlug gelezen heb en dat ik een belangrijke boodschap heb gemist, maar als ik terugkijk naar de indruk dat dit boek heeft achtergelaten en al mijn ervaringen eromheen voel ik me gerust en voldaan.

Ik heb al met veel mensen gesproken over dit specifiek werk van Henri Nouwen— 3u ‘s nachts over het feit dat het wisselvallige klimaat van België goe-oe-oed is en op een gewone schooldag dat als je een klein werkje al niet kunt appreciëren, er geen plek is in je hart voor innerlijke rust.

Hierbij dus een persoonlijke staande ovatie voor Henri Nouwen, ik kijk alvast uit naar zijn volgende werk dat ik zal lezen…

[Matthew V Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Consummate Undershephard Leads by Example

How to rate a published journal? What makes Nouwen attractive and worth reading is his childlike honesty and openness. He is willing to let us in a read his personal journal, including his reflections (and complaints) about his mundane tasks of the day, his inner wrestling, and deep desires. After seven months at a monastery, the conclusion is also quite insightful and helpful as he wrestles with why he went and what its purpose was in his life.

Nouwen sets the bar of walking with humble and honest devotion with the Lord. I want to imitate his earnestness, his honesty, his repentance, his devotion to the Lord whom he loves, but also questions and wrestles with. He is willing to let us see his flaws and realize that they are part of the human condition and that, at the end of the day (or of our lives), all of life is a gift of grace from the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit. Any pastor/priest who encourages me to walk more dependent on and attentive to the Lord, is worth listening to in my book.

[Barrett Brassfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think what impresses me most about Fr. Nouwen in addition to his style of writing, is his willingness to put himself in a place that allows for so much self reflection, and then share the results. Henri Nouwen was a Catholic priest who served in Canada during his lifetime, but he writes in these diaries with the heart of a buddhist on an insight meditation retreat. As such, Nouwen's diary of the seven months he spent living with the Trappists is a valuable window into the self and more importantly, ways of accepting ourselves that might benefit many from different walks of life and beliefs. It was a nice treat for me to visit this book a little bit everyday during the summer, going at a much slower pace than the first time I read it as a younger person. There is much wisdom in patience I find the older I get.

[Kaleigh S · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really really beautiful book. I felt like I was on the journey with Henri, like I was transported into my own little monastery when I read. I accidentally left the book in NH for a month and truly MISSED it. Really soaked up his passages about what makes him 'lovable,' making concrete decisions about prayer & meditation, perception management & busyness, and the monastery workdays. Fun humor throughout and a beautiful ending on Christmas and his reflections one year later. Henri remains my fave author! Sad for it to end :( "Because a monastery is not built to solve problems but to praise the Lord in the midst of them."
in the words of Henri - Thanks be to God that I have been here!

[Rick Eckhardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book recounts the late Dutch RC priest Henri Nouwen 7 month stay at the Trappist Abbey of the Genesee in western NY in 1975. This was a perfect book to read on my recent 5 day stay at the Abbey of Gethsemani. The meat of the book was Nouwen's talks with Abbot John Eudes Bamberger. The Abbot is a gifted spiritual director and the talks are worth copying out of the book for future reference. They offer exceptional guidance for my own life.

[Mary Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the honest reflections and the descriptions of bread-baking and other work at the abbey. I would have liked Henri Nouwen. He had a sense of humor. Nixon's Watergate woes were occurring at the time. I was interested in Nouwen's comments about that time.

[Ann Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and provocative. I think I'm ready for fiction, however.

[Patrick Koroly · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enlightening and honest spiritual memoir. Truly feels as though Nouwen introduces you to his journey through the monastery.

[Tyler Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for my Personal Development of the Minister course under Dr. Don Dunn at MidAmerica Nazarene University. I enjoyed walking through Nouwen's days at the monastery and reflecting with him on those things he learned. He had many rich insights on prayer, meditation, and contemplation which I hope to bring into my own life over time.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful complement to my time at the Abbey. Nouwen’s honesty and vulnerability is always refreshing, but the perspective he offers as a non-monk embarking on this seven month retreat is helpful to anyone who might think retreating from the world would fix all your problems or make you a better person (raising my hand here). I will definitely return to this book again.

[Jola · Rating 5 out of 5]

read as: „Dziennik z klasztoru trapistów”

simple and life-changing, a perfect companion on a journey of faith

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nouwen's account of a 7-month sabbatical at a Trappist monastery near Rochester, NY. He went there to avoid the busyness of teaching/speaking/writing about God and prayer, which kept him from experiencing God and prayer.

On his sabbatical, Nouwen struggles with being "unimportant," unnoticed, unexceptional, etc. due to his withdrawal from the world. Manual labor (working in the bakery, for example) triggers negative emotions, which Nouwen examines. He learns how his pride and lack of trust are triggered and impede his peace with God. Over the months, Nouwen grows and learns, particularly with the guidance of the monastery's abbot, who sounds like an amazing spiritual director.

I'm rereading this for the manyeth time but for the first time after having marrying & having children. It is still wholly relatable. I used to identify with Nouwen's struggles as a single person seeking importance in career and friendships; now, as a wife and mother, I identify just as much, but this time Nouwen's reflections on being in/of the world and on manual (busy) work are quite helpful too.

As always, Nouwen helps me know myself and to surrender more to Jesus. He is one of my favorite (book) companions on this journey.

[Maura · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book at my folks' place that i started last time i visited, and finished up this time around. It's a diary of Nouwen's 7 months at a Trappist monastery and what it's like to be part of a cloistered community (tho from a slightly outsider point of view, since Nouwen is not, himself, a Trappist). He sometimes slides into pouting that he's not being changed as much as he had hoped by the experience, but then he also captures a good many moments of insight & introspection. Probably better to read in little bits and pieces than in one or two big chunks. But it's got some good stuff in there, if you're in the mood for Christian writing.

[Wanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a huge fan of Henri Nouwen. Some of his books I like, others I don't. I picked up this book on a whim at the library at church. I find myself enjoying it, and hating it, at the same time. A lot of the questions Nouwen asks himself about his spiritual growth are the same ones I'm asking myself now. So its interesting to see the struggle played out in someone else's diary, yet upsetting to have so much laid bare. Other than that, its an easy, fun read.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In the end, he found peace, but could not hang onto it in the real world. *sigh*

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE STORY OF THE "WOUNDED HEALER'S" SEVEN MONTHS IN A TRAPPIST MONASTERY IN 1974

Henri Jozef Machiel Nouwen (1932-1996) was a Dutch-born Catholic priest and writer; he taught at the Catholic Theological Institute in Utrecht, at Yale Divinity School, Harvard Divinity School, etc., and also spent ten years as pastor at the L'Arche community in Richmond Hill, Ontario. He wrote many other books, such as 'The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming,' 'The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society,' 'The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom,' 'Making All Things New: An Invitation to the Spiritual Life,' etc.

He wrote in the Introduction to this 1981 book, "My desire to life for seven months in a Trappist Monastery, not as a guest but as a monk, did not develop overnight. It was the outcome of many years of restless searching. While teaching, lecturing, and writing about the importance of solitude, inner freedom, and peace of mind, I kept stumbling over my own compulsions and illusions...

"These questions kept intruding themselves into my few unfilled moments and challenging me to face my restless self. Maybe I spoke more about God than with him. Maybe my writing about prayer kept me from a prayerful life. Maybe I was more concerned about the praise of men and women than the love of God... I realized that I would only know by stepping back and allowing the hard questions to touch me even if they hurt."

He says, "I met Brother Elias, a hermit of the Abbey... I knew that theology needed to be born out of prayer, but Brother Elias had to say if again so i would not forget it. We also talked about Thomas Merton... Merton's deep desire for solitude had been in constant tension with his gregarious personality. There were always many people around him, if not physically then through mail and books. And he loved it. But until the last days of his life he kept dreaming about a hermitage in Alaska. the tension between his great desire for solitude and his deep compassion for so many people made Merton the writer he was, and Brother Elias knew it." (Pg. 21)

He observes, "The spiritual life does not consist of any special thoughts, ideas, or feelings but is contained in the most simple ordinary experiences of everyday living." (Pg. 41) Later, he adds, "On this earth the experience of great beauty always remains mysteriously linked with the experience of great loneliness. This reminds me again that there is still a beauty I have not seen yet: the beauty that does not create loneliness but unity." (Pg. 111)

He notes, "Thinking back on how I came to the ideas I have written down on paper, I realize how much they were the result of a constant interaction with people. I write against the background of my own history and experiences and others respond to me from their different histories and experiences, and it is in the interaction of stories that the ideas take their shape." (Pg. 157)

He states about the Friday night lecture by a visiting seminary professor, "these lectures are a special experience. What fascinates me about them is that they give me such a powerful sense of déjà vu. When I listen to them I feel as if I am back in the theological seminary. All the feelings I had then seem to return: I like the lectures, I am intrigued, I don't want to miss any---but at the same time I am dissatisfied on a level I did not understand in the past but is now closer to my consciousness.

"After my ordination I was asked to continue to study theology. I asked the bishop to change that request and to let me study psychology instead. Somewhere I felt then that theology had left a whole area of my life experience untouched. I hoped that psychology would fill the need. It did so, although only very indirectly." (Pg. 172)

He suggests, "One of the things that strikes me is that Merton is like the Bible: he can be used for almost any purpose. The conservatives and the progressives, the liberal and the radical, those who fight for changes and those who complain about them... they all quote Merton to express their ideas and convictions. He is considered to be the man who inspired Dan Berrigan, Jim Forest, and Jim Douglas, but he is also used as 'safe' spiritual reading in the refectories of many religious houses.

"Monks say that you cannot understand Merton when you do not seem him primarily as a contemplative, while many non-monks prefer to see him as a social critic, a man living on the periphery of the monastery and deeply involved in the struggle for peace and justice.... And although Merton, during his last days in Asia, wrote in the most unambiguous terms that he was and always would remain a Christian monk, some even want to believe that he planned to become a Buddhist." (Pg. 183)

He concludes, "If I were to ask about my seven months at the Abbey, 'Did it work, did I solve my problems?' the simple answer would be, 'It did not work, it did not solve my problems.' And I know that a year, two years, or even a lifetime as a Trappist monk would not have 'worked' either. Because a monastery is not built to solve problems but to praise the Lord in the midst of them. I had known this all along, but still I had to return to my old busy life and be confronted with my own restless self to believe it." (Pg. 217)

Much more theologically and spiritually "reflective" than are most such journals of "visits to a monastery," this book will be of exceptional interest to anyone interested in contemporary spirituality and spiritual practice.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is the fourth or fifth time, I've read this very honest and self-effacing book which has earned its classic status in Christian spirituality. This time around Nouwen's struggle with maintaining a good attitude while doing physical work or, really, anything other than just reading and thinking resonated with me, largely because I recognize the same struggle in me. Well worth reading and re-reading.

[Laura Kisthardt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow what an incredible book. I savored this book during the time of COVID-19. It is a diary of Nouwen's seven month sabbatical at the Abbey of the Genesee. I read a few pages every day. So many diary entries were thought provoking. This is a book to return to again and again. I don't think I would recommend it if you have not read any of Nouwen's work. But I think it is a good book for those who have read one or two of his other books and want to dive deeper.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most formative books I have ever read. It instilled in me a deep desire for contemplative prayer. My success at being more contemplative comes and goes, but my desire for it never changes. Henri Nouwen is a Catholic academic who chooses to spend the better part of a year in a Trappist monestery. The book traces his spiritual evolution during that time.