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Holy Solitude: Lenten Reflections with Saints, Hermits, Prophets, and Rebels
Our faith is full of heroes who experienced God powerfully in solitude. From Hagar and the Hebrew prophets to Jesus in the wilderness to Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Siena, we see how escape from the toil and temptations of daily life can open our eyes, ears, minds, and hearts to the still, small voice of God. In the vast desert or a tiny room, solitude―frightening for some and a welcome reprieve for others―is far from an antisocial self-indulgence but rather is an opportunity for transformation and empowerment to serve God’s people ever more deeply.
While most of us can’t take weeks―or even a few days―for private retreat, Holy Solitude offers readers thoughtful inspiration and practical devotional activities such as taking a solitary bus ride or baking a loaf of bread for a neighbor. Daily reflections introduce readers to figures in both Scripture and Christian history whose stories of discernment and discipline are a guide for our own spiritual practices as we seek to know God more fully and follow Christ more faithfully.
While most of us can’t take weeks―or even a few days―for private retreat, Holy Solitude offers readers thoughtful inspiration and practical devotional activities such as taking a solitary bus ride or baking a loaf of bread for a neighbor. Daily reflections introduce readers to figures in both Scripture and Christian history whose stories of discernment and discipline are a guide for our own spiritual practices as we seek to know God more fully and follow Christ more faithfully.
148 pages, Paperback
Published December 31, 2017
62 people are currently reading
265 people want to read
About the author
Heidi Haverkamp
5 books33 followersHeidi Haverkamp is a writer, spiritual director, and Episcopal priest.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
April 12, 2020
Reading while quarantined during this Lent 2020, the whole feeling of solitude brings on an entirely new meaning, and this book carried a few parallel gems that carried even deeper meaning given the state of the world. I have never felt compelled to actually reach out to an author before, but I did during my studies, just to ask her if she recognized the content of her book relative to the feelings of quiet solitude many of us are facing, and was delighted to hear back from her with a very encouraging message. In my opinion, it’s best read as a personal (non group) study, as the questions and challenges she offers are personal and reflective. I will carry her words with me, and will keep this book and to study again.
March 10, 2018
I'm just not connecting with this at all, it's not for me at this time.
April 12, 2020
This book proved to be a provocative set of Lenten reflections, built around the concept of solitude (and community). It was quite the read during the Age of Coronavirus, and I look forward to re-reading it at a time when solitude is more of a choice. I expect it will be provocative in a different way under 'normal' conditions.
May 8, 2018
This book came to me toward the end of Lent when I was already engaged with several other Lenten devotionals so I waited until more recently to take a look at this devotional.
From the sub-title I suppose I was expecting something along the lines of Nouwen or Manning, or even something like Preston Yancey's Out of the House of Bread. I was expecting something both poetic and practical. The devotionals are practical, but for me personally they lacked the poetic. I found myself missing the depth of beauty and the mystery that I was looking for in the writing style. The entries were just a bit too direct for me and I never found myself deeply connecting to the material.
Honestly, I can think of a number of friends who might really like this book. So, all in all I have to say it wasn't for me, but I could see it being very good for logical, practical and straight-forward types of readers. I think that the discussion questions could be helpful for small groups or families that might want to work through this together.
I received a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion and I am basing my review on the samples of devotions from each section that I engaged with as I decided I didn't want to give it the time to engage with all the devotional entries.
From the sub-title I suppose I was expecting something along the lines of Nouwen or Manning, or even something like Preston Yancey's Out of the House of Bread. I was expecting something both poetic and practical. The devotionals are practical, but for me personally they lacked the poetic. I found myself missing the depth of beauty and the mystery that I was looking for in the writing style. The entries were just a bit too direct for me and I never found myself deeply connecting to the material.
Honestly, I can think of a number of friends who might really like this book. So, all in all I have to say it wasn't for me, but I could see it being very good for logical, practical and straight-forward types of readers. I think that the discussion questions could be helpful for small groups or families that might want to work through this together.
I received a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion and I am basing my review on the samples of devotions from each section that I engaged with as I decided I didn't want to give it the time to engage with all the devotional entries.
May 14, 2018
This is a very good Lenten devotional that helps the reader to be quiet and meditative for a few moments during a busy day. It has a weekly structure with daily devotionals, each week focused on a different aspect of solitude. So, for example, Week One is about "Solitude and Silence" and Week Two is "Solitude and Struggle". Each day's reading is generally only a page in length starting with a Bible verse and a reflection based on a particular individual either from the Bible or well known Christian through the ages. The day's reading ends with two or three questions that encourage you go deeper in the topic of the day.
I particularly appreciated the gentleness of the approach and found it easy to read and reflect upon using the questions as a guide. Each week ends with a suggestion for fasting. It's not just food but other aspects of life, eg, noise. Further, Haverkamp encourages us to actively participate in some "Almsgiving" practice each week and provides guidance as to how do this.
Overall, it is a very thoughtful Lenten devotional that enables the reader to both find solitude and draw closer to Jesus.
I particularly appreciated the gentleness of the approach and found it easy to read and reflect upon using the questions as a guide. Each week ends with a suggestion for fasting. It's not just food but other aspects of life, eg, noise. Further, Haverkamp encourages us to actively participate in some "Almsgiving" practice each week and provides guidance as to how do this.
Overall, it is a very thoughtful Lenten devotional that enables the reader to both find solitude and draw closer to Jesus.
April 7, 2018
A most interesting study in solitude. I'm an introvert and I love my alone time ... Haverkamp showed me new ways to turn this time into something deeper.
The book included an excerpt from her Advent study based on C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I look forward to spending more time with her this December.
"In the end, our home in God is a solitude, in life and death, a holy solitude that leads us to not only a deeper inward life but also a deeper and more loving outer life."I also appreciated her sense of humor ("Moses was probably an introvert").
The book included an excerpt from her Advent study based on C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I look forward to spending more time with her this December.
April 4, 2021
I picked this up on the recommendation of @erinhmoon and her Lenten devotional guide. It was funny to read it in 2020, when there was so much solitude to be found (except from my family). I loved the readings, the information about ancient Christians, and the thought-provoking questions. What really made this a five star read for me, though, were the fully fleshed out and novel ideas for almsgiving, fasting, and solitude practices. I look forward to returning to this next year when solitude will be something I have to work harder for.
March 30, 2018
I adored he simplicity of this meditative guide. It introduced me to new friends and gave me new thoughts to ponder in prayer. I wish I’d seen the appendix in the back earlier, particularly the 10 ways to keep silence. It would have helped my practice though I’m glad it’s there even if my kindle was hiding it from me.
As a new parent, and a breastfeeding one at that, I couldn’t do half of the practices suggested. It disconnected me from what I know this book might offer others.
As a new parent, and a breastfeeding one at that, I couldn’t do half of the practices suggested. It disconnected me from what I know this book might offer others.
April 18, 2022
This book made me think a lot about Gary Thomas’s Sacred Pathways and how I am not an ascetic. Still, I found it good to stretch myself in this way, to experience and reflect on solitude. I think I might have benefited even more if the book had been structured a little differently, but I still found it really meaningful for Lent.
April 23, 2019
Every year my daughter and I find a book to read during Lent.
This one is the best one I have read so far. The Author gives
you plenty of ideas at the end of each chapter to challenge
your self. Her guidance through out the book is so easy
to follow.
This one is the best one I have read so far. The Author gives
you plenty of ideas at the end of each chapter to challenge
your self. Her guidance through out the book is so easy
to follow.
June 11, 2023
I really liked this and the format. I do not have a way in my life right now to practice solitude and I look forward to re-reading this when I do.
It's pretty structured and I loved the examples and exercises. This is suitable for Lutherans like me and other denominations too.
It's pretty structured and I loved the examples and exercises. This is suitable for Lutherans like me and other denominations too.
January 26, 2018
An exceptional Book, I just loved this one so much.
April 19, 2021
This is a beautiful Lenten guide. Small groups will enjoy diving into the content and find that the challenges of Lent are not personal, but they are eternal.
July 31, 2021
Used it as my Lenten companion of 2019 and was pretty good. Used to journal my daily stuff until I realised it wasn't catholic but worked for me ...
April 30, 2022
We read this as a Lenten book club. I wasn't thrilled with the writing, but some of the concepts were useful, if perhaps a little offset by two years of pandemic and quarantine.
March 19, 2023
"...And what God is doing for us is giving us the divine Self in love." - Heidi Haverkamp
A beautiful Lent devotional that I will be coming back to for years!
A beautiful Lent devotional that I will be coming back to for years!
December 30, 2020
Sometimes I couldn't believe this devotional hadn't been written with the pandemic in mind. It was so on point, and just what I needed during 2020's tumultuous Lent.
April 22, 2018
This is one of the best Lenten devotionals I have read in years. Really gives one lots to ponder. Excellent pre-Lent preparation (something I had not seen before). Wonderful, thoughtful practices, engaging questions to deepen the season and give it the purpose that has often been forgotten. I really appreciated the idea of a Friday fast that differed each week. I brought more awareness to the fast and a new way of looking at fasting as a practice. I am grateful to NetGalley and Westminster John Knox Press for giving me a copy in exchange for my honest review.
April 11, 2024
Thoughtful. Reflective. Informative. Inspiring.
A great combination of well-researched historical anecdotes that doesn't veer into being overly academic in tone. It maintains a reflective spirit throughout, and I appreciated the combination of reflection and meaningful action.
As a well-educated pastor myself, finding resources that are suitably academically and theologically sound to take seriously while also inspiring me to reflect deeply is quite a feat. This is one of those resources.
Accessible for the layperson, but rigorous enough for those with more advanced training.
Bite-sized daily readings with reflection questions that get at the true heart of the matter serve as a wonderful resource in cultivating a meaningful Lenten space - mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually - for personal and spiritual discovery.
A great combination of well-researched historical anecdotes that doesn't veer into being overly academic in tone. It maintains a reflective spirit throughout, and I appreciated the combination of reflection and meaningful action.
As a well-educated pastor myself, finding resources that are suitably academically and theologically sound to take seriously while also inspiring me to reflect deeply is quite a feat. This is one of those resources.
Accessible for the layperson, but rigorous enough for those with more advanced training.
Bite-sized daily readings with reflection questions that get at the true heart of the matter serve as a wonderful resource in cultivating a meaningful Lenten space - mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually - for personal and spiritual discovery.
April 5, 2021
If you're looking for something different for next Lent, I highly recommend this.
I loved the peek into "saints, hermits, prophets, and rebels" perspective of solitude with God.
Solitude is something I seek & yearn for on a regular basis, so there was a lot in here that I will take into my day-to-day faith walk.
There are also practical ways of incorporating fasting into your lenten weeks and almsgiving, which was a new concept for me.
I loved the peek into "saints, hermits, prophets, and rebels" perspective of solitude with God.
Solitude is something I seek & yearn for on a regular basis, so there was a lot in here that I will take into my day-to-day faith walk.
There are also practical ways of incorporating fasting into your lenten weeks and almsgiving, which was a new concept for me.
September 3, 2020
Most enriching Lenten reading and season ever. Loved it as it pushed me.
March 28, 2018
In the season of Lent, Christians traditionally practice a more solemn mood as they reflect on the life of Christ, how Jesus watched and prayed, and determined Himself to go to the Cross. It is a time of loneliness. It is a time of emotional and spiritual struggle. It is a time of quiet reflection to ponder from the intersection of faith and doubt; God's will or our will; and for self or for others. Knowing the right thing to do does not necessitate choosing the right thing. Fear has a way of dislodging our wills from the sills of faith. Daily, we are confronted by the insidious spiritual forces of darkness that often creep into our unsuspecting lives, to deceive us, to derail us, and to discourage us in our spiritual walk. In Lent, we sharpen our spiritual senses through fasting, through praying, through meditating upon the Word, and through the practice of various spiritual disciplines. This book is a way to help us through these practices of reflection, introspection, and self-inspection of our hearts, as we look at the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We learn about fasting as a remembrance of God's grace rather than a test of human endurance. Haverkamp recommends Sundays as feast days which would exempt us once a week from our chosen abstentions. On Saturdays, we are encouraged to give generously. As the author hands our a ten-dollar bill each week, she notices the changes in her heart, not to pre-judge others, but to be grateful to God. Other helpful tips include what to decorate or remove in our houses; our shopping and leisure choices; the proper timing to light candles; etc. She is quite comprehensive, showing us the things we could do to prepare for Ash Wednesday; Holy Week; Maundy Thursday; Good Friday; Easter; and so on. For each day of Lent, there is a brief write-up about a specific Lent topic that could be based on a personal experience; learning from the Church fathers; hermits; spiritual writers; desert monks; the saints of old. For each week, there are reflective questions and practices we could embark during the week. There is a gradual intensification of prayer and devotional moments as we approach Holy Week. Using solitude as the central theme, Haverkamp explores the heightened opportunities for listening; for struggling; our journeying; our practice of hospitality; our resisting of the tyranny of non-stop work; and of being confined either by choice or by circumstances.
For the last point about confinement, the author explains it through the lens of the persecuted prophets, the martyrs, and the modern heroes of the faith like Martin Luther in the 16th Century; and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King Jr, and others like Nelson Mandela in the 21st Century. Jesus himself was also imprisoned and subsequently executed. Imprisonment comes both external as well as internal, physical and spiritual. Through the practice of solitude in Lent, we experience a wide range of emotions and spiritual experiences. Essentially, we are practicing the passion of Christ that in spite of what happens to us, we remain faithful to God.
The appendices are filled with helpful tips about "Ten Ways to be Silent," and easy recipes to minimize our cooking time.
Three Thoughts
First, solitude is a deliberate decision. Like Jesus who spends time with God in the early hours of the morning, holy solitude is something planned for by a determined soul to want to meet God. According to the author, solitude "isn't loneliness, but the practice of a deep integrity." While some may claim that loneliness and solitude are not very different, the author points out that there is a world of difference in that loneliness is a sense of inner emptiness while solitude stems from inner fulfillment.
Second, solitude is creating space for God. It is no secret that many of us are inundated by the demands of this world. We are busy simply doing stuff. Whether it is about family commitments or school assignments, work deadlines or traffic snarls, we are always caught up in the world of activities. Not doing anything could thus be seen as a waste of time. In contrast, solitude agrees with this in a sense, but in a positive way. By creating space for God, we are also deliberately "wasting time" as far as the world is concerned, so that we could encounter God who is not restricted by any time dimension at all.
Finally, this practice of holy solitude through the forty days of Lent and Holy Week should be a springboard for something deeper. While there is always a goal in spirituality, much of life is about the process, the journey, the formation. The prayers, exercises, and reflections should not simply end at Easter. It symbolizes the transition toward the next level of spirituality, of growth, of maturity. It will make us more aware of ourselves, our limits, our strengths, our weaknesses, and our need for humility when relating to others. True spirituality is always about love. Love for God that translates into love for others, which in turn brings a unique love experience back to ourselves. Then it continues the cycle of giving and sharing. We learn to stop when God asks us to pause. We learn to move when God prompts us to. We learn to be still to know that God is near. We listen for that gentle whisper and pray that when God appears, we will be ready.
Heidi Haverkamp is an episcopal priest, a retreat leader, a preachers, as well as a writer of spirituality books. She has contributed articles to Christian Century and her blog is part of the CCBlogs network. Her personal website is https://www.heidihaverkamp.net/
Rating: 4.5 stars of 5.
conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of Westminster John Knox Press and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.
We learn about fasting as a remembrance of God's grace rather than a test of human endurance. Haverkamp recommends Sundays as feast days which would exempt us once a week from our chosen abstentions. On Saturdays, we are encouraged to give generously. As the author hands our a ten-dollar bill each week, she notices the changes in her heart, not to pre-judge others, but to be grateful to God. Other helpful tips include what to decorate or remove in our houses; our shopping and leisure choices; the proper timing to light candles; etc. She is quite comprehensive, showing us the things we could do to prepare for Ash Wednesday; Holy Week; Maundy Thursday; Good Friday; Easter; and so on. For each day of Lent, there is a brief write-up about a specific Lent topic that could be based on a personal experience; learning from the Church fathers; hermits; spiritual writers; desert monks; the saints of old. For each week, there are reflective questions and practices we could embark during the week. There is a gradual intensification of prayer and devotional moments as we approach Holy Week. Using solitude as the central theme, Haverkamp explores the heightened opportunities for listening; for struggling; our journeying; our practice of hospitality; our resisting of the tyranny of non-stop work; and of being confined either by choice or by circumstances.
For the last point about confinement, the author explains it through the lens of the persecuted prophets, the martyrs, and the modern heroes of the faith like Martin Luther in the 16th Century; and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King Jr, and others like Nelson Mandela in the 21st Century. Jesus himself was also imprisoned and subsequently executed. Imprisonment comes both external as well as internal, physical and spiritual. Through the practice of solitude in Lent, we experience a wide range of emotions and spiritual experiences. Essentially, we are practicing the passion of Christ that in spite of what happens to us, we remain faithful to God.
The appendices are filled with helpful tips about "Ten Ways to be Silent," and easy recipes to minimize our cooking time.
Three Thoughts
First, solitude is a deliberate decision. Like Jesus who spends time with God in the early hours of the morning, holy solitude is something planned for by a determined soul to want to meet God. According to the author, solitude "isn't loneliness, but the practice of a deep integrity." While some may claim that loneliness and solitude are not very different, the author points out that there is a world of difference in that loneliness is a sense of inner emptiness while solitude stems from inner fulfillment.
Second, solitude is creating space for God. It is no secret that many of us are inundated by the demands of this world. We are busy simply doing stuff. Whether it is about family commitments or school assignments, work deadlines or traffic snarls, we are always caught up in the world of activities. Not doing anything could thus be seen as a waste of time. In contrast, solitude agrees with this in a sense, but in a positive way. By creating space for God, we are also deliberately "wasting time" as far as the world is concerned, so that we could encounter God who is not restricted by any time dimension at all.
Finally, this practice of holy solitude through the forty days of Lent and Holy Week should be a springboard for something deeper. While there is always a goal in spirituality, much of life is about the process, the journey, the formation. The prayers, exercises, and reflections should not simply end at Easter. It symbolizes the transition toward the next level of spirituality, of growth, of maturity. It will make us more aware of ourselves, our limits, our strengths, our weaknesses, and our need for humility when relating to others. True spirituality is always about love. Love for God that translates into love for others, which in turn brings a unique love experience back to ourselves. Then it continues the cycle of giving and sharing. We learn to stop when God asks us to pause. We learn to move when God prompts us to. We learn to be still to know that God is near. We listen for that gentle whisper and pray that when God appears, we will be ready.
Heidi Haverkamp is an episcopal priest, a retreat leader, a preachers, as well as a writer of spirituality books. She has contributed articles to Christian Century and her blog is part of the CCBlogs network. Her personal website is https://www.heidihaverkamp.net/
Rating: 4.5 stars of 5.
conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of Westminster John Knox Press and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.
May 21, 2018
A beautifully done devotional that I would like to have in paper back to share. Inspirational and comforting.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews