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Poustinia: Encountering God in Silence, Solitude and Prayer
Poustinia -- The modern spiritual classic for those seeking the open heart and listening soul of a silent contemplation.
Poustinia, a Russian word, means 'desert', a place to meet Christ in silence, solitude and prayer. Catherine Doherty combines her insights into the great spiritual traditions of the Russian Church with her very personal experience of life with Christ.
Men and women who desire communion with God can discover how the poustinia powerfully fulfills their yearning. Readers are invited to leave the noise and harried pace of daily life to enter a place of silence and solitude. Catherine writes from her own experience with refreshing and startling Christian authenticity and a strong personal sense of spiritual authority.
Catherine emphasizes 'poustinia of the heart,' an interiorized poustinia, a silent chamber carried always and everywhere in which to contemplate God within. Learn how our desert can be in the marketplace, in the midst of countless conferences, traffic jams, bus trips--or a hospital ward. Written by one who knows by experience, Poustinia brings consolation with its vision of a personal desert that can bloom in simple, profound prayer.
A timeless best-seller, published in 16 foreign editions around the world, the experience of poustinia has become a worldwide phenomenon following its publicity through this popular book.
Poustinia, a Russian word, means 'desert', a place to meet Christ in silence, solitude and prayer. Catherine Doherty combines her insights into the great spiritual traditions of the Russian Church with her very personal experience of life with Christ.
Men and women who desire communion with God can discover how the poustinia powerfully fulfills their yearning. Readers are invited to leave the noise and harried pace of daily life to enter a place of silence and solitude. Catherine writes from her own experience with refreshing and startling Christian authenticity and a strong personal sense of spiritual authority.
Catherine emphasizes 'poustinia of the heart,' an interiorized poustinia, a silent chamber carried always and everywhere in which to contemplate God within. Learn how our desert can be in the marketplace, in the midst of countless conferences, traffic jams, bus trips--or a hospital ward. Written by one who knows by experience, Poustinia brings consolation with its vision of a personal desert that can bloom in simple, profound prayer.
A timeless best-seller, published in 16 foreign editions around the world, the experience of poustinia has become a worldwide phenomenon following its publicity through this popular book.
199 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
129 people are currently reading
887 people want to read
About the author
Catherine de Hueck Doherty
83 books42 followersEkaterina Fyodorovna Kolyschkine Doherty, better known as Catherine Doherty, CM (1896-1985) was a social activist and foundress of the Madonna House Apostolate. A pioneer of social justice and a renowned national speaker, Catherine was also a prolific writer of hundreds of articles, best-selling author of dozens of books, and a dedicated wife and mother. Her cause for canonization as a saint is under consideration by the Catholic Church.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
February 9, 2013
After spending several un-quiet weeks with this profoundly quiet book, I think/hope it is finally starting to exert a positive influence over my life. A ‘poustinia’—for those who may not be familiar with the term is a Russian word—literally translates, “desert”, but actually means many different things depending on how it is used. It can describe quiet, lonely places, set apart from the world where special people go to seek God and live out their lives in prayer and solitude. It is also the word used to refer to the Spartan-like hermit huts favored by those who venture into temporary “desert”, or retreat from the hustle of human society. At the very end of the book, the author, Catherine Doherty, offered a third definition for her title term: ‘…not a place at all—and yet it is. It is a state, a vocation, belonging to all Christians by Baptism. It is the vocation to be a contemplative.’ (page 184)
This book is or can be a beautiful, prayerful read. I listened to most of it, read in the soothing voice of Fr. Émile Brière, a poustinik himself and a close friend of the author. I highly recommend that option if it’s available. How many times during this turbulent summer was I able to turn on the CD and tune out so much else, including my own noisy mind.
The book is a collection of explanations, meditations, talks and a brief history of the Madonna House which Doherty has assembled to give the reader the fullest possible experience of the contemplative life –short of a full-fledged pilgrimage. In the first section, she gives her own Russian background and the historical and geographic context of poustinia, as well as the person of the poustinik, himself. Part 2 is devoted to talks she has relied on to inspire a deeper awareness within all of us of the presence of God and His eagerness to speak to us in silence. In the third section, we spend a day inside a poustinia. During this time, we seek a word (insight) which may be shared with others—because the purpose of going into poustinia is not for oneself but to share the gift of received wisdom with others. In conclusion, we learn that ‘poustinia’ isn’t about going away to the mountains or living alone in a little house; it’s really for all of us, wherever we are. Poustinia is about going within and finding God in the heart of our prayer and sharing all we have and are with whoever is in need.
I will want to return to this book again and again and again! Thanks ever so much for the recommendation Jennifer!
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Although I'm only on page 45, I was captured from the very first page by Ms. Doherty's description's of poustiniks/poustinikis, or 'prayerful ones'. Well that's what I shall call them for short, because she is taking an entire book to describe the lifestyle of 'poustinia', a selfless, self-giving life devoted to prayer, service and sacrifice. Reading this book is like an armchair visit to another place. Wonderful! Thanks again, Jennifer!
This book is or can be a beautiful, prayerful read. I listened to most of it, read in the soothing voice of Fr. Émile Brière, a poustinik himself and a close friend of the author. I highly recommend that option if it’s available. How many times during this turbulent summer was I able to turn on the CD and tune out so much else, including my own noisy mind.
The book is a collection of explanations, meditations, talks and a brief history of the Madonna House which Doherty has assembled to give the reader the fullest possible experience of the contemplative life –short of a full-fledged pilgrimage. In the first section, she gives her own Russian background and the historical and geographic context of poustinia, as well as the person of the poustinik, himself. Part 2 is devoted to talks she has relied on to inspire a deeper awareness within all of us of the presence of God and His eagerness to speak to us in silence. In the third section, we spend a day inside a poustinia. During this time, we seek a word (insight) which may be shared with others—because the purpose of going into poustinia is not for oneself but to share the gift of received wisdom with others. In conclusion, we learn that ‘poustinia’ isn’t about going away to the mountains or living alone in a little house; it’s really for all of us, wherever we are. Poustinia is about going within and finding God in the heart of our prayer and sharing all we have and are with whoever is in need.
I will want to return to this book again and again and again! Thanks ever so much for the recommendation Jennifer!
><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
Although I'm only on page 45, I was captured from the very first page by Ms. Doherty's description's of poustiniks/poustinikis, or 'prayerful ones'. Well that's what I shall call them for short, because she is taking an entire book to describe the lifestyle of 'poustinia', a selfless, self-giving life devoted to prayer, service and sacrifice. Reading this book is like an armchair visit to another place. Wonderful! Thanks again, Jennifer!
August 11, 2007
Of the utmost importance. I would like to buy a crate full of volumes of this book. I would hand them out to everyone and say, "go find a silent hole and read man."
July 26, 2015
Catherine Doherty offers insights into the contemplative life from a Russian perspective. Much of what she has to say is very good, but I have two strong criticisms. The first is that the book is too long by half. It is divided into four parts, and there is nothing said in the third and fourth that had not already been communicated in the first two. The other is that I fundamentally disagree with her repeated assertions that the Russian notion of contemplation is so very different than (and superior to?) the Western one.
The Poustinik (Russian hermit), she says, is different from his Western counterpart in that although he lives a life of solitude and prayer he is always ready to go back to the village to be with others, for example when it is harvest time and the crops need to come in. She expands on this notion to take in the spiritual aspect, stressing that the one in the Poustinia is there for others, praying for the whole world. This is all well and good, but of course this is not so different from the Western notion of contemplation. One might look, for example, to the Dominicans (as quintessentially Western a phenomenon as ever existed!) who are devoted to "contemplation and sharing the fruits of contemplation." While it is true that the vocation of the contemplative has something to offer to the world at large, this is hardly an insight unknown to the West.
These collected writings, many of them penned in the 1960s, articulated the charism of Madonna House, promoting the idea of a quasi-contemplative life for laity living in the world and engaged in secular occupations. While I would not recommend this to anyone who is not already generally familiar with the great spiritual classics, for anyone looking for a slightly different perspective on the role of contemplation in the Christian life I could recommend a perusal of the first two sections of this work.
The Poustinik (Russian hermit), she says, is different from his Western counterpart in that although he lives a life of solitude and prayer he is always ready to go back to the village to be with others, for example when it is harvest time and the crops need to come in. She expands on this notion to take in the spiritual aspect, stressing that the one in the Poustinia is there for others, praying for the whole world. This is all well and good, but of course this is not so different from the Western notion of contemplation. One might look, for example, to the Dominicans (as quintessentially Western a phenomenon as ever existed!) who are devoted to "contemplation and sharing the fruits of contemplation." While it is true that the vocation of the contemplative has something to offer to the world at large, this is hardly an insight unknown to the West.
These collected writings, many of them penned in the 1960s, articulated the charism of Madonna House, promoting the idea of a quasi-contemplative life for laity living in the world and engaged in secular occupations. While I would not recommend this to anyone who is not already generally familiar with the great spiritual classics, for anyone looking for a slightly different perspective on the role of contemplation in the Christian life I could recommend a perusal of the first two sections of this work.
July 20, 2016
For the last few years I have been talking and writing a great deal about silence, solitude, and deserts, and I will continue to write about them because I think they are vitally important to our growing, changing, technological, urban civilization. It is obvious that humanity is facing many problems, will have to face many more, and that these problems are deeply disturbing the souls of all men. It is just as certain that we cannot, must not, reject the new, strange, adventuresome, frightening world that is opening before us, and is already with us. Especially we Christians cannot do this, because Christ has inserted himself into this world and we are his people, his body; and so we belong as he does to this world of computers, to this world of cybernetics, that daily brings vaster problems before our minds, hearts and souls. For science moves faster and faster, so much faster than the men of today—or even the men of tomorrow—are able to apprehend, comprehend or assimilate.
Location: 49
It is obvious that humanity is facing many problems, will have to face many more, and that these problems are deeply disturbing the souls of all men. It is just as certain that we cannot, must not, reject the new, strange, adventuresome, frightening world that is opening before us, and is already with us. Especially we Christians cannot do this, because Christ has inserted himself into this world and we are his people, his body; and so we belong as he does to this world of computers, to this world of cybernetics, that daily brings vaster problems before our minds, hearts and souls. For science moves faster and faster, so much faster than the men of today—or even the men of tomorrow—are able to apprehend, comprehend or assimilate.
Location: 50
If we are to witness to Christ in today’s marketplaces where there are constant demands on our whole person we need silence. If we are to be always available, not only physically, but by empathy, sympathy, friendship, understanding, and boundless caritas, we need silence. To be able to give joyous, unflagging hospitality, not only of house and food, but of mind, heart, body and soul, we need silence.
Location: 69
If we are to witness to Christ in today’s marketplaces where there are constant demands on our whole person we need silence. If we are to be always available, not only physically, but by empathy, sympathy, friendship, understanding, and boundless caritas, we need silence. To be able to give joyous, unflagging hospitality, not only of house and food, but of mind, heart, body and soul, we need silence. True silence is the search of man for God.
Location: 69
This silence, then, will break forth in a charity that overflows in the service of the neighbor without counting the cost.
Location: 82
This silence is not the exclusive prerogative of monasteries or convents. This simple, prayerful silence can and should be everybody’s silence. It belongs to every Christian who loves God, to every Jew who has heard in his heart the echoes of God’s voice in his prophets, to everyone whose soul has risen in search of truth, in search of God. For where noise is—inward noise and confusion—there God is not!
Location: 85
Consider the solitude of walking from the subway train or bus to your home in the evening, when the streets are quieter and there are few passersby. Consider the solitude that greets you when you enter your room to change your office or working clothes to more comfortable, homey ones. Consider the solitude of a housewife, alone in her kitchen, sitting down for a cup of coffee before beginning the work of the day. Think of the solitudes afforded by such humble tasks as housecleaning, ironing, sewing.
Location: 93
One of the first steps toward solitude is a departure. Were you to depart to a real desert, you might take a plane, train or car to get there. But we’re blind to the “little departures” that fill our days. These “little solitudes” are often right behind a door which we can open, or in a little corner where we can stop to look at a tree that somehow survived the snow and dust of a city street. There is the solitude of a car in which we return from work, riding bumper to bumper on a crowded highway. This too can be a “point of departure” to a desert, silence, solitude.
Location: 96
One of the first steps toward solitude is a departure. Were you to depart to a real desert, you might take a plane, train or car to get there. But we’re blind to the “little departures” that fill our days. These “little solitudes” are often right behind a door which we can open, or in a little corner where we can stop to look at a tree that somehow survived the snow and dust of a city street. There is the solitude of a car in which we return from work, riding bumper to bumper on a crowded highway. This too can be a “point of departure” to a desert, silence, solitude.
Location: 96
But our hearts, minds, and souls must be attuned, desirous, aware of these moments of solitude that God gives us. To be so attuned we must lose our superstition of time. God laughs at time, for if our souls are open to him and available to him, he can invite them in, change them, lift them, transform them, in one instant! He can say to someone driving that car bumper to bumper, “I will lead you into solitude and there I shall speak to your heart” (Hos 2:14).
Location: 101
But how, really, can one achieve such solitude? By standing still! Stand still, and allow the deadly restlessness of our tragic age to fall away like the worn-out, dusty cloak that it is. That restlessness was once considered the magic carpet to tomorrow, but now we see it for what it really is: a running away from oneself, a turning from the journey inward that all men must undertake to meet God dwelling within the depths of their souls.
Location: 114
Stand still, and lifting your hearts and hands to God, pray that the mighty wind of his Holy Spirit may clear all the cobwebs of fears, selfishness, greed, and narrow–heartedness away from your soul. Pray that his tongues of flame may descend to give you courage to begin again.
Location: 122
At first such silences will be few and far between. But if nourished with a life of liturgical prayer, mental prayer, and the sacramental life of the Church, slowly, like the seedling of a mighty tree, silence will grow. It will come to dwell in a soul more and more often until one day it will come to stay.
Location: 132
Solitude sometimes helps prayer, and for special vocations is the cradle of prayer, and powerful prayer at that. But for the average Christian, prayer doesn’t need a geographic spot. To think that I must have solitude in which to pray, is a fallacy. Prayer is a contact of love between God and man.
Location: 164
Prayer is a full–time affair; solitude, unless one is called to a lifetime of it by God, must always be a temporary thing, lest it cease to be solitude and become an escape.
Location: 177
Hospitality means, above all, that the poustinik is just passing on whatever God has put into his empty hands. He gives all that he has and is: words, work, food, and himself.
Location: 384
It is God who leads the soul to the desert and the soul cannot remain in the desert long unless it is nourished by God. Therefore, it is a place where we fast from bodily food and even spiritual food, such as reading all kinds of books, for we enter there to meet our God with the only book in which he is fully accessible: the bible.
Location: 499
I believe that God is even now raising up these men and women because there is so little silence of heart in the world. There is so much noise in the souls, minds, and hearts of men that God’s voice cannot be heard. So he himself will call many to come and listen to his silence, to immerse themselves in it. Then he will send them forth to be prophets of today, to be his voice once again, across all the lands of the world. He will send them to a world that needs to hear his voice through the lips of its own brothers and sisters as it did of old, when God sent his Son into the world to speak.
Location: 643
One of the main causes of this feeling of guilt for being “separated from the community” stems, I think, from the Western notion of production. The West values itself for its ability to produce things. Priests, nuns, and lay people tend to evaluate themselves interiorly by what they can produce. Priests especially do not realize that their presence is enough. I often tell priests who work in parishes that one of the best things they can “do” is simply walk around their neighborhoods and be present to their people. But if they aren’t doing something, they feel that they are wasting their lives away.
Location: 679
With the poustinik, too, there is an inability to realize that the presence of a person who is in love with God is enough; that nothing else is needed.
Location: 683
The devil will try to twist the meaning of their vocation. He will suggest how impossible it is to form a community of love, especially for people of our age who are so wounded and suffering from neuroses of all kinds. The devil will concentrate on this because the essence of a house becoming a poustinia in the marketplace is that its members really bear with one another, and cover themselves with humility, compassion, and love toward one another. Yes, the devil will attack especially this admonition of St. Paul’s to “bear with one another.” He will attack it with all sorts of “logical” arguments and prove that it is just not possible.
Location: 855
Acquire interior peace and a multitude of men will find their salvation near you.”
Location: 941
The final of all these attitudes is peace. The sign by which you know a good poustinik is peace. Whether he knows it or not, he exudes an intense peace. He is so peaceful that just being next to him has a settling effect. His peace encompasses you like a mantle. The poustinik is supposed to be not only a peace–maker, but a peace–giver.
Location: 1222
Russians believe that the greatest purity is achieved through tears, tears that really wash us. Our tears mingle with the tears of Christ and cleanse the soul of every extraneous thing that is bothering it. Tears wash away every interior attachment which hinders true poverty of spirit. Tears are also another way through which we come to appreciate the great gift of God: our freedom. Our soul, washed by tears, can see clearly that we really are free, that we can say yes or no to God. In the poustinia, this struggle between yes and no, this struggle with God, is intensified a hundredfold. At some point, your yes to God will make you nonexistent. For only a second. Something will happen in your purified soul through these tears and struggles. You will seem to be like one dead. But it won’t last long. You will return, and on that day you will know a miracle. You made your choice for God. The true liberation that God reserves for those who love him will be yours.
Location: 1378
when a Russian goes into a poustinia, even for a day or two, he goes for others as well as for himself—but predominantly for others. Upon returning, he should tell members of his family or community what he has received during his stay in the poustinia. If one were in a Russian village, these words would be meant for everyone in the village.
Location: 1718
With the gift of listening comes the gift of healing, because listening to your brother until he has said the last word in his heart is healing and consoling. Someone has said that it is possible “to listen a person’s soul into existence.” I like that.
Location: 1932
Is the word transparency your answer, Lord, to our polluted world, our polluted minds, hearts and souls? It may be, because if we unpollute our inner selves, then of course we will be selfless; and if we are selfless we easily will unpollute the air, the water and the earth, because selfless men in love with God are not subject to greed, and it is greed that today pollutes the earth. But greed pollutes the inner man before it pollutes the earth.
Location: 49
It is obvious that humanity is facing many problems, will have to face many more, and that these problems are deeply disturbing the souls of all men. It is just as certain that we cannot, must not, reject the new, strange, adventuresome, frightening world that is opening before us, and is already with us. Especially we Christians cannot do this, because Christ has inserted himself into this world and we are his people, his body; and so we belong as he does to this world of computers, to this world of cybernetics, that daily brings vaster problems before our minds, hearts and souls. For science moves faster and faster, so much faster than the men of today—or even the men of tomorrow—are able to apprehend, comprehend or assimilate.
Location: 50
If we are to witness to Christ in today’s marketplaces where there are constant demands on our whole person we need silence. If we are to be always available, not only physically, but by empathy, sympathy, friendship, understanding, and boundless caritas, we need silence. To be able to give joyous, unflagging hospitality, not only of house and food, but of mind, heart, body and soul, we need silence.
Location: 69
If we are to witness to Christ in today’s marketplaces where there are constant demands on our whole person we need silence. If we are to be always available, not only physically, but by empathy, sympathy, friendship, understanding, and boundless caritas, we need silence. To be able to give joyous, unflagging hospitality, not only of house and food, but of mind, heart, body and soul, we need silence. True silence is the search of man for God.
Location: 69
This silence, then, will break forth in a charity that overflows in the service of the neighbor without counting the cost.
Location: 82
This silence is not the exclusive prerogative of monasteries or convents. This simple, prayerful silence can and should be everybody’s silence. It belongs to every Christian who loves God, to every Jew who has heard in his heart the echoes of God’s voice in his prophets, to everyone whose soul has risen in search of truth, in search of God. For where noise is—inward noise and confusion—there God is not!
Location: 85
Consider the solitude of walking from the subway train or bus to your home in the evening, when the streets are quieter and there are few passersby. Consider the solitude that greets you when you enter your room to change your office or working clothes to more comfortable, homey ones. Consider the solitude of a housewife, alone in her kitchen, sitting down for a cup of coffee before beginning the work of the day. Think of the solitudes afforded by such humble tasks as housecleaning, ironing, sewing.
Location: 93
One of the first steps toward solitude is a departure. Were you to depart to a real desert, you might take a plane, train or car to get there. But we’re blind to the “little departures” that fill our days. These “little solitudes” are often right behind a door which we can open, or in a little corner where we can stop to look at a tree that somehow survived the snow and dust of a city street. There is the solitude of a car in which we return from work, riding bumper to bumper on a crowded highway. This too can be a “point of departure” to a desert, silence, solitude.
Location: 96
One of the first steps toward solitude is a departure. Were you to depart to a real desert, you might take a plane, train or car to get there. But we’re blind to the “little departures” that fill our days. These “little solitudes” are often right behind a door which we can open, or in a little corner where we can stop to look at a tree that somehow survived the snow and dust of a city street. There is the solitude of a car in which we return from work, riding bumper to bumper on a crowded highway. This too can be a “point of departure” to a desert, silence, solitude.
Location: 96
But our hearts, minds, and souls must be attuned, desirous, aware of these moments of solitude that God gives us. To be so attuned we must lose our superstition of time. God laughs at time, for if our souls are open to him and available to him, he can invite them in, change them, lift them, transform them, in one instant! He can say to someone driving that car bumper to bumper, “I will lead you into solitude and there I shall speak to your heart” (Hos 2:14).
Location: 101
But how, really, can one achieve such solitude? By standing still! Stand still, and allow the deadly restlessness of our tragic age to fall away like the worn-out, dusty cloak that it is. That restlessness was once considered the magic carpet to tomorrow, but now we see it for what it really is: a running away from oneself, a turning from the journey inward that all men must undertake to meet God dwelling within the depths of their souls.
Location: 114
Stand still, and lifting your hearts and hands to God, pray that the mighty wind of his Holy Spirit may clear all the cobwebs of fears, selfishness, greed, and narrow–heartedness away from your soul. Pray that his tongues of flame may descend to give you courage to begin again.
Location: 122
At first such silences will be few and far between. But if nourished with a life of liturgical prayer, mental prayer, and the sacramental life of the Church, slowly, like the seedling of a mighty tree, silence will grow. It will come to dwell in a soul more and more often until one day it will come to stay.
Location: 132
Solitude sometimes helps prayer, and for special vocations is the cradle of prayer, and powerful prayer at that. But for the average Christian, prayer doesn’t need a geographic spot. To think that I must have solitude in which to pray, is a fallacy. Prayer is a contact of love between God and man.
Location: 164
Prayer is a full–time affair; solitude, unless one is called to a lifetime of it by God, must always be a temporary thing, lest it cease to be solitude and become an escape.
Location: 177
Hospitality means, above all, that the poustinik is just passing on whatever God has put into his empty hands. He gives all that he has and is: words, work, food, and himself.
Location: 384
It is God who leads the soul to the desert and the soul cannot remain in the desert long unless it is nourished by God. Therefore, it is a place where we fast from bodily food and even spiritual food, such as reading all kinds of books, for we enter there to meet our God with the only book in which he is fully accessible: the bible.
Location: 499
I believe that God is even now raising up these men and women because there is so little silence of heart in the world. There is so much noise in the souls, minds, and hearts of men that God’s voice cannot be heard. So he himself will call many to come and listen to his silence, to immerse themselves in it. Then he will send them forth to be prophets of today, to be his voice once again, across all the lands of the world. He will send them to a world that needs to hear his voice through the lips of its own brothers and sisters as it did of old, when God sent his Son into the world to speak.
Location: 643
One of the main causes of this feeling of guilt for being “separated from the community” stems, I think, from the Western notion of production. The West values itself for its ability to produce things. Priests, nuns, and lay people tend to evaluate themselves interiorly by what they can produce. Priests especially do not realize that their presence is enough. I often tell priests who work in parishes that one of the best things they can “do” is simply walk around their neighborhoods and be present to their people. But if they aren’t doing something, they feel that they are wasting their lives away.
Location: 679
With the poustinik, too, there is an inability to realize that the presence of a person who is in love with God is enough; that nothing else is needed.
Location: 683
The devil will try to twist the meaning of their vocation. He will suggest how impossible it is to form a community of love, especially for people of our age who are so wounded and suffering from neuroses of all kinds. The devil will concentrate on this because the essence of a house becoming a poustinia in the marketplace is that its members really bear with one another, and cover themselves with humility, compassion, and love toward one another. Yes, the devil will attack especially this admonition of St. Paul’s to “bear with one another.” He will attack it with all sorts of “logical” arguments and prove that it is just not possible.
Location: 855
Acquire interior peace and a multitude of men will find their salvation near you.”
Location: 941
The final of all these attitudes is peace. The sign by which you know a good poustinik is peace. Whether he knows it or not, he exudes an intense peace. He is so peaceful that just being next to him has a settling effect. His peace encompasses you like a mantle. The poustinik is supposed to be not only a peace–maker, but a peace–giver.
Location: 1222
Russians believe that the greatest purity is achieved through tears, tears that really wash us. Our tears mingle with the tears of Christ and cleanse the soul of every extraneous thing that is bothering it. Tears wash away every interior attachment which hinders true poverty of spirit. Tears are also another way through which we come to appreciate the great gift of God: our freedom. Our soul, washed by tears, can see clearly that we really are free, that we can say yes or no to God. In the poustinia, this struggle between yes and no, this struggle with God, is intensified a hundredfold. At some point, your yes to God will make you nonexistent. For only a second. Something will happen in your purified soul through these tears and struggles. You will seem to be like one dead. But it won’t last long. You will return, and on that day you will know a miracle. You made your choice for God. The true liberation that God reserves for those who love him will be yours.
Location: 1378
when a Russian goes into a poustinia, even for a day or two, he goes for others as well as for himself—but predominantly for others. Upon returning, he should tell members of his family or community what he has received during his stay in the poustinia. If one were in a Russian village, these words would be meant for everyone in the village.
Location: 1718
With the gift of listening comes the gift of healing, because listening to your brother until he has said the last word in his heart is healing and consoling. Someone has said that it is possible “to listen a person’s soul into existence.” I like that.
Location: 1932
Is the word transparency your answer, Lord, to our polluted world, our polluted minds, hearts and souls? It may be, because if we unpollute our inner selves, then of course we will be selfless; and if we are selfless we easily will unpollute the air, the water and the earth, because selfless men in love with God are not subject to greed, and it is greed that today pollutes the earth. But greed pollutes the inner man before it pollutes the earth.
November 16, 2009
Another of my 'recovery' books. This books bears re-reading. It is a search into silence; God's silence and how to find it even when one is not a monastic type.
Doherty's style is compelling and really draws one into what she is saying.
Doherty's style is compelling and really draws one into what she is saying.
February 4, 2024
All (5?) of these are worth reading
Why doesn't Goodreads have a re-read category?
Have just re-read Poustinia.......
There is something in this book that really speaks to me.......
Will be re-reading the others in this series.......
Why doesn't Goodreads have a re-read category?
Have just re-read Poustinia.......
There is something in this book that really speaks to me.......
Will be re-reading the others in this series.......
April 4, 2016
Definitely not a writer, but very much a spiritual person. I enjoyed her reflections on the dark night of the soul, though much less so her style of writing.
Worth a read if you wish to enter into poustinia one day, but not the best spiritual writing out there.
Worth a read if you wish to enter into poustinia one day, but not the best spiritual writing out there.
July 30, 2007
I'll let you know when I'm finished, but at this point, this book has done more to awaken me to the seriousness of the Christian responsibility than any other book has.
May 25, 2008
The book that changed my life forever. Literally.
December 16, 2023
I’ve been “waiting” to read Catherine Doherty for a few years now. Friends of mine have been to - and loved - the experience of the Madonna House; but I’ve never felt the pull to go, and so wondered at what opportunity she and her books would find their way to me.
Turns out from the personal library of a seminarian friend, whose childhood room is my present (temporary) dwelling, and whose family’s generosity in hosting me is humbling. I had never considered treating this page in my life was like its own retreat, but in the sense of cultivating an interiority of silence while still being ready to drop everything and join the community at any moment.
Doherty is a lovely conversational and engaging writer, with a practical attitude that’s not bogged down in flowery words or overly ponderous metaphors.
Anyone can - and should- cultivate an inner quietness to meet Jesus. Doherty recommends a “poustinia of the heart” for the modern world - self-emptying begins with the Jesus prayer, then silence the noise of your heart by “folding the wings of your intellect and putting your head into your heart” (I think of a Mother Dove listening to her own heartbeat). “Now it is not I [going out into the world and doing things], but Christ in me”.
In tandem with this book I’ve been taking part in an Advent reflection on Mary, and the takeaway at the most recent meeting was essentially “be the change you want to see in the world. Start with the [wo]man in the mirror”. I feel encouraged that this Advent is really being used as a time of waiting and preparation for Christmas and New Year. Welcome, 2024.
Turns out from the personal library of a seminarian friend, whose childhood room is my present (temporary) dwelling, and whose family’s generosity in hosting me is humbling. I had never considered treating this page in my life was like its own retreat, but in the sense of cultivating an interiority of silence while still being ready to drop everything and join the community at any moment.
Doherty is a lovely conversational and engaging writer, with a practical attitude that’s not bogged down in flowery words or overly ponderous metaphors.
Anyone can - and should- cultivate an inner quietness to meet Jesus. Doherty recommends a “poustinia of the heart” for the modern world - self-emptying begins with the Jesus prayer, then silence the noise of your heart by “folding the wings of your intellect and putting your head into your heart” (I think of a Mother Dove listening to her own heartbeat). “Now it is not I [going out into the world and doing things], but Christ in me”.
In tandem with this book I’ve been taking part in an Advent reflection on Mary, and the takeaway at the most recent meeting was essentially “be the change you want to see in the world. Start with the [wo]man in the mirror”. I feel encouraged that this Advent is really being used as a time of waiting and preparation for Christmas and New Year. Welcome, 2024.
July 15, 2020
A very beautiful and simple book. It shows through Catherine Doherty that God is found in the desert, but the desert takes a certain kenosis, or emptying of ourselves, to enter. Not only can the desert be a physical place we enter (a place of solitude and silence), but there can also be a desert of the heart. Very important book for all who seek closeness with God and who desire to love men as God lobes them!
November 29, 2020
I read while I was staying in a hermitage for 3 days. So powerful in my time of silence with God!
September 25, 2021
Really loved parts I and IV, II and III were ok.
This was a must read given my interest in the idea of a “desert day”- taking 24 hours a month to go off the grid, dwelling in prayerful solitude, which results in living with greater attentiveness to the indwelling of the Trinity upon return to the “real world.”
I can already tell that her words have left a deep impression in my soul.
This was a must read given my interest in the idea of a “desert day”- taking 24 hours a month to go off the grid, dwelling in prayerful solitude, which results in living with greater attentiveness to the indwelling of the Trinity upon return to the “real world.”
I can already tell that her words have left a deep impression in my soul.
April 18, 2015
Although I have known of Catherine Doherty for a while, I had never felt drawn to find out more about her until I came across Thomas Merton's description of her in The Seven Storey Mountain. Curious about the woman who had so deeply impressed Thomas Merton and whose description had also impressed and intrigued me, I started reading up about her and eventually purchased this book to read her in her own voice.
This is a book of unvarnished and simple truths about encountering God in "the desert" (i.e. Poustinia) and the central place that the desert must take in a Christian's life. Catherine writes clearly and unabashedly from her personal experience of encountering God in Silence, Solitude, and Prayer. Her writing style is conversational, which makes reading this book feel like listening to her speak. Her voice is clear, even blunt, about the spiritual truths she is imparting. She brooks no compromises in following the Gospel and this passionate, uncompromising stance in following Christ rings out throughout the pages of this book.
Catherine Doherty's style may not be appealing to everyone. If you are looking for an elegant and thoughtfully presented thesis on desert spirituality, this is not the book to read. However, if you would like to hear the voice of someone who "cries out from the wilderness"; someone who has lived the Gospel to a heroic degree and speaks plainly and simply from her own powerful encounters with God in Silence, Solitude, and Prayer, then read "Poustinia", and be ready to be challenged by Catherine Doherty's witness.
This is a book of unvarnished and simple truths about encountering God in "the desert" (i.e. Poustinia) and the central place that the desert must take in a Christian's life. Catherine writes clearly and unabashedly from her personal experience of encountering God in Silence, Solitude, and Prayer. Her writing style is conversational, which makes reading this book feel like listening to her speak. Her voice is clear, even blunt, about the spiritual truths she is imparting. She brooks no compromises in following the Gospel and this passionate, uncompromising stance in following Christ rings out throughout the pages of this book.
Catherine Doherty's style may not be appealing to everyone. If you are looking for an elegant and thoughtfully presented thesis on desert spirituality, this is not the book to read. However, if you would like to hear the voice of someone who "cries out from the wilderness"; someone who has lived the Gospel to a heroic degree and speaks plainly and simply from her own powerful encounters with God in Silence, Solitude, and Prayer, then read "Poustinia", and be ready to be challenged by Catherine Doherty's witness.
February 24, 2015
Poustinia is a Russian word signifying desert, and in Russian Orthodoxy it is accepted practice for those called, to leave their life and to seek God in such a desert. These deserts are usually humble cottages where the poustinik prays, reads the Bible and seeks God's will.
The author Catherine Doherty is a Russian emigre to Canada, and a convert to Catholicism. Here she explains the idea of the Poustinia, charts her own journey as a Poustinik, and draws out anecdotes from the Catholic Poustinia movement she began in Canada.
The idea is interesting and Doherty's life journey is fascinating but the teachings she imparts are not always clear. For instance the idea of the Poustinia and the marketplace is never really clarified beyond the title. Otherwise a good and interesting book.
The author Catherine Doherty is a Russian emigre to Canada, and a convert to Catholicism. Here she explains the idea of the Poustinia, charts her own journey as a Poustinik, and draws out anecdotes from the Catholic Poustinia movement she began in Canada.
The idea is interesting and Doherty's life journey is fascinating but the teachings she imparts are not always clear. For instance the idea of the Poustinia and the marketplace is never really clarified beyond the title. Otherwise a good and interesting book.
February 25, 2016
Listened to this on CD. Intriguing and lovely. Mystical , a bit rambling. So deep, I can't say I absorbed it all. But it is excellent Lenten reading. About spiritual deserts, physical or interior, and seeking God there. She is a fascinating woman. Somewhat akin to Dorothy Day. Converted from Russian Orthodox to Catholic. But very Eastern in her spirituality. Sought out the poor, chose to live with them and help them. Russian aristocrat who survived the revolution, got to England, then settled in Canada. One way to experience her writing would probably be to pick up the Orbis volume of her writings in the Modern Spiritual Masters series. . . .
March 4, 2010
This was an interesting invitation to meditation and I took it. She had me praying in ways I needed to pray. It was interesting to have the Russian practices of solitude highlighted. For those things I recommend it. Unfortunately, I had to overlook how much the book was about Catherine Doherty as she told her story. It seemed a bit too much about Catherine and I am not sure she warranted such scrutiny.
September 5, 2008
Catherine de Hueck Doherty comes from Russia. In here second marriage she came to Ontario and founded Madonna House a spiritual center. This book is really about her life and spirituality after founding this spiritual center. It is a book of Christian spirituality of the East for Western man. It has a lot of very good wisdom and is worth the read.
April 19, 2019
Somehow I encountered this book. Now having read it it am convinced that the Holy Spirit led me to it. It has transformed the way I view my life and prayer entirely. I have read many books on prayer but learning about the Poustinia of the Heart has left me in tears of joy and experiencing a deeper peace than I ever thought possible. I can’t recommend this book enough.
May 4, 2018
From the first sentence to the last , this book was dry. I was constantly trying to enter into a conversation that felt circular and disjointed. How many times can you use the word ‘Poustinia’ in a paragraph?
April 5, 2019
This book will always be in my top five. It came into my life at the right moment (literally held out my hand in the dark and asked God to guide me to a book the first night I arrived as a lay volunteer at a retreat house in Scotland). This book taught me how to pray.
October 7, 2013
Excellent book calling us to deep prayer and solitude. I have not read it for many years but I think it is past time for me to reread it once again. It's message is very important for me.
March 2, 2014
Marvellous - the most read book by one of my favourite spiritual teachers.
February 8, 2015
One of the wisest books I've read in a long time.
August 17, 2016
Ilvr his book. Probably read it twenty times!
Reminds me that simplified is better for my soul.and serenity!
Reminds me that simplified is better for my soul.and serenity!
December 31, 2016
Amazing. Transformational. Need to re-read. And soak.
January 6, 2025
Before diving into Poustinia, I wish I had taken the time to learn more about Catherine Doherty’s remarkable life. She was a fascinating woman who moved through seasons of wealth, poverty, marriage, singleness, and eventually celibacy within her marriage. She founded ministries that flourished and faded, yet her enduring legacy, Madonna House, continues as a growing mission to this day. Her life’s journey deeply enriches the context of her writing.
I began Poustinia during a personal retreat in a quiet cabin in the woods, seeking silence, solitude, and time with the Lord. It felt like providential timing, as her descriptions of the Russian poustinia—a simple place of prayer and communion with God—resonated strongly with the shaping of my own time. Her writing captured the beauty and challenge of stepping away from the world to seek God in simplicity, offering a vision that deeply inspired me.
That said, the latter portion of the book felt somewhat rambling and disjointed. While I appreciated her desire to share her experiences with God and the message she felt called to deliver, it became harder to follow. However, this didn’t diminish my appreciation for her heart and passion, which shine through her words.
I would absolutely pick up this book again, at least to revisit several chapters that were particularly meaningful. Doherty’s reflections serve as a powerful reminder that we can touch the Lord with one hand in praise and worship while extending the other in service to others. This posture of prayer and action is a profound challenge for how we are called to live our lives.
Poustinia is a book I’d recommend to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of silence, solitude, and God’s presence in the midst of a busy world. While not without its challenges, it is a rich and inspiring work that offers timeless insights into the spiritual life.
I began Poustinia during a personal retreat in a quiet cabin in the woods, seeking silence, solitude, and time with the Lord. It felt like providential timing, as her descriptions of the Russian poustinia—a simple place of prayer and communion with God—resonated strongly with the shaping of my own time. Her writing captured the beauty and challenge of stepping away from the world to seek God in simplicity, offering a vision that deeply inspired me.
That said, the latter portion of the book felt somewhat rambling and disjointed. While I appreciated her desire to share her experiences with God and the message she felt called to deliver, it became harder to follow. However, this didn’t diminish my appreciation for her heart and passion, which shine through her words.
I would absolutely pick up this book again, at least to revisit several chapters that were particularly meaningful. Doherty’s reflections serve as a powerful reminder that we can touch the Lord with one hand in praise and worship while extending the other in service to others. This posture of prayer and action is a profound challenge for how we are called to live our lives.
Poustinia is a book I’d recommend to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of silence, solitude, and God’s presence in the midst of a busy world. While not without its challenges, it is a rich and inspiring work that offers timeless insights into the spiritual life.
March 29, 2022
Persons who are Catholic or Orthodox would likely be most inspired by this work. There are sections of this book that glowed with inspiration for me, others not so. Yet, the underlying message, removed from what is a Catholic and Christian religion exclusivism, can speak to the heart of anyone aspiring to live a life of love and grace, uniting the life of inner solitude with good works and justice for all. In this life, such silence reminds me, one finds "Christ" is outside as well as inside Catholicism and Christianity, as inside and outside all that is, including you and me.
If your heart longs for solitude that is other than merely being alone, and aloneness other than merely loneliness, this book can speak to your heart-aspiration and provide wise wisdom on implementing a poustinia-like life.
This book is a symbol of our longing, though, as the author notes, often hidden from us, a longing that forms the basis of community that is communion. Simply, as the author shows, loving community cannot be sustained by externals, only through what remains hidden, even when lived, but most true - the True - within us each.
If your heart longs for solitude that is other than merely being alone, and aloneness other than merely loneliness, this book can speak to your heart-aspiration and provide wise wisdom on implementing a poustinia-like life.
This book is a symbol of our longing, though, as the author notes, often hidden from us, a longing that forms the basis of community that is communion. Simply, as the author shows, loving community cannot be sustained by externals, only through what remains hidden, even when lived, but most true - the True - within us each.
May 30, 2024
Such a powerful spiritual book on how anyone can establish a Poustinia, not just a physical one but one in the heart of each Christian. Catherine Doherty does not water down the call for every Christian to be a contemplative in any way. She truly speaks the truth of the Gospel without compromise. This book has impacted my spirituality in many ways, and her wisdom is timeless and rooted in a love for Christ. She has a very unique perspective in which she bridges the divide between Western and Eastern Christian spirituality, and her call for silence to "be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10) is much needed in our noisy modern world. She may be writing this in the 70s, but her writing is even more applicable in our technocratic world today.
Fun fact, her cause for canonization is open, so I urge you to check out her life, her apostolate, and her writings! I first discovered her when I read The Seven Storey Mountain by Fr. Thomas Merton, and in this book, she mentions her friendship with Dorothy Day. How beautiful is the Mystical Body of Christ, that these saints and influential Catholics knew each other during their time on earth.
Fun fact, her cause for canonization is open, so I urge you to check out her life, her apostolate, and her writings! I first discovered her when I read The Seven Storey Mountain by Fr. Thomas Merton, and in this book, she mentions her friendship with Dorothy Day. How beautiful is the Mystical Body of Christ, that these saints and influential Catholics knew each other during their time on earth.
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May 5, 2023Not giving this one a star rating because it wasn't what I was expecting, and I don't know how to quantify it. The authors name came up in a list of modern, accessible Catholic mystics, so I decided to check out her work, but I had no guidance for which of her many works would be good to start with. I thought this would be more generally on contemplative prayer, but it was actually about a very specific vocation as practiced in her homeland in Russia and that she bright to Canada in the establishment of Madonna House. It is partly the philosophy of this practice, part how-to for the members of Madonna House, and part insights from her own practice. It was very interesting, but not about contemplative prayer for most folks' day to day life. I did enjoy her writing style, so I'll check out more of her work in the future.
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