The Light from the Cloister by M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O.

My library has a lot of books that are authored by monks and it all started with Thomas Merton. One day I'm going to compile a list. Light from the Cloister is practical spirituality for practical Christians inspired by monastic practice. M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O. is a Cistercian monk of St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, MA. He is a teacher of centering prayer and the author of numerous books on prayer, monastic spirituality and Christian practice.

From the back cover of the book:

All people, when they reach out to God, inevitably do so in some sort of practice. It might be meditation, it might be prayer, it might be an act of work or fasting. As we reach out again and again, we fall back on habitual practices developed and refined b the great religious traditions.

Christian monasticism has much to teach us about religious practice. The twentieth century lay person can benefit from this "light from the cloister" since, ultimately, the spiritual life is the same for everyone. From the centuries-old practice of monks, we can learn anew the simple paths of silence, listening, prayer, obedience, work, fasting, peacemaking and friendship.

"When those who love God try to talk about him, their words are blind lions looking for springs in the desert."   ---- Leon Bloy

God's Echo, Exploring Scripture with Midrash by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso

This book is a ruby! It was my first experience with Midrash but will not be my last. The following reviews express my feelings:

"This book ... can change for the better the way we all look at Scripture. Not as magic but as spiritual meaning for our times. Not as mystery but as a new and real presence in our own lives." Joan Chittister

"God's Echo is a wonderful use of rabbinic stories and biblical interpretations to help us grapple with serious issues in our lives: dealing with anger, assuming responsibility, coping with bad times, taking risks, loving the stranger, enjoying life, and setting ultimate goals. In all these areas, the book helps us identify the moments when we experience God in down-to-earth, personal language so that people with no training in philosophy can grapple with some of the deepest philosophical issues that we all confront. Quite a treasure!" Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff, Ph.D.

And the author's explanation:

"Learning Midrash is more than a fascinating historical excursus; it is a personal journey....I have marveled at how much of what the rabbis wrote still speaks to my concerns and moves my soul. Even more, I remain grateful for the tools they have provided to unlock new sacred treasures, how their imagination enables me to go deeper into my own." Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso

By The River Piedra, I Sat Down & Wept by Paulo Coelho

How to summarize a novel by Paulo Coelho baffles me. I have read several of his books:  The Alchemist, The Fifth Mountain, The Pilgrimage, Brida, Warrior of the Light, and Manuscript in Accra.  He is definitely a "quotable" author, but sharing his plot lines is difficult for me.  His stories seem to always be woven with spirituality and the power of love with life and its decisions, choices, and paths with surprising twists or turns and propels the reader forward from the first page. I can understand why his novels have been translated into 43 languages.

Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta Trapp

This book is written by and about the life of the woman whose story became The Sound of Music.  Having never read the story, I was surprised by the first half of the book in which the family life was centered around the church year, but as Maria was starting out to be a nun, I shouldn't have been surprised at all. Here is an excerpt from the chapter of "Feasts in a Family."

"There came a time when we hardly got around to reading and singing together because we were so busy and that was the birthday season.  In a large household there are a number of family holidays which occur yearly: the birthdays and feastdays.  In our particular family we have two distinct seasons:  from the end of January to the beginning of May and again from the end of September to the first of November. My people had only celebrated the birthdays, whereas we in Nonnberg disregarded those and celebrated only the feastdays. These are celebrated on the feast of the Saint in whose honor you are named. Now we put both customs together and, since there were nine of us there were eighteen holidays right away. All great feasts of the Church have a Vigil; they start so to speak the evening before. So our family feasts were celebrated the evening before, too." 

 And another one from the Preface written on Pentecost Sunday 1949:

"While working on this book and writing down the memories of a family, it astonished, amazed and almost overwhelmed me to see how much love -- genuine, real love -- was stored up in one short lifetime: first, God's love for us His children, the leading, guiding, protecting love of a Father; and as ever real love calls forth love in return, it couldn't be any different here. The Story of the Trapp Family Singers wants to be a canticle of love and gratitude to the heavenly Father in his Divine Providence."    

 The Sound of Music celebrated the film's fiftieth anniversary this year.  Check out their site on Facebook.
www.facebook.com/TheSoundOfMusic?fref=ts

Keeping The Sabbath Wholly by Marva J. Dawn

Eugene Peterson says this about Keeping the Sabbath Wholly:  "This is a superb account of Sabbath keeping Marva Dawn show us what it looks like, how it feels. She is generous in her information -- studying the Scriptures, passing on the traditions, reflecting on the experience -- but most she simple tells us what she is doing as she does it. She comes into my life as a companion in Sabbath keeping (not as a lecturer, not as a scold) and gives me fresh heart in living more deeply into this most wonderful of all rhythms." 

Please note: This is not a book on legalistic duty but one providing methods and motivation for enjoying a day of significance. The book is divided into sections of ceasing, resting, embracing and feasting. I benefited greatly from reading this book and I'm putting together my ritual for the Sabbath Day celebration. I am convinced that the common rhythms of life are gifts to us from God which add spiritual dimension when observed and may be one of the enduring characteristic of the monastic life.

Marva Dawn's dedication of this book is an interesting one:

This book is dedicated to all the people who need the Sabbath --
the busiest, who need to work from a cohesive, unfragmented self;
social activists, who need a cycle of worship and action;
those who chase after fulfillment and need to understand their deepest yearnings and hear the silence;
those who have lost their ability to play because of the materialism and technologization of our society, who need beauty and gaiety and delight;
those who have lost their passion and need to get in touch with feelings;
those who are alone and need emotional nourishment;
those who live in community and need solitude;
those who cannot find their life's priorities and need a new perspective;
those who think the future is dictated by the present, who need hope and vision of the future to change the present order;
those who long for deeper family life and want to nurture certain values;
the poor and the oppressed, who need to mourn and to dance in the prison camp;
the rich and the oppressors, who need to learn nonviolence, stewardship and God's purpose in the world.;
those who suffer, who need to learn how suffering can be redemptive;
professional theologians, who need to bring the heart back into theology;
those who don't know how religion fits into the modern world, who need a relationship with God;

The book ends with this comparison by the author:

"When the Sabbath is finally fulfilled, our divisions and weaknesses will cease forever. We will rest eternally in God's grace and love. We will embrace his kingdom and sovereignty ultimately and perfectly. We will feast unceasingly in his presence."

 From the Preface:

"In Jadaica the Sabbath is loved as a bride or a queen. Deep in our beings there is a longing for completion, and all sorts of prostitutes in our culture compete to satisfy that yearning. Only holy time, in which we experience the presence of God, can fill our emptiness. When we focus on our love for the bride, nothing else matters. May our growing together to understand the meaning of Sabbath keeping give you the opportunity to fall in love with the Sabbath Queen and thereby love more deeply the King of the Universe!"

Catholicism for Dummies by Rev. John Trigillio, Jr. & Rev. Kenneth Brighenti

The daughter referred this book to me by giving me my own copy for which I am very thankful as it belongs in my library collection.

As told in the Introductory of Catholicism for Dummies, "This book's goal is to give you a taste of Catholicism. It's not a Catechism or religion textbook but a casual, down-to-earth introduction for non-Catholics and a reintroduction for Catholics. It gives common-sense explanations about what Catholics believe and do in plain English with just enough why and how thrown in to make solid sense. Three great religions trace their roots to the prophet Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. And one of those religions, Christianity, is expressed in three different traditions: Catholicism, Protestantism, and Eastern Orthodoxy."

Personally, I feel that all Christians need a basic truthful understanding of these three expressions of Christianity as well as the various denominations within Protestantism. This clarity would bring down divisions that are based on misunderstanding and create unity and love among the Church which the world needs to experience. (I will be posting books I have read on Eastern Orthodoxy at a later time.)

Along with this book I also read and recommend The Rosary Prayer by Prayer by Mary K. Doyle and The Excellence of the Rosary by Math Josef Frings.  The Rosary Prayer by Prayer includes the mysteries (Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, Glorious) and The Excellence of the Rosary is a Classic Reprint Series by Forgotten Books www.forgottenBooks.org.