Discernment by Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) with Michael J. Christensen & Rebecca J. Laird

 "The premise of this book is that God is always speaking to us -- individually and as the people of God --  at different times and in many ways: through dreams and visions, prophets and messengers, scripture and tradition, experience and reason, nature and events. And that discernment is the spiritual practice that accesses and seeks to understand what God is trying to say. The books we read, the nature we enjoy, the people we meet, and the events we experience contain within themselves signs of God's presence and guidance day by day."   from the Preface

Sections of The Power of Memory and The Mystery of Memory 

from Chapter Eight Opening Your Heart:Discerning Divine Presence

 Although memory brings the painful past closer in the present, it also creates a deep desire for reunion with those I remember and for reconciliation with what is past. The power of memory is not only that it allows me to relive the past but also that it transforms the past in the present and the future.   For example, I feel closely related to many friends who have died. I remember them in faith and expectation that I will see them again. The memory of those I love makes me desire a reunion, a new encounter face-to-face. In some mysterious way, in the absence of a loved one from the past, I sense a spiritual closeness in the present that prepares me for a reunion in the future that is deeper and fuller than their presence in the past or their presence in the present. I can even say that I must remember those in the past to make full reunion possible in the future. Their memory is in a certain sense preparation for seeing them again. Remembering grandparents, parents, brothers and sisters, and friends who have died or gone away is not just some sentimental, pious custom of those who can't move on; it is the continuation of a relationship that still exists and has yet to come to fulfillment. Indeed it is the Spirit of Christ that tells us there is a coming reunion more profound than the relationship in the past or present. Would it be true to say that remembering a friend or family member in death allows for a spiritual communion to develop that was not fully realized during their physical presence? Can we say that memory unites us in spirit with a connection deeper than physical union?  If so, we must confess that bodily presence not only reveals the real person to us but also hides the real person from us. One's physical presence both reveals and hides the deeper, more authentic self that I desire to encounter. In physical absence, the spiritual presence is no longer blocked. This mystery sheds new light on life and death. Being fully alive means being truly present to God and others as best we can. Dying means not only leaving but also entering into a more intimate relationship and a deeper spiritual presence than was possible during physical life.

If remembering a loved one who has died sometimes brings one closer to the spiritual reality or essence of his or her presence in memory, then the memory of Christ likewise brings me closer to Jesus than even his physical presence on earth could do. His death, his leaving me behind, has made it possible to receive his Spirit and to live in and with him always. The memory of Christ brings me into spiritual communion with him and with his body, the church. This insight gives power and meaning to the words of Jesus "It is good for you that I go because unless I go, the Advocate will not come" (John 16:7). In the memory of Jesus, we receive his Spirit and enter into a mysterious communion with him that is deeper and more intimate than if he had been with us physically and historically. In the very act of remembering Christ, we not only recall the past reality but somehow see Christ in the future event. 

The Henri Nouwen Society has lots of information:  www.henrinouwen.org

Learning to Walk in the Dark by Barbara Brown Taylor

Becoming acquainted with Barbara Brown Taylor through reading Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith, An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith and now Learning to Walk in the Dark has given strength to my spiritual journey. Our Contemplative Prayer Group finished this book in May and as a result of the group discussions, it was filled with gemstones for me that I would have missed without their insight. I am indeed blessed with this wonderful group and I thank God for bringing us together.

It took a few chapters for the author to get the foundation established for the reader to have an understanding where the book was guiding you. You keep finding mindsets you have on darkness that has influenced your paths. But as the book jacket tells us "Taylor is our guide through a spirituality of the nighttime, teaching us how to find God even in darkness, and giving us a way to let darkness teach us what we need to know."   

My copy of this book is really marked which is what I use when I review a book at a later time ... may as well start on page one for this book. Taylor begins chapter one with this appropriate scripture: "I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. Isaiah 45:3."   Here is one of the many quotes scattered throughout the book: 

There is a tendency for us to flee from the wild silence and wild dark, to pack up our gods and hunker down behind city walls, to turn the gods into idols, to kowtow before them and approach their precincts only in the official robes of office. And when we are in the temples, then who will hear the voice crying in the wilderness? Who will hear the reed shaken by the wind? ... Chet Raymo, The Soul of the Night

And at the end of the book the prayer of Thomas Merton from his book, Thoughts in Solitude.

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Meditations On the Monk Who Dwells in Daily Life by Thomas Moore

This beautiful gift book was purchased at a used book store many years ago and remained unread until June when I was in need of readings that were short. The timing was so perfect that I place this experience in what is called "when the fullness of time came."  This section is from the author's foreword explaining these meditations:

While our society may not seem terribly interested these days in monastic life, it is clearly hungry for a kind of spirituality that is neither divorced from ordinary life nor escapist in tone. We may not need new leaders and new philosophies as much as the recollection of old images from the past. Monasticism may appear to be dying, but that fading of a way of life offers us an unusual opportunity to regard it with increased imagination, drawing its lessons and attractions into our own lives, no matter what external shape our work and home life may take. The ghosts of the monks still speak. We have only to listen to them with subtle attentiveness.

This is one of the meditations that spoke to me and gave a new word .... Melisma.

 Sometimes in their chanting monks will land upon a note and sing it in florid fashion, one syllable of text for fifty notes of chant. Melisma, they call it. Living a melismatic life in imitation of plainchant, we may stop on an experience, a place, a person, or a memory and rhapsodize in imagination. Some like to meditate or contemplate melismatically, while others prefer to draw, build, paint, or dance whatever their eye has fallen upon. Living one point after another is one form of experience, and it can be emphatically productive. But stopping for melisma gives the soul it reason for being. 

The Lessons of St. Francis by John Michael Talbot with Steve Rabey

I am much more familiar with John Michael Talbot's music than I am his writing. I was introduced to his music with the Heart of the Shepherd album a very long time ago when I was recovering from pneumonia.  He is a musician, teacher, and writer who practices the Franciscan traditions. In 1980 he founded Brothers and Sisters of Charity, a monastic community located in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, based on the Franciscan principles of simplicity.  Another Franciscan monk and author of The Journey and the Dream, Murray Bodo, gives this review for the book:

This small wisdom book combines personal narration with practical advice to cut across all religious traditions. Through the universally loved life and works of Francis of Assisi, the author weaves a guidebook of spirituality for moderns. The whole tapestry works because the strands are strong and reliable. The reader is invited to take up those threads and make, not a medieval tapestry, but a refashioned modern life after the pattern of St. Francis.

Talbot's album entitled Troubadour of the Great King consists of musical versions of the favorite scriptures ad prayers of St. Francis. 

The Ordinary Princess written and illustrated by M.M. Kaye

A delightful fairy tale to read when resting from gardening. It was so refreshing to my body and mind that it  prompted me to locate the big book of The World's Best Fairy Tales and read a few favorites from my youthful energetic days. In the foreword, M.M. Kaye says she created this story about Princess Amethyst in an apple orchard in full bloom in the county of Kent in England. Not once did she remember needing to use her eraser as the story wrote itself. And the illustrations scattered throughout the book are contrasts between the ordinary and the ornate. The adventures of the seventh princess was just as Fairy Crustacea said "being ordinary will bring you more happiness."        

Portobello by Ruth Rendell

There isn't anything like finding an author that is "new to you" that offers forty years of books just waiting for you to read.  If her other novels are anything like Portobello I will be a satisfied reader.  Must add her name to the list of authors/books I look for at used book stores. Portobello is a tale that weaves together the lives of several people in one neighborhood in London and the consequences that change them all.  It is written  in such a natural way that you feel as if you are actually in the neighborhood yourself and observing these happenings.  Thanks again to Gypsi for suggesting this author to me.       

The Heaven of Animals by Nancy Tillman

The perfect beauty of the art in this book cannot be described and the story so needful by anyone who has lost a dear pet.  A friend suggested we should read this book when we lost our dear Daisy Beagle. I found a copy at the library and knew I had to have my own copy.  It was indeed a comfort to us and we frequently make references to this dear book.  All pet lovers, young and old, should be friends with this book.  

http://www.amazon.com/Heaven-Animals-Nancy-Tillman/dp/0312553692/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436322053&sr=8-1&keywords=the+heaven+of+animals