Category: Books

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“Lectio Divina – The Sacred Art” Book Review

Paintner, Christine Valters, Lectio Divina – the Sacred Art: Transforming Words & Images Into Heart-Centered Prayer, SPCK,  2012

Publisher’s Information:

Lectio divina, which means sacred reading, is an ancient contemplative practice of listening deeply to the voice of God in sacred texts. In recent years there has been a reclaiming of the riches of contemplative prayer forms of Western traditions. Through the practice of lectio divina you become present to each moment in a heart-centred way. Gradually, the practice of lectio expands your capacity to sense God’s presence until all of life becomes a cascade of prayer. Drawing on her own experience as a monk in the world, Christine Valters Paintner breaks open the movements of this spiritual practice. She makes them accessible to the contemporary reader who longs for a more pervasive experience of the holy in the everyday but lives far away from the sanctuary of a monastery.

Sample review from Amazon.co.uk

“I found this book to be a very helpful refresher on the practice of Lectio Divina. I have followed this practice on and off for several years, but this book applied the ideas and practice to a wide range of texts and also introduced ways of applying it to visual arts, music, nature, and our own life stories. The afterword says: ‘The whole world is, in fact, a text of sacred revelation. All experience has the potential to be revelatory, and God is singing one unending song seducing each of our hearts. So the call is to listen, to attune to the words God utters in the world.’
Every chapter has a suggested way of practising the ideas that have been discussed. If you are looking for a book that will give you practical help in refreshing your prayer life, or a book to take away on retreat, this would be a good start.”

Photo-Monique, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

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The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism

A Guide to Contemplative Spirituality By Carl McColman (Author) Aug 2023

Information from the Publisher, Broadleaf Books:

“This revised and expanded edition offers a big possibility: the hope of achieving real, experiential union with God.

‘The Christian of the future will be a mystic—or will not exist.’ This word of warning from theologian Karl Rahner was uttered half a century ago, and today, Christianity is indeed in crisis. Is mysticism necessary for the survival of Christianity? What exactly is Christian mysticism? How can it be relevant in our crisis-ridden world? Questions like these inspire The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism, a newly updated edition from beloved spiritual teacher and bestselling author Carl McColman.

The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism serves as both introduction and practical instruction for a living contemplative practice today. In addition to the overview of mysticism, spiritual and prayer practices in mysticism, the various types of mysticism in Christian tradition, and influential mystics through the millennia, this second edition offers an embodied understanding of the mystic life with a more diverse range of voices and perspectives, from Howard Thurman to Pauli Murray. It also includes new chapters and themes that address embodied mysticism, contemplation and social justice, and the ongoing relevance of Jesus’s message of radical equality and inclusivity.

This bigger book introduces both Christians and non-Christians to the contemplative tradition within Christianity, a tradition that has often been marginalized or cloistered (to the church’s detriment). As a practice-oriented book, this is an invitation to embrace the mystical element within Christianity—a practice that can equip faithful persons with a joyful sense of divine intimacy, not just for personal benefit but as a foundation to a life of service and activism in the interest of justice.

McColman’s overview of mysticism shows how it has been practiced and lived through the centuries and will prove inspirational for today’s seekers, regardless of their faith tradition. At its heart, Christian mysticism is an ancient practice that incorporates meditation, contemplation, worship, philosophy, the quest for enlightenment, the thirst for a better world, and the experience of divine presence.”

“The mystic is not a special kind of person; every person is a special kind of mystic.” –William McNamara 

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Silent Compassion: finding God in contemplation by Richard Rohr

Richard Rohr OFM (b. 1943) hardly needs any introduction. He is an American Franciscan priest and communicator. Based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he was the founding director and academic dean of the Living School for Action and Contemplation, founded in 2013. In 2023 he retired and is now Faculty Emeritus. Having published over 30 books (17 in print at the time of writing through SPCK) – most notably, perhaps, The Universal Christ and Falling Upward – he is undoubtedly one of the most popular authors and speakers on spirituality in the world.

Silent Compassion was published first by Franciscan Media in the USA back in 2014. It came on the heels of the City of Louisville’s occasional Festival of Faiths, attended by Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, and Muslims, including Richard Rohr and the Dalai Lama. Nearby, in Kentucky, is the Roman Catholic monastery of Gethsemani whence Thomas Merton travelled across the world to South-East Asia for another interfaith event some fifty years previously, where he met the younger Dalai Lama. Again, not far away, is the corner of Fourth and Muhammad Ali Boulevard where Merton had a mystical experience concerning the oneness of humanity.

The book has a Preface by John Feister, Editor in Chief of St Anthony Messenger magazine, an Introduction focusing on the Perennial tradition (‘affirm[ing] that there are some constant themes, truths, and recurrences in all the world religions’ (xi)), five short chapters, a really helpful Appendix listing an interfaith timeline of mystics, Notes, and Sources for the chapters. The chapters are headed (1) Finding God in the Depths of Silence, (2) Sacred Silence, Pathway to Compassion, (3) The True Self is Compassion, Love Itself, (4) Looking Out in Prayer with Contemplative Eyes, and (5) The Path to Non-Dual Thinking. Each is sourced either from the talks given by Richard Rohr, together with their Q and A sessions, at the conference, or from interviews given by Fr Richard published in the St Anthony Messenger magazine. Chapters that assuredly feed our minds – and our hearts.

SPCK, 2022. Paperback ISBN 978 0 281 08660 3. Price £8.99.
Luke Penkett

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The Word Within the Words Malcolm Guite

Darton, Longman & Todd 2021 £8.99 ISBN 978 1 913657 38 3

Given that Julian meetings are held in silence, ‘The Word within the Words’ may seem an odd choice for reading. We forget that words are distinguished by the silence, however brief, between them, which gives them space for their meaning to emerge. John’s gospel begins, ‘In the beginning was the Word’; and what follows tells us that this word is a verb, not a noun. It does not describe God; it opens the path for God to act, and interact, with His creation.

And this is the theme which runs through Malcolm Guite’s book. He draws on his experiences as a scholar working on medieval poetry, much of which had a religious context, which led him to discover his faith. He uses poetry, both his own and that of a variety of other sources, to illustrate the power of words, provided they are given the silence they need to grow in our hearts and minds, and to enable God to act in and through us.

This is a short book – less than 90 small pages – and can be read in about an hour and a half. But I should have said, ‘mis-read’; it is not a book to be read and then gather dust on the shelf; you need to allow the spaces between the words to have their effect, too. Think of it as a spiritual fertiliser, to be thinly spread and dug in; its effects will be seen later, in ways we may not have anticipated. Because, for words to grow and bear fruit, silence is essential.

Brian Morris