Indeed, the Benedictines have a love of the psalms, reading and immersing in them daily, starting over once they are all read again, imbedding the rhythms into their daily lives and contemplations. In the book’s preface, author Kathleen Norris admits that in the past she has employed literature as a substitute for religion in her life (p. The Benedictines though are not afraid to tackle the difficult bits alongside those peaceful passages we all love. Norris lifts that rug, and her nonjudgmental wonder at what she finds in community might lead some of the more reticent to a sense of shame and a desire to try and break personal walls and reach out. They take the time to sing, chant and read the psalms aloud, leaving plenty of room for silence, showing a respect for words that is remarkable.

Norris employs the phrase “negative capability” to describe the mindset that allows for writing poetry.

Range of fitted bedroom furniture in light wood effect finish comprising; wardrobes and high level storage cupboards. The mysteries of faith are degraded if they are made into an object of affirmation and negation, when in reality they should be an object of contemplation.

Kathleen Norris, a married woman with a thoroughly Protestant background and often more doubt than faith, finds herself, somewhat to her own surprise, on two extended residences at St John's Abbey, Minnesota. These cloistered people are still just that: very real and very human people who approach life and all its complexities and needs with a startling honesty.If you like to read technical manuals and books with finely structured outlines, you will probably not like this book.