Monks Alphabet Moments Of Stillness In A

Monastic literature has inspired and challenged the world outside the cloister ever since monks started putting their thoughts on paper well over fifteen hundred years ago. With his Monk's Alphabet, Father Jeremy Driscoll brings the genre into the twenty-first century, offering a collection of compact and thought-provoking essays on life, faith, and the world around us from the perspective of someone whose existence is structured around the unfolding of the interior life.

The 187 meditations are arranged by short titles in alphabetical order to emphasize that the reader can approach them in random fashion, without preconceived ideas, to be surprised by where they lead the heart and mind.

"If I am a monk," Father Jeremy says, "that means also that I am just a man, connected with all other men and women in my time . . . and in other times. I am searching, like we all do. I struggle to believe, like we all do. Life is lovely, life is hardthis is true for me like it is for us all. That is why I think to share my alphabet. Not because monks are different and so worth a visit to see them in a zoo, but because my monastic life has given me the space to think about things that we all care about and all have to face."

In the tradition of Thomas Merton, Henry Nouwen, and Kathleen Norris, these are contemplations of a Benedictine monk who is also a poet, a critic, and a theologian of renown.

From the time of the desert fathers to our own post-Christian age, the literature of monastic wisdom has provided inspiration for those of us who lead ordinary lives in the world. Father Jeremy Driscoll, a poet and theologian who is also a Benedictine monk, brings the genre into the twenty-first century with this exquisitely written collection of reflections on life from a monastic perspective. Whether reflecting on the details of the cloistered life, or observing the weirdness of American culture, explaining a fine point of Catholic theology to a child, or meditating on the flight of a seagull over the glittering ocean at sunrise, Fr. Jeremy's voice both enchants and provokes us to further contemplation. The 187 meditations are arranged by short titles in alphabetical order to emphasize that the reader should approach them in random fashion, without preconceived ideas, in order to be open to where they lead the heart and mind.

Jeremy Driscoll, O.S.B., is a priest and monk of Mount Angel Abbey, St. Benedict, Oregon. He is a professor of theology at Mount Angel Seminary and at the Pontifical Athenaeum Sant' Anselmo in Rome. He is the author of several books of theology and poetry.