Synopses & Reviews
In a remote canyon in northern New Mexico the early morning stillness is broken by voices chanting praises to the Lord. And thus begins the daily cycle in the Godcentered life and search of the Benedictine monks at the Monastery of Christ in the Desert.Seeking God is a monastic tapestry. The daily life of the monks is interwoven with the seasonal changes and celebrations and the candid words of the monks as they speak of their life their hopes and doubts their hardships fears and joys their prayer. Weaving this tapestry together are the hauntingly beautiful chants songs of praise and reverence that echo through the darkness before dawn throughout the day through the solemnity of Vespers in the evening and Compline at night. The majestic beauty of the environment captured in every season reflects a peace and tranquility that becomes an integral part of this monastic tapestry. The high red rock walls of the canyon where eagles fly cradle the valley whose stillness is broken only by the flowing waters of the Chama River and the winds that occasionally funnel through. Seeking God presents the ongoing process of the monastic way through the words and activities of these Benedictine monks as they move through the day and through the seasons in their search for God through prayer work study and song.
Synopsis
Can-do girls. Inquisitive girls. Despite their long braids and flowing skirts. Clara and her friend Miriam need to know what happens on the other side of the lake where Clara's father rows every morning. And what goes on down river. And what happens beyond the ocean's breakers. And, finally, how to reach the golden point where gleaming ocean and sun-brushed sky meet. Restless to discover what lies just out-of-reach, Clara finally gets to co-pilot her father's ferry boat to the distant shore. Too hard work and too boring a job, she pronounces when she realizes her first wish. Undeterred by choppy waters and miles of swirling river, Clara is ready for more adventure, drawn by greater unknowns. Even when Miriam finds a new home--and satisfaction--Clara wants to go on, to a place that will make my spirit dance. She turns to an old sailor who has been everywhere. He doesn't teach her how to row, as her father did, or how to make her own boat, as Miriam did. But he tells her what to watch for and how to travel. Clara's urgent longing finds a match in the sailor's mysterious, but knowing, intrigue. Soft paintings throughout are as full of wonder as the text. They capture the pastoral and the world of watery edges, the secure and the vastly unknown beyond.