This sturdy anthology for Lent consists of soulful and illuminating quotations from the desert fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries along with the wisdom of a noble contingent of contemporary Christians including Henri Nouwen, Thomas Merton, and Charles Foucauld. John Moses, the Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in England, has put together this top-drawer collection of teachings on desert spirituality.
In the preface to this paperback, Moses refers to the five themes which reverberate in meditations on this type of spirituality: solitude, testing, self-emptying, encounter, and transfiguration. Here the disciplined reader will discover ample riches on the virtues of silence, prayer, love, and community. The desert as a place and experience opens these mystics to the habits of dependence on God, perseverance, recognition of human limits, self-abandonment, and personal renewal.
Some contend that the call of desert spirituality is being heard again as seekers take on the challenges and responsibilities of silence, solitude, shadow work, testing, and reverence, a radical respect for everything. This evergreen resource will provide many with just the energy and fire-power they need for this exploration.
