Macrina Wiederkehr is a member of St. Scholastica Monastery and the author of many books including A Tree Full of Angels: Seeing the Holy in the Ordinary. This volume is an exquisite devotional work divided into five sections she calls “seasons”: "Taking Off Your Shoes" (the season of wonder); Standing on Tiptoe" (hope); "Washing Feet" (love); "Returning to the Tomb" (mystery) and "Walking With Strangers" (faith). At the outset, Wiederkehr advises that the Scriptural passages recommended be experienced in a multi-leveled way: "Become the person read about. Imagine that you are the bread, broken and shared. Experience the poverty of the one who needs healing. Be the person who is healed. Be the healer. Identify with the struggle and blessing of the passage. Linger with the images that come to you. Allow these images to ask you questions about your life."

Our favorite chapter is the one on hope, a practice that is very important in the Christian tradition. As the author points out, we have been promised so much — eternal life, a dwelling place in the heavens, living water, answered prayers, healing and forgiveness, resurrection, freedom that comes from knowing the truth, sacramental life for our journey homeward, the Spirit, and a new heart. She offers this simple but profound prayer as a sign of hope: "O God/ help me/ to believe/ the truth about myself/ no matter/ how beautiful it is!"

In the chapter on love, Wiederkehr has some touching poems on the Beatitudes, which she sees as "for people who have their hearts set on the reign of God." Throughout this fine resource, meditations on Scripture passages, poetry, prayers, and journal excerpts are mixed together in fine fashion, unfurling before the reader a tapestry of images and ideas on spiritual practice in everyday life.