Book Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

A Book of Hours
Henri Nouwen
Henri J. M. Nouwen, Robert Waldron
Seabury Books 02/09 Hardcover $25.00
ISBN: 9781596271128

In his introduction to this Book of Hours drawn from the writings of Henri Nouwen, Robert Waldron (Thomas Merton: Master of Attention) writes about the division of the monastic day into seven canonical hours and how he focuses in this book on the major hours that are chanted communally by the Trappists: Vigils, Lauds, None, Vespers, and Compline. For this presentation of prayers and readings, he has added an observation of the Angelus, a prayer in honor of the Incarnation, and the Salve Regina, a Marian hymn for before-bed meditation. The book provides prayers for these hours for four weeks or a month of holy prayer.

Waldron notes that "each liturgical hour is a window" and later quotes Nouwen:

"We are called to be contemplatives, that is see-ers, men and women who are called to see the coming of God. The day of the Lord is indeed always coming. It is not a coming which will occur in some distant future, but a coming here and now among us. The Lord's coming is an ongoing event around us, between us, and within us. To become a contemplative, therefore, means to throw off — or better, to peel off — the blindfolds that prevent us from seeing his coming in the midst of our world."

The readings in this inspiring volume include meditations on the spiritual life, home, the fruitful life, the truth of our unity, mysticism and revolution, the spiritual practice of hospitality, solitude, waiting, seeing ourselves as the Beloved of God, compassion, and prayer. The challenge by Henri Nouwen put to all who read A Book of Hours is:

"We must learn to live each day, each hour, yes, each minute as a new beginning, as a unique opportunity to make everything new. Imagine that we could live each moment as a moment pregnant with new life. Imagine that we could live ach day as a day full of promises."

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by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat