In 1979 James Murray, a Catholic widower of five years and a government bureaucrat, ventured off on a spiritual journey at the age of 52 that would change his life drastically. His three sons and daughter knew he was immensely unhappy. Taking an early retirement, James began to attend daily mass at a Catholic church. He experienced "the gift of tears," went on retreats, and set off on a cross-country pilgrimage to find a place where he could spend the rest of his years. He wound up at Saint Bede Abbey in Peru, Illinois.
Murray's odyssey of Christian faith is mapped by his son Matt, a staff reporter at The Wall Street Journal. He was a young boy when he was forced to deal with this radical shift in the topography of his father's life. As a writer in his twenties, the author uses family photographs, letters, and journals to piece together his father's depression era childhood, college years on the GI Bill, and marriage to Michele, a poet and journalist who died of breast cancer at 40.
The most fascinating aspect of this work is the way in which Matt Murray struggles to understand his father: "Dad seemed like the only man I had ever known who had followed his beliefs to their limits." Of course, in the circles the author frequents most people do not believe in God and are suspicious of religion. Meanwhile James as a monk and priest at Saint Bede provides spiritual counseling, works with the sick and dying at a hospital, and presides at Sunday masses in the area. At one point, he confides to his son: "I feel like the best thing I can do for people is to pray."