In her first book in a decade, this bestselling Catholic spiritual guide, popular retreat facilitator, and member of the monastic community of St. Scholastica in Fort Smith, Arkansas, welcomes the many spiritual teachers we depend upon, commune with, learn from, and look to for wisdom and transformation.
As a seasoned and sensitive Benedictine, Wiederkehr makes the most of meditations on scripture and ranges freely and creatively on the words and lives of saints, spiritual writers, and theologians. We admired her willingness to admit that "I have spent too much time looking for the perfect teacher rather than seeing the teachers that arrive in unexpected ways."
In 52 chapters, she encourages us to look in all directions for our teachers. She relishes that we are all graced by the mysteries and marvels of the natural world, day and night. She finds ample meanings in the virtues and relationships.
Here are some of our favorite among her discoveries:
"Help us to be the always-hopeful
gardeners of the spirit
who know that without darkness
nothing comes to birth,
and without light nothing flourishes."
-- May Sarton
"The practice of silence is essential
if we wish to be wise."
-- Irene Nowell
"There is a time to listen to the whole
and a time to listen to the part,
a time to listen for how things go together
and a time to shut out everything so we can hear
what lives beneath our masks."
-- Mark Nepo
"One of the sanest, surest,
and most generous joys of life
comes from being happy
over the good fortune of others."
-- Archibald Rutledge
"Somewhere,
something incredible
is waiting to be known."
-- Blaise Pascal
