In this juicy, imaginative, and devotional follow-up to his international bestseller Anam Cara, poet and Catholic scholar John O'Donohue probes the creative tension between longing and belonging — the universal yearnings to discover intimacy and to find shelter for the soul. In a richly poetic and philosophical style, O'Donohue taps into ancient Celtic teachings to unravel the mysteries and the meanings of presence (the flame of longing), suffering (the dark valley of broken belonging), prayer (a bridge between longing and belonging), and absence (where longing still lingers).

The genuine yearnings we all have cannot be met by the functionalism of Western culture that kills presence or by the engines of consumerism where quantity is the divinity and advertising the liturgy. Instead, we can find nourishment for the soul in belonging to the earth, in cherishing home as the cradle of destiny, and in exploring our longing for the divine.

O'Donohue celebrates prayer as a wondrous way of being and acting. He sees it as "the narrative of the soul" and "a door into your own eternity." And he honors the beauty and realism of Christianity for its tradition of embracing and transfiguring "the fire-path of great suffering." The spiritual life is rooted in yearning, and John O'Donohue's Eternal Echoes mines this treasure with great gusto, intensity, integrity, and creativity.