Monastic Practices: Volume 47

By Charles Cummings and Charles Cummings OCSO

Book Overview

For three decades, Monastic Practices has been a valued resource for English-speaking aspirants to monastic life. In this revised edition, updated and expanded, Charles Cummings, OCSO, explores the common practices of the monastic life in order to rediscover them as viable means of leading persons to a deeper encounter with God. How do monks and nuns occupy themselves throughout the day? Have they modernized their lifestyle or is it still cluttered with medieval customs? Could any of the monastic practices be of use to those outside the monastery? A certain wisdom is necessary to know how to use such practices and how to give oneself to them until they lead one to God.
After long monastic experience, Cummings shows us how the ordinary things we do constitute our path to God. In the art of living life, he argues, we are always beginners, searching for God through our concrete circumstances and actions.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879070501
• ISBN13: 9780879070502
• Release Date: December 2015
• Publisher: Liturgical Press
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Informative for anyone interested in monastic life

The author, a Trappist monk, is know to friends of mine. The book is very reader friendly and also quite informative. The author describes the spiritual life of monastics in general with emphasis on the Trappist life. While this book does not specifically address how a lay person might use these spiritual practices, it is clear that one could begin to incorporate them into their daily life. This book could be useful for any person interested in deepening their relationship with God.Chapters include silence, work, prayer, and the other components of monastic life. Clear, understandable rational for the benefits of the specific practices are given. A minor drawback is a lack of reference to the Rule of Benedict or Holy Scripture for the practice. However, the readability of the book makes up for this.