Simple Graces: Poems for Meditation and Prayer

By Gretchen Schwenker, Gretchen L. Schwenker, Father Mathew Kessler CSsR

For centuries, poems have been written describing God's simple graces. Saint Alphonsus Liguori, the founder of the Redemptorist Order, was a great poet who conveyed God's love through meaningful and poignant verse.

Some of the most prolific and well-known poets of the past 150 years are included in this compilation and continue the tradition of using poems for prayer, meditation, and loving God.

The selected poems in this body of work are divided into themes common to all human experiences, including love, forgiveness, commitment, faith, and hope. The chapters are shaped to give the reader a chance to hear the deep stirring of their hearts put into words, and this can be done on an individual basis or as lectio divina, or group prayer, when a verse is read aloud to the group.

Some of the poets included in the book are Anna Akhmatova, Emily Dickinson, Robert Hayden and Naomi Shihab Nye writing about God's love, nature, hope, faith, and heaven. Wendell Berry writes of peace and salvation, and Patrick Kavanagh of love and forgiveness.

Poetry is a way of expressing extraordinary thought in a simple fashion; these poems express intense emotions of love, thankfulness, wonder, and peace. Throughout the years, simple graces have inspired poets to write and readers to reflect on God's beauty and love that is all around us.

View sample pages.

Hardcover

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0764817558
• ISBN13: 9780764817557
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Liguori Publications
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.1" x 7.1"

Customer Reviews

Poetry for the Soul

Simple Graces: Poems for Meditation and Prayer ....is a beautiful hard cover book with dust jacket that is a perfect fit in your hands...for that peaceful time that you have dedicated to meditation and prayer--be it five minutes or 50 minutes. Whether you are a poetry lover or a beginning poetry reader, this volume offers classic and contemporary poems (incl poets Emily Dickinson, Edward Muir, Robert Morneau,and Naomi Shahib Nye among others) that will enlighten and provide new perspectives on life, enhance your quiet time, and open your heart to the God whom we seek. With an introduction,a chapter on "continuing your prayer with poetry",and an index of first lines, this is a very easy to use volume for the pray-er. An added element (that delights me) is the biographical data on the poets represented. Yes--I learned something that helped me to read the poems with new eyes. I highly recommend this book--a great gift for yourself--or others.