Celibacy, Dragons, and Poems

"It's always good to meet people who understand that
religion is about saving peoples lives." (p.208)

Kathleen Norris is the author of a really wonderful, thoughtful, intriguing book called "The Cloister Walk." My dear friend Ashleigh gave it to me while I was engaged and I fell in love with it quickly. Since then, I've given an autographed copy to Jaime and Stefan got a copy for Lindsay! Not to mention other friends of Ashleigh's snagging the last copies at used book stores... It's a great book -- not because it falls in line with every other good narrative, non-fiction, or christian-themed book, but because it is a delicate blend of many elements of life, faith, and christian experience.

I am reading it again and loving it. It's written in small sections of thoughts and reflections, stories, experiences, and often with a thread of her experience in living temporarily with Benedictine Monks. All of it is compiled in a uniquely cohesive piece -- talking about everything, practically: from sex, to the book of revelations, to love and faith, liturgy and relationships. I highly recommend it (duh) because I think the sincerity, wisdom, and candor with which she writes is both refreshing, inspiring, and faithful. She's not your cookie-cutter Christian.

Here is a great excerpt from the chapter by the same title as the book, which describes Kathleen's participation in a service at St. John's monastery, when she had newly returned to church life after about 20 years of having "forgotten" about the church:

"Any outsider writing about monastic life runs the risk of romanticizing it. I've simply described what I experienced one Sunday morning at St. John's. I'm assuming, hoping even, that some of the monks were wondering what was for dinner, or thinking dark thoughts about a confrere who had annoyed them at breakfast, or regretting a sharp remark they'd made over the pool table the night before. Good ceremony makes room for all the dimensions of human experience in the hope that, together, we will discover something that transforms us. This is why I suspect that individuals can't create true ceremony for themselves alone. Ceremony requires that we work with others in the humbling give-and-take of communal existence." (p. 266)