Written from her deep experience in the monastic tradition, Sister Mary Margaret Funk shows us that, with faith and our given vocations, we are more than strong enough to resist and renounce the violence in the world around us. This book offers, both for personal use and for the broader community, a teaching for our troubled times, a teaching that empowers the reader to renounce violence in all its bold and subtle forms. As a concrete example, Funk retrieves the practice and symbolism of using holy water to bless, cleanse, and free us from violence wherever it is emerging-in our personal lives and in our world. This practice has thrived in the monastic tradition and has a language with a voice.

This is a collection of reminiscences from visitors to the Abbey of New Clairvaux in Vina, California, a Trappist monastery These contributions bring to life that tension between the secular and the holy; between inside and outside the monastic enclosure. These essays are about being in the moment as one walks to the chapel, or has a cup of tea; and about coming to or leaving the monastery, away from the place and desiring to be there. These are simple, straightforward poems, notes and diary extracts. None of the writers is an expert in theology or church history, or any master of the divine. None is a best-selling author. These are just people who have found something strange and wonderful, and write from the heart. They may remind you of something in your own life.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1901 Edition.