Try a Little Tenderness might have been a nicer title for this book
had the songwriter not claimed it first. Benedictine spirituality
is known for the gentleness with which it patiently massages away
at the monk's hardness of heart. The flowing robes they wear, the
flowing chant they sing, the endless repetition of the day's
structure based on prayer, manual labour and spiritual reading; all
bear witness to a seamless process of conversion, the lowly
contemplatives ever waiting on God's quiet voice within their
hearts. However, it's not as easy as it sounds, so when Brother
Daniel fled the world, back in the sixties, he was in no way
prepared for a conflict of such dimensions with the worldly self he
had forgotten to leave behind. Try a Little Lowliness traces his
journey, strewn with stumbling blocks and banana skins, with a
mischievous humour, but also with great insights into monastic
spirituality. It lovingly paints the diversity of characters
peopling the abbey, especially the irrepressible Father Lawrence,
Daniel's novice-master and mentor, the wise old Prior, the
inscrutable Abbot, the incorrigible cook, the lovable Sam. Both the
author and Father Robert O'Brien, fellow novice and friend from
Caldey Abbey, hope that Try a Little Lowliness will appeal to men
and women, both young and not so young, providing a signpost to the
contemplative life on their spiritual journey. Brother Daniel's
humanity exudes a love of life, however strange the circumstances,
and the warmth of his portrayal leaves the reader never far from
laughter or tears. Paddy Lyons lives in north London with his wife,
Elsie, their five grown-up children and four grandchildren all
settled nearby. It wasn't always like that. In the early sixties,
after a Jesuit schooling, military service and management training
with Unilever, he renounced the world, survived an early brush with
the Carthusians, and eventually landed on Caldey Island in the
Bristol Channel to spend several generally happy and profitable
years in the Cistercian Order. Later, having trained as a social
worker and marrying Elsie (on the rebound from monastic life, she
maintains), he turned to journalism and worked for the Financial
Times. Renouncing the world a second time he used his writing
skills to manage the communications of a national children's
charity. After retiring he spent a decade caring for the deaf
blind. Now with nothing else to do . . .
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