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The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris
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The Cloister Walk (1996)

by Kathleen Norris

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The Cloister Walk offers a bridge into the life in a monastery from the viewpoint of an outsider - Norris comes from a protestant background, she's married - but have in different periods over some years been a Benedictine oblate (as a lay person attached to a monastery).

In this book she shares her experiences of the daily rhythm in a monastery - going to morning prayers, vespers in the evening etc. - trying to be immersed in Benedictine spirituality. The chapters are structured to follow a liturgical year - so we can get a feeling for the shifting periods of the church-year.

The book is partly memoir, partly contemplation - a lot of small and larger essays and devotions put together. Some reflections on books in the Bible, about prayer, reading, listening to Bible readings, some about Catholic saints, a lot about daily life of monks and nuns - and collected what Benedictine spirituality can offer us modern people living in a stressful world. Here's one reflection on time:

In our culture, time can seem like an enemy: it chews us up and spits us out with appalling ease. But the monastic perspective welcomes time as a gift from God, and seeks to put it to good use rather than allowing us to be used up by it….Liturgical time is essentially poetic time, oriented toward process rather than productivity, willing to wait attentively in stillness rather than always pushing to "get the job done". ( )
3 vote ctpress | May 19, 2013 |
Poet Kathleen Norris' account of her two extended retreats at Benedictine monasteries and the resulting enrichment of her marriage, her daily life, and her poetry.
  SSPPLibrary | Feb 18, 2013 |
I am glad I read this book. It was a little slow and quiet but that was part of its charm. I learned a bit about faith and religion and it inspired me to reflect more about my own faith. The various topics chosen by the author were well suited for reflection. ( )
  lisaflip | Sep 19, 2011 |
Quite incredible. I actually wanted to go to church after reading it, even to go to St John's (monastery). What a wonderful writer on spiritual, reflective topics--passionate and brilliant without being preachy or showing off. Wow. ( )
  Tpoi | Aug 10, 2011 |
I highly recommend reading this just a little at a time, one or two sections a day maybe. I don't agree with a lot of her positions and find the book annoying in big chunks, but just because I have some disagreements doesn't mean she doesn't have anything to say. Reading it a little at a time helps bring out the rhythm in the prose, and the way scripture, attention, history, and tradition really play a part. I appreciate very much the balance she's found between emotional and intellectual devotion, and she has things to say that are very worthwhile to study. ( )
  FFortuna | Jul 25, 2011 |
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CHRISTINA, JACQUELINE,
LILLIAN, A. J., AND MIKEY
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Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0745941974, Hardcover)

In the tradition of Thomas Merton, Kathleen Norris gives us an intimate look at how religious life fills a gap in the soul. Her poetic sensibilities internalize the monastery as a symbol of spirituality, with its sanctity and humor, questioning and uncertainty, rhythm and vigor. Beyond moral precepts and Bible stories, Cloister Walk is a very personal account of religion lived fully. It depicts a depth and beauty of spirituality in monastic life that has survived the vicissitudes of Roman Catholic politics and pomp.

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:58:19 -0500)

(see all 2 descriptions)

"Why would a married woman with a thoroughly Protestant background and often more doubt than faith be drawn to the ancient practice of monasticism, to a community of celibate men whose days are centered around a rigid schedule of prayer, work, and scripture? This is the question that Kathleen Norris herself asks as, somewhat to her own surprise, she found herself on two extended residencies at a Benedictine monastery. Yet upon leaving the monastery, she began to feel herself transformed, and the daily events of her life on the Great Plains - from her morning walk to her going to sleep at night - gradually took on new meaning." "She found that in the monastery, time slowed down, offering a new perspective on community, family, and even small-town life. By coming to understand the Benedictine practice of celibacy, she felt her own marriage enriched; through the communal reading aloud of the psalms every day, her notion of the ancient oral tradition of poetry came to life; and even the mundane task of laundry took on new meaning through the lens of Benedictine ritual." "Writing with lyrical grace, Kathleen Norris here takes us through a liturgical year, as she experienced it both within the monastery and outside it. She shows us, from the rare perspective of someone who is both insider and outsider, how immersion in the cloistered world - its liturgy, its rituals, its sense of community - can impart meaning to everyday events and deepen our secular lives. Through her masterly prose and rare insight, the monastery, often considered archaic or otherworldly, becomes immediate, accessible, and relevant to us, no matter what our faith may be."--BOOK JACKET.… (more)

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