Beatrice Bruteau (1930–2014)

This relatively brief book is a beautiful expression of the nature of the spiritual life at its best. I life rooted in God - and so 'radical' and 'optimistic' - but because it is rooted in God the Creator (who is envisioned as community of total self gift in the Trinity) it is also radically committed to loving all that God loves - indeed in the spiritual life the goal is not so much imitating God's love - as revealed in Jesus Christ - rather through union with God our love becomes one with show more the love of God, we become transparent to the love of God in a Sacramental way and become the way in which God's love is made present in the world.

As can be seen from the above, Bruteau writes as one very much rooted in the Christian tradition. None the less she draws on wisdom from other sources - notably the contemplative traditions of Buddhism and Hinduism - in an effective way.

My only slight reservation is that the section on the ways of contemplative prayer is rather brief. She gives some guidance on the meditative practice of 'entering into' a Gospel scene, but something on the more unthematic forms of prayer, which she mentions in passing, would have been good. So although the spirituality is practical, the book is perhaps a bit theoretical at times. show less

Los colaboradores de este volumen presentan a Thomas Merton como una apertura significativa para la apreciación reverente del judaí­smo pasado y presente, como aspira a ser, o afirma ser "un verdadero judí­o bajo mi piel católica". -
Contributors to this volume present Thomas Merton as making a significant opening to reverent appreciation of past and present Judaism, as he aspires to be, or claims to be "a true Jew under my Catholic skin."