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The Way of the Heart: Desert Spirituality and Contemporary Ministry | 
 enlarge | Author: Henri J.m. Nouwen
Publisher: Darton,Longman & Todd Ltd
Category: Book
New (10) Used (2) from $8.23
Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 2666884
Media: Paperback
Edition: 3rd
Pages: 96
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 5 x 0.4
ISBN: 0232523002
Dewey Decimal Number: 248
EAN: 9780232523003
ASIN: 0232523002
Publication Date: January 18, 1999
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Product Description
The wisdom of Henri J.M. Nouwen:
SOLITUDE
"In solitude we become compassionate people, deeply aware of our solidarity in brokenness with all of humanity and ready to reach out to anyone in need . . ."
SILENCE
"Silence first makes us pilgrims. Secondly, silence guards the fire within. Thirdly, silence teaches us how to speak . . ."
PRAYER
"Prayer, when we are faithful to it and practice it at regular times, slowly leads us to an experience of rest and opens us to God's active presence . . ."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
Heart Warming November 8, 2008
I think this is the best introductory book on contemplative prayer I have read. If you are looking to increase the depth of your prayer life this is an excellent place to start. "Contemplative Prayer" by Thomas Merton and "Everything Belongs" by Richard Rohr are good follow ups. Of course, you may want to start reading the Desert Fathers themselves at some point! Blessings
The Way of the Heart April 29, 2008
The book is very inspiring and useful especially to those who are at the crossroads of their lives. It's a life-giving book and brings you closer to God. In fact, a friend who's in her challenging stage in her life is using this book.
This one's a treasure. February 22, 2008
This book presented itself to me when I was deep into a project and just needed some factual answers. It's only 94 pages. I thought I could read it very quickly.
Ha.
It did give me answers, but it wasn't a quick read. It was the kind of book that had me reading a page, then pacing the floor, waiting for the million thoughts it excited to settle down so I could read the next. This went on for a week. And then I read it again, and read it out loud to friends. The cheap copy I bought is already wearing out.
What's it about? Simply, it's about the ancient practices of the Desert Fathers, of solitude, silence and prayer, how and why they came about, why they are needed now, and how they can be made to work in our crowded, noisy, distinctly non-contemplative lives.
The thing that first got my attention, was Nouwen's description of the problem of worldliness in the church, our tendency to think the way everybody else thinks. Worldliness, not simply in the way we've all come to see it, drinking and carousing, that sort of thing. He talks about the sneakier form, the kind that creeps in without our noticing, that has us convinced that what makes us valuable, what makes us worthwhile, is what we own, what we have accomplished, and what people think of us. Take those away and we have no reason to exist.
Think what that does to us. Think how it drives our choices, how it colors our view of others.
That's what began to get my attention - but I knew the book would be precious to me when I read the story of St. Anthony, who after some twenty years of practicing the disciplines of solitude, silence and prayer was finally able to pray genuinely - talking to God as himself, not the person he thought or wished or hoped to be. When he rejoined humanity, his very presence was healing to people because at last he could look at them with clean eyes, he could really see them as they were, not as accessories to his own self esteem.
Can you imagine how that way of being would change everything?
Buy this book. If you can, get a good strong copy. It's going to have to hold up to much reading.
A really interesting book February 17, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is about how people who are engaged in active work to help others also need to spend time in prayer with God so that they can be more peaceful and more in touch with who they are and who they need to be.
nobody January 4, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a book that should be required reading in highschool or maybe earlier.
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