Tools Matter for Practicing the Spiritual Life - Hardcover

Funk, Mary Margaret

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 082641351X ISBN 13: 9780826413512

Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd., 2001

Synopsis

In her previous book, "Thoughts Matter: The Practice of the Spiritual Life", Sister Mary Margaret Funk dealt with the eight classic "thoughts" that distract us from the presence of God. In her new book, casting her net more widely, she treats more than two dozen "tools" or practices of the spiritual life. Many of these (fasting, vigils, ceaseless prayer, and manual labour) derive from the desert mothers and fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries, but just as many come from later times: the practices of of recollection (Teresa of Avila), of self-abandonment (J.P. de Caussade), of the presence of God (Brother Lawrence), and of the Little Way of Therese of Lisieux. The book concludes with a chapter on discernment, spiritual direction, and the limitations of each tool. Tools, says Funk, are means, not ends.

About this title

About the Author

Mary Margaret Funk is a Benedictine nun of Our Lady of Grace Monastery, Beech Grove, Indiana, USA. From 1994 through 2004, she served as executive director of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, which fosters dialogue among monastics of the world's religions. In addition to her books Thoughts Matter, Tools Matter, Humility Matters, Islam Is, and Into the Depths, chapters by her have appeared in The Gethsemani Encounter, Benedict's Dharma, Purity of Heart, and Transforming Suffering. Currently she maintains her web page, megfunk.com, to provide further support for her readers.

Edition details

• Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 082641351X
• ISBN 13: 9780826413512
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 176