Practicing Silence: New and Selected Verses (Paraclete Poetry). This item is unavailable.Practicing Silence: New and Selected Verses (Paraclete Poetry)

Although the literary form is poetry, this is a book about the spiritual life. Think of it as an armchair visit to a monastery. Focused around monastic themes, it speaks to the spiritual seeker and curious bystander alike by presenting a range of spiritual experiences in accessible language. The poems are grouped according to a monastic logic. A section on visits to monasteries is followed by poems on questions of vocation or spiritual calling that such visits often raise. Then the reader will follow the horarium, or monastic day, and encounter some fruit of lectio divina, the practice of prayerful reading of scripture. The poems on interior prayer will speak to contemplatives in any religious tradition. The collection closes by exploring the experience of anchorites and solitaries.

Formerly a professor of New Testament, Bonnie Thurston is a poet and spiritual director who lives quietly in her home state of West Virginia. She also writes theological works and travels to lecture and give retreats.