Summer Reading

My summer break officially began today, and I promptly arose and marched outside to confront the army of weeds and nut-grass that has taken over my gardens. Armed with my weed-eater and a newly charged battery, I took out legions of unwanted growth that were choking my day lilies and irises. After about an hour of that work, I watered the plants on the front porch, visited the vegetable garden to find some zucchini and a few more green beans, then I came inside to fix a light breakfast and took it to the patio to enjoy the breeze and cool temperatures. The dogs spent the time with me by frolicking in the too high grass which my husband would get to later in the day.

Now it’s late afternoon. We’re having leftovers for dinner. My daughter and her fiancé were here for Sunday dinner yesterday, and there is plenty left for the two of us to eat tonight. I’ve been reading this afternoon, and I thought I’d share a few books that might be interesting to some of you for summer time reading. These three books have been meaningful to my journey, and I hope that they may feed you as well.

The first offering is Scarred by Struggle; Transformed by Hope by Joan Chittister, OSB. Joan is a fellow struggler in this life journey and in this book she shares her own journey and what she has learned from it. She says, “…[W]e have overlooked those things in life that are really the ground of our truest strengths: the possibility of conversion, the call to independent thinking, faith in the presence of companioning God, the courage to persist, surrender to the meanings of the moment, and a sense of limits that leads us to take our proper place in the human race.” Some of the chapters include “The Struggle of Change,” “The Gift of Conversion,” “ The Struggle of Isolation,” “The Struggle of Darkness,” “The Gift of Faith,” and “The Gift of Courage.” May your hope grow as you look at the struggles of life with Joan in this wonderful book.

A second book that I have found useful on my journey is Richard Rohr’s The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See. This book is about being spiritually awake and is specifically for those who are interested in contemplative Christianity. At the same time, Rohr offers some excellent guidance in nondual leadership in the chapter, “What Every Good Leader Knows.” Rohr says, “When you are ready, you will know you are standing under the same waterfall of mercy as everybody else and receiving an undeserved radical grace, which gets to the root of everything. Without that underlying experience of God as both abyss and ground, it is almost impossible to live in the now; in the fullness of who I am, warts and all, and almost impossible to experience the Presence that, paradoxically, always fills the abyss and shakes the ground.” The great mystics of every tradition invite us to know better and Rohr shows us ways to do so.

Finally, J. Philip Newell’s book, Christ of the Celts: The Healing of Creation is simply beautiful. He takes us to Iona where he was warden for a time and also to New Mexico where he is now residing. Newell touches us with stories of Julian of Norwich, George Macleod, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. He speaks of the brokenness of our world, the discords in our communities and the struggles of the most important relationships of our lives. He also discusses how true union sets us free to be radically ourselves. He states, “It is in relationship that we find our wholeness, not in separation. For we are one.” If you are interested in healing—the healing of all creation—then this book is a must read.

So there are three books you might look into for summer reading. I’ll post more titles here from time to time, but these are a good start. If you read them, please return to this post and comment on your experience and what you received from them.