Life Lessons from the Monastery: Wisdom on Love, Prayer, Calling and Commitment

by Jerome Kodell OSB

In thirty short reflections, Abbot Jerome Kodell of Subiaco Abbey provides a lifetime of wisdom on living the Christian life. Drawing on Scripture, the Rule of St. Benedict, and other spiritual writings, Kodell helps us to realize that our common human desires and struggles make life in the monastery not so very different from life in the world. His encouragement and reassurance gives us hope that we can pray, experience God’s loving presence, and stay faithful to the commitments we’ve made. Among the many themes he addresses are holiness, freedom, service, money, hospitality, and silence. Appropriate for anyone still searching for God, as well as for those trying to live as Christians in the world today. Insightful and beautifully written. "We respond where we are called. Sometimes this is to a very busy and hands-on service of others, and sometimes it is to a very secret search for God in silence. But always a true Christian vocation reaches out to others in love." -From Life Lessons from the Monastery

128 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2010

Reviews

[Ephrem Arcement]

Wonderful insights are consistently present in this slim volume offering monastic wisdom for both those inside and outside the monastic walls.

[Phil]

I stumbled across this book on my phone and was intrigued at the description. It is a Benedictine abbot's observations on a fairly wide gamut of topics related to prayer and calling. They are in the form of short essays (which could easy be small homilies) which are reflective and contemplative. I liked that they were short and readable, so they were good to wind down the day with or to open up some quiet time in the day. Take your time with these, as I think that is what you're meant to do. Some chapters are better than others, of course, so I found some of the ones on prayer a little abstract, but that is a taste thing. Well worth reading and reflecting on.