Week 13: Final Reflections

[Dcn Peter]

And with that, we've reached the end of our book! I want to thank you both for making this a productive and spiritually beneficial endeavor. It has certainly added a great deal to my reading of the book. Any final overall reflections you would like to share to draw this thread to a close?

[Mary]

This is my first time participating in a goodreads discussion. Will the discussion remain visible or disappear? (There are some parts I may want to re-read.)

Also, I found this process to be very beneficial - I gained much more from this book with your help, Fr. Peter. Your questions (and answers) helped me to see how rich this book was with spiritual wisdom - I had missed much of it in my personal reading. Gregory, your reflections were similarly helpful. Your honest looks at yourself helped me to take more honest looks at myself. I thank you both for putting up with me.

If you host any more book discussions, I hope you will invite me! Many blessings...

[Gregory]

I am hoping to get through the last chapter and post comments on it.

I'll jump the gun and give some overall thoughts on the book and on this discussion - the book itself was a treasure trove of insight and wisdom. Often, there are elements of truth I've found in various text which are much harder to consume ('Unseen Warfare', 'The Ladder of Divine Ascent', 'The Arena'); so when these themes are revisited in another way, sometimes they penetrate a bit better, or become clearer.

The readings and discussion are also beneficial from the standpoint that this struggle of ours, although seemingly impossible at times, or 'out of our league and meant for monastics', IS possible and necessary for ALL, and we need to persevere, firstly with God's help, but secondly by speaking to each other, seeking encouragement.

I think the greatest benefits will be reaped when the Christian person, with sincere desire in their heart to draw closer to God, works on this struggle with the help of their spiritual father (i.e. parish priest, father confessor, etc.).

I am all too often desirous to intellectually jump into the work of salvation on my own (especially after reading a book or article), which is basically disastrous; this is a side-effect of being an engineer (and utterly prideful), where we take tasks and dissect them and begin to tackle them with our own knowledge. The spiritual life, as I am learning slowly and painfully, doesn't work like this.

Thank you very much Fr. Peter for hosting this, and for Mary and everyone who have commented. If there are other books to review as a group, I would be glad to hear about them.