“Ora et labora, pray and work, is a Benedictine motto, and the monastic life aims to join the two. This perspective liberates prayer from God-talk; a well-tended garden, a well-made cabinet, a well-swept floor, can be a prayer.”
The theme of prayer is one of the more dominant themes of this second book by Kathleen Norris. And prayer, as seen and practiced many a times, in an unconventional way. Nothing is too mundane to be recognized and celebrated. Nothing is too simple to be sacred.
Norris continues to offer perspective as a layman living in a Benedictine monastery even as she reflects on all aspects of her personal life and vocation as a teacher, and more directly a poet having lived and worked in New York City, in her small ancestral hometown of Lemmon, South Dakota, and from her early childhood in the exotic islands of Hawaii.
Honest, simple, direct, shorn of unnecessary decoration, Norris presents her views on everything from the grandeur and shocking imagery of the Psalms, to the depressing monotony of the prophet Jeremiah’s lamentations. Along the way, we learn of her personal struggles with her marriage, early experimentations with recreational drugs, her views on being attracted to a monk, and how passion and self-restraint are viewed from the lens of one who is vowed to the concept of celibacy.
There were times I found her style of reflection somewhat overbearing and mildly irritating, but in the final analysis, I must concede that what Kathleen Norris does very well is to unequivocally and unabashedly celebrate God’s presence in this world.
A special note of thanks to my friend, Eric Schwister, for recommending this series of books.
Thank you for the thanks and for taking the time to read and reflect on this book!
The pleasure was mine. Thank you!