Free Called To Question: A Spiritual Memoir Ebooks Online
Called to Question: A Spiritual Memoir is Sr. Joan Chittister's most personal and intense writing to date. Alive with the raw energy of a journal and polished with the skill of a master storyteller, each chapter is an engaging dialogue between Sr. Joan and many different wisdom sources about such topics as God's existence and call, experience, struggle, justice, the role of women and men in society and church, living through doubt, and celebrating life. The paperback edition contains a new Preface by the author.
Paperback: 252 pages
Publisher: Sheed & Ward (January 16, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1580512194
ISBN-13: 978-1580512190
Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.6 x 8.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #299,384 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #64 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Worship & Devotion > Monasticism & Asceticism #492 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Christian Living > Faith #2758 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Catholicism
In this her most recent book, Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun and author of twenty-five books, continues to think out loud about just what it means to know, love, and follow Jesus in our crazy, contemporary world. This is the third book by her that I have read, and I have come to appreciate her spirit and gift to do what good writers do, which is to connect with the every day experiences and aspirations of her readers. Using her own spiritual journal entries from across a four year period, she pushes, pokes and prods at the various dimensions of Christian living. In particular, I appreciated three themes from this book that also recur in her other works. Chittister writes from very much "inside the box," the box that is the Roman Catholic Church. But no one likes to be boxed in, much less a feminist like her, and so one theme from this book is what I would call institutional frustration with the church. Our Christian institutions and churches often purvey a sort of "god of the system" that asks us at some level to sublimate our deeply personal identities to the group identity. But then we risk forfeiting conscience and becoming what she describes as "institutional robots." So, we try, often with very limited success, to change the institution for the better. Others just want to leave the church out of frustration. In the end, Chittister pictures herself as a "loyal member of a dysfunctional family" (p. 135). A keen scholar like Chittister is also full of provocative questions about important issues like women's ordination, the place of gays in the church, global justice, and, as a member of a Benedictine community, obedience to the institutional church.
How wonderful, such a great grace, of Sheed and Ward now to reissue in paperback what appeared some five years ago in hardback, in time for our Lenten Lectio Divina!Truly this spiritual memoir, this taking stock, this incisive assessment of a life of prayer and of work in God's Church, in the Benedictine Order, including as Prioress, makes edifying reading in this coming time of Lent, in which we earnestly seek our centering upon the firm Rock of Saint Peter, in which we examine our hearts and minds and turn through our passion and suffering towards the Easter miracle.This book teaches us, as it opens, that when we fall, we get up again, that we are called to question and thereby to grow in Faith, in Love and in Hope.This book, so timely released now in paperback, makes an excellent gift for every religious community to read together, hearing these helpful and guiding thoughts and prayers from Sister Joan, all speaking to the spirit of these times. This book makes a worthy gift to every hermit, everyone who struggles alone in any desert dwelling, physical and/or interior. Tis book well accompanies every pilgrim of faith, every seeker questioning, every loved one alone.Sister Joan as ever opens her heart and formidable intellect to us, in healing, in wisdom, in Truth.Read this book, together with those you love and care for. Discuss this book. Ponder its many messages, and come into the light of God's Love.When you fall, get up again. Be not afraid; Sister Joan is an intrepid guide.See also her beautiful gift to us aging:
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