David Steindl-Rast Essential Writings

A wonderful selection of writings by one of the most influential spiritual writers of our time, on such themes as gratefulness, prayer, silence, and love. “Much of our life may be a wandering in the desert lands, but we do find springs of water. If what is called æGodÿ means in the language of experience the ultimate Source of Meaning, then those moments that quench the thirst of the heart are moments of prayer.” David Steindl-Rast (b. 1926), an Austrian-born Benedictine monk, is one of the most influential spiritual teachers in the world. He serves as a senior member of the Mount Saviour Monastery in Elmira, New York, and was an early pioneer in the field of Buddhist-Christian dialogue. As a leading figure in the House of Prayer movement, he has contributed to a broad renewal of religious life. In classic books such as Gratefulness, The Heart of Prayer, and A Listening Heart, he has advanced the notion of “grateful living.” Gratefulness, he writes, is “the inner gesture or giving meaning to our life by receiving life as a gift.” In these writings monastic wisdom meets the spiritual questions and hungers of our age. Book jacket.