Reflections

I first encountered Mary Earle’s work several years ago in her book Beginning Again: Benedictine Wisdom for Living with Illness and Broken Body, Healing Spirit: Lectio Divina and Living with Illness. Her books helped me fall even more in love with the balanced way of monasticism and to see it as a profoundly healing path as someone who lives with chronic illness. Benedictine spirituality has taught me tremendous gentleness and compassion toward my body.  Mary, who is an Episcopal priest and spiritual director, has written many more wonderful books as well including Celtic Christian Spirituality and Marvelously Made: Gratefulness and the Body. I

I am delighted to bring you another fabulous monk in the world guest post in our series. I first discovered Edward Sellner’s work several years ago through his wonderful book  Finding the Monk Within: Great Monastic Values for Today (which I recommend often as a great grounding in monasticism) and I am currently reading Wisdom of the Celtic Saints. I find much kinship with his love of the monk’s path, Thomas Merton, and the gifts of a Jungian approach. Read on for Ed’s wisdom about becoming a monk in the world: The first book I ever wrote was entitled Mentoring:

I first encountered author Mary Sharratt‘s work about a year ago when my interest in Hildegard of Bingen drew me to her new novel Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen.  We don’t know much about Hildegard’s years spent at Disibodenberg, but Mary does a masterful job of weaving together the historical sources we do have with historical imagination to create a compelling story about a remarkable woman. She is a beautiful writer and I loved the book. I am delighted that Mary was willing to share her own wisdom here about being a monk in the world. Mary is also offering