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Rating: 
Summary: To paraphrase Mr Whipple ...
Review: David Steindl-Rast's spirituality is so squeezably soft, it's irresistible. This not entirely un-vapid volume offers us a contemplative spirituality that assures us that all is hunky-dory. The author suggests that we should replace the concepts of "sin" and "salvation" with the dialectic of alienation vs togetherness. (Where a figure like St Thomas More would fit in this alien/together spectrum, is anyone's guess, and it raises the question: Is it not necessary at times to be "alien" from the main stream if that stream is polluted?)There is a love for poetry in "Gratefulness" -- Cummings, Eliot, Rilke, a Dutch wit named Piet Hein, and the haiku masters -- that most readers will find endearing; and there is an urgent plea to the reader to find some quiet time (Steindl-Rast's monastery being nowhere near a big city, the author can practice what he preaches more readily than some). But there is precious little in this volume that challenges, that provokes, that makes us shout "Wow!" It's the theological equivalent of that song at the end of Monty Python's cheerfully blasphemous "Life of Brian": Always look on the bright side of life. We are reminded, too, of a masterpiece of 1980s alternative music: The Smiths' "Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before."
Rating: 
Summary: Made me want to share the ideas with others
Review: I've only read this book once through so far, and I can tell it will be a book to read again and again. On a first read, the chapter on faith and beliefs spoke to me most - I've shared Brother David's ideas about what it REALLY means to "live by every word that comes from the mouth of God" with several friends already. Great book!
Rating:
Summary: I'm very grateful for this book...
Review: You can tell from reading this book that the author is gentle and sincere, and that his life reflects the values and insights he shares here. I first read this book around 1994, and it is the most dog-eared of my books. I have almost the whole thing underlined. By refusing to get bogged down in theoretical disputes or definitions, and instead focusing on the bone of the Christian experience (love, hope, and faith), Brother David has given us a book filled with the Holy Spirit. His exploration of the spiritual significance of being open to life's little surprises is a big surprise (I've never heard that mentioned as a Christian value before), and one which points to a spiritual life in alert response to God's constant lovingkindness. There is no doctrine or dogma here, which is why I think it will endure...and also why I keep coming back to it myself.
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