Abundant Treasures: Meditations on the Many Gifts of the Spirit

Rating:
Summary: Like a fudge brownie
Review: I loved it immediately! It contains images which I carry with me all day long. I see myself in "control of my life", both hands on the steering wheel of a tractor and feel the loving grasp of God's arm around my waist. I only read one chapter a day and, like a wonderful fudge brownie, I savor it thoroughly. I love sharing the images that so captivate my imagination with friends at work and in cyberspace. What a wonderful gift Sister Melanie has. Her examples are REAL and life-giving.

Rating:
Summary: Like a fudge brownie
Review: I loved it immediately! It contains images which I carry with me all day long. I see myself in "control of my life", both hands on the steering wheel of a tractor and feel the loving grasp of God's arm around my waist. I only read one chapter a day and, like a wonderful fudge brownie, I savor it thoroughly. I love sharing the images that so captivate my imagination with friends at work and in cyberspace. What a wonderful gift Sister Melanie has. Her examples are REAL and life-giving.

Rating:
Summary: Abundant Insights
Review: Sister Melannie Svoboda has a spiritual winner with her new book of essays, "Abundant Treasures: Meditations on the Many Gifts of the Spirit." The book celebrates the expansion of our lives through the treasures given to us by a God whose goodness knows no bounds. To help us in that task, the author has chosen fifty-one gifts, gifts in the broadest sense of the word. Not only does she include the traditional seven "gifts of the Spirit," but writes about others as well: attentiveness, bereavement, daring, failure, guilt, levity, relaxation, and whimsy.

The gifts themselves are arranged in alphabetical order and each chapter begins with an appropriate quotation. The meditations are rooted both in Scripture and daily life. At the end of each, there are several questions to facilitate personal reflection. There is also a short prayer.

I belong to a Spiritual Companions group of six priests in the Episcopal Church. At a recent meeting we read the essay on "Stability." Several of our members were at low points in their ministries; all of us were feeling the stresses of parish life. Sr. Melannie's insights were an inspiration to us and helped us all get back on track. One of our group was moved to tears about her analogy of the screams of childbirth with the pain of self-knowledge. As Sr. Melannie puts it, "every moment of honest self-knowledge can, indeed, be a moment of birth."