Silent Fire : Bringing the Spirituality of Silence to Everyday Life

Rating:
Summary: Tenderness, Compassion, and Love
Review: "Silent Fire" tells the story of one episode in Mr. Connor's life as a Jesuit priest. This tragedy provoked a deep crisis of faith, which led him to retreat at a cabin in the mountains in order to find the solitude to search for the meaning of this event. He uses the story of what he learned there as a way to discuss the role of solitude and the "numinous" in the spiritual and/or religious life.

This is a very, very good book. The story is told in a very clear, direct, well organized way. It treats a deeply serious subject with respect and sensitivity, but stays very down-to-earth and even manages to be quite funny at times. The writing itself is downright lovely. His descriptions of the natural scene around his retreat are gorgeous, and display a real understanding of the natural world. He relates these scenes metaphorically to his spiritual story with real grace. This is prose poetry as good as Annie Dillard wrote.

I highly, heartily recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Delightful and Enlightening
Review: Connor's account of a retreat to the Canadian outback is delightful and enlightening. Called as a priest in rural British Columbia to comfort the parents of an infant crushed to death by a boulder falling upon the rear of their passing car, Connor finds himself as unsettled and nonplused by the pathos and inscrutabilty of the event as the gieving parents. Seeking to regain his spiritual and emotional bearings, he finds refuge in a remote lake cabin where his slowly (and often comically) reawakened communion with the landscape and its few inhabitants clarify the continuum of suffering and serenity, death and life, and the salvation of replacing agitating, rational self-consciousness with accepting, spiritual self-awareness--with a truly contemplative life.

Rendered in graceful prose, Connor's memoir ranges from exquisitely lyrical to warmly humorous to intellectually rigorous. The landscape and characters are vividly drawn, and the informing scholarship of contemplative literature and tradition is brought to bear in a natural, delightfully anecdotal way.

Rating:
Summary: Delightful and Enlightening
Review: Connor's account of a retreat to the Canadian outback is delightful and enlightening. Called as a priest in rural British Columbia to comfort the parents of an infant crushed to death by a boulder falling upon the rear of their passing car, Connor finds himself as unsettled and nonplused by the pathos and inscrutabilty of the event as the gieving parents. Seeking to regain his spiritual and emotional bearings, he finds refuge in a remote lake cabin where his slowly (and often comically) reawakened communion with the landscape and its few inhabitants clarify the continuum of suffering and serenity, death and life, and the salvation of replacing agitating, rational self-consciousness with accepting, spiritual self-awareness--with a truly contemplative life.

Rendered in graceful prose, Connor's memoir ranges from exquisitely lyrical to warmly humorous to intellectually rigorous. The landscape and characters are vividly drawn, and the informing scholarship of contemplative literature and tradition is brought to bear in a natural, delightfully anecdotal way.

Rating:
Summary: A Book That EVERYONE Should Read!
Review: Dr. James Connor has written a book that speaks to people of all ages, races and religious beliefs - and he does it with a wonderful blend of candor, humility and humor. It is amazing to see that even a Jesuit priest has wrestled with the same questions that many of us have asked in our lifetimes. How he handles these questions is most reassuring and inspiring, even for those of us who aren't quite sure if we believe there truly is a God. I haven't been able to sit down and read a book through for a long time, however, I could not be anywhere without "Silent Fire" - I took it everywhere with me to read in my spare time. The part about the bat getting into the cabin and how Dr. Connor literally "attacks" the problem is the most comical thing I've ever read....it was a real hoot! This is a book to be kept and treasured, and read over and over again. I am fortunate to not only be a fan now but a student of Dr. Connor's as well. He teaches with the same honesty and clarity that he writes with, and I feel honored that he is my professor! Thank you so much for "Silent Fire", and for being such an accessible and honest professor. May the fire in you never burn out!

Rating:
Summary: A spiritual book for our times
Review: James Connor wears his spirituality and knowledge lightly. Both are profound, but in leading us along his own pathways of self- discovery, the gentle ex-priest offers invaluable and practical help for people confronting major crises in their lives. Connor's rollicking sense of humor and gift for storytelling help give easy access to his warm yet awesome universe. I have recommended this book to everyone I know, regardless of their faith. Don't miss the episode with the bat.

Rating:
Summary: Don't pass up this good read.....
Review: Silent Fire has to be one of the best books I have read in a long time. It is so informative, so full of meaning and inspiration. If you feel that you do not have control of your life and everything seems to be "noisy", then read this book. Read it not once, but as often as you need a reminder that you can find the "silence" in your life. Conner did an excellent job on this book and I await on more releases by him.

Rating:
Summary: Tenderness, Compassion, and Love
Review: This is the profoundly spiritual memoir of a former Jesuit priest's interior journey. It is a hauntingly beautiful account filled with the pathos and gentle humor of a life fully realized -- a life that has come through the symbolic "fire" not irreparably burned but touched by its healing warmth. Graced by the author's intense awareness of holiness and human fraility, this book is filled with wisdom and grace. In prose that is accessible, lyrical, intelligent, and infinitely humane, Mr. Connor offers his readers the truths he has discovered: tenderness, compassion, and love. His use of poetry as epigrams that introduce each of his cycles of silence is brilliant. Edward Hirsch's poem "The Idea of the Holy," which precedes the prologue, and Adele Kenny's haiku, which introduces the first cycle, take the reader into the world of pure spirit: God's world, Connor's world, our world.

Rating:
Summary: Transcending Language
Review: While Connor speaks the truth that language is inept to the point of absurdity insofar as it strives to give us a taste of the divine, he simultaneously is able to lead us into the dance with the telling of his story. It is part of the paradox that one cannot even explain how this is done. A great memoir in the age of too many memoirs.