Book review: Seasons of Grace: Wisdom from the Cloister

December 9, 2004

EDITOR'S NOTE: This book review is sponsored by the Religious Education Media Center as a service to those interested in developing their own spirituality. Books featured in this column can be borrowed from the diocesan media center.

You may request this or other books by writing Deacon Larry Sitzman, Religious Education Media Center, 1821 Jackson St., Sioux City, IA 51102, e-mail him at larrys@scdiocese.org or phone (712) 255-7933.

Linda Harrington, who is a theology professor at Briar Cliff University, offers this book review of Seasons of Grace: Wisdom from the Cloister. Gail Fitzpatrick, O. C. S. O. Foreword by Kathleen Norris. Chicago: ACTA Publications. 215 pp. $9.95.

This collection of short reflections on scripture is the perfect companion for that first cup of coffee in the morning. Whether you read one a day or one a week, they will give you food for thought, wholesome and down-to-earth guidance and encouragement that will stay with you.

The author, Mother Gail Fitzpatrick, Abbess of Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey in Dubuque, Iowa, is a Trappistine nun; however, these are not esoteric ruminations that only an experienced monk or nun would find valuable. Mother Gail draws on images from ordinary life - farming, fishing, friends and family, work - to bring out the meaning of each scripture passage in a way that everyone can understand. The images may be ordinary, but the way Mother Gail teaches about both the high points and the "bumps in the road" of the spiritual journey is anything but ordinary.

The meditation on Ephesians 4:1-6 begins with a recounting of a scene from J. D. Salinger's novel Franny and Zooey in which Zooey scolds Franny for refusing their mother's chicken soup and not recognizing it for the sacrament that it is. "Like Franny, we can miss the sacred in the everyday . . . We don't see the holiness all around us" (104). Every person is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, so Mother Gail asks her readers: "Do we truly reverence each person with whom we live?" (104) Reverence does not mean being blind to another's weakness, nor does it grant one immunity from irritation over their odd habits. It does, however, mean looking for the goodness of God in each person we encounter. It means building up our neighbors with kindness rather than tearing them down with words spoken in anger or resentment or derision. "Let us not miss the goodness of the ever-present Lord in others . . . The Spirit of Jesus is living in Sam and Judy and Bill; the Spirit of Jesus is living in Suzie and Frank and Max; the Spirit of Jesus is living in Mom and Dad and Sis; and right on through the community like a litany. . . . Let's feast one another on the sacred bread of kindness" (105-6). Jesus multiplied ordinary barley bread for the multitude as a precursor of the Eucharist; we should allow our breaking of the ordinary bread of kindness to be our continuation of the Eucharist.

This book allows us to reap the benefit of Mother Gail's years of experience as teacher and spiritual guide for her community. We find God most readily in the ordinary if only we open our eyes and our hearts, and Mother Gail provides warm encouragement for that every-day effort.

Home