Sparks of Inspiration (December)
We’re pleased to bring you Sparks of Inspiration, a new monthly series where Fr. Gregory will share a book recommendation that sparks curiosity, reflection, or just makes for a great read! Each month, he’ll choose a book, provide a short excerpt, and offer a brief explanation on why he thinks it’s an interesting and valuable read.
Whether you’re looking to deepen your faith, expand your horizons, or simply enjoy a good book, Sparks of Inspiration is here to guide you. Check out the first recommendation below, and let’s journey through these inspiring reads together!
Got a book suggestion or something you’d love to see featured? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Into the silent land. A guide to the Christian practice of contemplation.
Martin Laird O.S.A.
OXFORD University Press 2006
This book explores the Christian tradition of contemplation, revealing how practices like using a prayer word, working with the breath, and cultivating awareness are deeply rooted in Christianity. It is not just a historical overview; it offers practical guidance for those yearning for a deeper connection with God.
While it’s accessible to beginners, this book's real strength lies in its support for those who are ready to go further in their contemplative practice. Laird focuses on the challenges that often arise on the path—like distractions and boredom—and how, when approached with the right mindset, they can lead us into a deeper silence. He shows how even our inner struggles and wounds can become gateways to the healing silence of God.
Fr. Greg
From the Introduction:
We are built for contemplation. This book is about cultivating the skills necessary for this subtlest, simplest, and most searching of the spiritual arts. Communion with God in the silence of the heart is a God-given capacity, like the rhododendron's capacity to flower, the fledgling's for flight, and the child's for self-forgetful abandon and joy. If the grace of God that suffuses and simplifies the vital generosity of our lives does not consummate this capacity while we live, then the very arms of God that embrace us as we enter the transforming mystery of death will surely do so. This self-giving God, the Being of our being, the Life of our life, has joined to Himself two givens of human life: we are built to commune with God, and we will all meet death.
Whether we discover the unum necessarium, the "one thing necessary," (Lk 10:42) during the time we are given in our lives, or whether this realization comes to us only as it came to Tolstoy's Ivan Illyich, who, finally reconciled with his sad, misshapen life so that he could move through death, exclaimed in joy at his great discovery, "And Death? Where is it?.. There is no more death,"' God is our homeland. And the homing instinct of the human being is homed on God. As St. Augustine put it "we must fly to our beloved homeland. There the Father is, and there is everything."
This book is guided by a practical concern: to offer guidance and encouragement for increasing our familiarity with this homeland that grounds our very selves. In his Maxims on Love, St. John of the Cross says, "The Father spoke one Word, which was his Son, and this Word he speaks always in eternal silence, and in silence must be heard by the soul." In his Letter Seven, the same Spanish friar says, "Our greatest need is to be silent before this great God, ... for the only language he hears is the silent language of love." Silence is an urgent necessity for us; silence is necessary if we are to hear God speaking in eternal silence; our own silence is necessary if God is to hear us. Silence is necessary because, as Maggie Ross boldly puts it, "Salvation is about silence."
Disclaimer: The excerpts shared in our Sparks of Inspiration series are used under the principles of fair use for educational and discussion purposes. These excerpts are intended to provide a brief glimpse into the recommended books and encourage thoughtful reflection. All rights remain with the original authors and publishers.