Monastery Without Walls

There is a part of each of us that is a monk or a mystic. We yearn for perfect peace yet live our lives far removed from traditional monasteriesyet most of us would not want to give up our personal and spiritual freedom to join monastic life. We seek wholeness but realize that wholeness is not possible without sacredness. Sacred life takes root in solitude, in the time we take to develop a relationship with our inner lifein the kind of setting a monastery would offer. This book speaks to the monk or mystic within us. It affirms our place in the sacred silence of solitude and inner reflection, showing how even everyday life is filled with opportunities to live fully in the worldas if it were a holy monastery. Here we learn to live within the limits as well as the spirit of everyday life, how to appreciate our most human self as the path to explore the divine. Here we encounter a world that is clearly available to us, a world filled with nothing less than the gift of sacred silence within the monastery without walls.

The Benedictine monk John Main was one of the most profoundly influential spiritual teachers of recent times. His belief that the desert tradition of meditative prayer practised by the earliest monastic communities had an immediate and contemporary relevance gave rise to the vision of a totally new kind of community, one made up of men and women scattered throughout the world yet united in their daily practice of Christian meditation. It was to be, literally, a monastery without walls.

A volume of remarkable spiritual wisdom and insight, as fresh and relevant for today as when they were first written.

There is a part of each of us that is a monk or a mystic. We yearn for perfect peace yet live our lives far removed from traditional monasteries--yet most of us would not want to give up our personal and spiritual freedom to join monastic life. We seek wholeness but realize that wholeness is not possible without sacredness. Sacred life takes root in solitude, in the time we take to develop a relationship with our inner life--in the kind of setting a monastery would offer. This book speaks to the monk or mystic within us. It affirms our place in the sacred silence of solitude and inner reflection, showing how even everyday life is filled with opportunities to live fully in the world--as if it were a holy monastery. Here we learn to live within the limits as well as the spirit of everyday life, how to appreciate our most human self as the path to explore the divine.How we encounter a world that is clearly available to us, a world filled with nothing less than the gift of sacred silence within the monastery without walls.

This revised, expanded edition of the Common Worship President’s Edition contains everything to celebrate Holy Communion Order One throughout the church year. It combines relevant material from the original President’s Edition with Eucharistic material from Times and Seasons, Festivals and Pastoral Services, and the Additional Collects.

An introduction to the practice of Christian meditation, this book offers a twelve step programme in learning meditative prayer.

Although the institution of monasticism has existed in the Christian church since the first century, it is often misunderstood. Greg Peters, an expert in monastic studies, reintroduces historic monasticism to the Protestant church, articulating a monastic spirituality for all believers. As Peters explains, what we have known as monasticism for the past 1,500 years is actually a modified version of the earliest monastic life, which was not necessarily characterized by poverty, chastity, and obedience but rather by one's single-minded focus on God--a single-mindedness rooted in one's baptismal vows and the priesthood of all believers. Peters argues that all monks are Christians, but all Christians are also monks. To be a monk, one must first and foremost be singled-minded toward God. This book presents a theology of monasticism for the whole church, offering a vision of Christian spirituality that brings together important elements of history and practice. The author connects monasticism to movements in contemporary spiritual formation, helping readers understand how monastic practices can be a resource for exploring a robust spiritual life.

A spiritual classic for our times from a bestselling Benedictine writer.