Gratefulness, The Heart of Prayer: An Approach to Life in Fullness [Paperback]

David Steindl-Rast (Author), Henri J. M. Nouwen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1984

A monk reflects on the many aspects of the spiritual life with the basic attitude of gratefulness.

"A true delight." —Henri J. M. Nouwen

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A member of the Calmaldolese order of monks, and well-known for his far-reaching interests in theology and science (he has explored the implications of contemporary physics with Fritjof Capra, the author of The Tao of Physics), Steindl-Rast does a wonderful job of exploring the relationship between prayer and that sense of gratefulness that comes with love, which is at the very center of what it means to be human. "To bless whatever there is, and for no other reason but simply because it is, that is what we are made for as human beings," he writes. Connecting contemplation and action, he affirms that contemplation may best be realized by "acting in love." "Thinking about God is important," he states, but "acting in God leads to a deeper knowledge. Lovers are closer to love than scholars who merely reflect on love. It would be a bit awkward to reflect on kissing while you kiss." --Doug Thorpe

From the Author

It makes me happy that, after almost two decades, this book still finds a steady stream of new readers. Now and then, I hear people who made Gratefulness their daily reading in a time of crisis, in sickness, or on their deathbed. This fills me with awe. So does that fact that groups who read and discuss books together have found this one helpful. What do I myself like about it? That it treats the main aspects of gratefulness in a systematic way, without – I hope – being dry. And I specially like the list of key words arranged from A to Z (yes, I even have one for “X”).-- Br. David Steindl-Rast, March 2002

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Paulist Pr (August 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809126281
• ISBN-13: 978-0809126286
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,242 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm very grateful for this book..., October 21, 1999

By 

Jason File (Auburn, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gratefulness, The Heart of Prayer: An Approach to Life in Fullness (Paperback)

You can tell from reading this book that the author is gentle and sincere, and that his life reflects the values and insights he shares here. I first read this book around 1994, and it is the most dog-eared of my books. I have almost the whole thing underlined. By refusing to get bogged down in theoretical disputes or definitions, and instead focusing on the bone of the Christian experience (love, hope, and faith), Brother David has given us a book filled with the Holy Spirit. His exploration of the spiritual significance of being open to life's little surprises is a big surprise (I've never heard that mentioned as a Christian value before), and one which points to a spiritual life in alert response to God's constant lovingkindness. There is no doctrine or dogma here, which is why I think it will endure...and also why I keep coming back to it myself.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars With gentle humor, Brother David teaches us gratefulness..., June 30, 2005

By 

Peter Menkin (Mill Valley, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gratefulness, The Heart of Prayer: An Approach to Life in Fullness (Paperback)

One of the things I first noticed about this book on being grateful is that it has sold many thousands of copies. Mine says, on the cover, "65,000 in print." That's a kind of best seller on a subject by a monk, a contemplative, and promises along the way by its subtitle the inviting phrase, "An Approach to Life in Fullness." There is a demand for living a good life, and one way is living a life of being grateful to God and having a heart of prayer, the book's main theme.

There are probably many reasons for the numerous readers of this work, including the fact that Brother David Steindl-Rast is a kind of hero in the retreat and talking world, a feat not to be belittled, for I came to know him by a tape I found meaningful: "We Dare to Say Our Father." Brother David is a Benedictine, and I have a reading list and a source for Benedictine books from the monastery New Camaldoli, Big Sur, California which I follow religiously. So you can say, I am reading required material. This is a good thing, for this book is a required text for Christians interested in the ideas of blessing and giving thanks to God, and in coming to some understandings about prayer which Brother David says, as quoted on the back cover, "God's will be done" I agree with the back cover statement, we are dependent on God's mercy. That is a religious thing to say, and this is a book for people interested in religious topics and understandings.

I think that you will find this a book on prayerfulness, too; that is one chapter title, "Prayers and Prayerfulness." I can think about this quote for a while, good advice from a man with a sense of proportion and humor: "Are my prayers a genuine expression of my prayerfulness? Do they make me more prayerful?"

The danger with reviewing this book is one is taken with the author, and wants to know more. He is a monk, and that is a mysterious thing, somewhat special to many people. The reader does meet the monk and the man in this book, his personality. Though at times a seemingly surface book of suggestions, like this one, "Most of us need a good deal of encouragement for giving. The way we are built (or, rather, forced into a warped shape by our society) the taking takes care of itself. It might be a good test if you checked for half an hour how often you say 'I take' and how often 'I give.'" He writes this in the chapter "Contemplation and Leisure." But the message, by its context, becomes enlarged. One is to pay attention to living the Christian life in the ordinary, during the day and in doing so be grateful for the things of your day and the life that has been granted. He believes, convincingly, "Thanksgiving, blessing, praise, all three belong to gratefulness."

Gratefulness is an acquired taste, so he says. "The banquet of life is the challenge to cultivate and broaden our taste." Because I have heard Brother David talk on the tape I suggest, his style and his "voice" come through all the more. This is a book written in a voice, a genuine voice of the writer. You will find this a palatable book.

There is another message to the book. It is within our reach to live a grateful life, and know something of gratefulness. Brother David says this is fun, and we can become more grateful, certainly better than complaining and cursing, by finding the play in the joyful mysteries of Living by the Word. He says, also in his words, they "teach us this playfulness." I like the light way he approaches things, many profound. Maybe there is a secret here "...The point of everything? Well, that's the point at the heart of each thing where the kernel for faithfulness is playfully hidden." So he writes in the chapter "Faith and Belief."

Another chapter title, "Love A "Yes" to Belonging." In "Fullness and Emptiness", another chapter towards the end of the book, he says in a mysterious way that we are becoming, by being alive, being grateful, which means becoming alive, becoming grateful. Being grateful is then a way of life, a joy. To get there, he quotes T.S. Eliot: "In order to arrive at what you are not/You must go through the way in which you are not."

Is this a book about a pathway. I say it is. Henri Nouwen writes the introduction in my copy published by Paulist Press. Hopefully, my concurrence with the opening sentences interests the reader of this review, and I find that the introduction makes a good end for what I have said. "This book is a true delight! It delights by its surprising insights, its unexpected perspectives and its gentle humor."

--Peter Menkin, Obl Cam OSB

23 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Made me want to share the ideas with others, March 8, 2000

By 

Vickie Klick (Batavia, Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gratefulness, The Heart of Prayer: An Approach to Life in Fullness (Paperback)

I've only read this book once through so far, and I can tell it will be a book to read again and again. On a first read, the chapter on faith and beliefs spoke to me most - I've shared Brother David's ideas about what it REALLY means to "live by every word that comes from the mouth of God" with several friends already. Great book!