Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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

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!

Brother David Steindl-Rice is a master of spiritual writing. I could stop there, but it would be the shortest review ever. This book is not just for religious. Br David takes one far beyond the basic levels of prayer and intercessions, taking the reader to the better realms of gratitude that teach a life to be lived in holistic fullness. While contemplation is not everyone's approach to God, this book enables an approach for people of any tradition. It is about the heart and mind and soul, alongside the realities of life - if there is any difference. I agree wholeheartedly with the dust jacket: enriching and enlightening. A must on the bookshelf of every religious/spirituality scholar - whatever your level.
(Br Graham-Michael)

This book is really one of a kind. It gives comfort when you most need it. This was one of the only books I read after my husband passed away that made me feel more hopeful. The author, Br. Steindl-Rast has a spiritual sense that you can feel and its almost as if he is speaking directly to you. I have purchased several copies of this book for friends and relatives over the years and would recommend it to anyone who really wants to locate their own spirtuality.

This book surprised me. Brother Steindl-Rast explained such basic terms such as faith, belief, gratefulness, and prayer in new ways that were clearly understandable to my heart and mind. Though I've searched for years to understand prayer, and have not prayed in years, this book explained the essence of prayer and gratefulness, and the differences between hope and hopes, and faith and belief, that have stuck with me as I continue on my spiritual journey. A very helpful book. I just lent it out to a friend, who told me "thanks" also, for the very reasons I mentioned above.

if you miss to read this book, you miss a good opportunity to recollect yourself and enable yourself to learn how to be grateful in your life.

This is an outstanding book, full of excellent advice. We all have much to be grateful for and focusing on those things does make one happier and thereby enjoy life more.

For some reason I am finding this a hard read, it is taking me a while to get through it. I am enjoying it though.