Customer Reviews

Making a Heart for God: A Week Inside a Catholic Monastery

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I really enjoyed reading this book. Of course, as a couple of the other comments pointed out, this book is not an in-depth presentation of life in a trappist monastery. But it is not pretending to be such a thing. This book gives a nice taste of life in the monastery for a monk and for a retreatant. You get just enough of the taste of the history of this monastery to whet your appetite for more.
If you're interested in more, the author has a large, photo-illustrated history of Gethsemani. There are other books on trappist monasteries as well. If you've ever been to Gethsemani and had the pleasure to hear Fr. Matthew's evening talks, you'll want to look for some of the books of his writings. Matthew Kelty is his name.

Also, I have read another book in this same series (A Week Inside) on a Buddhist Monastery. Very very interesting. As with Making a Heart for God, it gives you enough of a taste of Buddhism, the monastery itself and a retreat inside the monastery to whet your appetite for more.

I hope to find more books in this series.

Making a Heart for God by Dianne Aprile surprised me, delighted me. I was expecting an in-depth day-by-day look at a monk's week, the perspective being from a lay person (albeit a person with much experience at the Abbey of Gethsemane) looking in on a religious person's life. And that is what I got but, oh, so much more! "A Week Inside" includes a look at the retreatants at the Abbey as well, as their days intertwine with the schedule of prayer and work that is the mainstay of Cistercian life. From her arrival to her departure, I felt as if I was following Aprile around the monastery, talking to monks and retreatants, praying the liturgical hours, keeping silence at the appropriate times, learning more and more about Benedictine spirituality. Her focus on a few brothers in particular was heart-warming, and showed the stuff of which they are made - flesh and blood, heart and soul - like the rest of us. I was as reluctant to finish the book as she was to leave the Abbey! Note: Aprile includes the daily schedule of Gethsemane as well as a lenghty list of monasteries and abbeys that welcome retreatants.

Item was returned to Amazon for credit two weeks ago . I had not ordered the item.
Amazon and the BOOKORAMA company that sold me these three books have never asnwered my
request for a reason why I was sent the books when I did not order them, and
only had them on my wish list. No response from the Book company or Amazon about
the return and the credit do to me.

I don't know that this would be a very good description for
"Making a Heart for God." I see it more as a glimpse at what
life is like at the Abbey of Gethsemani. It is bits and pieces
of what the author has seen and heard while on retreat. It is
something to give the reader just a taste of what the life must
be like for the monks. As such, it told me quite a bit. If I
would want more, I would most likely look for something written
by a monk who lives in such an abbey. That would be more likely
to have the details about day to day life.

I am an afficionado of books about monasteries and convents and the contemplative life in general. As such I was excited about getting an indepth look at the Trappist Abbey, Gethsemani. Unfortunately it was a much more simplistic description of abbey life than I had expected. Except for the detailed and good description of lectio divina, the text was pretty superficial. I especially hoped to find explanations of how 25 disparate men could learn to live together peaceably over the long term. The book told me that this was indeed a challenge for folks who have committed to never leaving, but the author never got into the kinds of interactions that moved the monks toward unity and those that disrupted the process. I was disappointed.