Customer Reviews

Poustinia: Encountering God in Silence, Solitude and Prayer (Madonna House Classics)

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Catherine Doherty's book, 'Poustinia', is one of those one-in-a-million books which will change the way you look at life. This book has had a profound influnce on me -- my life as a Catholic Christian has blossomed, and my relationship with God has been profoundly deepened. I heartily recommend this book to all who seek peace.

This wonderful guide to the spirituality of the East has new meaning since the reopening of Russia and the rebirth of religious expression there. I bought this book several years ago and found the message both practical and uplifting. I just read the book again and have been amazed at the new level of meaning that has surfaced, a result of my life experience since the first read in the mid-1970's. If you seek peace and a method to share peace with those around you, this text will become a reference and guide.

This was my introduction to Catherine Dougherty - a real, joyful and sober saint of our times. Poustinia is an excellent reflection on prayer from the Eastern, Catholic tradition. There are many spiritual treasures and insights found within these pages, the Church is so rich! Anyone thirsting for contemplation and intimacy with the Lord would most certainly like this book. In Poustinia lies a pearl of great price.

I read this book for the first time in my twenties, and loved it. It found me again, at 54, and I found that I reaped even more from it this time. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys spiritual reading. It is a classic. As a result, I am now reading the rest of Catherine Doherty's writings.

If you have made it this far in looking for spiritual books, buy this book. God wants you to read it! Catherine Doherty's writing style is conversational and makes this most difficult of subjects (how we are called to respond to Jesus' call to sell all and follow Him) very approachable, even doable. She gives we in the West a way to integrate Eastern Orthodox mysticism into our, very different, value system and lifestyle. Again, if you have come this far, buy this book, you won't regret it!

Poustinia is a book that makes you fly. I was in a body cast for three and a half years back in the 70's and a Priest friend gave me Poustinia. I found my Poustinia easily. Just plain suffering, something that most human beings shy away from. I didn't have a choice. The author doesn't say to ask for suffering but she really teaches you what to do with it. Offer it to Jesus in union with His Cross. Yet, her thoughts are Eastern so you won't feel like A Nun is yelling, "OFFER IT UP!"

BUY POUSTINIA AND LEARN TO MEDITATE WITH THE BOOK. It will change your life as IT DID MINE. After eleven spinal fusions, I started to get bitter and Pousinita got me out of that fast. It all boils down to Confidence in God's love and mercy. If you don't buy it, you are passing up a great oportunity to find your Poustinia. Reading her words, makes you thirst for more.
Sheila

Poustinia is not a familiar word to Westerners; at least it was not familiar to me and I don't think I am alone. My first encounter with Poustinia was from a recommended reading list for an assignment in a School for Spiritual Direction. I'm thankful for the recommendation; there is no doubt that my life has been enriched by the gift of what I have found in this book by Catherine Doherty.
So, what is poustinia? Definitions online provide the following explanation for this word:

A poustinia (Russian) is a small sparsely furnished cabin or room where one goes to pray and fast alone in the presence of God. The word poustinia has its origin in the Russian word for desert. One called to live permanently in a poustinia is called a poustinik (plural: poustiniki).

When I first read the definition for poustinia, I thought of a hermitage and the experience that comes with a spiritual retreat to a hermitage. Now that I have read this book and the philosophy behind poustinia, I think the poustinia experience and vocation encompass so much more.

Catherine divides the book into four main sections while gently walking the reader through understanding the basic tenets and history of poustinia (part one) from the east to the west. Part two explains the poustinik, the person called to experience poustinia or to live vocationally the poustinia. Personally, I found this (and part three) to be my favorite parts of the book. I learned some things and I identified myself in some ways. I found elements of freedom and liberation directly related to the poustinia life. While I would explain the teaching about the poustinik (part two) to be more about inner expression of the poustinia experience, I would explain part three as the practical and outward expression of poustinia; perhaps better said, (Loving) Touching God and (Loving) Touching Neighbor. The final section of the book, part four, and the closing chapters are Catherine Doherty's summary thoughts and experience (which I believe are also interwoven throughout the book).

While this was not a difficult read and could have easily been read in one or two sittings, I took a considerable amount of time to work my way through it. In my opinion, Doherty writes as a Christian mystic. The words in this little book are simple and deeply spiritual and packed to overflowing with wonderful godly wisdom relevant to the way of heart changing spiritual formation. Since the time of reading this spiritual classic, I have read other books and writings that have quoted Doherty's words from Poustinia. I found this rather serendipitous in a divine way considering all that I have read in the past and had never "bumped" into this book or this particular teaching.

I will recommend this book to others as a wonderful resource not only for spending silence, solitude, and prayer with God, but for general formation in the ways of the soul. This is a great book and I wish I had known of it earlier in my journey, but I am grateful to have found it now. Highly recommended.