Customer Reviews

Praying the Hours (Cloister Books)

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When he promulgated the reformed Liturgy of the Hours for the Roman Catholic Church in 1970, Pope Paul VI began his Apostolic Constitution with the words: "The canticle of praise that is sung through all ages in the courts of heaven was brought into this land of exile by our High Priest, Jesus Christ, and has been carried on by the Church with constant fidelity over many centuries in a rich variety of forms."

As a Roman Catholic who has long been a student of the liturgy and who is published in this field, I wish to take strong exception to the previous reviewer (apparently a fellow Bostonian!) who somehow did not see Jesus Christ present in the reflections of Suzanne Guthrie and who thought Guthrie's world just a little too nice.

On the contrary, throughout this marvelous little book, Guthrie confronts the minor "not-so-nice" elements of everyday ordinary life and the sometimes major "not-so-nice" aspects of life in a parish community. She confronts these daily experiences with prayer, or rather, she shows how the recurring call of the Prayer of the Hours to remember the all-pervasive presence of God can sanctify all the moments of the day, transfiguring simple joys with the light of God's presence, transforming moments of conflict into opportunities for reconciliation. In fact, Guthrie's meditation on the Little Hour of None - and her encounter with one of the parish's difficult persons - compelled me - as one canonically bound to only one of the Midday Hours - to RE-INSTATE None as a permanent part of my daily prayer!

So helpful was this book to me, that I purchased it as a gift for three priest-friends, two of my Roman Catholic brethren who are parish priests and an Episcopal woman who is priest-chaplain at a university in the city. Their response was immediate and positive: a renewal for them of their commitment to the Hours based on Guthrie's inspiring presentation.

De gustibus non disputandum . . . everyone's taste varies and no one author can hope to please all readers. But to say that this book is "all about Suzanne Guthrie and not about Jesus Christ" is more than nasty or harsh - it is simply untrue. Rather, Guthrie shares her experience of striving to find Christ in all the people and projects, contacts and conflicts that fill the hours of her day - and shows us how the Prayer of the Hours helps her to do this - as it has helped centuries of Christians. Her reflections have breathed new life into my own commitment to this hallowed form of prayer, which - in accordance with Pope Paul's insight and contrary to the previous reviewer's opinion - is not just Guthrie's prayer or my prayer but Christ's ongoing prayer offered in and through the members of his Mystical Body, the Church.

This book has ample opportunity to fall flat, with its descriptions of such routine, daily activities as the lunch hour, waking up, cleaning and moving. That it doesn't is a tribute to Episcopal priest Suzanne Guthrie's wonderful way of infusing even the dullest and most tedious activity with grace. First covering the idea of stability and praying in place with the example of her latest move; and then discussing praying the monastic Hours, this book is beautifully-written and very refreshing.

To say that I thoroughly enjoyed "Praying the Hours", by Suzanne Guthrie, would be an understatement. Guthrie's beautifully written experiences have not only brought me hours of reading enjoyment, but more importantly, have shown me how I can include Christ in every aspect of my day. From cover to cover Guthrie enlightens us, through her personal experiences, in ways that we can bring ourselves closer to Christ. She shows us that activities such as sleeping, eating, reading, working, or playing, can become opportunities to glorify God. I have a feeling that the unnamed reviewer from Boston, who couldn't find Christ in this book, is one of the "thistles around the fig tree" described in the Hour of None.

A lovely book I now include in those I recommend to my directees and that I use for ordination gifts. Ms. Guthrie's writing is refreshing and honest, and she is quite talented at discovering and naming God's presence in places, situations, feelings, thoughts and prayers common to many.

This particular work shows us, through her own daily experiences, what it means to find the God-shaped spaces that fill our geography and our time, no matter where we are or what we are doing. She recognizes God with sensitivity, beauty and wisdom that delights mind, heart and soul. One of the best books I've read that shows us how we connect, at every moment, with the God of Love. In example after example, Ms. Guthrie shows us why God came to us through the Incarnation in humble, human form. She shows us, too, how this incredible Love is available moment to moment, throughout the hours and days of our lives.

A prayerful delight--soul candy at its best!

Suzanne Guthrie has succeeded, and succeeded admirably, at creating a 21st Century version of Brother Lawrence's 17th Century classic: Practice of the Presence of God. With The Reverend Guthrie, we encounter God everywhere, not just in church or 'formal' prayer, but while cleaning house and puttering in the garden. Both works free us from a forced, strained piety, feeling we need lit candles and strong devotion to have a conversation with Jesus. Praying the Hours shows that all situations, all through the day, no matter what is happening in us and around us, can be turned into prayer.

In this beautiful work of praise, Suzanne Guthire speaks to all of us who have had to learn to pray in a new place or a new way. Deeply centered in Christ, Guthrie illumines for us a path to salvation through the everyday of home, dust, place and sensibility. The gorgious prose of this work of art transends the ordinary as it exults it. Truly, it illumines the path of Christ for those who see it in the everyday and everyway. Not to be missed.

I was just showing a friend how to order this wonderful book and saw the not so great review. I never wrote a review and would not do so now except that I feel obligated to say how I feel. Rev Guthrie takes me thorugh her day and shows me how to make mine a prayer too. She is not an unreachable saint or complicated scholar but a working mother like many of us. Its those ordinary, simple daily activities that can be turned into something special to God. I loved this book and look forward to seeing more of her writing.