The Presence: A Memoir of Miracles (Paperback)

~ Robert Page (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

This slender book offers a wonderful, shattering, enduring and most attractive revelation of the ways of God with a man locked for years in darkness and despair. His account is very earthed, rings true and radiates hope for all. (Fr Gerard W.Hughes SJ, Author of God of Surprises, Oh God, why?) It is wisdom and vulnerability such as this that makes people grow, change, and discover their best self. Read THE PRESENCE to be inspired and challenged and comforted! (Fr Richard Rohr, O.F.M., Founder of Center for Action & Contemplation, Albuquerque.)

Product Description

Robert Page writes with a special kind of freedom and authority about the development of his relationship with God. In an age dominated by spin, the cult of celebrity, materialism, skepticism and cynicism, he speaks without fear. He addresses subjects which have relevance for all of us, whatever our beliefs. Learning from experience and cultivating the ability to live with doubt and uncertainty are, for the author, the essential equipment of the spiritual mountaineer.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: O Books (February 16, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1846942683
• ISBN-13: 978-1846942686
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #537,581 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars An "Ordinary Joe" shares with us the healing power of his faith, March 6, 2010

By	Eleanor Stoneham "Wounded Healer" (London UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The author Robert Page may call himself an "Ordinary Joe" but he is clearly also a very wise and intelligent man.
This slim easy to read book is a very personal and brave account of Page's own journey through alcoholism as he found healing through being "born above" to the light of Jesus.
"Wounds of the soul are among the most infectious of human sufferings; the most difficult to diagnose accurately; the most difficult to cure," he writes. Best of all he understands the ultimate paradox of the healing strength to be found in exposing his own vulnerability and brokenness and pain. "For when I am weak I am strong," wrote St Paul, he reminds us, to the Corinthians.
Whilst he stresses that this is not any attempt at self- analysis, nonetheless he recognizes from his upbringing the lack of real parental love as pivotal. Love for his family meant duty, it was conditional, and fed feelings of guilt and rejection, and low self esteem, and left him ill equipped for adulthood.
In spite of this he does not hold them responsible, and it is his approach to his parents in the depths of his addiction, when he tells them "I need help" that is his turning point towards healing.
Page also knows what triggered his crises, and writes of those stages in his life when he felt God's presence in those others who were there for him.
Here is a man who now knows his Bible intimately, and is able to weave his own insights from the knocks he has received into its passages, particularly the teaching of Jesus in the Gospels. He discusses the material world and his relation to it, the Golden Rule of unconditionally loving others as oneself, the healing power of forgiveness from the heart, and most of all the love and teaching of Jesus, through which he gains wisdom and spiritual maturity, all enabled through the Grace of God. The words of the Gospels need, he emphasizes, an understanding that is spirit-revealed, not just intellectual. Religion, he tells us, must be felt not learnt, and is for every day, not just a once a week ritual. And if we do not recognize God yet he urges us to listen and watch and don't miss His Presence when He calls.
This is a thoughtful book and the author is well able to use his own life's experiences to impart a sincere message to us all. Most certainly it is not just another "misery memoir." I think this book holds wise messages of faith for us all to heed and could be usefully discussed in small church groups to good effect.