Seven Sacred Pauses: Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day [Hardcover]

Macrina Wiederkehr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2008

Author and retreat leader Macrina Wiederkehr opens the monastery door and invites readers to come in and learn how the practice of consciously pausing for prayer at the seven sacred moments of each day can make their daily passage through time a more sacred pilgrimage.

Using scripture, poetry, reflections. personal stories, and quotes from a rich array of spiritual teachers, Wiederkehr helps readers become more attuned to living in the present moment and develop a kindred spirit with the rich tradition of the sacred hours. Seven Sacred Pauses is a wonderful gift to those who seek to find balance in their busy days and to bring the practice of the Divine Hours home to their own hearts.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"You are holding in your hands not only a book of readings and instruction for the journey, but one monastic's heart of love held out to a searching world." --Paula D'Arcy, Author of Gift of the Red Bird (from the foreword)

"'Time is money, and money is scarce.' All who are driven by this double misconception get squeezed into a frantic rat race. Macrina Wiederkehr shows you a way out." --David Steindl-Rast, O.S.B., Author of The Music of Silence

"This terrific book brings the ancient prayer of the Church into modern focus as the author invites the readers to mark the moments of the day with prayer. [Wiederkehr] offers inspiration galore to feed the soul in simple, yet profound everyday--hourly--ways." --Religion Teacher's Journal

"A wonderful resource for those who routinely pray the hours, whether communally or privately. It offers an effective antidote to the monotony and distraction that can imperceptibly drain daily prayer of life and meaning. Reading this book, one will awaken to the deeper symbolic dimensions of each hour and thereby be able to redirect one's energy towards a fuller, faith-filled, cosmic participation." --Cistercian Studies Quarterly

"This inspiring devotional resource will serve as a catalyst to spur your own practice of being present and paying attention to the sacred rhythms of the day." ----Spirituality & Practice --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Macrina Wiederkehr, O.S.B., is a popular retreat guide and author who makes her home with the monastic community of St. Scholastica in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Wiederkehr is the best-selling author of six previous books including A Tree Full of Angels and The Circle of Life, which she co-authored with Joyce Rupp. Visit her online at macrina-underthesycamoretree.blogspot.com. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Ave Maria Press (April 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933495103
• ISBN-13: 978-1933495101
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #457,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Poetic Adaptation of the Spirit of the Hours -- for Busy Lives Like Ours, March 31, 2008

By 

David Crumm "Editor of ReadTheSpirit magazine" (Canton, Michigan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Seven Sacred Pauses: Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day (Hardcover)

I love well-designed little books like this one, which I can tuck into a big pocket, purse or work bag -- to add a new season of spiritual discipline to my life.

Sister Macrina Wiederkehr adapts traditional, daily cycles of prayer with thoughtful themes to focus our meditations and offers all kinds of resources: from specific prayers and readings we can use to little meditation-provoking nuggets of wisdom from a variety of writers.

In the introduction of her book, she reminds us that the original rule of St. Benedict called on monks to pray their way through all 150 Psalms each week -- a daunting task in today's busy world. So, she writes, "this book is to provide you with poetic reflection material on the spirit of the hours rather than the historical text of the hours."

I also appreciate her breadth of selections in the book from scriptures themselves to lines by W.H. Auden, Kahlil Gibran and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Nicely done. Nicely packaged. A great companion for a new season.

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Christianity through the day, April 12, 2008

By 

Dr. John Laughlin (Glenn Dale, MD) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Seven Sacred Pauses: Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day (Hardcover)

This is a gem of a prayer, and contemplative book. Like the monks' practice of the Daily, this gives all of us a guide and text to use in dividing and divining our day into 7 parts set aside to rememeber God and who and what we are -- or ought to be as Christians. If you ever envied the Moslems' daily call to prayer, here is your Chrisitan alternitive.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the need to pause, May 11, 2008

By 

Jan Broschart (Islip, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Seven Sacred Pauses: Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day (Hardcover)

I have long been a fan of Macrina which is why I purchased this book. What I got was more than I could have imagined. Her book brings us back and shows us the wisdom , many of us have forgotten , of taking the time to stop. To take a few minutes seven times a day so that we can really live our lives to the fullest. In this crazy busy world what could be important than to get in tune with the natural pauses of day and clear our minds of the clutter that keeps us from realizing the life we were meant to live.