Stalking the Divine [Paperback]

Kristin Ohlson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 28, 2004

One lonely Christmas morning, Kristin Ohlson wandered into a downtown Cleveland church for mass. Once there, she was moved by the traditions of her childhood, but more than that, her curiosity was captured by a group of cloistered nuns. They were the Poor Clares—a tiny, threadbare congregation of elderly nuns with one mission: to pray day and night for the sorrows of the world.

As Ohlson, a longtime skeptic, opens up to the Poor Clares, she opens herself to the possibility of the sacred. The result is an inspiring personal journey as well as a poignant reflection on the power of church and faith.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A longing for belief at midlife has provided endless book material for authors, but Ohlson's beautiful writing, gritty honesty and parallel story of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration set this one apart. At age six, Ohlson wanted to be a nun, but later wandered from her childhood Catholicism. One lonely Christmas morning she stumbled across an advertisement for mass at Cleveland's St. Paul Shrine and decided to go. Attendance, she found, had dwindled, and only 16 cloistered nuns remained in the monastery, but she discovered that "somehow, the act of going had created the desire to go." Hoping that writing a book about the Poor Clares and the St. Paul Shrine might "help me construct a framework for trying to make sense of their faith, and, perhaps, learn to build some kind of faith of my own," she explores the history of both as her own faith journey unfolds. Ohlson remains insecure about her beliefs, but she finds that the patterns of faith and retreat keep the sparks of her growing faith kindled, and she takes heart in the "tiniest of convictions that God is like a fire burning in the darkness." Although she confesses she's not quite there yet ("I'll hear the words at mass-the words that I'm saying along with everyone else-and I'll think, `Are you nuts?'"), Ohlson's vulnerability about her doubts in the midst of her new commitment will appeal to anyone who has ever yearned to believe.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Journalist Ohlson knew nothing about the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration; the name sounded, she thought, like something from Saturday Night Live. The self-proclaimed errant Catholic decided to attend Christmas mass in downtown Cleveland, however, and there she encountered the anachronistic, enigmatic Poor Clares: 16 cloistered nuns who maintain a rigorous, round-the-clock schedule of prayer. Ohlson was fascinated by the qualities that set them apart from the outside world, awed by their seemingly selfless commitment to a higher power. By telling their story, she hoped to make sense of her own mixed-up spiritual life. Above all, she yearned to have a faith she could believe in again. Yet she remained less a true believer than a spiritual observer. Still, to follow Ohlson as she is allowed into the nuns' inner sanctum, as they reluctantly reveal more of themselves and the order, as she discovers the meaning of the Poor Clares' history, as she clarifies her own belief status, is to absorb a quietly moving, surprisingly humorous testament of faith. June Sawyers
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Plume (December 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452286409
• ISBN-13: 978-0452286405
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,233,470 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is an amazing book, October 6, 2003

By 

D. House (College Station, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stalking the Divine: Contemplating Faith with the Poor Clares (Hardcover)

I read this book cover to cover almost without stopping. It is the most pure, kindhearted, honest account of one person's struggle with faith, yearning for divine guidance and curiosity about the lives of those who seem to have captured the market on believing.
I highly recommend this book for all people, especially those who grew up in a Catholic home or school and have filled their lives with education and culture, yet still feel a shallowness in their hearts. Kristin Ohlson took what was originally a voyeuristic curiosity about these nuns, and found not only a great story, but that the doors to God had never been closed to her.

This isn't some Bible beater's how-to guide. It is a candid story of a journey, through which we learn about the Poor Clares of St. Paul's Shrine. However, the story of the nuns is merely the backdrop to Ms. Ohlson's discovery of her place in the world of faith and divine worship. The book does not end with her "faith switch" being miraculously turned on, but merely her heart having been softened by the work of the Poor Clares.

I think Ms. Ohlson may have found, as I know I did, that person or persons for whom you have such admiration for their faith that you are willing to say, if they be a fool, then I shall be a fool beside them.

This is a great book.

43 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS WILL BE A BEST SELLER, July 30, 2003

By 

James E. O'Leary (Corpus Christi, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stalking the Divine: Contemplating Faith with the Poor Clares (Hardcover)

I am loathe to be the first customer to review this because this might be the only review some buyers will see. The responsibility of doing this book justice weighs heavily on me. Although I finished the book four days ago and then went back to read it again, I am still in the flush of great enthusiasm. "Publishers Weekly" got it right (See above) except for the fact that Kris is better than all the others. She is much more entertaining than the rest of the "journey" writers. She has the same gift Kathleen Norris has of humanizing nuns and making their lives understandable, but Kathleen Norris never seems to have any doubts. Kris is full of doubts and questions. The nuns Kris interviews as part of her journey also don't seem smug, those faith-seeking folks who are all so different from one another but not all that different from the rest of us.

I especially liked her treatment of Clare, the founder of the contemplative Order which is her subject matter and which she researched so thoroughly before she started asking all her questions.

Clare was fleeing a 13th century patriarchal world in addition to seeking God. Vowed virginity puzzled the patriarchs because the nuns moved outside of their control. I have also seen that phenomenom among my lesbian friends. It isn't about sex at all; it's about freedom from being controlled and trying not to lead a dull and meaningless life with a husband and kids.

About Jesus as the Bridegroom: I have the same trouble Kris has with throwing around the name Jesus because the Religious Right has given Jesus such a bad name.

I also like the fact that Kris doesn't sugar coat the Church's long history of anti-Semitism or its long history of anti-feminism. She, like I think most of us, wants a religion and a faith where people can get outraged at injustice and never achieve total peace with the way things are.

What Kris does so well is to pull us into her journey. We find ourselves hoping so much her journey will have a happy ending, not necessarily that she will come back to the Church but that she will find a resolution of some kind and peace at the last; that she will find some answers. Yet, at the end, I felt so very glad that she was just like I am. I should have known that a journey would always be a journey and that things would always be "up in the air."

It reads like a mystery story. The thirst to know what happens next makes it a page turner. Folded into the narrative are her own personal trials and those of her heart-broken daughter over the loss of a boyfriend, and the taunting of her rational friends, like the characters in the Book of Job. She stepped outside her own world in order to understand the sisters who stepped into another world themselves and left the old one behind.

In addition to getting to know and like Kris, we also get to know the fascinating and mysterious contemplative sisters she interviewed one by one. How she won their trust is a story in itself. I thought it was neat for her to compare her trips to interview the nuns with "Tuesdays With Morrie."

This is a book not just for hardcore Catholics like myself who can identify with every page, including knowing the same types of loners who hang around the "Shrine," but for all people who are on journeys seeking enlightenment. I predict this book will have a large audience. Conservative Catholics will love it for sure, but New Age folks will also like it, partly because of the killer title which really is what the book is about.

I am sending it to a couple of atheist friends, not to win an argument but help them understand me a little better. I want to show them that I and other people like me aren't sure about much of anything but remain curious about everything and live in the hope that at the end there is a lot more to life than just our own fulfillment.

Maybe I can convince them that in stalking God, the nice surprise at the end will be for us to find out that God is always stalking us...sometimes with books like this one.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a Great Book!, August 17, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Stalking the Divine: Contemplating Faith with the Poor Clares (Hardcover)

For those of us who Jesus hasn't followed home on little cat feet, a'la Anne Lamott (particularly those of us who are Jewish and would be horrified if he did), "Stalking the Divine" is a compelling read. Kristin Ohlson manages to balance the truly remarkable tales of the Poor Clares, cloistered nuns who pray day and night for us all, with her own longings to get closer to the fires of faith. Will an all-night prayer vigil do it? Damn- in the morning, feeling much the same as she did the night before, Ohlson realizes that her prayer to God had been not to fall asleep, and indeed she didn't. Engrossing, moving, at times laugh out loud funny and always beautifully written, this is one book that should not be missed!