Poustinia: Encountering God in Silence, Solitude and Prayer
The renowned modern spiritual classic!
Catherine Doherty brings readers the profound traditions of Christian spirituality surrounding the Russian word poustinia, which means desert. Catherine combines her insights into the great spiritual traditions of the Russian Church with her very personal experience of life with Christ.
How to create a hermitage in which you can taste the joy of Christian solitude, and meet God face to face in the midst of a godless world.
Catherine emphasizes poustinia of the heart, an interiorized poustinia, a silent chamber carried always and everywhere in which to contemplate God within. Learn how our desert can be in the marketplace, in the midst of countless conferences, traffic jams, bus tripsor a hospital ward. Written by one who knows by experience, Poustinia brings consolation with its vision of a personal desert that can bloom in simple, profound prayer.
Review
Poustinia is not a book, it is a stream of life. Catherine de Hueck Dohertys words are tried by firea vision that has survived forty yearsa movement now become a community. She speaks of the inner jouney, but she carries it into the Trinity. She speaks of silence, but a silence that is the speech and silence of God. This book will speak richly to all... But perhaps it will touch most deeply the hidden poor and hungry who have no words for the gift that sustains them-the poustinia of the heart, His presence. -- Fr. Edward J. Farrell
Catherine de Hueck Doherty has the gift of a great and joyous faith and of making life an adventure, a pilgrimage. Her book shows us a new way of growing in the spiritual life. Im delighted! -- Dorothy Day
I believe anyone who starts this book will get caught up in the fascinating style and personality of the author. She is a great Christian who has immersed herself in a long life-time synthesis of the unique Russian spirituality that becomes purified and made extremely applicable for our modern times. -- George A. Maloney, S.J.
Of the many books on prayer that have been published in recent years, this is simply the best. -- Richard K. Weber, O.P.
This book needs no review. It is Catherines spiritual legacy and I think it will enkindle some fire even in the dampened hearts of those who are lukewarm in their faith. -- World of Books
About the Author
Catherine Dohertys book is a remarkable attempt at translating Eastern Christian insights into the context of Western life. The authors background is itself her qualification for this: arriving as a Russian refugee in Canada over half a century ago, she has used her heritage as a Russian Christian as a matrix for responding to the needs of Christian life and work in the western world. Her own personal pilgrimagefor pilgrimage it has beenhas led her to be poor with the poor Christ in the slums of Toronto and in Harlem; and, in 1947, to the establishing of a spiritual centre in Ontario, the Madonna House Apostolate. Poustinia is the keynote of this apostolate. Elizabeth R. Moberly
Description:
Poustinia: Encountering God in Silence, Solitude and Prayer
The renowned modern spiritual classic!
Catherine Doherty brings readers the profound traditions of Christian spirituality surrounding the Russian word poustinia, which means desert. Catherine combines her insights into the great spiritual traditions of the Russian Church with her very personal experience of life with Christ.
How to create a hermitage in which you can taste the joy of Christian solitude, and meet God face to face in the midst of a godless world.
Catherine emphasizes poustinia of the heart, an interiorized poustinia, a silent chamber carried always and everywhere in which to contemplate God within. Learn how our desert can be in the marketplace, in the midst of countless conferences, traffic jams, bus tripsor a hospital ward. Written by one who knows by experience, Poustinia brings consolation with its vision of a personal desert that can bloom in simple, profound prayer.
Review
Poustinia is not a book, it is a stream of life. Catherine de Hueck Dohertys words are tried by firea vision that has survived forty yearsa movement now become a community. She speaks of the inner jouney, but she carries it into the Trinity. She speaks of silence, but a silence that is the speech and silence of God. This book will speak richly to all... But perhaps it will touch most deeply the hidden poor and hungry who have no words for the gift that sustains them-the poustinia of the heart, His presence. -- Fr. Edward J. Farrell
Catherine de Hueck Doherty has the gift of a great and joyous faith and of making life an adventure, a pilgrimage. Her book shows us a new way of growing in the spiritual life. Im delighted! -- Dorothy Day
I believe anyone who starts this book will get caught up in the fascinating style and personality of the author. She is a great Christian who has immersed herself in a long life-time synthesis of the unique Russian spirituality that becomes purified and made extremely applicable for our modern times. -- George A. Maloney, S.J.
Of the many books on prayer that have been published in recent years, this is simply the best. -- Richard K. Weber, O.P.
This book needs no review. It is Catherines spiritual legacy and I think it will enkindle some fire even in the dampened hearts of those who are lukewarm in their faith. -- World of Books
About the Author
Catherine Dohertys book is a remarkable attempt at translating Eastern Christian insights into the context of Western life. The authors background is itself her qualification for this: arriving as a Russian refugee in Canada over half a century ago, she has used her heritage as a Russian Christian as a matrix for responding to the needs of Christian life and work in the western world. Her own personal pilgrimagefor pilgrimage it has beenhas led her to be poor with the poor Christ in the slums of Toronto and in Harlem; and, in 1947, to the establishing of a spiritual centre in Ontario, the Madonna House Apostolate. Poustinia is the keynote of this apostolate. Elizabeth R. Moberly