Each year, in Advent, I read Maria Boulding’s book, The Coming of God. I’d go so far as to say that this would be my ‘desert island’ book choice. Maria Boulding wrote this book in 1986, after nearly 40 years as a Benedictine nun at Stanbrook Abbey, Worcester. The text is very human, thoroughly biblical and speaks page after page of God’s tenderness and mercy. It is a source of great hope to me that 40 years of faithfulness to the monastic path can produce such profound writing. From a theological perspective she touches on all the major themes of the life of a Christian. As I read I hear the echoes of her monastic journey. I hear the resonances of a life closely with scripture and all the joys and challenges of monastic community living. Her poetic style means that I only read a few pages at a time and then take time to stop and think. The quotation above is from the opening chapter and is one of the most powerful sentences that I have read in a long while.
Do you have a ‘desert island’ book?
Sr Miriam osb