jquin75's review against another edition
5.0
I enjoyed this book and the lessons that are presented from the Monks and throughout the hours of the day. I purchased this book because of Sharon Lebell and was not disappointed by the content.
djinn_n_juice's review against another edition
3.0
This is an interesting little book about the symbolism of different angels associated with hours of the day, and it's written by a monk. But, I was hoping to learn more factual / historical information; it's a little self-helpy.
oliveblossom's review against another edition
4.0
a super poetic take on the Divine Hours and what they each represent, and also musings on what chant really is. i think i want to return to readings that balance beauty with more concrete history but also i could find other books for that
kinderny's review against another edition
5.0
David Steindl- Rast, OSB, addresses the need for silence and prayer for those immersed in the secular world and meditates on praying the hours of the day. “Saturated with information but often bereft of meaning, we feel caught in a never ending swirl of duties and demands, things to finish, things to put right. Yet as we dart anxiously from one activity to the next, we sense that there is more to life than our worldly agendas.”
“Today, even in our busy city schedules, we notice the predawn, early morning, mid-morning, and high noon each have qualities all their own. Mid-afternoon, the time the shadows lengthen, has a different character from the time when it gets dark and we turn on the lights. A canonical hour thus is more a presence than a measurement. The hours that call the monks together for prayer and chant are angels we encounter at different points in the day.”
“This book is a journey through the hours of the monastic day. To hear the music of silence and to hearken to its message, we must step out of the clock time into the monastic flow of time as expressed through the hours of the day. We must forsake our usual unconscious gesture of reaction, and make the aware inner gesture of response to what is before us in each moment. With this inner attitude, we will meet the angel of each hour and come to an understanding of the seeds the angel calls us to sow, the virtue the hours calls us to develop in our own lives.”
Steindl-Rast meditates on each of the eight canonical hours, the first being Vigils: “Vigils- also known as Matins- is the night watch hour, the time for learning to trust the darkness. Looking up to the night sky, we are reminded of the immense mystery in which we are immersed…. Vigils is an invitation to ‘trust in the night’, to trust the darkness despite the immense fear it triggers. We have to learn to meet mystery with the courage that opens itself to life. Then we discover, as the Gospel of John put it right in the prologue, ‘The light shines in the darkness.’ This doesn’t mean that light shines into the darkness, like a flashlight shining into a dark tent. No, the good news that the Gospel of John proclaims is that the light shines right in the midst of darkness. A great revelation: the very darkness shines.”
And on Lauds: “The monastic hour of Lauds takes us out of the darkness, into the light…we now celebrate light…. Lauds, then starts us off with the attitude that the day is a gift, that everything in our life is a gift- allowing us to see that the appropriate response to this given world is gratefulness.”
“If we cultivate this grateful joy, which find its voice in chant, we can be happy no matter what happens. We sometimes get this wrong. We think that people are grateful because they are happy. But is this true? Look closely, and you will find that people are happy because they are grateful.”
“Today, even in our busy city schedules, we notice the predawn, early morning, mid-morning, and high noon each have qualities all their own. Mid-afternoon, the time the shadows lengthen, has a different character from the time when it gets dark and we turn on the lights. A canonical hour thus is more a presence than a measurement. The hours that call the monks together for prayer and chant are angels we encounter at different points in the day.”
“This book is a journey through the hours of the monastic day. To hear the music of silence and to hearken to its message, we must step out of the clock time into the monastic flow of time as expressed through the hours of the day. We must forsake our usual unconscious gesture of reaction, and make the aware inner gesture of response to what is before us in each moment. With this inner attitude, we will meet the angel of each hour and come to an understanding of the seeds the angel calls us to sow, the virtue the hours calls us to develop in our own lives.”
Steindl-Rast meditates on each of the eight canonical hours, the first being Vigils: “Vigils- also known as Matins- is the night watch hour, the time for learning to trust the darkness. Looking up to the night sky, we are reminded of the immense mystery in which we are immersed…. Vigils is an invitation to ‘trust in the night’, to trust the darkness despite the immense fear it triggers. We have to learn to meet mystery with the courage that opens itself to life. Then we discover, as the Gospel of John put it right in the prologue, ‘The light shines in the darkness.’ This doesn’t mean that light shines into the darkness, like a flashlight shining into a dark tent. No, the good news that the Gospel of John proclaims is that the light shines right in the midst of darkness. A great revelation: the very darkness shines.”
And on Lauds: “The monastic hour of Lauds takes us out of the darkness, into the light…we now celebrate light…. Lauds, then starts us off with the attitude that the day is a gift, that everything in our life is a gift- allowing us to see that the appropriate response to this given world is gratefulness.”
“If we cultivate this grateful joy, which find its voice in chant, we can be happy no matter what happens. We sometimes get this wrong. We think that people are grateful because they are happy. But is this true? Look closely, and you will find that people are happy because they are grateful.”
superkaren's review
3.0
His work feels like poetry rather than prose.
"The economics of affluence demand that things that were special for us last year must now be taken for granted; so the containers gets bigger, and the joy of overflowing--gratefulness--is taken away from us. But if we make the vessel smaller and smaller by reducing our needs, then the overflowing comes sooner and with it the joy of gratefulness. It's the overflow that sparkles in the sun.
The less you have, the more you appreciate what you've got. With the extraneous stripped away, you begin to relaize how you are being graced by life's gifts...
... Therefore, nothing is needed more than frugality. When your needs are limited, your vessel is easily filled, and you can delight in the overflow." David Steindl-Rast Music of Silence: A sacred journey through the Hours of the Day (page26)
"The economics of affluence demand that things that were special for us last year must now be taken for granted; so the containers gets bigger, and the joy of overflowing--gratefulness--is taken away from us. But if we make the vessel smaller and smaller by reducing our needs, then the overflowing comes sooner and with it the joy of gratefulness. It's the overflow that sparkles in the sun.
The less you have, the more you appreciate what you've got. With the extraneous stripped away, you begin to relaize how you are being graced by life's gifts...
... Therefore, nothing is needed more than frugality. When your needs are limited, your vessel is easily filled, and you can delight in the overflow." David Steindl-Rast Music of Silence: A sacred journey through the Hours of the Day (page26)
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