Sunday, September 6, 2009

Finley Book of the Month for September 2009


From Savoring God: Praying With All Our Senses, by Kathleen Finley (Ave Maria Press):

Usually when we pray we try to shut out the outside world and focus on the interior, the spiritual, the realm that we often think of as beyond or above us— the transcendent— in order to be able to be with God. Instead, this book invites you to be with God through the very tangible, specific objects of your everyday life, to take another look— as well as another listen, taste, touch and smell— at what is right before you and to see God there. God has given us our five senses as important ways to understand and appreciate the world around us; this is an opportunity to use them specifically for prayer.
The Hebrew and Christian scriptures remind us that in Jesus our God is a God-with-us, Emmanuel. Christians believe that Jesus was, and is, God incarnate or, as a wonderful young theologian-to-be put it, “God’s show-and-tell.” In Jesus all of human life and creation has become a sign of God’s presence, filled with sacraments with a small “S,” with ways to grow closer to God if we just look again — re-spect — what is right before us.


If you would like to learn more about this book, or purchase a copy, click here: Savoring God