The wise and cheerful monks of New Skete (How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend) believe that our spirits are meant to be happy. So within these pages, the popular monks of Cambridge, NY, offer useful suggestions for mastering the elusive art of happiness. And while this might sound like a book written by jolly Friar Tucks, it is in fact an intelligent, informed discussion on the soothing power of prayer, mercy, compassion, and devotion. It also opens the doors to the private life of monastic living--helping readers to see that even nuns and monks experience rapture as well as doubt and despair.

In most of their chapters, the monks speak to the principles of spiritual happiness, such as "The Discipline of Change," "Practice Sacred Reading," and "River of Mercy." Interspersed with these lively and useful chapters, the monks have inserted seven "Interludes" in which they speak about monastic living. The result is a thoroughly satisfying package, filled with advice, reflection, warm personal anecdotes, and a delicious taste of what it means to live the contemplative life. --Gail Hudson


From Publishers Weekly
Known for their popular dog-training books (How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend, etc.), the monks of New Skete are a contemporary religious community in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. The Cambridge, N.Y., group supports itself through farming and breeding German shepherds (hence the dog books), among other enterprises. Writing in unison, the monks articulate the principles of their monasticism and spiritual practices. The monks believe that "the world itself is a cloister" and that all humans are entitled to happiness, which they define as a "deep and lasting interior peace... [that] comes only with the struggle to search out and accept the will of God in our lives." Readers expecting the standard primer on simple living should be forewarned that this work, while luminous at times, is also profound and challenging. Wary of the current vogue for individualistic spirituality, the monks advocate learning by following a teacher, meditating, reading and reflecting on Scripture, praying silently and embracing discipline. The value of liturgical worship and community are beautifully and movingly portrayed. The monks depict their beliefs with remarkable depth and certainty, but the use of dialogue between a composite "Seeker" of wisdom and Father Laurence, their abbot, and other Brothers occasionally seems contrived and didactic. The book includes a brief history of monasticism from biblical times, the most fascinating story being the formation of the New Skete community. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Kirkus Reviews
The beloved Cambridge, N.Y., monks, authors of How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend (1978) and The Art of Raising a Puppy (not reviewed), invite their audience to experience the monastic life. The monks of New Skete intersperse their discussions of mercy and good works, love and prayer, with interludes about the history of monasticism. Throughout, we meet delightful characters, such as Father Laurence, who reminds us that spiritual practice needs to happen within a community; Brother Barnabas, who explains why candles and icons can help put us in touch with God; and Brother Marc, who urges us to think about the role of beauty in the spiritual life. Especially helpful is the chapter on lectio divina, ``spiritual reading.'' A centuries-old form of prayer, lectio involves reading a passage of the Bible meditatively and allowing God to speak to you through the text. Lectio is notoriously difficult to practice if you do not know your Bible, and the monks of New Skete should have provided a list of themes and attendant Scripture passages. (Readers would do well to supplement the monks' discussion of lectio with the theme-and-Scripture list from Thelma Hall's Too Deep for Words or Martin Smith's The Word Is Very Near You. (14 line drawings) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The world-renowned Monks of New Skete have distilled their collective spiritual wisdom into a book that explains how the elements of a monk's life -- self-discipline, solitude, prayer, acts of love and forgiveness -- are pathways that anyone can follow to achieve true happiness and spiritual fulfillment.

SYNOPSIS