From Library Journal
Laundry may seem an odd element in the realm of religious worship, but poet and author, Norris (Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, LJ 12/92) has a talent for weaving seemingly disparate fragments of life together to see them as naturally connected. She points out that "women's work" such as laundry, cooking, and cleaning, done repeatedly on a daily basis and seemingly never to completion, can be approached in the same manner as liturgy. If seen as endless and dreary repetition, these domestic rituals become mindless activities to be gotten out of the way. When considered in terms of their enormous life-giving importance, the feeding and clothing of a family and maintaining of a household can be undertaken in the contemplative spirit. They become, like prayer and worship, acts of love that transform us and, in turn, the larger world around us. An uplifting book of inspiration, this is filled with humorous insights that will be enjoyed by readers unfamiliar with Norris's other work.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Library Journal
An uplifting book of inspiration.
Emilie Griffin, America
Norris does her washing with remarkable grace and splashes us with cleansing tubfuls of wisdom.
Liguorian
This extended meditation is filled with insights and practical wisdom.
Consensus, A Canadian Lutheran Journal of Theology
An important contribution to the field of spirituality.
Catholic Library World
The author has the ability to open the reader's eyes to the presence of God.
Book Description
The bestselling author of The Cloister Walk reflects on the sanctifying possibilities of everyday work and how God is present in worship and liturgy as well as in ordinary life. Definitely not "for women only."
Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and Women's Work FROM THE PUBLISHER
In this insightful and deeply personal work, Kathleen Norris, an award-winning poet and author of both Dakota: A Spiritual Geography and The Cloister Walk, draws on her life experiences, her poetry and her love of the Benedictine tradition to discuss the mysterious way that the daily or "quotidian" can open us to the transforming presence of God. This volume is the text of the 1998 Madeleva Lecture in Spirituality, sponsored by the Center for Spirituality at Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana.
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
Laundry may seem an odd element in the realm of religious worship, but poet and author, Norris (Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, LJ 12/92) has a talent for weaving seemingly disparate fragments of life together to see them as naturally connected. She points out that "women's work" such as laundry, cooking, and cleaning, done repeatedly on a daily basis and seemingly never to completion, can be approached in the same manner as liturgy. If seen as endless and dreary repetition, these domestic rituals become mindless activities to be gotten out of the way. When considered in terms of their enormous life-giving importance, the feeding and clothing of a family and maintaining of a household can be undertaken in the contemplative spirit. They become, like prayer and worship, acts of love that transform us and, in turn, the larger world around us. An uplifting book of inspiration, this is filled with humorous insights that will be enjoyed by readers unfamiliar with Norris's other work.
Art & Photography
Book Info
