The subtitle of Maggie Ross's new book captures its essence, for it is about silence and our need to behold God. Beholding is a notion that we are in danger of losing. It is often lost in translation, even by the NRSV and the Jerusalem Bible. Beholding needs to be recovered both in theology and practice. Ross is very aware of "poor talkative Christianity." There is a twofold plea to enter into silence--for lack of silence erodes our humanity--and to behold the radiance of God. This is a book full of deep questioning and the testing of our assumptions. Throughout there is a great love for the world and for our humanity, accompanied by sadness that we are so easily distracted . . . . We are invited into a silence that is not necessarily an absence of noise, but is a limitless interior space. Ancient texts are used in new and exciting ways, and many of our worship practices are challenged. She is in no doubt that "the glory of the human being is the beholding of God." --adapted from a review in The Church Times (London) by Canon David Adam.
A life-professed solitary and mystic under vows to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Ross writes with the wonder and energy of a spiritual poet. In this new edition of a spiritual classic, she shares one year of her solitude in seasonal meditations that include encounters with lynxes and coyotes, reflections on the summer solstice, and desire for union with God. An excellent source of sermon ideas. In one essay, Ross reveals the two comments she receives most are "You don't look like a hermit," followed by "What do you do in solitude?" She answers, "I don't do, I be." Only an experienced mystic could put the emphasis on being and not doing. Being in solitude, Ross has plenty of time to savor the beauties and the bounties of the natural world and animals. She does both here. We were also impressed with pieces on the importance of an informing vision, the value of chastity, and the difficulty of intercessory prayer. We are always on the lookout for passages on unity and here is one we liked: "It is that my sin and your sin consists not in isolated small or gross acts committed or omitted by our choices and actions, or in some vague, isolated theoretical attitude, but instead that we, you and I, by virtue of our common humanity, and in the solitude from which true relationship springs, come to realize that we are implicated in every sin. "I am the pimp on 42nd Street, dealing in bodies. I am the pusher, selling drugs to an addict nodding and drooling in Needle Park. I am the employee ripping off my corporation. I am the industrialist pouring poison into the bodies and, by advertising, into the souls of my sisters and brothers. I am the driver of the military juggernaut, careening wildly out of control. I struggle impotently to express who I really am.
Maggie Ross's superb memoir of her sojourn in the wilderness is filled with living and dying, joy and pain, healing and hurting, and, most important, the "love that indwells and is revealed in the most unexpected places." Weary and wounded, yearning for deep solitude, Ross takes a job as a caretaker in a place of luminous--sometimes terrifying--beauty on the northwest coast of the United States. Here she meets a local woman called Muskrat who becomes her companion and teacher. From a harsh and unforgiving life, Muskrat has distilled impressive wisdom and an extraordinary, unselfconscious spirituality. Living out a generosity and loving-kindness born of suffering, she helps Ross find healing from damage inflicted by the abuse of power--damage that culminates in a life-threatening illness. Muskrat is not her only teacher. There are the dogs, Pomo and Kelly, and the bird, Raven, whose joyous play, tender and violent affection, mischief, and fidelity reveal a new vision of life during a long, slow convalescence. Ross receives healing, too, from the land, from the work necessary to its seasons, from the wildlife, which appears strangely unafraid, and from the small and large kindnesses of her rural neighbors. Like Henry David Thoreau and Annie Dillard, she describes landscapes of rare beauty that reveal the true meaning of sacrament "in the smallest wood orchid and the vast wildness of the sea. . . . the last flimsy boundaries between sacred and secular melted away." We emerge from this near-mythic tale--from its frustrations, its tragedies and epiphanies--illuminated, refreshed, with a new vital perception of the sanctity of our common humanity and of wilderness as a context for the transfiguration of pain.
Morgan Perincall's marriage is already disintegrating when her husband volunteers for service in France. Dazed by his desertion, she sends their children west to safety, and leaves London for the dubious sanctuary of her childhood home, the Villa Rouge. Situated on the East coast, it is vulnerable to German attack. Caught between the open hostility of her father's housekeeper and the suffocating affection of Charlie, who for all his enthusiasm is not fit for service, Morgan's days are brightened by the arrival of an R.A.F. squadron - a chance to relive the romances of her wilder youth. But the fall of Dunkirk brings a sobering taste of defeat, and the Battle of Britain soon sees the once-carefree pilots fighting for their lives, their country. With danger drawing ever closer, and the secrets of her past beginning to unravel, Morgan discovers that sometimes the best intentions can leave the darkest legacies.
To learn to read a text for the portals of silence that are implicit in it is to gain a powerful tool for supporting and expanding one's silence, and to open the reader to the insight that ensues. The sort of reading proposed in this volume is both costly and rewarding. These pages invite readers once again to look at their own minds, to reflect on what is happening there, and to understand the essential role of silence for being human, and for living our own truth with one another.
Tears are a little-known subject spiritually to most people, and Maggie Ross is very helpful in giving us both a historical grounding and a contemporary personal relevance for it." --Tilden Edwards, Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation "Maggie Ross has written a lovely, intelligent, and costly book: costly in that it is evident that it cost her a great deal to write it, and costly in that the conscientious reader cannot but be challenged by it." --Alan Jones, Dean of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco "This is the only major work on tears today. A fountain in the desert, this book fills a genuine need--which is more than most books can claim." --David Steindl-Rast, OSB "Maggie Ross skillfully examines the gift and way of tears in relation to the evolution of Christian thought and spiritual theology. Her thesis that 'tears release us from the prison of power and control into the vast love and infinite possibility of God' is truly ecumenical." --William H. Frey II, author of Crying: The Mystery of Tears
Is the priesthood a power to be exercised, or a call to share in the broken Christ? Ross sets modern questions about ordained ministry in the Church within a much wider context, encouraging us to reflect anew on the relationship between administrative power and spiritual authority within the Church, and to redefine the priesthood. She minces no words in her critique of the contemporary Church, and goes on to propose changes so sweeping and fundamental that we sense what a truly Christian Church would be.
Life can change in a matter of moments, as eighteen-year-old Mary Ellen finds out when her parents are killed in a tragic plane crash and she is faced with the loss, the pain, and the rebuilding of her life. The only child of Dallas and JoAnn McCarthy and mature beyond her years, Mary Ellen, with the help, gentle guidance, and unwavering love of her fathers business partner and his wife, is forced to make critical decisions about college, her home, romance, and her life. Decisions, radical changes, profound love, joy, anger, and deep, immense sorrow are heaped upon this very beautiful young woman-child in the roller coaster ride through the next chapters of her life. Will she ever be able to find the kind of peace again that shed had before that one tragic day? Will she ever be able to tell herself that she will actually be able to come home again once and for always?
Now in a completely revised edition, these keen insights of a celebrated solitary reveal the meeting place with God to be our inevitable solitude. "Ross reminds us of Flannery O'Connor and Annie Dillard. All three have an abiding sense of the sacred amid the drift of contemporary life".--Thomas Berry. Available now.
This book is for an audience of young children ages ranging from 2 to 5 year olds. The title is "Maggie." The topic relates to Australia's native bird the magpie. The word count is 227 words with 12 illustrations. The characters are the male and female magpie. The genre of the book is non-fiction. POSITIVE LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR YOUNG CHILDREN IN THIS BOOK ARE: Young children will develop an understanding, identify, connect and have a clearer description of the magpie, seen in their own environment, parks and in the neighbourhood.Young children's learning will be enhanced relating to the magpie's characteristics and social behaviour. The "Maggie" rhyme will enhance young children's language relating to their cognitive development. Recognising and understanding words similar in sound but having different meanings. Rhyming makes reading fun, creates a sense of humour and young children's imaginary skills are enhanced. Young children's physical development will be enhanced.The musical structure of a rhyme is made easier by the movement of the mouth and tongue.This movement contributes to young children developing their fine motor skills, the ability to pronounce and learn new words .Rhyming provides a great foundation for early literacy development in young children.
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