"Seeing With Our Souls"

Although I have listed at different times in my list for good Spiritual Books on the right side of this blog four of Joan Chittister's books, I am going to add another whose title I love: Seeing with our Souls: Monastic Wisdom for Every Day
This is a book published by Sheed and Ward in 2002. It was suggested for the International Online Certificate Program when the students were doing Benedictine Spirituality and they loved it. I must confess that I let it sit on my shelf but now have been using some of the thoughts and think others would find them helpful. The thoughts are short and grouped under various headings such as "An Understanding Heart", "Humility", "Soul", "Imagination", "Purity of Heart", etc. Joan told me once that when she is writing she puts only one thought on an index card.
Here are a few gems I just opened to under "Gentlenss of Spirit":

"Gentleness of Spirit is what preserves calm in the midst of chaos."

"Assertiveness is a very good thing. It defines persons for themselves. But learning to assert ourselves gently, now there is a task for adults only."

"The key to gentleness of spirit is perspective. We must learn to keep small things small before, in their smallness, they consume us."

"Gentleness is not innate. It must be learned. It must be developed. It is a virtue to strive for, an attitude to be gained. It is a loving openness toward life."