Essential Monastic Wisdom: Writings on the Contemplative Life

For everyone seeking to experience some of the deep tranquility of contemplative life, this artfully crafted guide brings together concise selections from the great writings of the tradition, from Saint Benedict to Thomas Merton. It explores all the essential ingredients of monastic life in brief chapters on such themes as speech, humility, discernment, patience, longing, and love. By providing a brief account of how monastic life evolved and the best examples of monastic writing through the centuries, from the desert fathers to the medieval nuns Julian and Hildegard to John Chittister today, Father Hugh Feiss offers a rich treasury of monastic wisdom on living a full life.

Fr. Hugh Feiss, O.S.B., has been a Benedictine monk for over thirty-five years. He is a teacher, scholar, author, and translator whose works include several studies of the monastic tradition.