The Holy Way: Practices for a Simple Life - Softcover

Huston, Paula

Softcover

ISBN 10: 082941441X ISBN 13: 9780829414417

Publisher: Loyola Press, 2003

Synopsis

“Using the Christian tradition of solitude, silence and contemplation as her foundation, Huston offers one of the best books available on living the simple life.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review “This book will give solace and guidance to those who, like Paula Huston, have felt the interior call to simplicity, the intense gravitational pull of the God within.”
—Bruno Barnhart, Camaldolese monk and author, Second Simplicity An Invitation to a Simple, More Peaceful LifeIs leading a simple life possible in a world of chaos and complexity? Driven by this searching question, Paula Huston, a busy forty-something college professor, wife, and mother, embarked on a spiritual journey to find a peaceful, less cluttered kind of life.The Holy Way: Practices for a Simple Life is the fruit of Huston’s arduous search. Two discoveries sustained her: that she herself could experience simple living just as a nearby community of Catholic monks did and, more important, that she could find the keys to such a life in the lives and writings of the great monastic saints. Drawing on these discoveries, Huston examines a variety of measures that point the way toward the practical, day-to-day simplicity of a life that so many desire.

About this title

Review

Paula Huston, a woman of many talents— professor, wife, mother and author (Signatures of Grace)—offers this outstanding Christian guide to voluntary simplicity. Right from the start, we know we are being led by a woman who walks the talk (and is honest about when she stumbles). "One of the first tricks I tried to play on myself was to pretend that some parts of me were exempt from this difficult transformation process, for example my tendency to exaggerate," she confesses. After all, exaggeration is a writer’s birthright, she told herself. "It did not take long to figure out that the quest for a simpler, holier life eventually must touch every aspect of our nature, and that Jesus refers to the spiritual path as the 'narrow way' for a reason." Most of us assume that this "narrow way" is a desolate journey—filled with enormous sacrifice and meal after meal of brown rice with tofu. But, as Huston explains, the path of simpler living begins with an internal journey rather than a sudden external shift in lifestyle. She starts the book with the art of creating more solitude—showing us how much we define and distract ourselves by the company and clutter that surrounds us. When Huston moves into a chapter on silence—we see how the greatest challenge is quieting the noise in our head, not the noise in our household or workplace. She quotes scripture in just the right doses and at the end of every chapter she shares stories of the lives of saints who lived various forms of simplicity. The highlights are Huston's personal reflections, especially as she reveals the challenges and the rewards of "the holy way." This is a highly inspirational life story that becomes more rich and satisfying with every step on the path. --Gail Hudson

About the Author

Paula Huston, a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellow, has published fiction and essays for more than twenty years. She was co-editor and essayist for Signatures of Grace: Catholic Writers on the Sacraments. Her life in a rural setting and travels in the Third World provide the background for her book The Holy Way. She is also the author of By Way of Grace: Moving from Faithfulness to Holiness. Visit her Web site at www.PaulaHuston.com.

About this edition

• Publisher: Loyola Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 082941441X
• ISBN 13: 9780829414417
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 358