Seeking God. Esther de Waal
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SEEKING GOD
ESTHER DE WAAL, a historian by training with a particular interest in landscape and architecture, grew up in a Shropshire country vicarage. In the mid 1970s she moved with her husband and four sons to a house in Canterbury that had been part of the medieval monastic community. This led to her interest in the Benedictine tradition and to the writing in 1984 of Seeking God, which has since been widely read and published in many translations throughout the world. Living With Contradiction which offers further reflections on the Rule of St Benedict was first published in 1989 and is also available from the Canterbury Press. A Life-Giving Way, a reflective commentary on the Rule for lay people, published by Geoffrey Chapman, followed and her latest book is The Way of Simplicity: The Cistercian Tradition, published by Darton Longman & Todd in 1998.
Her interest in Celtic spirituality has been encouraged by a return to the Welsh border country where she grew up. She has edited selections from the Carmina Gaedelica in Celtic Vision and, with A. M. Allchin, in Threshold of Light: Prayers and Praises in the Celtic Tradition; and she has written a new introduction to Helen Waddell’s Beasts and Saints (all published by Darton Longman & Todd). Her major Celtic work is The Celtic Way of Prayer, published by Hodder & Stoughton.
In addition to writing she gives lectures and conducts retreats. A Seven-Day Journey with Thomas Merton (Eagle) is her guide for those who want to make a retreat at home. The Benedictine Experience which she initiated in Canterbury in the mid-1980s, allows people of all denominations to follow together for a week the Benedictine rhythm of prayer, study and work. She has been given an honorary D.Litt from St John’s Collegeville, USA, for her contribution to Benedictine studies and ecumenical endeavour, and received the Templeton UK award in 1991 for her work in making the way of St Benedict accessible to lay men and women.
Dedicated in gratitude to all those who follow the way of St Benedict
Copyright © 1984, 1996, and 1999 Esther de Waal
First published in Great Britain
in 1984 by Fount Paperbacks,
an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers,
in association with Faith Press
and reissued in 1996
This edition published in 1999 by
The Canterbury Press Norwich
(a publishing imprint of Hymns Ancient and Modem Ltd a registered charity)
13A Hellesdon Park Road,
Norwich, Norfolk NR6 5DR
Fourth Impression 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication which is copyright may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Esther de Waal asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
Printed in Great Britain by
William Clowes Ltd, Beccles, Suffolk
CONTENTS
FOREWORDS
by Lord Runcie of Cuddesdon and Cardinal Basil Hume
Some books on the spiritual life read as if they have been composed by men of leisure for people with servants. We are right to be sceptical about the application of such writing to our own busy and distracted lives. This book is different. It was written by Esther de Waal in the midst of a very demanding professional and personal life as a wife, a teacher and a mother. It is all the better for that.
The consecrated discipline and concentration which have been needed to create this book are themselves fruits of trying to walk the way of St Benedict and they are evidence for the usefulness and realism of what is written here. ‘Seeking God’ is a demonstration of the profound wisdom of the Rule of St Benedict which speaks across the centuries; resonant alike for our own contemporary world as for the sixth-century monks for whom it was composed.
The 1984 Archbishop’s Lent Book also shows that the Benedictine Rule not only stands the test of time but emphasizes that it has a message for all Christians irrespective of the particular church or tradition to which they belong. I am delighted that the truth of this has been underlined by the kindness of Cardinal Basil Hume, himself a Benedictine monk, in agreeing to contribute a foreword. When we give thanks for St Benedict we can all share in celebrating a saint of the Undivided Church.
Mrs de Waal calls this ‘the age of beguiling paperbacks’. It is true that there is too much writing on the spiritual life which is a debilitating substitute for actual prayer and practice but this book is an exception. I have been refreshed by it and have found it personally helpful. Since Archbishops may regard themselves as experts in busy-ness and distractions, my estimate of the work may carry some weight.
I hope that this simple but profound presentation of one of the great traditions of the Christian Church will receive wide attention. It will certainly repay deep thought and meditation this Lent.
Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury 1980–1991
It is good to have a book on the Rule of St Benedict which comes, as the author herself says, ‘from the lived experience of a housewife and mother . . .’ There is a great need for books which help us to live the ideals about which we hear from the Gospel: spiritual reading is an indispensable part of our growing to know and love God more. The Rule of St Benedict has given Esther de Waal a starting point for her own reflection on the following of Christ. St Benedict’s Rule, drawn in part from other ancient monastic rules, in part from his own experience, was not written for the delight of theologians and other scholars. It was written to guide his monks on how to live the Gospel in community. A family in our day can learn much from him. Many will therefore be grateful to the author of this book who has shown that ancient wisdom, when it is truly that, is also very modern and contemporary.
Basil Hume, O.S.B.