In The Spirit of Happiness

The wise and cheerful monks of New Skete (How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend) believe that our spirits are meant to be happy. So within these pages, the popular monks of Cambridge, NY, offer useful suggestions for mastering the elusive art of happiness. And while this might sound like a book written by jolly Friar Tucks, it is in fact an intelligent, informed discussion on the soothing power of prayer, mercy, compassion, and devotion. It also opens the doors to the private life of monastic living--helping readers to see that even nuns and monks experience rapture as well as doubt and despair.

In most of their chapters, the monks speak to the principles of spiritual happiness, such as "The Discipline of Change," "Practice Sacred Reading," and "River of Mercy." Interspersed with these lively and useful chapters, the monks have inserted seven "Interludes" in which they speak about monastic living. The result is a thoroughly satisfying package, filled with advice, reflection, warm personal anecdotes, and a delicious taste of what it means to live the contemplative life. --Gail Hudson