- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: Hyperion (Aug 6 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1401300251
- ISBN-13: 978-1401300258
- Product Dimensions: 22.1 x 14.6 x 2.4 cm
- Shipping Weight: 386 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,016,809 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
A longing for belief at midlife has provided endless book material for authors, but Ohlson's beautiful writing, gritty honesty and parallel story of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration set this one apart. At age six, Ohlson wanted to be a nun, but later wandered from her childhood Catholicism. One lonely Christmas morning she stumbled across an advertisement for mass at Cleveland's St. Paul Shrine and decided to go. Attendance, she found, had dwindled, and only 16 cloistered nuns remained in the monastery, but she discovered that "somehow, the act of going had created the desire to go." Hoping that writing a book about the Poor Clares and the St. Paul Shrine might "help me construct a framework for trying to make sense of their faith, and, perhaps, learn to build some kind of faith of my own," she explores the history of both as her own faith journey unfolds. Ohlson remains insecure about her beliefs, but she finds that the patterns of faith and retreat keep the sparks of her growing faith kindled, and she takes heart in the "tiniest of convictions that God is like a fire burning in the darkness." Although she confesses she's not quite there yet ("I'll hear the words at mass-the words that I'm saying along with everyone else-and I'll think, `Are you nuts?'"), Ohlson's vulnerability about her doubts in the midst of her new commitment will appeal to anyone who has ever yearned to believe.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Journalist Ohlson knew nothing about the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration; the name sounded, she thought, like something from Saturday Night Live. The self-proclaimed errant Catholic decided to attend Christmas mass in downtown Cleveland, however, and there she encountered the anachronistic, enigmatic Poor Clares: 16 cloistered nuns who maintain a rigorous, round-the-clock schedule of prayer. Ohlson was fascinated by the qualities that set them apart from the outside world, awed by their seemingly selfless commitment to a higher power. By telling their story, she hoped to make sense of her own mixed-up spiritual life. Above all, she yearned to have a faith she could believe in again. Yet she remained less a true believer than a spiritual observer. Still, to follow Ohlson as she is allowed into the nuns' inner sanctum, as they reluctantly reveal more of themselves and the order, as she discovers the meaning of the Poor Clares' history, as she clarifies her own belief status, is to absorb a quietly moving, surprisingly humorous testament of faith. June Sawyers
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Living a Grace-Filled Life in a Broken World,
By Carol R. Siemon (North Little Rock, AR United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Stalking The Divine: Contemplating Faith with the Poor Clares (Hardcover)
Whether a spiritual searcher is stalking or being stalked by Divine love and grace, Kristen Ohlen's, Stalking the Divine, is a hope-filled book. She takes us along on her search for 'something' that will speak to her deadness, spark her hope, and fill the void that threatens to engulf. She discovers what lovers of God for thousands of years have discovered, that the God of love, of faith and of hope dwells among us and can be apprehended in the rituals and traditions of her childhood faith.How blessed are we who long to "fill up with grace, with the radiance of belief" that there are Poor Clares and other faithful comtempletives who pray 'unceasingly.' Through their prayers one day we too may be so full of that Divine Presence that we will be able to shine on others who suffer with "withered hopes and wounded hearts." Thank you Kristin for your hope-filled book.
5.0 out of 5 stars
All in the family,
By Wendy A. Hoke (Bay Village, OH United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Stalking The Divine: Contemplating Faith with the Poor Clares (Hardcover)
So many of us have questioned our faith at one time or another. I found the author's struggle for belief and longing for faith to be the most compelling part of this story. It's nearly universal. And that's why "Stalking the Divine" wound its way through my family. My sister read it before I had the chance to buy it for her and was raving about the story. I knew I had to read it because it was written by a local author and I like to support their work. My parents read it after my sister and I described the author's journey and that of the nuns. While visiting family in Columbus, my grandmother picked up the book and was curious about the story. I told her a bit about it and she said she would very much like to read it. So I loaned her my copy and two days later she called to tell me it was one of the best books she had read recently.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Exquisite writing, profound topic,
By Lorna Collier (belvidere, il United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Stalking The Divine: Contemplating Faith with the Poor Clares (Hardcover)
Stalking The DivineIn this exquisitely written book, Kristin Ohlson explores a common condition many of us aging Baby Boomers face: the sense that somewhere along the way, we missed the turn-off to Faith. We thought we didn't need to stop there; religion, especially the organized variety, seems somehow antiquated, illogical and just plain archaic to our modern educated selves. But as the years pass, as the miles pile up, we realize a sense of loss. Something is missing. Something others have. Ohlson is a skeptical searcher, trying out churches in Cleveland, where she lives, but never finding the perfect fit. Until one Christmas day, she comes upon an older downtown church, home of a Poor Clare sect of cloistered nuns. She is fascinated both by the nuns (what kind of women shut themselves up for the rest of their lives in one building -- in a dying part of town, in a church with a diminishing population, no less?) and by the church itself, by the priests and the community who find comfort in their regular attendance. Ohlson continues to visit the church as a journalist, researching the nuns for an article and possible book. But her task becomes more personal as she slowly finds herself becoming a member of the church and, in the end, making at least some contact with the elusive Divine. Highly recommended for any reader, but especially those who are skeptics when it comes to religion, but also feel a lack in their spiritual lives.
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