BOOKS

THE SACRED PLACE OF PRAYER: The Human Person Created in God’s Image by Jean Marie Dwyer, OP. Toronto, Novalis, 2011. Paper, 159 pages, $16.95. Reviewed by Edwin Buettner, SFO

Many of the books that have been written on the topic of prayer seek to answer the question of “how.” In this book, Dwyer re-frames the question as one of “where?” Her answer: the person we are in our depths. We become a place of prayer by creating the inner space that makes it possible for our personhood to become the home of the Holy. It is in the gradual process of harmonizing our inner and outer worlds that we may become God’s dwelling place.

This book is not a quick read. Its compact prose and the powerful imagery it evokes invite deep reflection. Dwyer writes with the authority of one who, through her relationship with God, has found the pearl of great price. The reader senses an overflowing of received graces, as if the author could not help but write such a book so that others may also enter into her joy in the Lord.

Though this is clearly not a work of philosophy, Dwyer begins with a discussion of Aristotle’s writings on the virtuous life. It would be unfortunate if some readers were to abandon the book after the first chapter. While Dwyer writes clearly and intelligently about this seminal thinker, the philosophical discussion is only a prelude to the main course — reflections on the soul’s journey to God. Perhaps it is a case of the medium being the message; though rationality may be a starting point for the walk of faith, it is but a door that ultimately leads to the mysterious realm of the heart, that place where our lives in God are rooted.

Dwyer is not unaware of the demands of the journey in faith. Recognizing that it takes persistence and effort to “pray always,” she stresses the subtle dynamics of our efforts and God’s free gift of himself in our sometimes feeble attempts to pray: “God is always willing to inundate us with the abundance of his grace, but never violates our free will. . . .” The good news is that authentic prayer is available to everyone and is “as simple as living life, being ourselves, and bringing God into our daily routine.”

Four of the book’s chapters are based on the lives of spiritual luminaries: St. Catherine of Sienna, St. Dominic, the Desert Fathers and Mothers, and Etty Hillesum (a young Jewish woman who was killed at Auschwitz). These women and men are inspiring examples of how co-operation with God’s grace opens hearts and minds to the Indwelling Presence in order to become a living temple, a holy place of prayer.

Each chapter concludes with a short yet powerful invitation for action and contemplation. Readers who are seeking guidance as to how to make room for God will find these suggestions eminently practical and accessible. Together, they form a kind of instruction book for the spiritual life, which is, for Dwyer, essentially about “opening the door and crossing the threshold of not one but many circumstances and events of our life.”

Originally from the St. Brieux district, Buettner is a retired educator living in Winnipeg. He is a member of the Secular Franciscan Order.