Journeyman
A Journal for the Inquiring Christian

Vol. 1, No. 2, November 2001 The Cloister Walk, by Kathleen Norris Overview: Kathleen Norris gives us a look inside the monastic life. Reviewed by I. Shawn McElhinney My rating: 4 stars Kathleen Norris brings a unique perspective on the monastic life for two reasons: 1. She comes from a Protestant background 2. She is not writing from the outside as someone researching a novel would do. She is involved with the Benedictines as an Oblate. This means that she is actively involved in the life of the monastery, the morning and evening Psalms, the liturgy, and other elements of the monastery. She writes as an 'insider' of sorts. The book is written rather liturgically in that she covers the topics as they crop up in the liturgical year. This includes different books of the Bible as they are read in the monastery, different saints and Fathers from earlier periods of Church history. She also delves into a diversity of topics on life in the monastery and the different difficulties of the monastic life. Yet she sheds a reflective lens on the Benedictines and it is far from the common caricatures that are bandied about by those who consider themselves 'paragons of wisdom' in the world today. It helps to see that striving for sanctity is not easy even to the Benedictines for often we get the stereotype of monks and nuns having some repressed view of humanity and its stresses/temptations. Perhaps the most important element (if one can be singled out) is that the monks and the nuns are shown in their humanity. This sadly is often not done. The monastery life may add up to a big fat zero in the eyes of the world. However, in Norris' book it takes on an aura of richness and splendour. She also does a wonderful job of showing the positive side of celibacy, which it seems the world wants to deface at any cost whatsoever. I cannot imagine someone reading this book and not coming across with a new vision of monastic life. A view that accompanies a realization that far from antiquated, the principles of the Rule of St. Benedict are applicable to all us in our daily lives. They would vary slightly of course in accordance with our states in life (religious, married, single, widowed, etc). Another plus is that the sections are generally shorter with few longer than 10 pages (many are about 1-5 pages or so). Thus unlike reading a novel where you have to at times stop in mid chapter with this book you are seldom too many pages from finishing the section you are reading. The book holds together and has a common thread binding the sections but at times it seems that the author has difficulty focusing on a topic without veering into another topic and then another. Some of this book – or perhaps most of it – may have been written as a series of shorter writings. This would to some extent explain the occasional fragmentation. As one who is not unfamiliar with the process of writing, I understand where the author is coming from but it might seem disjointed to some readers. Ms. Norris also shows how the principles she reveals in the monastery she applies to her everyday life including her marriage and her relationship to others. I recommend the book highly and feel that for those who are of the patient sort, the book will read quite well and they will mine many wonderful antidotes and unexpected jewels from it. For those who have difficulties in that area, this book could serve as an instrument of sorts to help with learning patience: the calming effect of meditation coupled with the rhythms of life. The ebbs and flows of liturgy and the gradual fashioning of persons to the will of God – despite its difficulties at times – are themes that permeate this book. They are themes in other words familiar to the monastic and which are so often shunned today by ‘enlightened’ man. Better though is the wisdom of God, which the world thinks is foolish. Ms. Norris' work provides a wonderful source for meditation and enlightenment and I highly recommend it.