Running with Expanding Heart: Meeting God in Everyday Life - Softcover

Mining and minding the moment becomes thoughtfully exhilarating as Sister Mary provides a respectful look at the unfolding presence of God in daily life. Guided by her insights, her stories, her own vulnerability and her sharing of Scripture and the Rule of Benedict, readers gain ways to develop a pattern for strengthening and expanding their hearts as they discover God in life's experiences. Like supportive running shoes, each chapter takes one forward on the path of life.Michaela Hedican, OSB, Prioress, Saint Bede Monastery, Eau Claire, Wisconsin Drawing on wisdom that has been slowly ripened in the rhythms of monastic stability, Benedictine Mary Reuter reveals the way she has grown into her own expanding heart by sharing engaging personal stories with which any one of us can easily identify. The words and stories discovered in Running with Expanding Heart: Meeting God in Everyday Life may be deceptively simple but they illuminate the ultimately mysterious nooks and crannies of the human soul and encourage us to attend to the Spirit gently moving through the moments of our ordinary days.Wendy M. Wright, PhD, Professor of Theology Creighton University Running with Expanded Heart offers a vision of how the spirituality of Saint Benedict can provide inspiration and guidance for 21st century Christians-including the laity. Mary Reuter understands just how down-to-earth and practical Benedictine wisdom is, and uses storytelling, personal reflection, and thought-provoking open-ended questions to illustrate just how relevant Benedict's Rule continues to be. Beginning with an homage to her father whom she describes as an `extraordinary ordinary man,' Reuter goes on to show, in a variety of ways, how Benedictine wisdom can help Christians to find the extraordinary in all of life's ordinary moments. This book can serve both as an introduction to Benedictine spirituality for beginners, but also as a bouquet of new insights for those who have walked with Benedict for some time.Carl McColman, Blogger (www.anamchara.com), Author of The Big Book of Christian Mysticism In her inspired and indispensable book, S. Mary Reuter gives new meaning to `common sense:' she teaches us how to employ all our senses in understanding the seemingly common and discover deep spiritual meaning in the everyday.Martha Tomhave Blauvelt, College of St. Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota In my book, Meditation in Motion, I remind readers to `resolve at least for today to become aware of the many openings to prayer provided by ordinary reality.' Needless to say, I congratulate the author of this book, a former student of mine, for helping her readers to re-appreciate the richness embedded in everyday life. She counsels us all to live on that razor's edge between time and eternity and to see with new eyes what we might otherwise have missed.Susan Muto, PhD, Dean, Epiphany Academy of Formative Spirituality Paul Ricoeur would no doubt rejoice! This lively account and appreciation of the sacred in the profane, the extraordinary in the ordinary, is not unlike the parables of Jesus and as such provides a wonderful model for theological reflection. Mary's account of events and relationships have a matter of fact quality giving way to a deep appreciation and the profound influence of Benedict in chartering her way through life. Particularly poignant is her honest account experienced in the transition from an appointment as prioress back to her cherished teaching. Dashed expectations and the whirlpool of confusion chiselling out a greater connectedness to reality and to new life.Marie Biddle, Coordinator of Spirituality Programs, Aquinas Academy Mary Reuter's book reminds me that when I find an excellent short book I am usually struck by how much scholarly wisdom and mature experience one needs to write a work both concise and engaging. . . . This book puts flesh on the bones of the desert tradition as well as the Rule of Benedict.Horizons This engaging, accessible book is a small gem which earns a place in any monastic library or bookshop, or the bookshelf of any spiritual seeker.American Benedictine Review

Mary Reuter recalls how as a child taking piano lessons she often skipped practicing scales and thought her teacher would not notice. Reuter admits she never did advance to the level of a skilled pianist. But in Running with Expanding Heart readers will discover that she is well practiced, and thus skilled, in paying attention to the extraordinary in the ordinary, in discovering the presence of God in the events of daily life. Through Reuter's poignant and humorous stories, and through her careful listening to Scripture and the Rule of Benedict, readers will also take up the practice of looking for God in unexpected places-and in doing so they will find their hearts expanding with the unconditional and all-embracing love of God. Mary Reuter, OSB, is a member of Saint Benedict's Monastery in St. Joseph, Minnesota, where she served as prioress from 1989-1995. She currently teaches in the department of theology at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University.