COMIC RELIEF

Book Review: ‘Forgiveness’, Christian work–remarkable depth and wisdom, author Paula Huston, Oblate, by Peter Menkin

by Peter Menkin

The Publisher of the book, “Forgiveness: Following Jesus into Radical Loving,” by Paula Huston, says this of themselves on their website:

Paraclete Press is a publisher of essential Christian wisdom. It is our mission to publish books, music and videos which remind us, “Never lose hope in the mercy of God.” (The Rule of St. Benedict)…

Regarding the 298 page book by Camaldoli, Benedictine Oblate and Roman Catholic writer, Paula Huston, a reader quickly realizes by the publisher’s statement of purpose for their list that this work is a religious title. Thank God. This writer isn’t going to compare the author Huston with other writers, but the Catholic magazine “America” does so, and Paraclete Press quotes its review on the front of the book’s bright yellow dust jacket: “Paula Huston has much in common with Kathleen Norris and Henri Nouwen…[She is] a credible witness to what happens when God is chosen as the center of one’s life.” How true for Paula Huston. Other reviews offer a look at her transformation in life, her movement with and towards God in many ways, her continuing conversion (Benedictine in its way and as a source of direction). Yes, this book is a spiritual journey. Yes, this book is a kind of report and confession, in the better ways which are marked by discretion. Yes, this book is large in its imagination and scope of vision—so stay with it. The book has much to offer those interested in a religious title. Here let this writer tell you reader about some nuggets this work on forgiveness offers. Yes, the book has many personal and revelatory stories and motivations, and yes the voice rings true if a little confessional. To say it again, confessional is okay if not overdone, and here it is not overdone. At least it is not overdone to this reader’s taste.

First nugget: If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions. (Mt. 6:11—15). That religious objective is offered in the introduction, and in Paula Huston’s quest for serious redemption and forgiveness, she adds to the wisdom and aid from Christ in her life in ongoing conversation and conversion, as the book illustrates.

Second nugget: “Christ requires a radical change of direction, and he models a way of being in the world that often brings us into shocking conflict with our notions about what it means to be a decent human being.” This astounding recognition of transformation made in her own spiritual life, stated in the beginning, rings true in this well done, readable, and engaging work; as the Paraclete Press book is offered for everyone who reads the hardback, or Kindle, or other form will discover, the insight and story told here is available in its slightly meandering way of making statements. This reader notes that in this book, the meandering way works well. And it isn’t a result of disorganization. The book is organized well. The next nugget lasts about a chapter or more, and the chapter title is “…Telling the difference between a real hurt and a wounded ego,” with the subhead of “guarding the heart from evil.”

Third nugget: “…[F]or dealing with the temptation toward evil is called the ‘guarding of the heart.’ The term heart, as used by the Hebrews, refers to the personhood of the individual human being. It is the core of the self, the place of deepest emotional life where love abides. But it is even more than this: the heart is the center where all things meet.”   You see, reader of this review, the book goes deep. Be prepared. Come to the book with some thinking and thought to help take you through its thoughtful pages. And please, give this reader some latitude, for I came to the work in that way—even with prayer. It is author Paula Huston who says that it is continual prayer that keeps the truth before our eyes. It protects one from the temptation of going alone, and keeps one in touch with God…constantly. She states, “Satan cannot enter.” Here is where the reader uses latitude, for extrapolating from what she says, Paula Huston struggled with God, Paula Huston refused Satan, and Paula Huston grew in strength through what she calls, “disciplines as preparation.” The work offers a way, a way of Christ, and way of religious living, a way of being and seeking, staying with God in spirit so as to work at forgiveness, following Jesus into radical loving. That’s a lot of living, a lot of strength, and a lot of time and work that went into the forgiveness portrayed in journey and outlined by definition and description in hurt and experience: The book offers wisdom. It is a theme of the book that forgiveness is a necessary part of the spiritual life, of living life into relationship with God, of living towards being decent. This means those who need to forgive have been wounded. In her notes with the subtitles, “freedom through grace,” and “from wounded to healed,” this reader offers as fourth and fifth nuggets a double nugget, two nuggets together. They fit together. Fourth & fifth nuggets: “Any attempt to set aside an obsessive attachment to guilt must begin with this basic principle: God has already freed us from our enslavement to sin through the atoning death of Jesus Christ.”

(And fifth nugget)…” More, even if we go on to fall multiple times during the course of our lives, we always have recourse to God’s loving mercy. Though we may forever wreak tears of healthy compunction for becoming obsessed with our guilt and allowing it to draw off the energy that could be poured into God’s work in the world,” She explains this allows the individual who is working on forgiveness of other(s) and self to gain the freedom to deal with real temptations of the present and work with the ghostly specters of the past. She uses the words real temptations and ghostly specters. Note that her language is telling and elicits strong images that smack of her own perceptions and struggles. The book is testimony, and something of a report for there is objectivity to the tone of the book. As this reader of the book “Forgiveness” moves towards the end of the review, the last nugget–a nugget that is central and so true, at that.

Sixth nugget: …[I]n order to accept that we’ve been forgiven and will continue to be as long as we are sincerely repentant, we must really believe that God does not want us to wallow endlessly in old guilt. The opposite holds true: Jesus came to heal us of our guilty wounds in order to free us up for communion with him and for participation in the divine life.” Cannot we all as Christians agree with the way God works in the world with human beings, as Paula Huston describes Christ’s generosity and promise. It so reminds me of this quotation that appears as the prayer “Thanksgiving,” in Evening Prayer I and Evening Prayer II of “The Book of Common Prayer,” (The Episcopal Church USA): “We bless thee for our creation, preservation,/  and all the blessings of this life;/  but above all for thine inestimable love/  in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ…”   In the last part of this book that is redemptive, this readable book by author Paula Huston, she notes with boldness, and she is often bold in her book, we learn to be and accept our dependence on God, and God alone. We learn to be and accept our dependence on God, and God alone…How well said, though said before…this work takes both the honesty of a wise and brave spiritual journey and weaves its original way noting with Christian and certainly within the writers own tradition of Roman Catholic religion, some excellent ways towards life in the spirit and means of accepting forgiveness. No small tasks. This reader and writer of the review hopes he’s offered the work praise, for it deserves praise and introduction as a good work. Get the work, read it, loan it to a friend.  

Addendum: From the publisher… Huston’s most recent book, Forgiveness: Following Jesus into Radical Loving (Paraclete Press, December 2008), takes a hard look at Christ’s shocking injunction to forgive without measure.  She asserts that forgiveness is central to Christianity, and that, according to Jesus, it is not merely an option but a requirement.  Yet nothing is harder than forgiving those who have deeply wronged us or who have hurt the people we love.  What about the requirements of justice?  Doesn’t forgiving those who do evil encourage more evil acts?  Huston looks at these and other burning questions regarding forgiveness through the lenses of psychology, theology, and personal narrative, suggesting specific ways we can forgive parents, spouses, and community and can begin to seek forgiveness for ourselves. She is currently at work on The Year of Living Catholicly, a traveler’s diary about the cultural immersion experience she began fifteen years after converting to Catholicism, and Pilgrim Heart, the story of her solo trip around the world in search of holy people. Huston is a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, and has served on the National Screening Committee for Fulbright Awards in Creative Writing. She taught writing and literature at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and served as a core faculty member of the California State University Consortium Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program for many years before leaving academia to write fulltime. A Camaldolese Benedictine oblate, Huston is married, has four grown children, and lives in rural Arroyo Grande, California.

Images: (1) Author, Paula Huston, Obl Cam OSB; (2) Book cover of “Forgiveness,” courtesy Paraclete Press as are all photos but last of the author and Father Isaiah at Immaculate Heart Hermitage bookstore, Big Sur, CA; (3) Paula Huston reading a book in her home.

About the Author

Peter Menkin, an aspiring poet, lives in Mill Valley, CA USA (north of San Francisco). My blog: http://www.petermenkin.blogspot.com

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