Yearning for the Father

The Lord’s Prayer and the Mystic Journey   Hohm Press Pages: 240 pages Size: Paperback, 6 X 9 inches ISBN: 978-1-890772-55-0 STAFF PICK Published in 2006, this book is an “evergreen.” Like the pines near my home, it hasn’t lost its color or its relevancy over many years. In fact, like those pines, it has grown, and grown straighter, stronger, more dependable. A book about the Lord’s prayer is a book about great spiritual truths: ageless teachings about forgiveness, gratitude and reliance upon a higher power. I recently needed to be inspired by such teachings, longing for the surety of my earliest religious inclinations. Yearning for the Father was that gift to me. Simple and direct enough to be appreciated by seekers of any spiritual tradition, the book also supplies a roadmap for the deeper mystical and contemplative journey, which is the author’s aim. Staff Pick by Regina Sara Ryan, Managing Editor John Sack takes the Lord’s Prayer to a whole new level, offering it as a blueprint for the contemplative and mystical life. He draws upon history, literature, poetry and his first-hand appreciation of other religious traditions in presenting an extended guidebook to meditation upon these universal and much loved words of Jesus. Through a series of meditative reflections, the author (a former Cistercian monk) explores each phrase of this much-loved prayer. He also examines the Aramaic roots of the prayer, the original form in which Jesus taught it to his followers, to suggest interpretations beyond the traditional Western understanding. “An uplifting, fabulous romp through the world’s great spiritual traditions. In a world torn apart by a thousand hatreds and a rising tide of fundamentalism, this book’s theme— that spiritual wisdom is timeless and universal— is urgently needed. Superb, simply superb.” — Larry Dossey, MD; author: The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things and Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine.