St. Peter Damian: His Teaching on the Spiritual Life

This doctoral dissertation on the teachings of St. Peter Damian by Fr. Owen Blum, OFM (1912-1998) is both eminently readable and highly footnoted. The chapters flowed from subject to subject and quite frankly I didn't want to pause for the night. I found his advice against bringing news of the secular world into the cloister (or hermitage) to be ever so applicable in our times, and maybe, just maybe to the laity of today as well. Do we really need to be tuned in to social and electronic media 24 hours a day? I think not.As stated above the book is heavily footnoted and I urge the reader to take the time and actually read the footnotes-they add so much context and flavor to the dissertation. If you want to learn about or are interested in the eremitic life I urge you to purchase this book about one of the fathers of church. Add it to your library. You won't be sorry.djc

The beginning is not an easy read - but well worth it. Lots of foots notes to plough through. Because it is so full of spiritual insights I am taking my time reading it.