What is Carthusian life really like?
What actually goes on in a Charterhouse?
Is the Order's ancient mixture of carefully regulated solitary and community life a hoepless harking back to the Middle Ages, or is it relevant to modern lifestyles and problems?
If any book can answer these questions, it is The Wound of Love.
It provides background information on the Carthusian Order, including letters from St Bruno, its founder, and a reflection on Bruno's continuing significance today. The many concerns of Carthusian life are evident here: solitude, fraternal love, prayer, monastic vows, work and lirturgy, and each is tackled with great honesty, wit and wisdom.
This book is testimony to how much there is to be learned about life 'in' the world from the Carthusians' standpoint 'outside' it. While the Carthusian call to find God always and everywhere is essentially the same vocation as that of all Christians, there is an intensity about the monastic life which distils the message and makes it more fiery, more compelling. This book will prove a bracing brew for all those who would sample it.
Other books of Carthusian spirituality published by Gracewing include The Call of Silent Love, The Prayer of Love and Silence, and They Speak by Silences.