This book considers the human person as the sacred place of prayer. The first three chapters lay philosophical, biblical and theological groundwork for the understanding of the human person as the sacred place of prayer. Subsequent chapters develop this truth more fully. The chapters on desert spirituality, illusions and finding our center give insight into how we find our true self and our place of home and belonging. A major premise is that everything flows from our creation in God’s image. Each of us is the privileged and sacred place of prayer. Learning to be a person of prayer introduces new and wonderful elements into our life, for example, silence and reflection, which in turn can produce an ever growing sense of awe in being fully alive, fully present not only to God, but to ourselves, to creation, to our neighbor and to all the circumstances of life. An inward stillness helps us to seek God in the daily ordinariness of our lives. Setting aside times is important, even just a momentary pause in a busy day can be an oasis of stillness to re-center ourselves.

Sister Jean Marie Dwyer, OP, is a member of a Dominican monastery in Squamish, British Columbia, Much of what she writes in this book is drawn from year of reflective study, Lectio Divina, and her own gradual formation through study and prayerful interaction with the scriptures in community and solitary prayer.

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