[Magdalen] Books for mind, heart and spirit, wounded and otherwise

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

I have a special place in my heart for the writings of James Pike.  James
was rector at the church I used to attend before he became the Dean of one
cathedral and then the bishop in another.  His writings address thorny
issues, and they still have something to say, half a century after they
were penned.

Andrew Greeley has a gift for writing a very interesting novel with good
plots and excellent character development. And after you finish, you find
he has slipped in some nice discussion of spiritual issues without being
heavy-handed.  His semi-autobiography, _Confessions of a parish priest_ has
some really intriguing discussion.

I want to put in another vote for _The Velveteen Rabbit_. I don't know why,
but I just feel it is a very wonderful spiritual book.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Tue, Feb 2, 2016 at 3:57 PM, Susan Hagen <susanvhagen at gmail.com> wrote:

> I would like your help on a project.  I work at a state psychiatric
> hospital that houses adults with serious mental health problem and
> often co-occurring substance abuse issues.  A few months ago I was
> talking to our chaplain and we got to talking about books.  One of the
> programs she runs is a spiritual reading group for some of our higher
> functioning patients.  They meet several times a week for an hour to
> sit quietly and read.  They can choose from bibles (TANAKHs, Korans
> too), devotional books, books on spirituality and world religions.  We
> have people from pretty diverse backgrounds, Christian, Jew, Muslim,
> secular, probably other religions.  Pastor Cynthia says that many
> struggling with questions about what it means to be a human, and a
> human facing adversity and suffering.  One book she frequently offers
> them is Viktor Frankls classic, Man's Search for Meaning.  She said
> that some are willing and able to engage with pretty demanding books.
>
> I love books as I know do many of us here.  I had been trying to hold
> myself together through the holidays so promised myself that if I got
> all the holiday stuff done I could go through my 'life lists' and put
> together a collection to donate to the hospital spirituality program.
> I took in four cartons of my favorites, books I love that have been
> helpful to me.  I would love to hear recommendations from the rest of
> you.  What are the books that have helped you make sense of life, the
> universe and everything?  I'll be glad to share my list but at the
> moment it's in a Word document in table format and I'll have to reduce
> it to plain text to post it.
> Thanks,
> Susan
>
> --
> The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among
> you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the
> land of Egypt.
> Leviticus 19:34
>