Letters from Nazareth

Author Richard Carter
Publisher Canterbury £18.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9781786224910

Written against the backdrop of Covid-19, the invasion of Ukraine and the death of Queen Elizabeth II, this book is part spiritual memoir and part manual for spiritual reflection and development. Across sixty letters originally written to fellow members of the Nazareth Community, the author illuminates their simple rule of life: Silence, Service, Scripture, Sacrament, Sabbath and Staying With. We accompany him from hospital bedsides to a Scottish bothy, from a Crown Court where he serves as a juror to a holiday in Greece, and on a notable pilgrimage to Nazareth and the Holy Land. We are invited to look for ‘home’ within ourselves and others as we travel and where we hope to arrive. It is a book that will gently unsettle the reader and then suggest ways to re-settle in a more God-centred way. It is a book that made me weep and one that has burnished my hope. I will promote this book to spiritual directors and accompaniers. I will offer it to anyone who longs to know God, and themselves, better. This book is a blessing.

Reviewed by RONA ORME

Spirituality