This wry memoir tackles twelve different spiritual practices in a quest to become more saintly, including fasting, fixed-hour prayer, the Jesus Prayer, gratitude, Sabbath-keeping, and generosity. Although Reiss begins with great plans for success ("Really, how hard could that be?" she asks blithely at the start of her saint-making year), she finds to her growing humiliation that she is failing - not just at some of the practices, but at every single one. What emerges is a funny yet vulnerable story of the quest for spiritual perfection and the reality of spiritual failure, which turns out to be a valuable practice in and of itself. Paperbook, 192 pages.
Table of Contents
Behind the scenes
January - Choosing practices
February - Fasting in the desert
March - meeting Jesus in the kitchen. . . or not
April - Lectio divination
May - nixing shopertainment
June - Centering Prayerer, The Jesus Prayer Look! a squirrel!
July - Unorthodox Sabbath
August - thanksgiving every day
September - Benedictine Hospitality
October - what would Jesus eat?
November - sevenfive three times a day will I praise you
December - Generosity
Epilogue - Practice makes imperfect