The Song of the Seed: A Monastic Way of Tending the Soul

Wiederkehr (A Tree Full of Angels and Seasons of Your Heart) is a Benedictine nun who leads workshops and retreats. Using the parable of the sower as her touchstone, she has now written a guidebook for use in a personal, spiritual exercise that can be conducted either in solitude or with a group. Split into three parts of 10 days each, Song offers a focus for each day. Each focus is followed by a meditation, a reading from the Christian Bible with a reflection upon that reading, a brief poem, a ``songline'' (i.e., ``a verbal pathway of the spirit''), a prayer and a journal entry. The final chapters present a communal service and resources. The book's unvarying format, insistently organic metaphors and somewhat overripe prose quickly become tiresome, but the volume may nevertheless prove valuable for personal or group study. (Oct.)