Seeking Byland

Poems through the Seasons from Stanbrook Abbey

MONASTIC TRADITION invites newcomers to grow in their search for God through prayerful reading of three books: the book of nature, the book of the Scriptures and the book of one's own life. In these meditative poems, Sr Laurentia draws on thirty years of monastic life to integrate the three 'books', creating harmonies which can resonate with the experience of people today. Beginning with Advent, the poems unfold through the seasons, natural and liturgical. Pivotal is the central sequence, 'Cadentine Rites', which celebrates the transforming events of Holy Week and Easter. In uncertain and restricted times, Seeking Byland invites all seekers into the eternal realities of beauty and truth which lie close at hand, waiting to be discovered.

LAURENTIA (LORNA) JOHNS is a Benedictine nun of Stanbrook Abbey in Yorkshire.
Born in Swansea, and educated there at Bishop Gore School, followed by Oxford and Harvard, she taught for several years before entering Stanbrook (then in Worcestershire).
Sister Laurentia has written extensively on the spiritual life, her publications include Touched by God: Ten Monastic Journeys and The Way of Benedict: Eight Blessings for Lent.
This is her first book of poetry.