This is the Fifteenth volume in the
Great Spiritual Teachers series I have read, and the last that is currently available in an eBook edition. It is one of the newer titles in the series, it was originally released in 2021, and was part of the most recent and I believe third rebranding of the series. Two Years ago I read my first book in the series, it was
Born to Do This: 30 Days with Joan of Arc by Jaymie Stuart Wolfe, and loved it and the concept of the series. I have read one almost every month since that first one, and if I can track down all the out of print, will do so until I finish all 24 released to date in the series.
The description of this volume states:
“We Are Beloved offers you a personal, thirty-day retreat based on the prophetic words of Servant of God Sr. Thea Bowman, a renowned Black Catholic evangelizer, teacher, writer, and singer. Requiring only a few minutes each day, We Are Beloved allows you to reflect deeply on your fundamental need for belonging, the healing community offered by the Church, and the challenge to welcome all people in the Body of Christ.
We Are Beloved offers selections from four decades of Bowman's writings, reflections, presentations, and interviews. Bowman has gained attention in the last several years: her cause for canonization was endorsed in 2018 and the 2020 national reckoning with racism highlighted her as one of the prophetic voices in the Church that have been marginalized.
When she joined the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in 1952, Bowman was the first Black sister in the community. Throughout her ministry, she highlighted the need to make Black Americans feel more welcome in Catholic Church. In her powerful testimonies that included gospel singing, preaching, and storytelling, she honored the richness of diverse communities and encouraged people of all races to find joy in unity.”
About the series we are informed:
“Each book in the Great Spiritual Teachers series provides a month of daily readings from one of Christianity's most beloved spiritual guides. For each day there is a brief and accessible morning meditation drawn from the mystic's writings, a simple mantra for use throughout the day, and a night prayer to focus one's thoughts as the day ends. These easy-to-use books are the perfect prayer companion for busy people who want to root their spiritual practice in the solid ground of these great spiritual teachers.”
I believe there are 17 volumes in this series currently in print, but only 15 of those have digital editions. There are also a number that are currently out of print, The oldest I have seen are from the mid 90’s and it looks like they went through a rebranding and format change in the mid 00’s, and they have undergone yet another rebranding in the 2020’s including some new titles available in the series, including this specific title. I must admit I do not recall running across this series prior to that first volume on Joan. I have however added all of them to my ‘to be read list’. I love the most recent rebranding, and hope Ave Maria completes the rebranding across all volumes, and brings back into print some of the volumes currently not available; specifically the volumes on John of the Cross, Evelyn Underhill, Mother Theresa and others. This specific volume was released in 2021, making it one of the oldest in the series.
The sections in this volume are:
Timeline
Who is Thea Bowman?
How To Use This Book
Thirty Days With Thea Bowman
One Final Word
While reading this I several a few passages, some of them are:
“The books in the Great Spiritual Teacher series provide an introduction to the spiritual insights and wisdom of some of history’s most extraordinary saints. Through these pages, you’re invited to a place beyond mere reading, into an experience of daily prayer and meditation. You’ll be accompanied by a spiritual teacher whose wisdom will awaken, enrich, and empower your walk with the Lord.”
“We’ve chosen to follow the suggestion of the classic book on spirituality The Cloud of Unknowing, which describes a three-part movement of reading, reflecting, and praying: “These three are so linked together that there can be no profitable reflection without first reading or hearing. Nor will beginners or even the spiritually adept come to true prayer without first taking time to reflect on what they have heard or read.””
“I did not realize that the songs would bring to me and to those I love comfort in sorrow, solace in grief, refuge in time of trouble, relief even from physical pain—always strength and hope, peace and joy.”
“If we are to serve, if we are to care, if we are to minister, we have to get right inside. And so, let us pray: Spirit, touch me. Touch me with your grace, Touch me with your wisdom. Touch me with your love so that I can help somebody, so that I can serve somebody, so that I can bless somebody.”
“If I can help somebody as I pass along, then my living will not be in vain. Let us meditate on those words and carry them in our hearts and carry them into our homes, into our neighborhoods, and teach them to our children.”
“Help me to move outside of myself, to love more like you loved, to serve more like you served, and to be willing to lay my life down for another as you laid down your life for me.”
“We’re called to walk together in a new way toward that land of promise and to celebrate who we are and whose we are.”
“You have a gift. You have a talent. Find your gift, find your talent and use it. You can make this world better just by letting your light shine and doing your part. You can help somebody just by caring about somebody, just by loving somebody. And then when you get through show them how much you love them, sometimes folks need to hear it, so make sure you tell them, I love you, I love you, I love you. I really, really, really, really love you!”
“Help me to always remember that I have gifts to share because I am your creation, created me out of love to share love, and my gifts come directly from God.”
“Lord, show me my true self.”
“Lord, you know the truth of self that I would prefer no one else know or see. You know how I hide my sinfulness and the messy parts to fit in with the ideal image that I have created in my head.”
“Children, Mothers, Fathers, Sisters, Brothers, go! There is a song that will never be sung unless you sing it. There is a story that will never be told unless you tell it. There is a joy that will never be shared unless you bear it. Go tell the world. Go preach the Gospel. Go teach the Good News. God is. God is love. God is with us. God is in our lives.”
“With the little time you have, you have to live it well; you have to live the best you can.”
“The Church is calling us to be participatory and to be involved. The Church is calling us to feed and to clothe and to shelter and to teach.”
“The Word of God became Incarnate. We are called to preach that word day by day by day—in our homes, in our families, in our neighborhood—to bear witness, to testify, to shout it from the rooftops, with our lives.”
“Spirituality is at once God-awareness, self-awareness, and other-awareness.”
“Make me into a dwelling place for you and help me to see that all bodies are good bodies. Able bodies, differently-abled bodies, thin bodies, fat bodies, tall bodies, small bodies, unborn bodies, light bodies, dark bodies, no matter the type of body, they are all temples of God.”
“We’re all called to preach, to shout the Good News by our lives. Never too young, never too old to share life, faith, and love . . . so long as we have breath and being, we are called to be life-givers and live-nourishers and life-sustainers.”
“Like the blind man may I see the goodness of your creation, and give you praise.”
Each day follows the same format with three main sections:
MY DAY BEGINS: “As the day begins set aside a quiet moment in a quiet place to do the reading provided for the day
The passages are short; they never run more than a couple of hundred words. They have been carefully selected, though, to give a spiritual focus, a spiritual center to your whole day. They are designed to remind you, as another day begins, of your own existence at a spiritual level. They are meant to put you in the presence of the spiritual master who is your companion and teacher on this journey. This is especially true of this journey with Catherine of Siena. The readings are her report of God’s words to her, God’s side of the dialogue. And since the purpose of the passage is to remind you that at every moment during you are in the presence of a God who invites you continually, but quietly, to live in and through him, what better source than the words of God himself?”
ALL THROUGH YOUR DAY: “Immediately following the day’s reading you will find a single sentence, a meditation in the form of a mantra, a phrase meant as a companion for your spirit as it moves through a busy day. Write it down on a 3" x 5" card or on the appropriate page of your daybook. Look at it as often as you can. Repeat it quietly to yourself, and go on your way.
It is not meant to stop you in your tracks or to distract you from responsibilities but simply, gently, to remind you of the presence of God and your desire to respond to this presence.”
MY DAY IS ENDING: “This is a time for letting go of the day, for entering a world of imaginative prayer … This exercise is not meant to last more than a few minutes. End it when you are comfortable doing so. It has two parts. The first, in keeping with Catherine’s model, is a personal response to the words spoken by God in the day’s reading. Just as God has spoken to you, so you speak to God. Second, you are invited to turn to the familiarity of a prayer based on Catherine’s own words. It is an act of trust and confidence, an entryway into peaceful sleep, a simple evening prayer that gathers together the spiritual character of the day that is now ending as it began—in the presence of God.
It is a time for summary and closure.”
A sample day is:
“DAY 13
My Day Begins
Our history includes the services of a Simon of Cyrene, the search of that Ethiopian eunuch; the contributions of Black Egypt in art, mathematics, monasticism, and politics; the art and architecture of Zimbabwe; the scholarship of Timbuktu; the dignity and serenity of textile, gold work, and religion in Ghana; the pervasive spirituality and vitality of Nigeria; the political and social systems of Zaire. Our history includes enslavements, oppression, and exploitation.
Our history is power. We can learn from it. We don’t need to make all the mistakes ourselves. If we remember the misery of slavery, the struggles for freedom and Civil Rights, the joys of the past, if we remember how far we have come, our memory is power.
When we know ourselves, we bring the gift of our history and our culture to one another, to the Church, and to the world.
All Through The Day
Father, may I never forget our history.
My Day Is Ending
Dearest Jesus, we live in a time when we would rather forget the pains of the past, or pretend that the events of the past never happened.
It is uncomfortable to remember when Black Americans were enslaved for the benefit and comfort of their white landowners.
We refuse to see the human trafficking happening before our eyes, fueled by our desire for sinful acts.
It is shameful to remember how immigrants were forced to, and currently, live in squalor and work for low wages and no job security.
Just as it is painful to acknowledge the holocaust of Jewish families by Nazi Germany, it is also difficult to acknowledge the actions of Catholics during the Spanish Inquisition.
It makes us uneasy to think about the negative effects that the Spanish mission system and native land loss had on Indigenous Americans,
all in the name of sharing the Gospel.
May I always remember the past, not to be caught up in it, but to learn from it.
Grant me the grace to see the memories of the past not as something to be covered up, ashamed of, or canceled, but as memories of the power that comes from you, allowing me to overcome the challenges that loom before me now. Amen.”
I hope those quotes and the sample days give you a feel for this excellent volume. I did not know much about Thea Bowman, other than the name, before picking up this volume. I could not have told you who she was or anything about Her. I picked this one up as it was the available as an eBook, and I am very thankful I did. It was really inspiring and encouraging to read this volume. It draws heavily from Thea’s own writings in includes 53 excerpts across the 30 days, or others writing about her. It is a story of collective history, and community. About finding a place and belonging. It reminds us of traditions and what was learned from those who went before, but also giving a hope for the here and now.
The final section of the book One Final Word states:
“This book was created to be nothing more than a gateway—a gateway to the spiritual wisdom of a specific teacher and a gateway opening on your own spiritual way.
You may decide that Thea Bowman is someone whose experience of God is one that you wish to follow more closely and deeply, in which case you should get a copy of one of the books quoted in this text and pray it as you have prayed this gateway journey.
You may decide that this experience has heightened your hunger for additional spiritual teachers, and you will encounter many on your own, very special, absolutely unique journey of the spirit. You will discover your path. We would not be searching, as St. Augustine reminds us, if we had not already been found.”
It is sage advice. Though to be honest I have benefited from every volume I have read and I have completed more than half of the series. I have now read 15 volumes in this series, and currently working on a sixteenth I can state this is another great offering in the series, one that surprised me in many ways. I find that some speak to me more than others. With one I did not highlight as much as in previous volumes, or even extensive highlights. I still greatly enjoyed it. I can state I benefited from the month with each person being profiled. And if I went back and did a volume again at a different point or season in life I might interact with it differently. I already plan to circle back to both this volume and the volume on Joan and reread them once I have completed the series, or at least those I can track down.
This was one of the volumes I connected with. This is a great read, it is one I really enjoyed reading. I can easily recommend this volume and the series as a whole, and I look forward to reading others in the series. If you have not given any in this series a try this would be an excellent starting point or whichever one seems to call to you.
