In Praise of the Useless Life: A Monk’s Memoir

by Paul Quenon

Publisher:

Ave Maria Press

, 2018

Overview

Monastic life and its counter-cultural wisdom come alive in the stories and lessons of Br. Paul Quenon, O.C.S.O., during his more than five decades as a Trappist at the Abbey of Gethsemani. He served as a novice under Thomas Merton and he also welcomed some of the monastery’s more well-known visitors, including Sr. Helen Prejean and Seamus Heaney, to Merton’s hermitage. In Praise of the Useless Life includes Quenon's quiet reflections on what it means to live each day with careful attentiveness.

The humble peace and simplicity of the monastery and of Quenon’s daily life are beautifully portrayed in this memoir. Whether it be through the daily routine of the monastery, his love of the outdoors no matter the season, or his lively and interesting conversations with visitors (reciting Emily Dickinson with Pico Iyer, discussing Merton and poetry with Czeslaw Milosz), Quenon's gentle musings display his love for the beauty in his vocation and the people he’s encountered along the way.

Inspired by his novice master Merton, the poet and photographer’s stories remind us that the beauty of life can best be seen in the “uselessness” of daily life—having a quiet chat with a friend, spending time in contemplation—in our vocations, and in the memories we make along the way.

Key Features

• Reflects on six decades of living in the Cistercian monastery
• Examines practices of solitude, contemplation, prayer, and silence
• Explore the everyday life in a monastery

Contents

• Foreword by Pico Iyer
• Introduction to the Circle Dance
• A Life of Song and Music
• Thomas Merton, Novice Master
• Nature, My Guru
• A Week at the Hermitage
• Our Golden Age of Hermitages
• Prayer Nurtures Poetry
• Battle of Wits with a Mockingbird
• Emily Dickinson, Soul Sister
• Contemplation and the Camera
• Merton’s Death as Seen from the Home Grounds
• Unexpected Visitors
• Final Judgment

Praise for the Print Edition

This beautiful book is both simple and profound, written with humor, a grounded sense of humanness, and luminous attention to what lies at the heart of things. After turning the last page, you might, as I did, sit for a while caught by the mystery and meaning of your own life.

—Sue Monk Kidd

This artfully written memoir is anything but useless. It shimmers with lyrical descriptions of life in the monastery, love for nature, poetry, and music, and meaningful encounters with remarkable people, not the least being Thomas Merton. Br. Paul reveals the essence of a truly contemplative life—a life that appreciates beauty, knows how to wonder, and is dedicated to love. You don't have to be a monk to be inspired by his story.

—Carl McColman, author of Befriending Silence

Paul Quenon may describe the monastic life as ‘useless,’ a life of play, and that is often how its critics describe it. But he’s written a book that strikes me as valuable in a culture so terribly marred by narcissism. The key to monastic life, as his novice master Thomas Merton advised him, is ‘to live the life here at the monastery, stop looking at myself, and forget myself.’ In an anxious age, we need to be reassured that ‘the best thing is to take in one breath at a time . . . Every breath comes from God, and the air supply is unlimited.’ As we wrestle with faith in a world that ignores or denounces it, we need to be reminded that ‘Prayer is a breathing that purifies the air, like leaves on the tree.’ Monks, as people of prayer, may be useless, but this book is evidence that they are also necessary and even indispensable.

—Kathleen Norris, author of The Cloister Walk

Product Details

• Title: In Praise of the Useless Life: A Monk’s Memoir
• Author: Paul Quenon
• Publisher: Ave Maria Press
• Publication Date: 2018
• Pages: 160
• Christian Group: Catholic
• Resource Type: Memoir
• Topic: Spirituality

About Paul Quenon

Br. Paul Quenon, O.C.S.O. entered the Trappists in 1958 at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, where Thomas Merton was his novice master. Quenon is a photographer and the author of several books of poetry, including Unquiet Vigil—named a “Best Spiritual Book of the Year” by Spirituality & Practice and “Best Poetry Volume of the Year” by Hearts and Minds Books. Quenon coauthored Carved in Stone and also contributed spiritual reflections to other books.

Sample Pages from In Praise of the Useless Life: A Monk’s Memoir