Borrowing Wonder

Christmas Poems and Reflections to Open the Heart

John Shea; Drawings by Franklin, Mark, and Carolyn McMahon

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ISBN: 9780814688847, 8884

Details: 88 pgs, 5 x 7 x 1/2
Publication Date: 09/25/2024

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$19.95

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Award-winning author and storyteller, John Shea shares a poetic word of hope to help us “make it” this Christmas season.

Whether your “it” is the overwhelming pressure to get it all done, the task of just getting through it, or simply being present this holiday season, award-winning author John Shea urges us to slow down during the rush of the season and open our hearts and minds to how the Spirit is calling us to renewal.

By focusing on theological, scriptural, and liturgical themes—as well as the familiar sights, sounds, and happenings of the season, Shea’s poems in Borrowing Wonder become the lens through which we experience the spirit of the season reflected in our own lives. By connecting soul to season, Shea hopes that we will allow the memories and moments of these reflections to illuminate the light that shines in the darkness. Christmas will come. You will make it.

John (Jack) Shea provides theological and formation services to parishes, Catholic health systems, and faith-based organizations. He has published award-winning books of theology and spirituality, including Liturgical Press’s To Dare the Our Father: A Spiritual Practice, and the popular Spiritual Wisdom of the Gospels series. Additionally, Jack has published three books of poetry including Liturgical Press’s Seeing Haloes: Christmas Poems to Open the Heart. He lectures nationally and internationally on storytelling in world religions, faith-based health care, contemporary spirituality, and the spirit work movement. He is a contributor to Give Us This Day.

Mark McMahon has been documenting people and their environments nationally and internationally for more than forty-five years. His on-location works are included in museums, exhibitions, private and corporate collections. Mark is a second-generation Chicago artist, as Franklin and Carolyn being his parents. Learn more about the McMahon Gallery at: www.mcmahongallery.com

ISBN: 9780814688847, 8884

Details: 88 pgs, 5 x 7 x 1/2
Publication Date: 09/25/2024

Reviews

"So many of us have been enriched throughout our adult lives by John Shea’s artful storytelling and theological perspectives. Here he gently helps us see the spirit of Christmas with fresh eyes, unwrapping experiences of gratitude, goodwill, repair, tears, children, memory, and making room for angels like presents under the tree. He invites us to employ Mary’s Christmas practice of ‘keeping these things and reflecting on them in the heart” while reminding us and assuring us of the Christmas message: light and love will not be denied by darkness. Treat yourself and loved ones to this book."

Dr. Mike Carotta, religious educator and author of Unexpected Occasions of Grace

"Do you dread the Christmas season? This book of poetry and drawings captures the way through rather than the way out of the cultural 'rituals' we call Christmas."

Sister Meg Funk, OSB, Our Lady of Grace Monastery, Beech Grove, Indiana

"John Shea is my favorite religious poet. This wonderful series of Christmas poems can help bring a little wonder back into our lives. Wonder has left the building. So, writes Shea in these poems and reflections, borrow wonder from the young! These poems and reflections show us how we are a balm for those parts of us that are jaded and cynical."

Ronald Rolheiser, writer and professor in spirituality, Oblate School of Theology, San Antonio, Texas

"Poet, mystic, deep faith storyteller, John Shea is the master of seeing the ordinary, the painful, the beautiful, and the wondrous all at once with love as the victor. Borrowing Wonder is comfort and joy at Christmastime, a treasure to be savored and practiced all year, a moonbeam of light."

Susan Hayes Gordon, child health policy advocate, Chicago, Illinois