A MATTER OF THE HEART

A Trappist monk reflects on such subjects as spirituality and the daily minutiae of monastic life in a series of journal entries spanning more than half a century.

Quenon has spent the last six-and-a-half decades as a monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky. Having authored multiple other works, including In Praise of the Useless Life (2018) and the poetry book Unquiet Vigil (2014), he now offers pages from his journals, which he’s divided into five parts spanning from 1970 to 2022, and added footnotes to provide additional context and definitions of terms that may be unfamiliar to readers. Some accounts are highly personal, such as one of the death of his twin sister in 1995, while other musings are more philosophical and esoteric, as in this entry from 1993: “The act of wanting belongs to the idiom of the ego….Beyond that is a desire which is not set by the ego or derived from self-knowledge in the usual sense of the word. On that deeper level, I do not know what I want, in terms of a clear definition of a goal. I only know that I do want and even that is not always clear to me.” Overall, the author offers a unique mix of reminiscences, philosophical musings, and historical connections, as when he presents his impressions of the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Throughout, Quenon makes the disparate parts of his unique life feel universal by regularly including events that will be relatable to people outside the monastery. Some passages, such as his middle-of-the-night thought that “God is not the predator but the prey,” may befuddle more than enlighten, but most observations—including his wry comments on mass consumerism or his ideas regarding connections between Taoism founder Lao Tzu and Jesus—contribute to the work’s accessibility.

An intriguing collection of thoughts and impressions that offer a rare glimpse into a solitary life.