Holy Leisure is the Key to Human Being ...

Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI both have called for a renewal of Christian commitment to Sabbath-keeping. Charlotte Ostermann responds in Souls at Rest: An Exploration of the Idea of Sabbath. Calling it the antidote to the acedia – spiritual lassitude or indifference – that plagues our times, Ostermann develops a rich picture of Sabbath as God’s provision for the fullest possible formation of the human person. Motivated by Pope John Paul’s sense that the world desperately needs a ‘recapitulation of the human person’, she attempts to recall readers to the cultivation of their own being, one Sunday at a time. No list of more things to do on Sunday, or of banned activities, is likely to appeal to contemporary readers. Instead, Ostermann invites the creative, personal response of each reader to the call of Shabbat Shalom – Sabbath peace. Everyone who reads this book will walk away with a unique Sabbath design – especially if they take the time to meditate on the thought-provoking questions in the included Discussion and Study Guide. Her dynamic, personal approach is like an extended conversation with a spiritual mentor. Sabbath, according to Souls at Rest, is going to change your life, change your family, change your approach to evangelization, change your culture. This is a radical book, literally, if Sabbath is indeed at the root of what it means to be human – to be, as Ostermann puts it, wholly, holy, whole.