By L. Putnam
“Pay attention” is the watchword of this book. And “pay attention” is what I would like to challenge the reader to do. Pay attention and awaken to who Ford once was. Pay attention and awaken to who Ford now is. In addition, pay attention to “the hours of our lives, ” and to the “ones who pay attention.” Finally, pay attention to the poets, authors, priests, and contemplatives Ford champions.
Pay Attention to Who Ford Once Was
Many of you, as did I, recall Billy Graham’s familiar radio program “The Hour of Decision.” As a child part of our Sunday afternoon ritual consisted of listening to Billy. I can still hear the ending of the program, “That’s all the address you need, ‘Billy Graham, Minneapolis, Minnesota.'” I can further remember that, now and then, rather than Billy preaching, a young evangelist named Leighton Ford ably proclaimed the gospel in Billy’s place.
Pay Attention to Who Ford Now Is
So imagine my complete shock, when reviewing the Ruth Haley Barton book Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership I read Leighton Ford’s foreword which he was writing, from a Roman Catholic oratory garden, while seated beside a pagan labyrinth.
How did Ford get to such a place as an oratory? Ford tells us, in this book, in his own words. Ford begins, “My work has largely focused on evangelism- ‘making friends for God.’ … But a shift has taken place.” “But now,” Ford relates, “is a time to pay more attention to my own heart, to deepen my own friendship with God, and to walk with others who want to do the same.” Ford also shares, “The deepest longing I have is to come home to my own heart …” (p.10-11)
Ford goes on, “If the first part of my own journey involved longing, the second has encompassed mainly looking –coming to important parts of my soul, bring my real self before the real God, and discovering prayer, as Simone Weil put it, as ‘absolute attention.'” (p.12) To achieve these goals Ford writes, “It has meant exploring other ways: silence, stillness, art and poetry, reading Scripture not by going through great chunks but by meditating on smaller portions, listening carefully to God and my own heart, having a trusted spiritual companion as a friend on the journey.” (p.14)
Pay Attention to the Benedictine Hours
Ford introduces us to “The Benedictine Hours” and to Benedict who became, according to Ford, “a shepherd of souls.” This soul shepherd became “St. Benedict” to whom Catholics now pray and worship. Consider this “Novena to St. Benedict” which begins “Glorious St. Benedict, sublime model of virtue, pure vessel of God’s grace! Behold me humbly kneeling at your feet. I implore you in your loving kindness to pray for me before the throne of God. … I therefore invoke your powerful intercession, confident in the hope that you will hear my prayer and obtain for me the special grace and favor I earnestly implore (name it). …” (p.20) https://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/novena/benedict.htm
Pay Attention to David Steindl-Rast’s Connection to The Benedictine Hours
Ford tells us that his first experience of the hours came at a retreat at the lovely monastery–Mepkin Abbey in the low country of South Carolina. But, it wasn’t just from Mepkin that Ford learned about the hours. It was from a book– The Music of Silence: A Sacred Journey through the Hours of the Day by David Steindl-Rast and Sharon Lebell. Click here to read this entire book review.
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