Leah Libresco’s Arriving at Amen: Tradition, Freshly Articulated

Last updated on: May 29, 2015 at 2:04 pm by Rebecca Florence Miller

Leah Libresco’s Arriving at Amen: Tradition, Freshly Articulated 2015-05-29T14:04:14-06:00 Rebecca Florence Miller

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Before I came to Patheos, I heard blogger Leah Libresco’s story of conversion from atheism to Catholicism. I was impressed by her intelligence, her dedication to her newfound faith, and her sincerity. Even though I am Protestant and not Catholic, I was excited to have the chance to review Libresco’s book, Arriving at Amen: Seven Catholic Prayers That Even I Can Offer. We may come to faith in Christ through different traditions, but as members of the small-c “catholic” (universal) church, we can learn from one another. As someone myself who has been increasingly moving toward a cultivation of Christian tradition and history, I was sure I would find much that resonated here.

Libresco’s book is a first-person account of how a Christian begins to do the hard work of spiritual formation following baptism. Rather than adopting the voice of an expert, Libresco lets us see her as a learner (what the word “disciple” means, anyway). The structure that Libresco uses to explicate all her learning is a discussion of seven forms of Catholic prayer. In recounting these practices of prayer (and her wrestling with them), she teaches us how we can live daily lives that incarnate Christ. The seven forms of prayer are: Petition, Confession, Examen, Rosary, Divine Office, Lectio Divina, and Mass. In all of these, we see Libresco’s willingness to honor the wisdom of Christian tradition and to walk paths long tread by the saints of the past and present.

It seems to me that the attitude of a learner is rather rare in today’s world. The internet has gifted us all with the ability to obtain a constant stream of knowledge about anything, anytime. We often struggle to sift through the good and the bad. And we also often succumb to a phobia of tradition. We want the bright, new, and shiny. We want to throw the old overboard as outdated and without merit.

And yet, our Pinterest boards bear our love of shabby-chic decor, the new Laura Ingalls Wilder autobiography is selling out, a growing number of young people are learning to farm and can and sew, and the young are increasingly seeking tradition in worship. Can it be that our sustained obsession with the new has left us adrift? Can it be that we secretly feel as though we are missing out on a connection with the past?

And yet, even when we rush toward tradition, our tendency is often to first sit in judgment on it, rather than to first consider what it has to say to us and how it may teach us. Libresco seems to me to do the latter. Perhaps this is because she did much of her judgment calls about the truth of Christianity prior to becoming a Christian. Once she joined the faith, she kept her analytical mind active, but she purposefully oriented herself as a learner, first and foremost. In this choice, she also displays the humility that people in general (Christian and not) seem to be really missing these days. Anymore, how often do you meet someone who thinks they have something to learn from you instead of something to sell you or teach you or lecture you on? I want to be like Libresco and be a humble learner–from my tradition of Christianity and also from those outside the Church.

When I’m lucky, I live like the disciples in the boat in the storm–prone to fear and doubt but held safely. Frequently, though, I wind up like Peter, overextended and floundering. Once he is stuck, Peter doesn’t try to take charge and undo his mistake; he keeps flailing his way toward Christ. My prayer life often feels like this kind of thrashing in Christ’s general direction, waiting and trusting that he’ll reach across the gap I can’t close on my own.–Leah Libresco (134)

There is good reflection here to help all Christians live out the salvation we have been given, making it an active part of our daily lives.

This post is part of Patheos’s Book Club. Note: I received this book free of charge, in exchange for an honest review.

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