Michael CASEY. Balaam’s Donkey. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2019. Pp.470. ISBN 978-0-8146-8463-4. Reviewed by Christine FLETCHER, Benedictine University, Lisle, IL 60532.

Michael Casey is one of the best spiritual guides for our times, or for any time. He comes from the Cistercian branch of the Benedictine family and has written extensively and wisely about all aspects of living the Rule: lectio divina and humility for example. As a way of celebrating the golden jubilee of his priestly ordination, he has collected and edited sermons from his fifty years as a priest. There is truly gold here.

The book is organized into short meditations for each day of the year beginning on January 1 with Abask (“Today we are abask, not only in the brilliant light of high summer” — a reminder that his monastery is in Australia) and ending with December 31 Zacchaeus. In between he covers seemingly anything and everything that might bear on the spiritual life:  Hell, Heaven, Self-doubt, Silly Sheep, Competitiveness, Rejection and Trinity to name a few.  This reviewer has been thinking about his explanation of Hell for weeks. It gives one a picture immediately of how a good God could nevertheless create creatures who would choose not-God rather than eternal happiness.

This is obviously not a text book, but it is a treasure for teachers of theology who need help with making abstract concepts of theology real, and even more so, to make their theology live with the love of God. It is an excellent resource for anyone who is serious about prayer, and a gift to the Church by one of her most creative an eloquent guides to spiritual life.