Book Review: Vesper Time

Written on: January 30, 2023

I don’t know about you, but at this time of year I tend to get more serious about finding “just the right” spiritual reading material for where I find myself situated. Fortunately, my selection was quite easy this year.

The book is, Vesper Time: The Spiritual Practice of Growing Older by Frank J. Cunningham.

In the foreword, Joyce Rupp agrees with Mr. Cunningham that he is a true “wordsmith”.

With tremendous wisdom and a great sense of humor, he writes about memory, intimacy, diminishment, gratitude and acceptance at this “Vesper” time in our lives. A time in life “when colors deepen and our experience of aging becomes spiritual practice.”

I enjoyed how I could identify with his stories and observations. He makes it a bit easier for me to embrace this “vesper time” in my life. I highly recommend Vesper Time for personal reading, or it would also make a good book for small groups to read and discuss. Either way if you purchase the book, look for the edition that includes the Discussion Guide. I found the discussion questions quite helpful even with my solo reading.

Vesper Time: The Spiritual Practice of Growing Older by Frank J. Cunningham. Orbis Books 2017.

Submitted by Sister Eileen Spanier, gnsh

This entry was posted in From our Sisters and tagged: acceptance, aging, diminishment, discuss, embrace, experience, Frank J. Cunningham, gratitude, growing older, humor, intimacy, Joyce Rupp, lives, memory, observations, Orbis Books, personal reading, reading, Sister Eileen Spanier, spiritual practice, Spirituality, stories, Vesper Time, wisdom, wordsmith