Br. David Steindl-Rast, OSB
From his website Br. David Steindl-Rast – Grateful.org
“Brother David Steindl-Rast — 96 year-old author, scholar, and Benedictine monk — is beloved the world over for his enduring message about gratefulness as the true source of lasting happiness. Known to many as the “grandfather of gratitude,” Br. David has been a source of inspiration and spiritual friendship to countless leaders and luminaries around the world including Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Thomas Merton, and more. He has been one of the most important figures in the modern interfaith dialogue movement, and has taught with thought-leaders such as Eckhart Tolle, Jack Kornfield, and Roshi Joan Halifax. His wisdom has been featured in recent interviews with Oprah Winfrey, Krista Tippett, and Tami Simon and his TED talk has been viewed almost 10,000,000 times.”
I appreciate how he has unpacked the practice of gratefulness—making it more of a stance, a way of being in the world and with the world—than a sentiment, however heartfelt.
In His Own Words
“The root of joy is gratefulness…It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.”
“Look closely and you will find that people are happy because they are grateful. The opposite of gratefulness is just taking everything for granted.” ~David Steindl-Rast, Music of Silence: A Sacred Journey Through the Hours of the Day
“Everything is a gift. The degree to which we are awake to this truth is a measure of our gratefullness, and gratefullness is a measure of our aliveness.” ~ Brother David Steindl-Rast, Jesus and Lao Tzu: The Parallel Sayings
“Any place is sacred ground, for it can become a place of encounter with the divine Presence.” ~ David Steindl-Rast, A Listening Heart: The Spirituality of Sacred Sensuousness
“People who have faith in life are like swimmers who entrust themselves to a rushing river. They neither abandon themselves to its current nor try to resist it. Rather, they adjust their every movement to the watercourse, use it with purpose and skill, and enjoy the adventure.”
“Sometimes people get the mistaken notion that spirituality is a separate department of life, the penthouse of existence. But rightly understood, it is a vital awareness that pervades all realms of our being… Wherever we may come alive, that is the area in which we are spiritual.”
“A lifetime may not be long enough to attune ourselves fully to the harmony of the universe. But just to become aware that we can resonate with it — that alone can be like waking up from a dream.”
“Monastic contemplatives have staked out a clearly limited area to be transformed by contemplation: the monastery. Lay contemplatives face the challenge of transforming the whole world.”
“As we learn to give thanks for all of life and death, for all of this given world of ours, we find a deep joy. It is the joy of trust, the joy of faith in the faithfulness at the heart of all things. It is the joy of gratefulness in touch with the fullness of life.”
~ David Steindl-Rast, Gratefulness, The Heart Of Prayer: An Approach To Life In Fullness
Publications
- Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer: An Approach to Life in Fullness (1984 N.J. Paulist Press. ISBN 0-8091-2628-1)
- Belonging to the Universe: Explorations on the Frontiers of Science and Spirituality (1991 Coauthored with Fritjof Capra and Thomas Matus, Harper San Francisco, ISBN 978-0-06-250187-5)
- Music of Silence: A Sacred Journey through the Hours of the Day (1995 Coauthored with Sharon LeBell, Ulysses Press, 2. Ed. 2001, ISBN 1-56975-297-4)
- The Ground We Share: Everyday Practice, Buddhist and Christian (1996 Coauthored with Robert Baker Aitken. Shambhala Publications, ISBN 1-57062-219-1)
- A Listening Heart: The Spirituality of Sacred Sensuousness (1999 Crossroad, ISBN 0-8245-1780-6)
- Words of Common Sense for Mind, Body and Soul (2002 Templeton Foundation Press, ISBN 1-890151-98-X)
- Common Sense Spirituality (2008 The Crossroad Publishing Company, ISBN 0-8245-2479-9)
- Deeper than Words: Living the Apostles’ Creed (2010 Doubleday Religion, ISBN 978-0-307-58961-3)
- David Steindl-Rast: Essential Writings (2010 Selected with and introduction by Clare Hallward, (Modern Spiritual Masters series, edited by Robert Ellsberg), Orbis Books, ISBN 978-1-57075-888-1)
- Faith beyond Belief: Spirituality for Our Times (2016 Coauthored with Anselm Grün. Liturgical Press, ISBN 978-0814647134)
- The Way of Silence: Engaging the Sacred in Daily Life (2016 Franciscan Media, ISBN 978-1632530165)
- i am through you so i (2017 Paulist Press, ISBN 978-0809153947)
- 99 Names of God (2021 Orbis Books, ISBN 978-1626984226)