Excerpts: Godric

"Another time I lay awake at night. Tune was sleeping in his jar. The moon was full. "Lord God," I prayed. "How useless is my life. My flesh is ever prey to lust and pride and sloth. I let folk call me Holy Father though I know myself to be of all God's sinful sons most foul. Even as I speak to thee, a thousand wanton dreams are set to fall on me when I am done. Oh send some saint to save my soul. Teach me how to serve thee right."

Then all at once a shaft of moonlight clove my cell, and in it stood the body of a man. By the leather girdle round his waist, I knew him for the Baptist. He cried, "Burn! Burn! Serve man and God as fire does by driving back the night. Let thy very rage against thy sin burst into flame. Dwell here alone and by hot striving to be pure become a torch to light men's way and scorch the wings of fiends. Seek not saints to ease thy spirit's pain that thou mayst better serve. Thy pain's itself thy service. Godric, burn for God!"

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An excellent book about personal faith. It sheds light on the people we revere and uphold and the truth that lies behind those ideas. Godric's greatest strength is his humility and the brutal honesty that he uses when looking at his own life. He recognizes fully his complete reliance on God's grace. An illuminating book, to say the least. 4.5/5