Sleeping with Bread: Holding What Gives You Life

This touts the prosperity gospel — dangerous and unbiblical.

Timothy Gallagher recently published a book on the form of prayer called the Examination of Consciousness, a prayer of daily discernment of God's presence and activity in our lives. The value of that book is the extensive detail with which he examines each of the elements and aspects of that prayer. This book, on the other hand, is particularly valuable because of its simplicity. It summarizes the Examen in two simply questions, which may be posed in a wide variety of ways: what most and what least gave you life today. By holding on to what gives us life (in the words of the subtitle) we progress more and more into God's will for us and away from the things that God does not wish for us. It puts the moral life into a positive mode much wider than the commandments, and situates its essential nature in God's desire that we have life in abundance. The one fault of the book is that it looks too much like a kid's book and many adults may not get beyond the cover. But the book is designed and the prayer is presented in such a way that both book and prayer can be easily used by children, couples and families. This adds a wonderful communal and educative dimension that the prayer usually does not have; its suggestions can draw couples and families closer, and train children in on-going daily discernment. And of course it is usable by individuals as well. Do look beyond the cover, it is a book for all.

As a spiritual director, I read a lot of books about Christian spirituality and I have to say this small, lovingly written and easy to understand book is my favorite. I recommend it to anyone who is seeking to draw closer to God. The book is primarily an introduction to the Ignatian spiritual practice called "The Daily Examen"--one of the most helpful and simple prayer practices a person can do to become more aware of God's presence in their lives. The Linns tell stories, offer many ways to use the prayer and even have a section on how to use this prayer with small children. "Sleeping with Bread" looks like a children's book, but it's a profoundly deep yet accessible introduction to Ignatian spirituality, a gift our Jesuit friends share with all people who seek God--a gift that has great power to assist us in discerning God's desire for our lives. I buy this book in bulk to give to friends and spiritual direction clients--that's how much I like it.

Matthew Linn, a Jesuit priest, his brother Dennis Linn and sister-in-law Sheila Fabricant Linn are well known writers and retreat speakers, especially in the area of healing life's hurts. In SLEEPING WITH BREAD, the trio looks at the Ignatian prayer practice of the examen and helps readers learn this method of self examination and reflection which can help us become more aware of God's presence in our lives on a daily basis. The book begins with a story of children in World War II England who had to vacate their homes due to fighting. The children had a difficult time falling asleep at night, fearing they would lose their lives. Someone had the idea of giving each child a piece of bread as a means of comfort and the children were able to sleep, knowing that they had food that day and with the bread in hand, they would have bread the next day too. The Linns expand this idea to show how the things in our own lives, those things which sustain us, comfort us one day and give us hope for the next. The book discusses not only the personal examen, but offers suggestions and stories about groups that have used the prayer, families that have grown closer to each other and to God using the prayer, and suggestions for varied ways of using the prayer. The book is easy to read with colorful illustrations which give it an inviting feel which will help the reader identify what is important, hold on to it, and if the spirit if the examen is kept, will see God's presence in daily life.

My husband and I read "Sleeping with Bread" several years ago. It has totally changed our daily prayer time together. The authors have clearly explained several simple approaches which work. We use their plan daily and are really grateful for this little book. I think the plan could also work well for a small prayer group that might meet weekly, though we have not tried this ourselves.

Once again, the Linn brothers and Sheila Fabricant Linn show us the best of the Christian tradition in introducing to us the "examen" -- a prayer form that allows us to discern the manifestations of God in the course of a day. The method is simple -- the effects profound