Price: $16.00
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Trim size: 5.38 x 8.25 inches
ISBN: 9781626985926
Imprint: Orbis Books
On-sale date: August 28, 2024
Poems and Prayers for the Later Years of Life
Through the prayers and poems in Vessels of Love, Joyce Rupp addresses a variety of topics related to the last decades of life. Little has been written in regard to the transformative journey of this aging population. The book includes topics related to the acceptance of physical changes, lessening of energy, loss of peers due to death, a growing serenity, expanding gratitude, the joy of grandparenting, self-compassion, reasons for lamenting and for rejoicing. A spirit of kinship, consolation, and reassurance regarding the journey of Elderhood weaves throughout the book. While the content focuses primarily on the experience of older adults, newly retired and younger persons will find many of these creative prayers and poems also speak to their lives.
From the Introduction
“Have you ever thought of yourself as a ‘vessel of love’? This image speaks to what I envision for the elderhood years. …During this lifetime, whether we’ve been aware of it or not, a Presence of immeasurable love has been flowing through our lives, quietly filling the vessel of our inner being. Like vats of matured wine, our ripened goodness has readied itself to move outward. … Now is the efficacious time to tend ‘our tiny vessel’ so this graced goodness strengthens in us and benefits the life of those we encounter.”
“Joyce Rupp’s gentle touch transforms the wisdom years so we can relish—in simple, heartfelt, and uplifting ways—such essential themes as self-compassion, letting go, and sharing our own goodness with hope, gratitude, freedom, and spiritual depth. Vessels of Love is pure gold.”
—Robert Wicks
Author of Let’s Look Together: Henri Nouwen as Spiritual Mentor
“She had me from page one… Who wouldn’t want to become a ‘crucible of kindness’ poured out for others? Not denying the loneliness, pain, regrets, and losses of aging, Joyce Rupp’s prayers and poems celebrate the festival of lights within, an abundance of memories and gifts.”
—Kathy Coffey
Author of A Generous Lap: A Spirituality of Grandparenting
