franciscan
Book Review
Mother Mary Agnes SOLI
For Love Alone
ISBN 0-281-05559-9
SPCK, 2003, £7.99
(price at publication
of review)
Reviewed May 2004;
© Copyright, The Society of Saint Francis, 2004
Mother Mary Agnes' fourth book continues the story of her personal journey whilst forming the Society of Our Lady of the Isles (SOLI) on the remote Shetland island of Fetlar. She wanted the book to be about ‘LOVE, that power that motivates our lives,’ and its effect on SOLI. She tells of a wooded hill top in Devon near the Franciscan convent where she began. To this wood she used to escape to be alone with God. Here was born the vision of a community of hermits which she hoped might be for others what the wood had been for her:- ‘a quiet sacred place within which could be grasped the mystery and peace of Christ.’
The rule and principles of SOLI emerge, woven out of stories of boat trips, funerals and every day events. Reflections and musings on experiences and Bible stories about the Holy Family (their life was mostly hidden like that of SOLI) encourage us to see God at work in our own lives. At the centre is God's love. Everything else spins off from this centre. This spiral is the key. Each hermit is spinning off her life out of God's love through a spiral of prayer and service. If we become familiar with our soul centre, we can move into the light of contemplation of God at the busiest of moments.
Amos SSF