Callender seeks to "provide a guidebook which identifies the beauty spots and hazards of various routes and . . . indicates the likely destination of each" and succeeds admirably. Although the journey metaphor has become a cliche, she uses it effectively in giving the modern person in pain "travelling aids" from Christian history. This is a primer in contemplation for a Christian of any gender or denomination who particularly wants to use their pain as a way to be closer to Jesus Christ, thereby assuaging the suffering (not necessarily the pain) they experience. She is able to condense the message of several classics and make their messages accessible to us.

Christian contemplative history presents a plethora of stories and people from which to choose in charting a modern path. She is very careful to cull the "destructive" from the "creative." One of the signs of the former is when you expect "other people to relate to you primarily through your pain . . . [that] close off the rest of your being and reduce yourself to a figure of pathos. It is a huge mistake and a colossal personal tragedy."

She denounces both those who maximize their pain and suffering and those who deny it. People who wear hair shirts either figuratively or literally are dysfunctional, not holy. Also, the institutions that promote a dualistic perspective of reality or deny that pain exists are a "dead end." Instead, she offers three "lessons" for "creative suffering" and ways to use them: "incorporate suffering into our vocation as Christians," "make positive use of deprivation," and "surrender the delusion that we are masters of our own fates." She calls this "positive" suffering. Callender futhers advises that you should try to control your life in specific ways: find a "rhythm" in your daily life, maintain your body’s fitness and obtain pain control as much as possible, and pray in a disciplined way. This is the antidote for those in chronic pain who must give up various aspects of their lives–mobility, recreation, relationships, work.

The challenge of this path and its redemption lies in obtaining a balance of detaching ourselves from the self and world and attaching to God. The author does not duck the hard issues of good vs. evil; her response is that God "gets his hands dirty with the blood, toil, tears and sweat of human suffering. He doesn’t give us a neat answer to the problem of pain, but he does give us a way to cope with it and an ultimate meaning to it."

She cites three well-known historical figures as the best representatives of this way: St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Teresa of Avila and Brother Lawrence. Her interpretation of these contemplatives is that each found a way to use their suffering for good while getting on with their lives as much as possible. They each found a practical way to be holy. They found ways to make God accessible to them and, through their writings, to others. Last, but not least, Callender admonishes us to have an active sense of humor about our situations, which all three of these forebears did.

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Categories: ClientReviews, MentalHealth, General

Keywords: Chronic pain, Religious life