by Annabelle Moseley
Reviewed by Francis Etheredge
Annabelle Moseley’s own words sum up the more than implicit spiritual marriage that can come into the life of a Christian family when she speaks, in her own words, of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane: “I’ll share this cup too. Not just in the sweet – but in the bitter, like a marriage vow” (IV).
Annabelle’s book begins personally, immediately drawing me in; and, as she sustains this autobiographical work, we are invited to see that this is a long-rooted and fruitful spiritual growth.
The warp and weft, between actual and spiritual gardening, has clothed a word for the whole family, including the children. She weaves in and around and through the Garden of Gethsemane to the Garden of the Resurrection! Each chapter draws, briefly, on a variety of flowers: St. Padre Pio, an assortment of saints, and Moseley’s own prayer-poems; and her well cultivated work forms the main bed from which, as we read on, we can transplant a variety of graced-gifts. However, like any family life and garden, there are the “weeds”, what we do not want to breed, like grumpiness and inhospitality; and, therefore, this is a book which is realistic about these daily pressures and sores, recommending as she does the sacrament of reconciliation, reconciling us with God and with each other. The “Holy Hour in the Home” that Annabelle recommends, is a homely centrepiece of the Domestic Church in an embracing ‘Cling’ (p. 126) to the liturgy of the whole Church; indeed, as the word ‘cling’ suggests, reminding us of Adam and Eve’s embrace (cf. Gen. 2: 24; and Ephesians 5: 32) her work is espousing a spousal love of Christ and His Church. In the end, ‘the site of the Agony is also the site of greater Glory’ (p. 146).
In all this is a book which develops the liturgy of the “Domestic Church” and, perhaps in a modest way, it opens up the liturgical life of the family somewhat like the rule of St. Benedict for the monastic family. If, then, you are not already immersed in a rule of life, I invite you to consider this “domestic rule” rule and, as you go through its pages, to take on more and more of Annabelle Moseley’s lived recommendations for the domestic Church.
by Francis Etheridge, father of 11, 3 of whom are in heaven and author of 17 books: francisetheredge.online