The author, Horia Ion Groza (born in Romania and established in USA in 1986), has a PhD in plant genetics and breeding. He worked 40 years in this domain of scientific research, at a plant research institute, for several bioengineering companies and for the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also an essayist, poet and novel writer and has authored three books of essays on philosophical and social themes, three books on Christian faith and tradition, one volume of poems, one novel and one book of literature critique. All of them have been published in Romanian and were very well received. He was awarded the LiterArt XXI Prize for journalism (1999) and for essays (2002).
The present book offers a lesser known perspective from the Eastern European millenary Christianity. It is largely based on the teachings and the exemplary existence of spiritually enhanced Fathers that produced a profound revelation to the contemporary Orthodox American world, such as several Romanian Fathers and Elders. Their suffering under forty years of atheistic communist regime provided more strength to their life of prayer and helped them reach new and precious insight for the soul of man in the modern era.
The book is an invitation to make life richer and much fuller of sense. This can be accomplished by discovering the eternal, sacred meaning that is hidden behind the temporary, perishable one whose minutes we consume with our chores, efforts, troubles, and worries. We are called to discover the peace God's presence offers beyond the ordinary drama of our existence, a peace and understanding that our souls long for, yet we ignore. The book begins with questions like "Should we believe in God? Is there meaning to our daily life? Why should we live in faith?" It continues with what it actually implies to live a Christian life, and touches on themes such as the goal of a Christian life and the labor within that involves dispassion, virtues, fasting, vigil and prayers. The book ends with the joy of discovering the sacred essence of being: the Holy Trinity above us and its beneficial attributes as it relates to us. Here are some subtitles: "God is Light, He brings sacred existence," "God is Love, He did not create evil," "God is Truth, He is the Savior." Such books are welcome in today's society and their message of love for God and one's neighbor could bring moral improvement, peace and harmony to our vastly troubled world.
"It gives me great joy to see that Horia is publishing his reflections on the spiritual life in a form accessible to English readers. Many conversations and reflections through the years have gone into this book. It stands in continuity with the writings of the great fathers, through the experience of the Romanian elders, into the modern Orthodox spiritual intellectual tradition. I advise the reader not to be misled by the straightforward simplicity of this work. We live in a chaotic and impulsive age that claims to be spiritual without discipline and intellectual without logic. We are not used to systematic, authentic, philosophical reflection. This is the work of a patient thinker, who is first and foremost an Orthodox believer. Horia started this work with the passionate desire to pass on to his family, and then to a world in need, the great treasure he has received. Anyone who desires to approach the spiritual life with sincerity will find treasure here." Rt.Rev.Arch. Mark Melone, St. Joseph Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Lawrence, Massachusetts
