Strannik
The Call to the Pilgrimage of the Heart
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by Catherine Doherty
Read by Mark Schlingerman
$14.95 USD
2 CDs (Compact Discs), 2 hrs. 30 mins. — Unabridged
Madonna House Publications, 2002
ISBN 978-1-897145-54-8
(Also available in Trade Paperback format.)
Learn how to fulfill the hunger and dream of the pilgrimage that we must all take to unity with God.
‘Strannik’ is Russian for pilgrim, one with a vocation—a unique, holy calling.
Pilgrimage is more than something you ‘do.’ ‘Being a pilgrim’ consumes all of you. The pilgrim is to “be the Gospel and to preach it with his words and with his being.”
In Strannik, Catherine shows that pilgrimage is not just something for a few spiritual ascetics with wanderlust. Even less does it resemble the modern tourist-style ‘pilgrimages’ that try to cover as many holy places as possible in the briefest time possible. Rather, the true strannik begins by looking within the self, where God already is. While the author does tell us about external pilgrimages such as she herself experienced as a child in Russia, the pilgrimages she is writing about are principally interior.
Pilgrimage comes out of a quest for God. Catherine speaks of the “nostalgia for paradise” which all human beings have experienced since Adam and Eve. Without Christ we cannot complete our journey. “Christ was the pilgrim who pilgrimed from the bosom of the Father to the hearts of men and women.”
Written for all Christians, those who have found and those who seek.
This is the pilgrimage of each person’s life.
This unabridged audio edition of Strannik is read by Mark Schlingerman, the director general of men for Madonna House. He is well suited for this reading, having served for many years in the international field houses of the Madonna House Apostolate founded by the author.
Reviews
“Mrs. Doherty's writing is clear, to the point... rich in anecdote and allegory, Strannik is the kind of spiritual and readable book that many will want to give as a gift as well as own.” — The Crux of Prayer
“A vision, a faith, a mystical approach to the hunger and search for a deeper life, the pilgrimage that everyone must take back to God.” — Sisters Today
“Strannik speaks of the everyday outworking of the Christian life, the importance of ordinary things and the duty of the present moment, with the constant opportunity it offers for a new beginning. The style is simple, the message profound.” — Elisabeth Moberly, Sobornost Magazine
About the Author
Catherine Doherty used her heritage as a Russian Christian as a matrix for responding to the needs of Christian life and work in the modern world. Her own personal pilgrimage led her to be “poor with the poor Christ” in the slums of Toronto and in Harlem; and later to the establishing of the world-wide Madonna House Apostolate. A dedicated wife and mother, Catherine was also a prolific writer of hundreds of articles, a best-selling author of dozens of books, a renowned national speaker, and a pioneer of social justice. Catherine Doherty's cause for canonization as a saint is now under consideration by the Catholic Church.
Related Recommendations
- Paperback edition: Strannik: The Call to the Pilgrimage of the Heart by Catherine Doherty
- Waiting for the Presence: The Spirituality of Pilgrimage by Fr. Robert Wild (AudioBook)
- Poustinia: Encountering God in Silence, Solitude, Prayer by Catherine Doherty (Audio)
- Molchanie: Experiencing the Silence of God by Catherine Doherty
- Urodivoi: Holy Fools by Catherine Doherty
