{"product_id":"monastery-mornings-my-unusual-boyhood-among-the-saints-and-monks-9781640606494","title":"Monastery Mornings: My Unusual Boyhood Among the Saints and Monks","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eA love letter to a community of Trappist monks who provided family when it was needed the most. \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e This warmhearted memoir describes how a small, insecure boy with a vibrant imagination found an unlikely family in the company of monks at Holy Trinity Abbey, in the mountains of rural Latter-day Saint Utah. Struggling with his parents' recent divorce, Michael O'Brien discovered a community filled with warmth, humor, idiosyncrasies, and most of all, listening ears. Filled with anecdotes and delightful \"behind the scenes\" descriptions of his experiences living alongside the monks as they farmed, prayed, buried their dead, ate, and shared the joys of life, \u003ci\u003eMonastery Mornings\u003c\/i\u003e speaks to the value of spiritual fatherhood, the lasting impact of positive mentoring, and the stability that the spiritual life can offer to people of all ages and walks of life. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Thanks to my mother, I first came to the abbey in 1972 at age eleven, uncertain of whether I had a father. More than ten years later, I left the monastery as a grown man with at least a dozen of them. My past, my present, and my future were shaped, forever and for the better, by my decade as a boy monk. I drove home as night fell.\" \u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"\u003ci\u003eMonastery Mornings\u003c\/i\u003e is a love letter to the monks of the abbey. The men who quietly went about the work and faith were role models, counselors, friends, and often refuges. They provided a family structure, stability, and the fatherly love O'Brien missed with his own father. And he tells a wonderful story of how that shaped his life.\" -- \u003cb\u003eGlenn Young\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMichael Patrick O'Brien\u003c\/b\u003e is a Catholic writer and lawyer living in Salt Lake City. He is married to Vicki, a preschool teacher, and they have three adult children. Learn more about him at theboymonk.com. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Paraclete Press (MA)","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50613360853266,"sku":"9781640606494","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_b13b1551-8877-4bcb-ae86-67784b2e9a35.jpg?v=1732397370","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/monastery-mornings-my-unusual-boyhood-among-the-saints-and-monks-9781640606494","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}