Between the Dark and the Daylight: Encountering and Embracing the Contradictions of Life (17 page)

The bank of readers who reviewed the manuscript before its final draft were invaluable, too, not just because they read the text but because they confirmed the notion that the topics treated in this book are, indeed, the underlying issues of modern life. Too much noise, too much isolating silence, too little privacy, too much sense of being alone even in the midst of the suffocating crowds—among all the other omnipresent but unspoken dimensions of life—are so common to modern life. And clearest of all, perhaps, is the need to be able to talk all of these things out with someone who feels the same.

Each of these readers made a special contribution that strengthened the text, of course. But, most of all, they confirmed the value of the topics. They made the struggle to find ways of dealing with these truths worth the effort. I am particularly indebted to Kelly Adamson, Gail
Grossman Freyne, Sara Pitzer, Kathy Schatzberg and Ann Michaud, OSB.

I am, as usual, especially indebted to the team of Benedictine Sisters who make it possible for me to write while they deal with all the day-to-day at the office. They handle all the regular tasks in addition to tasks dealing with the manuscript preparation and the editorial demands that make it possible to present a book to the public, all the while knowing that you have done everything to make it possible for other equally serious readers to make it worth their while to enter this conversation of the human soul.

To them I am forever grateful for this very real contribution to the writing art. Without them as a team, none of this would ever have been possible. Mary Lou Kownacki, OSB, is an editorial sounding board of unequaled depth. Maureen Tobin, OSB, is a personal assistant and office manager of invaluable personal concern and wisdom. She makes the world go round when I get off of it to write. Susan Doubet, OSB, is the mind behind the mind. She scours the files, checks every word, every number, every date, every phone call from every editor, and every reference. And then, after all of that, is still good enough to tell me what doesn’t make sense, however correct it might be.

And finally, to you the reader, who will assess and discuss and arm wrestle these ideas to the ground of the spirit, I am indebted for your contribution to the public discourse on what it means to be a thinking, feeling, fully alive human being.