'Retreat.' The word itself is alive with possibilities - and fears. To break the pattern of routine may be to discover new freedom. But it may also mean finding that our lives are confused and empty without it; that our very life has slipped out from under the patterns of our days. The promise of retreat is that there 'is' an enduring center to our lives, and that we can find it. Replete with readings, journaling suggestions, stories, insights, exercises, and prayers, 'The Recollected Heart' provides all the tools and inspiration necessary for anyone to construct a meaningful retreat at home or in a special silent place. Here is an essential guidebook for all who seek refreshment, revisioning, and spiritual renewal in the midst of hectic lives and a chaotic world. Philip Zaleski is a lecturer at Wesleyan University and Smith College and is a Benedictine oblate.

He is also senior editor of 'Parabola' magazine. "'Retreat'. is a richly textured affair, harboring something of exploration, something of escape, and something of life-and-death struggle. Retreat is neither whim nor luxury nor self-indulgence, but a rock-bottom staple of a healthy life." (from 'The Recollected Heart') "With skill, tact, reverence, and enormous creative imagination Philip Zaleski has done what I would have thought to be impossible: he has actually established the atmosphere of a powerful monastic retreat weekend within the pages of a book." ANDREW M. GREELEY.