Almond Tree Speaks by Murray Bodo

The Almond Tree Speaks

NEW & SELECTED WRITINGS •1974-1994

To celebrate his twentieth year as a published writer, Murray Bodo has woven an all-new title piece, The Almond Tree Speaks, with material from his previous books including Sing Pilgrimage and Exile, Walk in Beauty, Letters From Pleasant Street and Jesus, A Disciple's Search. For this commemorative volume, he collected images from his childhood in the New Mexico desert, his lifelong love of Francis of Assisi, his experiences as a Franciscan among the urban poor and his identity as a committed disciple of Jesus.

"In Murray Bodo, the Franciscan family of North America finds its poet laureate. He offers us not only the richness of his most thoughtful prose, he also invites us into the autobiographical sanctuary of his identity as brother and poet. The Franciscan literary tradition is ennobled by this application of Murray's individual and endearing talent."—Sister Margaret Carney, O.S.F., author of The First Franciscan Woman

"One of the blessings of the autumn years for any writer is the advantage of looking back at previous work and selecting the best of the lot. Murray Bodo has...reached into his treasury of prose and poetry, bringing forth both new and old. It is a superb selection, an ideal bedside book: the best of Bodo."—Brother Patrick Hart, O.C.S.O., general editor of the Merton Journals