WelCom December 2018:
Annette Scullion
Anne Powell, Joy Cowley and
Mike Fitzsimons at the book launch. Photo: WelCom
A book of spiritual reflections by Joy Cowley was launched on 27 October, at St Joseph’s Church, Mt Victoria, to a room overflowing with family, friends and supporters.
‘In Veil Over The Light – Selected Spiritual Writings, Joy reveals her experience of God who is inclusive, joyous, full of unconditional love, not condemning, and who desires to be in deep and real relationship with us and all of creation,’ writer and poet Sr Anne Powell said at the launch.
The book’s publisher and photographer Mike Fitzsimons explained how the book came to be.
‘Just over a year ago I had a major health challenge. The last thing I would read at night was Joy Cowley’s psalms and reflections. They were simple, grounded, wise, life giving. They filled me with hope. They calmed the choppy waters of my soul.
‘One morning I woke up and thought, these reflections, these wonderful insights into eternal truths that have done the impossible and sent me peacefully off to sleep, have never been published in book form. They have been used in retreats, they have appeared in magazines and online but there is no published collection of them.’
Mike emailed Joy with the idea of publishing her Selected Spiritual Writings. Within a day came Joy’s response, ‘Excitedly yes!’
‘Joy’s great gift as a spiritual writer is to be able to describe in a very compelling way what it is like to experience God for real. Reading her reflections is a journey away from the peripheries of religious practice to the heart of the Christian life, the living water. She sees the light behind the veil, the light that changes everything. Veil Over The Light is written in Joy’s characteristically grounded and compelling prose. I have no doubt its deep spiritual wisdom will speak to people of all ages and circumstances,’ Mike said.
Joy added, ‘This doesn’t happen on my own, it’s all come from so many connections. We are all a product of connection – our body from our ancestors, our soul from God – and I love the connection we have in our Church. I called this book View Over The Light as that’s my experience of creation – a light we come from, a light we return to.’
Veil Over The Light can be purchased at Unity Books, Wellington, or online at Pleroma Books.