Brother David Steindl-Rast, OSB, was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1926. He received his PhD from the University of Vienna in 1952 and moved to the United States. In 1953 he joined a Benedictine monastery in the Finger Lakes area of New York, where he still lives today as a senior member. Brother David has been a contributor for several volumes and periodicals, including the Encyclopedia Americana and New Age Journal. His many books include Gratefulness: The Heart of Prayer, A Listening Heart, and The Music of Silence, which was cowritten with Sharon Lebell, as well as writing the introduction to Words of Gratitude for Mind, Body, and Soul, published in fall 2001 by Templeton Press.
