Heaven in the Hills: How a hidden English Benedictine monastery helped spark “Undaunted Joy” in Shemaiah Gonzalez’s soul

GUILDFORD, UK — American author and essayist Shemaiah Gonzalez has released her latest book, Undaunted Joy: The Revolutionary Act of Cultivating Delight, a luminous collection of essays exploring joy as a resilient and sacred force. What many readers may not expect is that the book’s spiritual heart was partly formed during her transformative stay at a quiet, active Roman Catholic Benedictine monastery nestled in the English countryside—St Augustine’s Abbey, Chilworth, just outside Guildford.

In three of the book’s most moving essays—Joy of Wandering, Joy of Compline and Joy of the Sabbath—Gonzalez vividly recounts her first time at the Abbey, where the rhythm of monastic life, the lyrical chant of psalms and the slow beauty of the Surrey Hills left an indelible imprint on her inner world.

“My inner dialogue was changing,” she writes in Joy of Wandering. “The psalms, which I was spending hours a day praying with the monks, were becoming part of my inner cadence.”

Amid foggy footpaths and ancient oak trees, Gonzalez found not just solace but a reorientation of the soul. Her long walks through Surrey’s countryside became both prayer and pilgrimage, gradually revealing the vital link between joy and love.

“I was discovering on those long prayerful walks how much love is intertwined with joy. How knowing I am loved and believing I am loved, opens me up to Joy. This was fortifying.”

Her reflections culminate in Joy of Compline, where she describes a moment of communal worship that transcended the ordinary, lifting her into the realm of the eternal.

“I had not expected such overwhelming emotion… But I had spent the week praying seemingly alone and was now brought to beautiful fruition in this sea of song. I had a foretaste of heaven.”

Finally, in Joy of the Sabbath, Gonzalez captures the tender mystery of Benediction. When the Abbot unexpectedly sprinkled her with holy water alongside the monks preparing for rest, she felt wrapped in divine care.

“He would not forget me, and I felt the sweet water splash against my forehead. I made the sign of the cross, and gratitude for the Lord’s protection.”

Gonzalez’s Undaunted Joy is not simply a guide to happiness; it’s a testament to joy as a spiritual discipline, nurtured in silence, beauty and belonging. Her time at St Augustine’s Abbey, Chilworth echoes throughout the work, a reminder that joy can be cultivated—even in the quiet cloisters of monastic England.

As readers around the world open her new book, they too may find themselves beckoned toward this revolutionary act of delight.

Undaunted Joy by Shemaiah Gonzalez is available on Amazon here.

St Augustine's Abbey, Chilworth, UK:  31 May 2025