Catholic Thursday: With Christ - An Anthology of the Writings of Blessed Columba Marmion

Welcome back! I am always amazed by the generosity of publishers, both big and little, in allowing me to review their books for free. In fact, I often worry that I am going to run out of books to review, so I like to make a calendar and map out what I am going to review and when. In the middle of April, it looked like I was going to run out of books in the first week of May. Fast forward two weeks, and I am now swimming in books. It is truly a great problem to have! I now have my review calendar planned out, and I have enough books to get me through the end of June. Today's book review is brought to you by Angelico Press.

With Christ - An Anthology of the Writings of Blessed Columba Marmion, compiled by Dom Raymund Thiabut, O.S.B., draws from three of Blessed Columba Marmion's works - "Christ, the Life of the Soul," "Christ in His Mysteries," and "Christ, the Ideal of the Monk." It also has selections from his letters in "Union with God." For those of you unfamiliar with Blessed Columba Marmion, like myself before reading this work, he was an Irish monk in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in the year 2000 and was considered one of the most popular and influential writers of the 20th Century.

This anthology is divided into six parts:

• Jesus Christ and His Work of Redemption
• We Co-Operate in Christ's Work of Redemption by Sharing in His Passion
• On Human Misery and Some Forms of Trial and Suffering
• The Fecundity of Suffering Accepted in a Christian Spirit
• Facing Death, the Supreme Trial
• Our Sharing in the Eternal Glory of Christ

Each of these parts is made up of carefully selected passages from Blessed Columba Marmion's works.  The passages range in length from a paragraph to a couple of pages. I initially made the mistake of trying to read straight through Part One, "Jesus Christ and His Work of Redemption." After about a dozen pages, I realized that I needed to slow down and reflect on each passage. Overall, I felt that the most fascinating and beautiful section dealt with "How Suffering Leads to Life" as it pertains to human suffering purifying the soul to lead us to eternal life. We tend to try and avoid suffering or get it over with as quickly as possible, but this section teaches and reminds us that suffering has a purpose.

This is a 5 star introduction to Blessed Columba Marmion and his writings. However, these select passages were just the tip of the iceberg and made me long to read some of his complete works. So pick up this book, or some of his complete works available at Angelico Press. Read them, meditate on them, and pray for the canonization of  Blessed Columba Marmion.

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Catholic Courses: The Christ - A Faithful Portrait of Jesus from the Gospels

I find that, now that I am out of college, I wish I could return. I have two degrees, a Bachelors in Psychology and a Masters in Business Administration. I didn't particularly enjoy getting either degree, but I needed the MBA, because a Bachelors in Psychology isn't worth the paper it is written on. If I could do it again or had the spare income, I'd major in Theology. Unfortunately, I do not. Fortunately, there is a place called Catholic Courses where you can buy DVDs or CDs and essentially take a university level course at a fraction of the cost. The selection isn't limited to Theology courses either. They have history, literature, philosophy, etc. All are taught through the lens of the Catholic Church though.

The course I completed recently was entitled The Christ: A Faithful Picture of Jesus from the Gospels. In this course Father Alfred McBride presents 8 different talks, each approximately 30 minutes long, on different aspects of Jesus' life and ministry from the four Gospels. There are two classes from each Gospel with Fr. McBride focusing on some of the key aspects that make each particular Gospel unique from the others. For example, one of the major theme of John's Gospel is the divinity of Jesus, and one of the central messages of Matthew's Gospel is the Sermon on the Mount. You can see an Introduction for this course in the short video below.



There are several different ways one can "take" this class. None of them are wrong, but some are more fruitful than others. Since the classes are only 30 minutes each, you could knock all eight out in four hours, which I did. However, I also went back and watched two classes a week, one on Tuesday and one on Thursday. I then read some of the recommended reading, including on the disc to deepen each 30 minute session. It was like homework. I highly recommend treating this like a real college course. You will only get as much out of these courses as you put in them.

This is a great product, and Catholic Courses is doing a huge service to the Church by offering an affordable way to educate Her members. They looked and felt like I was taking a real course, and Fr. McBride is an excellent speaker and very knowledgeable on the subject of Jesus. The best way I can determine on how to rate a product of this nature is the, "Would I take another one?" factor. The answer is an emphatic yes. I plan on next taking The First 500 Years: The Fathers, Councils, and Doctrines of the Early Church, since I love Patristics! Check back in a month for my review of that one.