A Biblical Walk Through the Mass (Ascension Press)

A Biblical Walk Through the Mass is one of the shortest study programs offered by Ascension Press, weighing in at five lessons. However, don't let the length of this study fool you. It is also one of their most important and powerful study programs. The program is led by Dr. Edward Sri, who also did the study programs Mary; A Biblical Walk with the Blessed Mother and the upcoming Follow Me: Meeting Jesus in the Gospel of John. In the beginning of the Leader's Guide, there is some background information on the course and a method on how to effectively lead people through this study. The lessons are then as follows:

Week 1 - Introduction
Week 2 - The Introductory Rites
Week 3 - The Liturgy of the Word
Week 4 - The Liturgy of the Eucharist: Preparation of the Gifts and Eucharistic Prayer
Week 5 - The Liturgy of the Eucharist: Communion Rite; The Concluding Rites

The Introduction begins with the question, "Do you ever wish you could 'get more' out of Mass?" I'm not sure if everyone has wondered this before, but I sadly have. We then are provided with what the Mass is, why it is so important, and an overview/outline of the Mass. The rest of the lessons walk us through the different parts of the Mass, including the Sign of the Cross, Opening Greeting, Act of Penance, the Kyrie, the Gloria, The Collect, the Readings, the Homily, and all the parts of the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Apart from just explaining to us each part on a basic level, Dr. Sri dives deep into the Bible to show us exactly where to find each part of the Mass. There is an optional lesson, which takes place after the above mentioned five where the group goes to Mass together and then meets for a meal afterwards to discuss how their view of the Mass has changed after this program. I highly recommend getting your group to do this, because it ties a nice bow on the package.

I have read a lot of books by Dr. Sri and also taken another study of his. He is an excellent teacher, who makes difficult concepts accessible and makes you want to learn more about your faith. You walk away from a lesson not realizing how quickly the time passed and wishing that the lesson was not over. If you have never attended or even led a study program, I highly recommend this one for both the length and affordability of it. At $79, it's a steal, and with only five lessons you could cover this in just over a month. The length is just enough to get people used to the idea of a study program without feeling like they have to commit a quarter of the year to one. It also lets you see if you want to attend more studies, and if you do, Ascension Press has a lot of great ones. I highly recommend it. If you'd like to see a little sample, check out the video below.



This program was provided to me for free by Ascension Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

On the Family and Love Unveiled (Ignatius Press)

On the Family is a 120 page book, which contains 28 General Audiences given by Pope Francis from December 17, 2014 to September 16, 2015. The talks began shortly after the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family in October 2014. Each talk is approximately four pages long and serve as the middle period between the Extraordinary Synod in October 2014 and the Ordinary Synod in October 2015. Pope Francis begins by talking about Nazareth and the Holy Family. He then takes a methodical approach to the topic of family by discussing individual roles in the family including mother, father, children, siblings, grandparents, etc. He then discusses the topics of male and female, marriage, death, wounded families, and of course evangelization.

The General Audience on Community I found most enlightening. We tend to think of our families as those we are related to by blood. However, Pope Francis reminds us that the Church is our spiritual family. All who believe in Jesus are part of the brotherhood, the Kingdom of God. Pope Francis also instructs that Jesus formed His own family by surrounding Himself with the Apostles, i.e., Peter and John. However, He also surrounded Himself with tax collectors, the elderly, the sick, and the margins of society. This book was a very quick read, because Pope Francis delivers a message that is straightforward and easily understood. Due to the approachable nature of his talks, one could read this book an hour or two at most, but they would miss the chance for reflection and meditation. I therefore recommend that you read through one chapter/talk per day. This will mean you finish the book in a month, but it will also give you proper time to chew on and digest the message.

DVD Study Programs have revolutionized the way we can share the Catholic faith with others. There have been some great ones produced, including Catholicism and Symbolon. Unfortunately, not everyone has the time or resources to commit to these studies. Dr. Sri took that into account when he wrote the book Love Unveiled, which is based on Symbolon. In this book, Dr. Sri explains the Catholic faith in a way that few have tried to do. The main premise of the book isn't the tradition or rituals of the Catholic Church. (Though, they are important.) Instead, he tells us "The Catholic Church stands for the God who is madly in love with you, who has a plan for you and wants you to be happy - the God who even sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die for you, who wants to forgive you and help you in your life, and who, most of all, wants an intimate, personal relationship with you so that you can be with him forever in heaven." Re-read that and let it sink in. If every Catholic could adopt that message and share that message, we could set the world on fire!

The book is sixteen chapters long and covers all the tenets of the Catholic faith. It discusses who God is, Divine Revelation, Mary, the Sacraments and so much more. However, instead of a dry presentation of this is what we believe and this is why we believe it, Dr. Sri presents all these aspects through the lens of God's love. For example, people can choose to look at the cross as a torture device, but we instead look at it as the ultimate symbol of love. Some might choose to look at Confession as unnecessary or even an invasion of privacy. Why do they need it if they can just go to God and confess their sins? Instead, the Church views it as a loving way to reconcile man with God and His Church. As you can see from just these two examples, love is the underlying theme of this book and of the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, too many people have forgotten that truth.

Dr. Sri has a way of explaining the faith that makes it simple without taking away the profound nature of it all. If you are in an RCIA program, new to the faith, or just looking to deepen your appreciation of the Catholic faith, then this is the book for you. It is highly recommended for all and would make a great gift for graduating seniors who might be moving away for the first time ever.

These books were provided to me for free by Ignatius Press in exchange for honest reviews. If you found these reviews helpful, please click here and/or here and hit Yes!

Mary: A Biblical Walk with the Blessed Mother (Ascension Press)

As a former Protestant, a Southern Baptist to be exact, Mary one was of my biggest hurdles coming into the Catholic Church.  Looking back on it, I feel really stupid having such a hard time accepting her. It's not like she was any less in my Protestant New Testament than in the Catholic New Testament. In fact, the Protestant New Testament has the same number of books as the Catholic New Testament. It is their Old Testament that is lacking sadly, but I digress. Despite my acceptance of Mary as my mother, I unfortunately am not as close to her as I would like to be. The knowledge is there. The prayers are there. But through no fault of hers, the emotional connection and reliance is still lacking. That's why I was very pleased to receive the opportunity to review the latest Ascension Press study program called Mary: A Biblical Walk with the Blessed Mother.

Mary: A Biblical Walk with the Blessed Mother is a 4 disc/8 lesson program led by Dr. Edward Sri. The Catholic Church has a lot of great theologians at the moment. Pope Benedict XVI is par excellence in my mind, but other great ones include Dr. Scott Hahn, Dr. Peter Kreeft, and Dr. Edward Sri. I've only discovered Dr. Sri in the past few years, but he is very approachable in the way he teaches, and I quickly learned that if you want to learn about Mary, he's one of the top sources to go to. This study is based on his 2013 book Walking with Mary. The contents of the 8 lessons are as follows:

1. Introduction
2. The Annunciation
3. The Visitation
4. The Nativity
5. The Presentation and The Finding in the Temple
6. The Wedding at Cana
7. Mary at the Cross
8. Mary Crowned with Glory

Each lesson is approximately 30 minutes long and is filmed on site with the exception of her being crowned in glory in Heaven. If that was in this study program, it'd carry a much higher price tag. :) What you do get to see are the place Mary lived before Joseph, the cave where Jesus was born, the place where Jesus was crucified. These aren't grainy videos or videos shot far away behind a chain-link fence. They are high quality, up-close access videos that if you haven't been to the Holy Land (like myself) will take your breath away. They remind me a lot of the Catholicism series in terms of visual beauty, which is the recent gold standard in Catholic DVD study programs. I would argue the material is better, but perhaps I'm biased. The presentation quality also shows how much effort we have made in keeping up with the latest in technology, even in the last 5-10 years, to help with the New Evangelization and spreading the Faith to all corners of the world. You can see the official trailer below.

The material in the DVDs and the Study Binder is top-notch. When you have a brilliant mind, like Dr. Sri, presenting on a topic they are an expert on, you run the risk as a presenter to only reach 1%. By this I mean, you run the risk of alienating 99% of your audience and only the top 1% grasp what you are saying. I had this problem in college with a professor or two. Fortunately, Dr. Sri is not that type of teacher. He is engaging and approachable. He takes you on a journey and shows that he not only has a brilliant mind when it comes to Mary, but a deep devotion to her as well. The binder is very well-organized. The questions in it lends themselves to discussion easily, and it is a perfect complement to the DVD series.

I was highly impressed with this series, and cannot recommend it to you enough. It definitely made me feel closer to the Blessed Mother after completing it, and I hope to continue to grow closer to her still. It also had a grand scale pilgrimage feel to it. Many of us either can't afford to go on one or don't have the time. This was not an exact substitute for one, but it was the next best thing. Looking back at all the topics, it was like walking through the Rosary in some ways, so I have also developed a new appreciation for the Rosary as well. On a scale of 1-10, I give this series an 11, and advise all Bible Study leaders, Pastors, and Directors or Religious Education to purchase this.

This program was provided to me for free by Ascension Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

Promise and Fulfillment (St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology)

Promise and Fulfillment is the 8th Volume in the Letter and Spirit series. For those of you unfamiliar with the Letter and Spirit series, it is an annual journal series of Catholic Biblical Theology with Dr. Scott Hahn as the editor. I am proud to say that I own all released volumes, and the first thing I do when I receive the volume is flip it over and read the list of contributors on the back cover. Like the volumes before it, Promise and Fulfillment contains articles by Dr. Hahn, Dr. Edward Sri, Dr. Sean Innerst, and Dr. Brant Pitre to name a few. I knew from those names alone that this Volume was not going to disappoint.

The whole of this volume addresses the Old Testament and New Testament, how they relate to each other, and how the New Testament fulfills the Old Testament. For example, Dr. Pitre talks about Jesus' Messianic Wedding Banquet and compares it to a banquet thrown by King Hezekiah in 2nd Chronicles. Dr. Sri discusses the Marian typology of Mary as Daughter Zion and Queen Mother. Both of these can be found in numerous Old Testament passages. Particularly of interest to me in this article was the idea of Queen Mother. I have recently learned that in ancient times, because the king had numerous wives, but only one mother, the mother was in fact the queen, not a wife. For that reason, Jesus' queen would be His own mother, Mary. Explaining this to Protestants might open their minds and hearts more to Mary and hopefully erase some of their prejudices.

It's hard to pick a favorite article in this volume as each was well-written and full of high theology. However, I did enjoy reading Dr. Leroy Huizenga's article, "The Tradition of Christian Allegory Yesterday and Today." I learned about the School of Alexandria and their use of Christian allegory several years ago and have been fascinated by it every since. Unfortunately, most Christian scholars look down on allegory, so it was refreshing to read a modern-day defense of it. Dr. Huizenga wasn't saying that we should abandon all other forms of interpretation, nor was he saying to use only the the historical-critical method. Instead, he advocates use of the four senses method described in the Catechism paragraphs 115-119 and shows the use of allegorical interpretation in the West from Sts. Irenaeus, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas. He also spends some time highlighting allegorical passages in the New Testament, particularly Luke 24:13-35, which deals with Jesus on the road to Emmaus.

Promise and Fulfillment may only be 245 pages, but it packs a punch. You can tell that each article was carefully researched and written to provide the reader a detailed link between the Old and New Testament. Like the previous volumes in this journal series, it is worthy of a 5-star rating. However, it is not for the beginning Catholic to pick up and read. This food is spiritual meat for the advanced Catholic looking to grow deeper and more fully in his understanding of the Catholic faith. Therefore, if you pick up this journal, I recommend a slow and careful chewing so that you may fully digest every word.

This book was provided to me for free by the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!