Holy Spirit Prayer Book (Pauline Books and Media)

Prayer books are an essential part of any Catholic library. I cannot tell you how many different ones I own, but I treasure each one of them. Today, I would like to tell you about one of the latest ones from Pauline Books and Media, called Holy Spirit Prayer Book. The book is a small red leatherette book with gold trimmed pages that fits easily in a pocket. It is divided into several parts - Everyday Prayers, Morning Prayers, Evening Prayers, Novena in Preparation for the Feast of Pentecost, Chaplet of the Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit Rosary, Litany of the Holy Spirit, Praying with the Holy Spirit in Scripture, Various Prayers, and Latin Prayers and Hymns.

The everyday prayers are ones we know - the Sign of the Cross, the Morning Offering, the Angelus, the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary, and other recognizable ones. This serves as a good basis for all prayers that will follow in this book. Of special interest to me was the Holy Spirit Rosary. I have been trying to pray the Rosary more during this Lent, and this version of it uses the following five mysteries:

1. Jesus is conceived of the Blessed Virgin Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit
2. The Spirit of the Lord descends upon Jesus at His Baptism
3. Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit into the desert and is tempted by the devil
4. The Holy Spirit descends upon the Apostles
5. The Holy Spirit dwells within You

The rosary is somewhat familiar in that you will recognize a lot of the mysteries, but it is also somewhat new. That is how I felt throughout this whole book. We say a lot of prayers as Catholics, but unfortunately most of them aren't said to the Holy Spirit. As I have said time and time again, the Holy Spirit is the forgotten member of the Holy Trinity. It is easy to pray to the Father, because we understand the concept of a father. It is easy to pray to Jesus, because He became human, and we can relate to that. It is hard to understand the Holy Spirit, so that is why we have a hard time praying to Him. That's my theory at least. I invite you to pick up a copy of this book, and let's change the trend of neglect of the Holy Spirit. He is a powerful intercessor and ally to have.

This book was provided to me for free by Pauline Books and Media in exchange for an honest review.

Prayers to the Holy Spirit (Word Among Us Press)

Prayers to the Holy Spirit is a pocket-sized book that is near 200 pages, but doesn't feel like it. It spans 75 chapters and contains both reflections and prayers to help you grow closer to the most neglected member of the Trinity - the Holy Spirit. In the Introduction, he explains to us who the Holy Spirit is, when we received Him, and what He does in our life. The subsequent chapters then contain a brief Scripture passage; a reflection (meditation, Church teaching, or personal experience); an application on what you read; a "May you" blessing, which asks for graces; and a prayer starter. Each chapter is approximately two pages, and if you read one a day, it can get you through two-and-a-half months.

The book was a very good introduction to the Holy Spirit. I really appreciated the reflections from Church Fathers, Saints, and Popes. The personal reflections also give you some insight into the author, Bert Ghezzi, and his life. The book, however, was not what I was expecting. I don't know why, but I was expecting a big list of prayers to the Holy Spirit that Mr. Ghezzi gathered throughout the centuries. There is a brief section at the end that does contain actual prayers to the Holy Spirit, but unfortunately it is very brief and only contains four prayers. Overall, I'd give this book four stars.

This book was provided to me for free by The Word Among Us Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes.

The Gift: Discovering the Holy Spirit in Catholic Tradition (Paraclete Press)

What does the Catholic Church teach on the Holy Spirit? What are the Gifts of the Holy Spirit? How does the Holy Spirit work in the Catholic Church? Dr. Schreck, professor at Franciscan University of Steubenville, answers all these questions and more in one of his latest books, The Gift: Discovering the Holy Spirit in Catholic Tradition. The book spans seven chapters (by design, I'm sure) and is approximately 150 pages.

Chapter 1 talks about the Person of the Holy Spirit. Chapter 2 discusses devotion to the Holy Spirit. Chapters 3 and 4 address the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Holiness, respectively. The next two chapters particularly stood out to me and were the ones I found the most interesting. Chapter 5 discussed the Gifts of the Spirit. In addition to discussing the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, Dr. Schreck also explains how "the Holy Spirit is the Gift of God who is God." He then explains the difference between Baptism and Confirmation. In Baptism, we receive the Holy Spirit, but in Confirmation "the faithful are equipped for their apostolate." This chapter is followed by Chapter 6, which discusses the Church, the Holy Spirit, and Mary. A particularly fascinating section explains the difference between Mary and the Holy Spirit. This seems like a no-brainer of a distinction, but it clears up some common misconceptions Protestants have regarding Mary. The last chapter discusses the role of the Holy Spirit in the Church today.

Overall, this was a very well-written book. In it, Dr. Schreck includes numerous references and quotes from saints, popes, the Catechism, etc. There has been a lot of talk about the New Evangelization. However, we tend to overlook the fact that if we are going to have a New Evangelization, we must have a new Pentecost. The only way to accomplish that is to constantly pray for the Holy Spirit's intercession. That is why, as Dr. Schreck points out, that all prayers to the Holy Spirit begin with the word "Come." So in the opening words of the Veni Creator Spiritus, "Come, Creator Spirit, Visit the minds of those who are yours; fill with heavenly grace the hearts that you have made."

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

Living in the Father's Embrace and Holy Spirit, Make Your Home in Me (The Word Among Us Press)

I'm always on Amazon looking ahead at future publications and awaiting the latest books to come out. With so many being published every year though, I am bound to overlook some out of carelessness. Thankfully, my marketing contacts look out for me and suggest books that I might have overlooked. That book I overlooked is Living in the Father's Embrace by: Fr. George Montague. Fr. Montague is a contributor to the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture series. Today, I will be reviewing this book as well as his book Holy Spirit, Make Your Home in Me, just in time for Pentecost.

Living in the Father's Embrace is a 130-page book that contains twenty chapters on the love of God. Each chapter is written with stories that reflect the overall message of the given chapter. Some of these stories are about other people, like Chapter 1, which recounts the reunion of POW Lt. Robert Stirm and his family. Others are personal in nature and reflect on the relationship Fr. Montague had with his father and how it affected his view of God the Father. At the end of each chapter is a prayer and three reflection questions that invite us to ponder the love of God.

It would be too easy, but true nonetheless to say that Chapter 2 related to me pretty accurately. In this chapter, Fr. Montague discusses the Parable of the Prodigal Son. He astutely points out that we can be both sons, the one who is in need of forgiveness and the one who refuses to forgive, at different points in our lives. The part of the elder son is the saddest of the two though, because in choosing not to forgive, he is made a prisoner in his own heart. The chapter which really tugged at my heartstrings was Chapter 5. In this chapter, a mother recounted the children's forgiveness and love of God the Father her children felt after the biological father sexually abused the daughter and abandoned both daughter and son. This chapter was hard to read, but it showed the beauty of children and their willingness to forgive and open their hearts to love again, by God's grace of course.

So many of us claim to have a personal relationship with Jesus, but we tend to ignore God the Father. We either see Him as inapproachable or only reach out to Him when we are in desperate need of assistance. Fr. Montague challenges us in this book to witness the love shared between God the Father and God the Son, aka the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, we are invited to experience the love God the Father and all the Trinity have for each of us. He also invites us to build a personal relationship with God the Father. Though it may not be easy, especially for those who have been hurt by biological Fathers, it is a sweet love that is full of mercy and forgiveness.

The Holy Spirit is the most neglected and forgotten member of the Blessed Trinity. We turn to God the Father when we are in desperate need of help (even though we should turn to Him more), and Jesus is our go-to Person with whom we all claim a personal relationship. Yet, the Holy Spirit gets no love. We think about Him briefly when children are baptized and confirmed and on the Feast of Pentecost, but other than that He's ignored. Fr. Montague looks to correct this in his book Holy Spirit, Make Your Home in Me. Using the Bible as his guideline, Fr. Montague hopes to lead us to know the Holy Spirit more and experience an outpouring of the Gift of the Spirit.

Each chapter is a homily or meditation, which focus on some key attribute or description of the Holy Spirit, like Dove or Fire. A chapter I found to be particularly illuminating was the one entitled Paraclete. In this chapter, Fr. Montague illuminates the idea that "paraclete" implies personhood. Jesus said that One was coming after Him who was like Him. We don't often think of the Holy Spirit as a person, just some "spirit," but He is just as much a Person in the Trinity as God the Father and Jesus. I also enjoyed the chapters which discussed the gifts of the Spirit, particularly the third chapter on this topic. In this chapter, Fr. Montague explains the different types of gifts, which are word gifts and service gifts. He elaborates on what these gifts are, and how to tell if one is doing a job or a ministry.

This was an interesting book and not exactly what I was expecting when I requested this book. It is clear that Fr. Montague has a strong relationship with the Holy Spirit and relies on Him constantly in His ministry of priesthood. Because of this strong relationship, Fr. Montague feels compelled to tell us all about the Holy Spirit in the hope that we too will develop an active and strong relationship with the Holy Spirit. So if you would like to know how to make the Holy Spirit more active in your life, I recommend this book to you.

These books were provided to me for free by The Word Among Us Press. If you found them helpful, click here and/or here, and hit Yes!

Saint Benedict Press: The Gospel of the Holy Spirit: Meditation and Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles

When looking for some reading about the Early Church, most people look for the Early Church Fathers like Clement of Rome or Polycarp of Smyrna. However, I would recommend going a little further back and opening the Bible. You could read some of the Epistles Paul wrote to various churches and note how the issues afflicting those churches are still present today. I personally would recommend starting with the Acts of the Apostles and reading about historic events such as the Martyrdom of Stephen, the Conversion of Saul, and the Council of Jerusalem. When reading any book of the Bible, though, you should read it with the Church's guidance, perhaps with a commentary such as The Gospel of the Holy Spirit.

The Gospel of the Holy Spirit is written by Fr. Alfred McBride, a priest with about 60 years of service and a doctorate in religious education.  He is considered one of the most influential religious leaders of the 20th Century. In this commentary, Fr. McBride starts by dividing the Acts of the Apostles into two separate books - "The Book of Peter," which covers Acts 1 to 13 and "The Book of Paul," which covers Acts 14 to 28. Even though I have read Acts several times, I never noticed this natural division in the book.  Now that I have seen it explained on paper, it makes perfect sense. There are 29 chapters in this book, which means you could work through this book solely over the period of a month. You could also decide to use it in a group study.

I really like that each chapter is broken down into three parts - the commentary, reflection questions, and a concluding prayer that ties in elements of what you just learned. One should always pray when reading the Scriptures, and this helps reinforce that. I always like to try and find a favorite part in a book I review, but that's hard when it comes to commentaries. However, I did find the section on Pentecost (Acts 2:1-12) to be absolutely fascinating. The way Fr. McBride compared the events of that day to different Old Testament events, especially from the book of Exodus, was eye-opening and made me look at the birth of the Church in a whole new light.

If you have never read a book of the Bible before or want to read the Bible deeper, I would recommend reading a synoptic Gospel, preferably Luke first, and then picking up The Gospel of the Holy Spirit   Why Luke? Luke and Acts are essentially two volumes of a larger book, so you will get a fuller picture of the message Luke was trying to convey by reading both, rather than one or the other. I would love it if Fr. McBride would do a book like this one for the Gospel of Luke, because this was a 5-star book. If he doesn't though, one can always take his Catholic Course on The Christ, which covers all four Gospels.

If you found this review helpful, please click this link and hit Yes!

Catholic Thursday: The Holy Spirit Within

Welcome back, my dear readers. We are quickly approaching the end of the Easter Season, which means that we have two BIG Feasts coming up - the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven and the Descent of the Holy Spirit or Pentecost. I was going to complain for a moment about having to celebrate the Ascension on Sunday instead of Thursday to give more people the opportunity to celebrate this Feast. Instead, I will trust the pastoral care of the U.S. to the bishops and just type my book review. It's a great book too. I have been sitting on this book for over a month, as I wanted to not only read it at the appropriate time in the Church Year, but also present it to you at the same time.

The Holy Spirit Within: Homilies at Ascension and Pentecost is composed of six sermons (two for Ascension and four for Pentecost) by St. John of Ávila. Some of you may be wondering, "Who is St John of Ávila?" He was a Spanish priest and mystic from the 1500s who was declared Venerable in 1759, Blessed in 1893, Saint in 1970, and became a Doctor of the Church in 2012. He had great influence on St. Teresa of Ávila, who remarkably became a Saint and Doctor of the Church well before he did.

St. John of Ávila believed, rightly, that the Holy Spirit was the Person of the Trinity that was most misunderstood and most forgotten. These homilies serve the purpose of better explaining who the Holy Spirit is, how and why we should seek His intercession, and how He will help us in our spiritual lives if we just allow Him. My first thoughts when reading his homilies were that this was a brilliant man. However, it also struck me that his congregation must have been very intelligent as well to understand what he was telling them. Although his homilies are long, they are also understandable. He also quotes extensively from both Sacred Scripture and the Fathers of the Church, which I always love to "hear" when reading homilies.

I only have one negative thing to say about this work, and it deals with the presentation of portions of his homilies. There is a ton of Latin interspersed within these sermons. This might not bother you, especially if you are fluent in Latin, but it grew to be a distraction for me. I understand some Latin, but unfortunately I don't read it fluently. Therefore, I believe it would have been better to have the translated portion directly in the text, with a footnote at the end of the homily or the bottom of the page for the exact Latin phrase.

That one complaint aside, I feel spiritually richer having read these homilies. Pope Benedict XVI was truly wise in making St. John of Ávila a Doctor of the Church. I challenge you to pick up this 5 star book and learn what a great Saint had to say about the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised that God would send an Advocate and Comforter in the Holy Spirit, so let's stop neglecting the Holy Spirit and give Him the honor He is due by learning more about Him and praying to Him more.

Click this link or this one and hit Yes if you found this review helpful! Sorry for the double review on Amazon, but I hate when they don't link the physical book with the Kindle edition.