The Encounter (Saint Benedict Press)

Every Lent, I get asked for recommendations on what to read by my friends. I take this as high praise, as that is why I write this blog. I want people to ask me for advice about books, because I love books, and I love connecting people to the right book. For my Lent, I have two books I will be reading and meditating over. If you regularly read my blog, then you know the first book is 40 Days, 40 Ways. The other book, which I will be reviewing today, is The Encounter by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi.

The Encounter is a genre of books that I have been gravitating toward lately. They aren't an official genre, but they are retreats given to the papal household every Lent (and sometimes Advent). I like to read these books, even if they are a bit difficult, for two reasons. Reason #1 is that there are so many introductory Catholicism books, it's nice to see one in the intermediate to advanced section. Reason #2 is that reading these books makes me feel like I was there when the retreat was given. I get to read what the Pope heard, and if it's good enough for him and edifying for him, then it must be for me too! The Encounter is the last papal retreat given to Pope Benedict XVI, and as I hold a special place in my heart for Pope Benedict, that makes this book all the more special to me.

In his book The Encounter, Cardinal Ravasi takes on a two-fold journey through the Psalter. The first path is upward and makes up the first part of the book, the Face of God. The second path is downward to see the Face of Man. Ravasi says that these two intersect at the crossroads of prayer. He then begins by explaining the four verbs of prayer. They are breathe, think, struggle, and love. He asks such simple questions to make profound points. "Why do I breathe? Because otherwise I would die. It is the same way with prayer." Ravasi then goes on to quote theologian Yves Congar who also spoke on this theme of prayer as breath. "If one lives in an environment of foul air, all of life is saddened; this is what happens with prayer, which needs a pure atmosphere, free from outside distractions, haloed in silence." These profound comparisons continue for the other three verbs with Mary's pondering things in her heart being the example for think; Jacob's nighttime wrestling being the example for struggle; and the intimacy with which we call God, Abba as the example for love. Ravasi then shows us several other places we see the Face of God, including the Word, the cosmos, the Jewish Temple, history and Jesus. Part Two, The Face of Man, talked about issues of human fragility, healing, and forgiveness to name a few of the topics discussed.

I was warned before reading this book that it was deep, and the person warning me was spot on. Ravasi references art, fiction, poetry, music, Jewish references, and Islamic references. Despite this wide array of deep references, Ravasi's expertise on the Psalms shines. He not only shows us his love for God, but also God's love for us! He also ably demonstrates God's eternal and constant call for use to draw closer to Him, and the best way to draw closer to Him is through breathing, thinking, struggling, and loving in prayer. This is a book I will be revisiting again through the season of Lent, reading it more slowly; meditating on it more deeply. If you are looking for a challenging, but fruitful Lenten read, I highly recommend this work. Just take your time, and don't be ashamed to re-read the chapters two and three times each so that it all soaks in!

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

The Ancient Faith Prayer Book and The Epistle to the Hebrews (Ancient Faith Publishing)

The Ancient Faith Prayer Book is compiled and edited by Archimandrite Vassilios Papavassiliou, author of several other Ancient Faith titles including Meditations for Advent, Meditations for Great Lent, Meditations for Holy Week, and my favorite Thirty Steps to Heaven. The book begins with instructions from St. Theophan the Recluse on how to use this prayer book. At the end of the book is a calendar of Feasts and Fasts, as well as dates for Pascha for the next decade. In between these useful "bookends" is the spiritual meat of the text - the Prayers.

The prayers are a blend of ancient prayers and contemporary editions. You will recognize the Trisagion Prayers, Morning Prayers, Evening Prayers, Prayers of Thanksgiving, Prayers Before and After Communion, and the Odes. There are also prayers Before and After Work and Before Using the Internet. There are a lot of prayers related to conception, pregnancy, labor, and miscarriages, which is understandable as married couples want (rightfully so) children. The most interesting section to me was St. Chrysostom's Prayers for Every Hour of the Day. I'm not sure I will be able to, but praying these prayers is a goal I would like to set for myself. This is a very useful prayer book for Orthodox, especially, but for others as well. I personally plan to use this prayer book going forward and recommend you pick up a copy and do likewise. Five stars.

The Epistle to the Hebrews is the latest and perhaps last volume of The Orthodox Bible Study Companion Series. The format stays true to previous volumes in that it includes both Biblical text and commentary from Fr. Lawrence Farley. I have been awaiting this volume for a while, because this epistle was always a bit confusing to me for two reasons. Number One, people often misattribute its authorship to St. Paul, and it bugged me that we didn't know who wrote it. Secondly, it was written to a Jewish audience of that time, and since I am not Jewish some of the finer details of this epistle puzzled me.

Fr. Farley however masterfully works his way through this epistle, which explains to us the importance of Jesus. We (and the Hebrew people back then) learn that Jesus is superior to the angels; greater than Moses; like Melchizedek; that He is High Priest of all of Heaven and Earth; and that we must continue to follow Him, even in times of persecution. My favorite part in these books is always the excurses (detailed side notes). Here, Fr. Farley talks about subjects such as the sacrifice of Christ and the Eucharist. Abolition of the Old Covenant, and the Wrath of God. This volume did not disappoint. I feel more knowledgeable having read it, and am glad I received it to complete my collection of this series. I hope that Fr. Farley will consider a new series for the Old Testament, but understand if he will not. A great book and a perfect commentary for anyone, not just the scholarly. Five stars.

If you are looking to deepen your prayer life and your knowledge of Scriptures, you'll want to pick up these two books, as well as some more volumes of The Orthodox Bible Study Companion Series. You won't be disappointed! It is also about that time to order your calendars for 2015, so check out their Icon Calendar, which features a dozen stunning icons of the Theotokos. These books were provided to me for free by Ancient Faith Publishing.

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.

Thirsting for Prayer (Scepter Publishers)

If you look at the religious section of any bookstore, you will find hundreds of books on prayer. Some are very short, and some rival Moby Dick in terms of length. With all these books on prayer, why would we need anymore? Fr. Jacques Philippe asks this very question at the beginning of his latest book Thirsting for Prayer. His answer was that he "recently felt impelled to write this present book, in the hope that it could help certain people to persevere along the path of personal prayer or to start out on it." I'm not sure about you, but I certainly am the intended audience for this book. The book is divided into five parts:

• What is at Stake in Prayer?
• Conditions for Prayer to be Fruitful
• The Presence of God
• Practical Advice for Personal Prayer
• Prayer of Intercession

Though all of the parts were interesting in their own regard, the one that I enjoyed the most was "Practical Advice for Personal Prayer." It starts out by explaining that "we cannot unite ourselves to God in times of prayer if we are not seeking to be united to him in all our other activities." Fr. Philippe next instructs to pray at a particular time of the day to establish a rhythm. Other helpful advice is given including properly starting and ending of prayer, the body of prayer, meditating on Scripture, the Rosary, and the Jesus Prayer. This was a very useful section, but I just wish more information had been given on both the Jesus Prayer and the Rosary as these can both be useful "tools" in our prayer life, when prayed correctly.

Overall, this was a very good book on prayer. If you have never read Fr. Philippe's books before, this is a good one to start with. Why? It is brief, but powerful.. There are not a lot of chapters, and to make reading even easier, the chapters are sub-divided into smaller manageable bites of information. I wouldn't say that this is the only book that you ever need to read on prayer, but I would definitely say it deserves to be on your shelf of books on prayer and would definitely recommend it. Be sure to check out other books by Fr. Philippe (also available from Scepter Publishers), like Interior Freedom or The Way of Trust and Love.

This book was provided to me for free by Scepter Publishers in exchange for an honest review. If you found this book 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!

The Little Oratory (Sophia Institute Press)

There is not one among us who couldn't stand to pray more and pray better. That is why thousands of books have been written on the subject of prayer. The Little Oratory is one of the latest ones to be released, and it is billed as a beginners guide to prayer in the home. But what exactly is an oratory? If it wasn't for the definition in the first chapter, I would had to have
Googled the word to know that it means a sacred space for prayer and private worship. Before telling us how to build this little oratory, the book first expounds on the Christian life and the importance of family life in the home.

The authors then give advice on how to order and organize the house, room by room. For example, the master bedroom is meant to be ordered and neat. It is okay to have a crib in it, but all the items for the baby including diapers and toys must be in a certain place, and not strewn about. That's nice in a magazine, but not always practical. I do agree with the authors when they say that the living room or den need not be centered around the television, and I also agree that shelves provide great assistance no matter what room of the house. We then begin the chapter of making and placing the home altar. Included in the chapter on "Making the Little Oratory at Home" is tips for linens, candles, prayerbooks, etc. All of these tips are fine, but I disagree with their section on iconography. The author's equate iconography to just another form of art and put it on equal ground with Western art, like Michaelangelo. Iconography is more than art, and it is not even about creating "beautiful art." Icons are prayer and designed to aid in worship. That is why they have specific rules when being written. They should also never be framed, as suggested by the authors. So yes icons are better than Western art and different than Western art.

The next few chapters deal with praying and reading Scripture. We are given an overview of the Liturgical Year and each individual season in one chapter. In the next chapter, the reader receives a crash course on praying the Liturgy of the Hours. Included in this chapter are the importance of the Liturgy of the Hours, as well as versions one can use online or buy. Unfortunately, there is no instruction on how to actually pray the Liturgy of the Hours, and this is not a prayer rule you can just pick up and figure out on your own. It's a bit complicated, and I would recommend the book The Everyday Catholic's Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours if you are serious about learning how to pray it. Chapter 7, "Devotion," details each month of the year and the special devotion associated with each, i.e., May being devoted to Mary. Chapter 8 discusses praying the Rosary and the value of it.

There are some closing chapters, which include difficulties you may encounter as well as encouragement to not only transform your home life, but to transform the world. The book then contains eight appendices. Some of them I found very helpful like "Devotion to Mary" and "The Sacred Heart." However, I found the appendix on the "Jesus Prayer" a bit troublesome. The authors were correct in what the prayer is and how the prayer is prayed, but they don't demonstrate knowledge otherwise in this prayer. There is a passing clause about people praying this prayer a set number of times, under guidance of a spiritual elder. However, they flippantly mention the breathing exercises associated with this prayer. This prayer can be very dangerous without supervision from a spiritual elder, especially when trying to adapt the breathing and postures that are associated with it.

Overall, I am very conflicted by this book. I found myself disagreeing with as much as I agreed with. There are parts that are absolutely brilliant and parts that I absolutely object to. So I guess I would recommend you to read this book carefully. You do not have to adopt everything mentioned in this book. If you find a section troubling or if something seems impractical to you, discuss it with your spiritual advisor.

This book was provided to me for free by Sophia Institute Press.

The Ascetic Lives of Mothers and One Flesh (Ancient Faith Publishing)

Mother's Day is next week. Every year, it gets harder to figure out what to get your mother or wife. Flowers are overpriced and candy only lasts so long. How about getting them a book or two this year? Today, I'll be reviewing two books from Ancient Faith Publishing. One is dedicated strictly to mothers, and the other is dedicated to marriage. Consider picking up one or both for the woman in your life, and some flowers or candy, because women still like those things too. Onto the reviews!

The Ascetic Lives of Mothers is an intimidating title. My wife took one look at the book didn't like the word ascetic in it. Thankfully, the author, Annalissa Boyd, explains how motherhood is like asceticism on the first page. "Like the ascetics, mothers find themselves in a situation that requires their utter devotion, self-denial, daily emotional exercises, facing extreme challenges and much prayer." She follows this up with the two "rules" of motherhood. 1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. 2. Love your neighbor as yourself. We then are presented with the virtues needed for motherhood (and life in general) - Humility, Liberality, Chastity, Mildness, Temperance, Happiness, and Diligence.

We then get to the meat of this book - PRAYER! Chapters Two through Nine provide mothers with prayers for every occasion. There are daily prayers; prayers in times of trouble; prayers for the sick, dying, and dead; confession and the Beatitudes; prayers of blessing and thanksgiving; prayers through the stages of motherhood; prayers for godchildren and "bonus" children; and prayers for the future. You might recognize or know a lot of these prayers, but Mrs. Boyd did a nice job of compiling them and organizing them in one place for easy reference when words escape you. She also includes ample Scripture passages and quotes from the great saints before us with many of our prayers, which I greatly appreciated. I also loved that scattered throughout the book are brief biographies on saints who were mothers, like St. Anna, St. Elizabeth. and St. Sophia to name a few.

This is a solid book on prayer and full of prayers. In fact, one could argue that this book is unoriginal. However, I would say that is not a bad thing, as originality can lead to heresy. And sure, you could find a lot of these prayers in other prayer books or online, but they aren't specifically geared for mothers, nor are they thematically arranged.  So while I might not be the target audience for this book, I can see the value in it. This would make a great birthday, Mother's Day, or just because gift for your mother and/or wife.

One Flesh is an examination of marriage and sexuality in the Orthodox Church. It is written by Fr. Lawrence Farley, who is also the author of the Orthodox Bible Study Companion series. He begins the book by questioning and examining why popular culture believes the Church has such a negative view of sex. He also points out the popular argument of almost all our Saints being celibate, and wonders why so few married people are venerated and honored as Saints. Yes, there are notable examples like Sts. Mary and Joseph, Anna and Joachim, Elizabeth and Zechariah, to name a few, but a large group of "married" saints chose to live instead as brother and sister than as husband and wife.

Fr. Farley then turns to the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Church Fathers, and some Church Councils for a look at how each treats and views sexuality. For example, in the Old Testament he investigates the two Creation stories and the story of the Fall in Genesis. Looking over the text and examining it both in English and the original Hebrew, Fr. Farley concludes that the Old Testament has a positive view of sexuality. In his chapter on the Old Testament, he also cites Jacob's love for Rachel as an example of romantic love. In his two chapters on the New Testament, he examines repeat themes that occurred in the Old Testament and original themes to the New Testament. Some new themes include the equality of spouses, mutual authority of spouses, and consecrated virginity.

I really enjoyed and appreciated the chapter on the Church Fathers, as I have a deep love for Patristics. Fr. Farley does an excellent job presenting both the views of Eastern and Western. To sum up his findings, the Eastern Fathers valued celibacy over marriage. Marriage was considered acceptable, but it had to be a lawful marriage; the partners had to practice periods of abstinence; and sexual activity was reserved for procreation, not pleasure and fun. Western Fathers had a pretty low view of marriage and sexuality. Some even referred to sex between a husband and wife as "voluptuous disgrace, frivolity, impurity." And while Augustine did write a piece in defense of marriage, he still believed original sin was passed on to children through sexual activity of the parents, because all sexual activity originates from lust. Reading through some Patristics, it's no wonder people think the Church has such a low view of sexuality.

Fr. Farley closes with practical conclusions we can draw from marriage and sexuality, which you'll have to buy the book to read as they go a bit in depth. He also briefly explains why "marriage" between two men or two women is not a real marriage at all. This was a very enlightening and fascinating read. I wasn't entirely sure it was going to be my cup of tea, but the honest treatment of the subject matter and the views from both the Christian West and Christian East made it very fair and unbiased. If you are looking for a book to read on marriage and sexuality from an Orthodox perspective, this book is for you.

These books were provided to me for free by Ancient Faith Publishing. If you found the reviews helpful, please click here and/or here and hit Yes!

Prayer (Our Sunday Visitor)

Throughout his reign as pope, Benedict XVI has given many talks on various aspects of the Faith, including the Apostles, the Fathers of the Church, Doctors of the Church, etc. Our Sunday Visitor has done an excellent job compiling these texts into published volumes and keeping the appearance of the books uniform throughout the series. This makes for not only a superb collection of writings but also an aesthetically pleasing section on your bookshelf when you line up the many tomes of our retired Holy Father. When I heard that there was a book being released on Prayer, I knew had to read it.

The text of this book includes General Audiences that Pope Benedict XVI gave from May 2011 through October 2012. He stopped giving these talks in February 2013, when he resigned from the papacy to pursue a life of prayer. That makes this series of catechetical talks one of his very last, and a must-own for any serious student of Pope Benedict. A thought struck me while reading through this book. I'm not sure if it's true, but it seems like he was not only educating his flock on prayer but also preparing for the next chapter in his life.

Spanning forty-five chapters (or talks), this book covers a wide range of topics on prayer. I won't list them all here, but some of the highlights include chapters on Moses, Elijah, Peter, Paul, Stephen, and various psalms. Of particular interest to me was the Chapter Thirteen, which discussed Psalm 22 (21). As Pope Benedict pointed out, this psalm is very Christological. For those of you unfamiliar with this psalm, it begins with, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" We hear these words of the psalmist David echoed from the lips of Jesus on His cross. However, as Pope Benedict is quick to explain, this lamentation in the psalm turns into a song of praise. By explaining this, it brings to light the fact that Jesus didn't actually lament God forsaking Him, because God did not forsake Him. It also reminds us that we should always trust God, even in moments of persecution and humiliation.

If you would like to learn more about prayer, I can think of no better teacher than our previous Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. Each talk is spiritually deep and full of wisdom. However, they remain clear and concise too. Reading some of these chapters made me feel like I was in Rome listening to him deliver these addresses in person. Pick this book up, and read it. Then, re-read it, and follow his lessons and example on how to develop and cultivate a prayerful life. Lastly, let us remember to pray for both him and our current Holy Father, Pope Francis.

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Pauline Books and Media: Intimacy in Prayer: Wisdom from Bernard of Clairvaux

I am a sucker for things that come in series - books, DVDs, games. If I own one of them, I am going to want to own them all. It's the collector in me, I think. Well, I was recently introduced to the Classic Wisdom Collection (available at Pauline Books and Media) when they sent me a copy the eleventh book in this series, entitled Intimacy in Prayer: Wisdom from Bernard of Clairvaux. The other ten books in the Classic Wisdom Collection (arranged alphabetically) are linked at the end of this review.

In my recent readings on western monasticism, I was introduced to St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Before that, I thought he was just another saint in a long line of saints about whom I knew nothing. I learned that he wrote a treatise entitled "The Steps of Humility and Pride," which I consider life-changing. I also learned that he preached 86 sermons on the Song of Songs, before he died. 86 sermons on an eight chapter book, and he still didn't finish the entire book! Intimacy in Prayer: Wisdom from Bernard of Clairvaux contains excerpts from these 86 sermons and some of his treatises in order to better explain the soul's search for intimacy with God in prayer.

This book is under 100 pages and divided into 23 different chapters. Each chapter is three to four pages long. With this layout, one can easily read the book in less than a month by simply reading a chapter a day. I would recommend picking a consistent time reading it each day to develop a habit, and so that you will stick with it. If you read upon waking, your whole day will be pointed toward God. If you do it before you go to bed, you can accompany it with an Examination of Conscience and a reflection upon your whole day. There are tons of ways to read this book. The key is to actually read it!

I particularly enjoyed the brief chapter called, "Alone with God." As a lay person, I have often felt a longing to be closer to God. I believe sometimes that just getting away from everyone and everything and focusing on God, like monastics, would help accomplish this. I know this is not possible due to the responsibilities of my life and vocation. St. Bernard, thankfully, helped spell things out for me. He said, "You must withdraw mentally rather than physically, in your intention, in your devotion, in your spirit. For Christ the Lord is a spirit before your face, and he demands solitude of the spirit more than of the body, although physical withdrawal can be of  benefit when the opportunity offers, especially in time of prayer."

This is a 5 star book that provides the reader with a small sample of the beauty of the Song of Songs mixed with the wisdom of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. It provided me with a deeper comprehension of this often misunderstood book of the Bible, and it also increased my appreciation for a saint about whom I am just starting to learn. If you are looking to draw closer to God in prayer, and honestly, who isn't, I would recommend this book to you. They also have ten other books (as seen below) for different challenges in your spiritual life that you might be facing.

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

Comfort in Hardship: Wisdom from Thérèse of Lisieux
Courage in Chaos: Wisdom from Francis de Sales
Inner Peace: Wisdom from Jean Pierre de Caussade
Life’s Purpose: Wisdom from John Henry Newman
Path of Holiness: Wisdom from Catherine of Siena
Peace in Prayer: Wisdom from Theresa of Avila
Secrets of the Spirit: Wisdom from Luis Martinez
A Simple Life: Wisdom from Jane Frances de Chantal
Solace in Suffering: Wisdom from Thomas à Kempis
Strength in Darkness: Wisdom from John of the Cross

Catholic Monday: Novenas for the Church Year

It's been about a month since I finished a Bible study series on prayer. I figured I'd be so much better at prayer now, but sadly I am not. I hope to get better, but I know I will not do so without better and more consistent practice. I used to have a book on novenas that I enjoyed, but at the moment it is missing in action. Fortunately for me, Our Sunday Visitor deemed I needed another one. God works in the big things as well as the little ones.

Novenas for the Church Year is exactly what the title suggests. I assume most people are familiar with what a novena is, but for those who aren't, it is a prayer that lasts nine days. For example, if you wanted to pray a Christmas novena, you would start the prayer on December 17th and finish on December 25th. In this book of novenas, Fr. Cameron provides a brief commentary on the specific feast day then the prayer you pray for nine days.

Fr. Cameron could have easily used already established novenas, but these are all original ones. You will notice that some months have more novenas than others, but that is dependent upon the liturgical cycle of the Church. January and December are extra busy, but July is very sparse. You aren't locked into praying a novena at a specific time of the year, though. St. Joseph would be just as happy interceding for us on May 1, his feast day, as he would any other day of the Church Year.

I do like that only major Feast days are focused on, such as the Ascension of Jesus or the Assumption of Mary. Yes, there are novenas to other saints, like St. Anthony or St. Benedict, but those don't exactly fit within the flow of this book and would have made the book unwieldy and large. This book is just the right size for a pocket or a purse, so you can carry it wherever you go. Pick up this 5 star prayer book and pray your way through the Church Year one novena at a time.

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

Catholic Monday: Oremus - A Guide to Catholic Prayer

Greetings my dear readers. We are officially in the Easter Season, and it is a time of celebration and joy! Whenever a season ends, I like to reflect a little bit on the previous season and see how I did, especially if it's a penitential and anticipatory season like Advent or Lent. My goal this Lent was to do the Bible Study Oremus - A Catholic Guide to Prayer faithfully every day, and be a super prayer warrior when Lent was over. I did not meet my goal and am not a super prayer warrior, but I feel I have made some progress, and that's important. There is no plateau in the journey toward salvation. If we aren't moving closer to God, we're slipping further away. Anyways, here is my review of "Oremus."

"Oremus" is an eight week program presented by Fr. Mark Toups. Fr. Toups is a priest in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux Louisiana. He is the Director of Seminarians for his Diocese and is also involved with the Institute for Priestly Formation. Each week you watch or listen to a presentation by Fr. Toups, break into small groups (assuming you're doing this on a large parish-wide scale) to discuss questions in your workbook, and then you go home and pray with an assigned Scripture passage for each day of the week, until you meet again the following week.

There are six different passages per week, with Day 7 being a reflection on the passage that spoke to you most. I would have preferred it if there were 3-5 passages. I understand that you don't undertake becoming better at prayer lazily, but it was hard some weeks to do all six passages and then reflect again on Day 7, which is presumably the same day you meet with your small group and watch the DVD. Even a gradual building up to a full seven days would have been welcomed. My wife and I both work and are preparing for a baby, so some days we felt we didn't have the time to devote fully to the study and opted to just read the daily readings from Mass.

The first two weeks of this eight week course also didn't feel as helpful as future weeks. In the first few weeks, you are simply told to read the Scripture passage three times, and then answer four questions. It isn't until Week 3 that you are introduced to Lectio Divina, and even then it isn't until Week 4 where your Lectio Divina is guided with suggestions like, "Consider how God is the author of all creation." These guided suggestions would have been very helpful earlier in the program as I felt that I was floundering a bit early on and trying to figure out what I was supposed to be meditating on. I feel early on when you are learning that you need the guided suggestions more, and as the series begins to come to an end, you are hopefully able to figure out what you want to meditate on for the daily Scripture passage

Overall, I would give this series a 4 out of 5 stars. Fr. Toups is an excellent presenter and speaker and you felt at ease with him talking to you. He seemed to genuinely care about the subject of prayer and helping people become better at praying. The content was also very good. The DVDs were well put together, and the Scripture passages were masterfully chosen. I took away 1 star from my rating, because I felt the program needs a little tweaking in terms of organization. I understand not wanting to overwhelm people early on in the study, but I just felt like I was doing the program wrong for the first two to three weeks, and it wasn't until the guided questions/reflections were introduced that it all started to click.

I'd like to thank Ascension Press for giving me the opportunity to review Oremus - A Catholic Guide to Prayer. You can find this study and other great studies for people of all ages, at their website. If you found this review helpful, click this link and hit the Yes button. Thank you as always to my wonderful readers.

Children's Corner: Thank You, Dear God!

Today in the Children's Corner, I'm reviewing another wonderful product from Pauline Books and Media called Thank You, Dear God! This book is written by Mary Elizabeth, Tebo, FSP and is illustrated by Lorella Flamini. It is intended for children ages 0-5.

Do you find yourself struggling to pray? Do you say the same memorized prayers over and over again, or does spontaneous prayer leave you looking for words? Imagine how your children feel. In this padded hardcover book, your children will learn to give thanks to God for every aspect of their lives. I also personally love that the pages are made of sturdy cardboard so that this book will last for more than one child.

With the assistance of cute illustrations of mice, puppies, kittens, and other cute animals, your children can listen to or pray along with these short sentence prayers. On each page of this great book of gratitude, your children learn to not only be thankful for earthly treasures like good friends, but they also grow in appreciation of God Himself by learning that He is always there and always watching over them. These short prayers will touch your children's hearts as well as yours. We are called to have the faith of a child, and this book reminded me to be thankful to God in both the large things and the small things.

My wife and I adored this book in every way possible, and even Grammy raved about it. You and your child will love this 5 star book, as well as the similar style book Growing in Love. Watch for that review next week, and pick up both of these sturdy books for you and yours!

Catholic Monday: Walking Toward Eternity

Welcome back to Catholic Monday here at Stuart's Study. I have a product to recommend to you today that I have been working through and enjoying for the past two months. I know y'all are thinking, "Two months?!" Don't worry. This isn't some 1,000 page tome I've been working through. (Though, I do have one of those I am slogging through.) This is a wonderful eight part Bible Study series entitled Walking Toward Eternity: Daring to Walk the Walk. Written by Jeff and Emily Cavins and sold at the BEST place to purchase Catholic Bible Studies - Ascension Press.

After reading the book Praying Scripture for a Change: An Introduction to Lectio Divina (also published by Ascension Press), I felt that I had a great beginners understanding of what Lectio Divina was but longed for a way to actually start practicing it. I know that you can find a Gospel passage on your own and go through the steps, but I didn't feel brave enough to start without more direction. The series "Walking Toward Eternity" provided just the tools and help I needed to get started.

This is an eight part series, with the first part prepping you on what exactly Lectio Divina is and how to hear the voice of God through reading and meditating on the Scripture. After you make it through the introductory lesson, it starts to pick up and you learn about seven key virtues (Love, Forgiveness, Humility, Prayerfulness, Faithfulness, Sacrifice, and Thanksgiving) and how to live them in your practical life. I know I could stand to have more of all seven of these virtues (and others) in my life.

For three days you do Scripture readings and journal entries that help you understand the meaning, importance, and practice of each virtue. On the fourth day is when you really put the Lectio Divina in practice with the Scripture passage that had the most meaning to you from one of the previous three days. All of this is done on your own (or with your spouse like I chose to do). On the Meeting Day, you join up with the other members of your group to share insights and watch the DVD (or listen to the CD) lesson for that virtue.

With the first lesson, I felt like I was just spinning my wheels and that this was going to be just like every other Bible Study I had ever done. However, when I got to Day 4 and actually begin to truly do Lectio Divina, I truly started appreciating the series. It tied the first three days together and made me realize that you can't just dive head first into something new. You have to take baby steps and crawl before you can start to walk or run. The DVDs are also great and Jeff Cavins is masterful as usual. It feels like he is there in your living room to teach you personally.

This is by far a 5 star Bible Study series. If you approach it with a sincere heart and put a lot into it, you will get even more out of it If this sounds like a series that would be good for you and your circle of friends, pool your resources to buy the DVDs or CDs. You could also see if your Pastor or Director of Religious Education would consider purchasing them for the parish. I would recommend using this series for a group of 10-12 people. It can be done with fewer, but the conversation might start to lull on meeting days. On the flip side, with more than a dozen and it could start to get a bit loud and unruly with all the voices trying to chime in with their personal reflections.

I also think that the perfect time for embarking on this series is Ordinary Time, though it would be great at anytime. I just find that for myself, and perhaps others feel this way too, Ordinary Time can feel like a particularly long period with no major fasting like Advent or Lent to humble us or major feast like Christmas or Easter for us to celebrate. There is also a second series called Walking Toward Eternity: Engaging the Struggles of Your Heart that focuses on obstacles in our lives for us to overcome such as Envy, Anger, and Greed to name a few. I hope to get a chance to review that series in the future.

Catholic Monday: The Blessing Cup

Welcome back to Stuart's Study. You may notice that this post has a different heading in front of it called "Catholic Monday." Starting this week book reviews will be segregated by days. We now have Catholic Mondays, Orthodox Thursdays, and the Children's Corner on Saturdays. I understand a lot of my followers are Catholics, but I believe we can learn a lot from our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters and vice versa. So I hope my faithful readers will still continue to check out reviews on Thursday as they might find a book that piques their interest and causes them to explore the other lung of Christianity.

Today I am reviewing The Blessing Cup: Prayer Rituals for Families and Groups an by Fr. Rock Tranikar. Within the pages of this book you will find prayer rituals you can pray with your family or friends for almost every possible occasion, i.e., buying a home, safe travel, and a wedding anniversary, just to name a few. Holy Days and Holidays are also included in this book, so if your family is looking for a new family tradition, this book could be a starting point.

Each ritual includes an Opening Prayer, a Scripture passage, Petitions, a Collect, and a Sharing of the Blessing Cup. If you use this book as a family, I would recommend your family purchasing a beautiful cup/chalice or making your own to make these rituals more meaningful to you and yours. If you make your own, you can have the names of all your family members written on the cup to add even more meaning.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading through this book and hope to adopt a couple of these rituals. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars and think it belongs on the shelf of every Catholic family. I also believe it would make an excellent gift for a wedding, bridal shower, or baby shower. We could all stand to pray more, and this book is just the resource you need to get you and your family praying together.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from the Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on The Blessing Cup. The Catholic Company is the best resource for gifts for every Sacrament celebration, such as First Communion gifts and Baptism gifts, as well as a great selection of limited-time Year of Faith gifts and resources.

What are you doing for the Year of Faith? Two Book Recommendations

Welcome back to Stuart's Study. It is a sad day for Catholics in our country today, but despite how the election turned out, we can't bury our heads in the sand. We are still called to change our culture. That change doesn't come dramatically all at once. It comes gradually and incrementally. If you start with individual changes build to family changes then church changes, community changes, and keep it growing. Start small and it will snowball. So in this post I am going to review/recommend two books to you that I hope to implement in my Year of Faith, and you can too.

Both of these books were sent to me by Ascension Press, the people who bring you The Great Adventure Series, in exchange for an honest review. The first book I am going to review is The Bible Compass: A Catholic's Guide to Navigating the Scripture by Edward Sri. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect with this book, but I know that I like Edward Sri's works so I was looking forward to reading this. This book is an excellent source for understanding the Bible and answering basic to intermediate questions about the Bible that Catholics should know but most don't.

The first few chapters address Scripture as being divinely inspired and the three pillars of the Catholic faith - Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium. We then move on to what I consider the most important section of this book, how to read Scripture correctly. So many of us just read random bits of Scripture, if any, and never get anything out of it, but that is not the proper way to read it. We have to know the author's intention with which he wrote as well as reading within the Living Tradition of the Church. Reading within the Living Tradition of the Church is important because the Church has been around 2,000 years so we should trust that the Church knows better than us and we shouldn't trust modern or personal interpretations that don't jive with the 2,000 year history of interpretations.

The book then goes on to address questions Catholics might have or be asked like why Catholics have more books than Protestants? (Short answer is we use the Septuagint Old Testament and the Protestants use the Masoretic text.) The book then concludes with a very short chapter on Lectio Divina, using the Scriptures to pray, which is something I am going to try and do in this Year of Faith, and you can read more about in my next review.

This was an excellent book, as I expected it to be. The chapters were short but packed with straight forward information and answers. I give this book 5 out of 5 just because I can't give it a higher rating. This book is just the right length where it doesn't bog you down with information, but makes you want to get a thicker book and dig deeper on the subject. I recommend you buy this book, if you feel like you don't know enough about the Bible and want to learn more.

The second book I am recommending to you today is Praying Scripture for a Change: An Introduction to Lectio Divina by Dr. Tim Gray. I read another one of Tim Gray's books this year, Walking With God: A Journey Through the Bible, so I knew I was going to get another gem, and I was not disappointed. Hopefully, you're not like me and you have a great prayer life. If you are like me though, then you need all the help you can get! Like others before me, and probably after me, I felt that I always talk to God, but never hear Him answer. Sure I can see answers to prayers (be they yes or no), but I never felt like I was getting a one-on-one response. Arrogant to expect that, I know. Well, this book changed my whole way of thinking about prayer!

Lectio Divina is a ladder traditionally involving four steps, but a fifth step was added in this book. The steps are Lectio (Reading), Meditatio (Meditation), Oratio (Prayer), Contemplatio (Contemplation), and in this book Operatio (Operation or Application in real life). Dr. Gray uses the example of a vineyard and making wine (like ancient monks used to do) as a comparison for Lectio Divina. Like winemaking, prayer requires many steps to produce a beautiful end result. He also repeatedly says in the book, "When you pray, you speak with God; when you read, God speaks to you." This was a game-changer for me. It seems so obvious, but we expect to hear the voice of God, like the voice of a person. In reality, we always hear the voice of God when we read the Bible.

Reading this book has left me thirsting for more (fitting analogy since he compares Lectio Divina to making wine). I know I will have to take baby steps in this beautiful practice, but I am eager to try it in this Year of Faith. I'm debating ordering the workbook that goes along with this book or finding other books that offer specifics passages and exercises in Lectio Divina. Despite not having a chapter at the end to get you started with, I still give this book 5 out of 5 stars as it explained a powerful prayer practice in language anyone can understand. So if you want a deeper prayer life and not just a one-sided monologue with God, go out and buy this book and you too can be on the path to a deeper prayer life.