Queen of Heaven: Mary's Battle for You

Recently, Saint Benedict Press released a new product called Queen of Heaven: Mary's Battle for You. In addition to it being a beautiful hardcover book, it is also a DVD series designed for parish study or small group study. The program was filmed at over a dozen global locations, such as the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land and the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington D.C. It features expert commentary from noted Catholics Tim Staples, Fr. Jeffrey Kirby, and Dr. Mary Healy to name a few. But what exactly is it about? To know that, let's look at the eight lesson titles:

1. The Battle Begins
2. The Annunciation
3. The Sorrowful Mother
4. Mother of the Church
5. Guadalupe
6. Lourdes
7. Fatima
8. The Consecration

Each lesson is approximately 30 minutes each with a follow-up 10 minute video from Fr. Patrick Winslow to crystallize the lesson. The series is very thorough, taking us back to the Old Testament when Mary was prefigured in many signs and wonders and prophesied that she would give birth to the Savior. We then move forward to the New Testament where we see her place in Jesus' early life, His ministry and Passion, and the period after He ascended where she was Mother of the Church. These lessons alone would be enough to make a thorough lesson, but it doesn't stop there. Instead, we see Mary's role in present day with the apparitions at Guadalupe, Lourdes, and Fatima - three places she left powerful messages for the modern day Church and where miracles still occur today. The lessons close focusing on Pope John Paul II, his devotion to Mary, and the Consecration to Mary's Immaculate Heart he helped introduce to the world. This is a professional and beautifully done series and one all Catholics (I would argue all Christians) need to watch. It will be airing on EWTN from October 6-13, so I encourage you to check it out, learn why Mary is such a powerful warrior for us, and then get your parish to order a copy of this amazing series!

Memoirs of a Happy Failure (Saint Benedict Press)

If you're like me, you were probably introduced to Dr. Alice von Hildebrand through EWTN. She appeared on a variety of their shows from "The Journey Home" to "EWTN Bookmark." If you ever watched any of the shows with her on, you could tell that even in her advanced years, she was still a keenly intelligent woman. Despite her brilliance, what she is probably best known for is being married to Dietrich von Hildebrand. Thanks to Saint Benedict Press, we have the opportunity to learn more about her in the book Memoirs of a Happy Failure.

Memoirs of a Happy Failure begins when Alice was 17. She was onboard the SS Washington. She was traveling with her sister when they were informed that all passengers had to leave the ship, because it was intercepted by the Germans and was going to be torpedoed. They made their way to their assigned lifeboat, but it was full, so she expected to die that night. Clearly, she did not, but that had to be a very sobering experience at that early of an age. Chapter Two flashes back to her childhood in Belgium and how sheltered of an existence it was. This provided the necessary contrast in the book for her arrival to America. We then learn of her life in New York, going to school and excelling (despite her aunt and uncle thinking she wouldn't), but a bulk of the book deals with her teaching.

The bulk of the book deals with her as a teacher/professor at Hunter College, because that is primarily what her life was. After all, she taught from 1947 to 1984. That is nearly 40 years of teaching experience and is impressive no matter what level at which you teach. During her time teaching, we see that she faced many professional hardships from her peers who looked to stab her in the back at every turn. A weaker person would not have survived these attacks, but her love of teaching, her love of her students, and her love of the truth gave her the necessary strength and motivation to continue teaching. She knew that she had to keep "preaching" objective truth in a world of moral relativism.

When looking at her career as a teacher, she is considered a "failure" by most accounts, hence the title of her memoirs. One could argue that her students would view her as a happy success instead. She was fiercely devoted to her students and for the most part, the feeling was mutual. There is mention of her husband in this memoir, but he does not overshadow her like he did in real life. Even though, they were published by two separate companies, I believe this book is perfect to pair with her husband's memoir My Battle Against Hitler.

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.

A Year with Mary (Saint Benedict Press)

A Year with Mary: Daily Meditations on the Mother of God is the fifth and latest daily devotional available from Saint Benedict Press. The other four are A Year with the Bible, A Year with the Saints, A Year with the Angels, and A Year with the Church Fathers. Like the other volumes in this series, this book has gilded pages and is Premium UltraSoft leather, making it perfect for presentation or gifting. The book itself is blue, which is fitting as that is the color we most associate with Mary. Despite the impressiveness of this book, I was a little skeptical to review this book. I personally am not a fan of the daily devotional, which is strange even to me seeing that I came from a Protestant background. However, I decided to give it a shot.

The first thing that I noticed about this book is the numbering of the devotions. Most daily devotionals give you a specific date, i.e., January 1. This book instead labels the devotions as Day 1, Day 2, etc. This means that you don't have to wait until January 1 to start this book, which is the fatal flaw of daily devotionals. Also, in case you are wondering, there is a ribbon bookmark, so you won't have to remember which day you are on. The next thing I noticed about this book was that St. Louis de Montfort and St. Alphonsus Liguori were the bulk of the readings. Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with this. They wrote two of the best books on Mary with de Montfort pinning "True Devotion to Mary," and Liguori "The Glories of Mary." I was just expecting a little more variety in reading selections. The last thing that I noticed was the brief section at the end of every day entitled, "In God's Presence Consider." This makes the devotional more than just something to do everyday, but something which you need to ponder, study, and mediate on. Each day then ends with a closing prayer.

Overall, this is an impressive book in both presentation and content. The devotions are each one page long, making them just short enough that you don't feel overwhelmed and just long enough that it requires you to put forth a bit of effort in your journey with and toward God. It didn't turn me into a devotional fan, but it did provide me with some sources and texts on Mary to read that I had not heard of before. For example, St. John of Eudes' work "The Admirable Heart of Mary" is a work that I now want to read after the excerpt I read in this book. So whether you are a Mary novice or an expert on Mary, there is enough wisdom in this book that will enrich your life every time you read it.

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

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!

Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching and Defending Marriage (Sophia Institute Press and Saint Benedict Press)

Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching is a recent book by Dr. Anthony Esolen which dives into the writings and teachings of Pope Leo XIII and seeks to offer "a defense of the Church's true teachings on marriage, family, and the state." The first chapter is entitled "Man, in the Image of God." Dr. Esolen describes this as the most fundamental truth and states that "any society built upon other premises will be radically deficient." He then goes on to explain what would happen to society if we completely removed God from the picture. The next chapter discusses free will and human liberty. His explanation of Dante's vision of Satan in hell is chilling, to say the least, but it gives us a good example of how we think we are free when we are too blind to see we are not.

Esolen then dives into topics of marriage and the family, as he views them as the building blocks of society. In these two chapters, again shows the dignity of the person and explains how society is twisting views of marriage and the family. He doesn't come out and directly blame one issue for this, i.e., divorce or homosexuality, but instead puts them all on equal ground and states that "Every sin against marriage is a sin against the very possibility of any kind of society." The chapter on the family shows how a rightly ordered family mirrors a rightly ordered society, discusses education of children, and explains what the family is for. The remainder of the book discusses social life, the Church as society, work, and the state.

The text in this book is heady material, and the way Dr. Esolen writes comes off that way as well. That's not to say that it wasn't brilliantly written, because despite the philosophical tone of the book, I still found it quite readable without feeling the need to have a dictionary for every other word. He also did a nice job of explaining both the big picture and the details that make up the big picture. I also found it fascinating just how astute Pope Leo XIII was when it comes to society and the direction he saw it heading. I definitely plan to re-visit this book and read it a little more slowly the second time through so that I may absorb more of it. If you have an interest in Catholic social teaching or are looking for a good homeschool text on the subject, I recommend this book!

Defending Marriage is another recent book by Dr. Anthony Esolen, with the sole purpose of defending traditional and natural marriage. To do this, Dr. Esolen presents twelve arguments that every Catholic, every Christian should make in defense of marriage. Some of the arguments are, "We must recover the virtues of modesty and purity," or "To celebrate an abnormal behavior makes things worse, not better, for those inclined to engage in it." Dr. Esolen uses art, literature, theological, and cultural arguments to make his point. When you grow up hearing, "Because God said so," as the main argument for why some things are sins, Dr. Esolen's argument make for a refreshing read.

All of the arguments made were very convincing and compelling. However, one stuck with me more than others. The first argument that really rang true was. "We must not condone all forms of consensual activity among adults." In this chapter, Dr. Esolen starts by telling us that no culture, not even the ancient Greeks ever approved of homosexual "marriage" or activities, but that they instead engaged in pedophilia which too is morally wrong. He then explains that if our society accepts homosexual "marriage," a union which cannot create life, then we have passively said that polygamy is acceptable. As Dr. Esolen succinctly says, "You can't have half a jungle." If we want a moral civilization with traditional and natural marriage, we must uproot all sin against marriage.

The great thing about this book is that Dr. Esolen doesn't focus solely on one issue as a danger to marriage. In our given day and age, it would be easy to blame homosexual "marriage" as the thing that is killing traditional marriage. Dr. Esolen is much wiser than that, though, and he blames a combination of the sexual revolution, no fault divorce, and homosexual "marriage" for the death of traditional marriage. There are some books that every Catholic should own, and I firmly believe that this is one of them. In our growing secular age, we need to be able to articulate and defend our core beliefs, and marriage is one of those core beliefs. Read this book. Read it again. Teach your children the arguments for traditional marriage, and instill in them the right beliefs of a moral society.

These books were provided to me for free by Sophia Institute Press and Saint Benedict Press, respectively. If you found these reviews helpful, please click here and/or here and hit Yes!

Bergoglio's List (Saint Benedict Press)

From the period of 1976 to 1983, Argentina was a place undergoing political turmoil. It was known as "The Dirty War." Peron had just been deposed and the military took control of the government. It was a horrendous time and place to live, and that is putting it mildly. People were abducted, tortured, and murdered. Pregnant women gave birth to babies that were ripped from their arms. The babies were given to military families, and the mothers were killed. At least 30,000 people were murdered, and the world turned a blind eye to Argentina by and large. To make matters worse, people within Argentina (including some clergy of the Church) did the same or worse, assisted in the murder of these people. Not all in the Church were guilty. Some brave priests, bishops, religious, and laity did their part, either in secret or the open, to save as many people as they could. Jorge Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) was one of those priests who did what was right by defying the military government and helping people escape. The book Bergoglio's List highlights the stories of some of those who lived because of him.

The first three chapters of the book provide a mini-history of life during the Dirty War. In addition to detailing some of the general atrocities I listed above, we also learn about a few specific ones as well. For example, Alfredo Astiz lived among the Argentine people and pretended to be their friend. He was known as El Rubito or "the blonde guy." He was actually working for the military government and was giving the government information on who needed to be targeted and killed. The next ten chapters focuses on the stories of specific people that Bergoglio helped save. They were priests, scholars, unionists, Marxists, married couples, etc. The background or affiliation did not matter to Bergoglio. These were human lives, and everyone of them was precious.

I found myself struggling to read this book, particularly the early parts. After almost every chapter, I had to set the book down and step away from it, because it was a harsh reality to accept that things like this occurred not so long ago, and unbeknownst to me, probably still do. The firsthand accounts of people who were saved were tough as well. You knew they were going to escape, but you still feared for them as you read their stories. This is a book that you not only should read, but have to read. It shows us that ordinary people can do extraordinary things and that one person can make a difference. It also shows us firsthand the kind of man and leader our pope is.

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!

To The Heights: A Novel Based on the Life of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (TAN Books)

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati is a saint who has been receiving a lot of attention in the Catholic world as of late. Perhaps, it was because he didn't live that long ago (from 1901 to 1924). Maybe it was because he died at the very early age of 24. Or it could be that he was just an "ordinary" man, and not a member of the clergy, thus we see someone we can relate to and identify with. No matter the reason, he is a special figure who we could all benefit to learn more about. Brian Kennelly looks to provide us this knowledge in his latest book To The Heights.

To The Heights begins not with the birth of Pier Giorgio Frassati, but his death, more specifically a funeral procession. Two boys living at the Provincial Institute for Children are pretending to be sick. However, they are not doing it just to get out of classes or to raise mischief. Instead, they are pretending to be sick so they can sneak off to see their friend. Their friend isn't some boy from another school, but Pier Giorgio Frassati. He had passed away recently, and they wanted to attend the funeral procession of a man, a friend, who had stopped by to visit them many times and always made them feel important. This theme of Pier's love for mankind presents itself many times over in this book.

After this surprise opening, we are then taken back to the life of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. We see him first as a young boy born into a household of privilege. A drunk man comes to his household looking for food. How many of us have not experienced a very similar scenario before? To Pier's dismay, his father turns the homeless man away empty-handed. Pier begs his parents to reconsider and the next day they take him a loaf of bread. However, the man was drunk when they found him, so they didn't leave him the bread, and his father rubbed it into Pier that he was right.

We see other touching stories about Pier visiting the sick or connecting with some of the outcasts of society. However, we also see amazing stories that speak to the fire and passion of people in their 20s standing up for a cause they believe in, like when Pier fought against the Black Shirts. The most amazing story of all in this book happened in the last chapter. With Pier's death, thousands of people from all walks of life showed up to honor him. His parents finally realized how special their son was, and what an impact he had on the world. It took his death, but Pier finally accomplished his greatest challenge...bringing his family to Christ.

Like the subtitle says, To The Heights is a novel based on the life of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. It is not a biography per se (If you are looking for that, check out A Man of the Beatitudes by Blessed Pier's sister, Lucianna Frassati), but instead would fall into the category of historical fiction. That means some minor details required creative liberties to be taken by the author, so that he could paint a captivating picture of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. I highly recommend this book to all Catholics, young and old. Be sure to check out Brian Kennelly's other book Two Statues.

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!

Shakespeare's Catholicism (Catholic Courses)

William Shakespeare is considered history's greatest playwright for many reasons. His way with words has yet to be matched and the stories he told still capture the attention of audiences today. Hollywood, in fact, still likes to bring his plays to life on the big screen, as can be seen in the many adaptations of Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Othello to name a few. Today, I have the privilege of reviewing another wonderful study program from Catholic Courses entitled Shakespeare's Catholicism by Joseph Pearce.

Mr. Pearce begins by discussing how to read and how to think. In both cases, he states that there is an objective way to read/think and a subjective way to read/think. The best way to read literature in his opinion is to read it through the eyes of the author. Why is all of this important? It is important because both lectures on Disc 1 are biographical in content. Mr. Pearce believes if you want to truly understand the plays of Shakespeare and their Catholicity then you have to understand the following:

1. Who was Shakespeare?
2. What do we know about his life?
3. What were his beliefs?
4. How do these beliefs inform his works, and do we see those beliefs in his works?

If you don't understand these things about Shakespeare, then your own subjective biases will creep in and color the way you read the plays. T.S. Eliot felt this way about Dante as well, and expressed it in the quote, "You cannot afford to ignore Dante's philosophical and theological beliefs, or to skip the passages which express them most clearly...You are not called upon to believe what Dante believed." Therefore, you don't have to be Catholic to see the Catholicism in Shakespeare's work; you just have to see the evidence for Shakespeare's Catholicism and expect to see the Catholicism reflected in the work. You also don't have to agree with it.

The remaining 3 discs (6 lectures) focus on the following Shakespeare plays:

• Romeo and Juliet (2 lectures)
• The Merchant of Venice
• Hamlet
• Macbeth
• King Lear

I have recently read Joseph Pearce's book on Romeo and Juliet, so Disc 2 (Lectures 3 and 4) was a bit of a re-hash for me, but if you have not had the time to read this book, it will be fresh information to you. The most interesting lecture to me was on Hamlet, as this was my favorite play I read in high school. If you went to a secular high school like I did, you will notice a vast difference between your English teacher's interpretation and Mr. Pearce's. I vastly prefer Mr. Pearce's, but others may not. Having studied this Catholic Course, I have a new desire to re-read Hamlet or even tackle Macbeth since I never had the opportunity to study it previously. If you are a lover of Shakespeare, literature, and/or Catholicism, you will want to pick up a copy of Shakespeare's Catholicism. For a brief preview, check out the video below:

I received this course for free from Catholic Courses in exchange for an honest review.

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 Courses: The Hobbit: Discovering Grace and Providence in Bilbo's Adventure

Today, I am reviewing the Catholic Courses' product The Hobbit - Discovering Grace and Providence in Bilbo's Adventure. If you recall, last month I reviewed The Hidden Meaning of The Lord of the Rings - The Theological Vision in Tolkien's Fiction. If you're wondering why I started with the one on "The Lord of the Rings" first, it's because it has two introductory lessons covering J.R.R. Tolkien's biography and his writing style. These are covered again in the course on "The Hobbit," but not to the same level of detail.

If you're like me and read "The Lord of the Rings" before you read "The Hobbit," you were probably a bit disappointed by "The Hobbit."  Alongside the action-packed trilogy, "The Hobbit" might seem rather lackluster by comparison. However, this tale serves as more than a precursor to the grand epic of "The Lord of the Rings." It is in-fact a coming of age story of the young Bilbo Baggins. Joseph Pearce also points out that Biblo's journey has many parallels with a person's journey throughout life. He further illustrates these points by addressing the ideas that every life is a pilgrimage and that the impossibility of growth without grace.

One topic that caught my interest in this Catholic Course was the juxtapositions Mr. Pearce made between Thorin Oakenshield and Aragorn. Both of them are kings. However, as kings they are vastly different. Aragorn is seen as a true and just king who can be seen as a Christ-figure. Thorin, on the other hand, is an easily corrupted king who values gold and treasures over people throughout his life. Another part of this course I found fascinating was the discussion on the dragon symbology, Smaug, and dragon sickness. It is no surprise that dragons represent evil, demons, and devils. This was true in early Christian iconography and can be seen clearly in the icon of St. George to your left. Mr. Pearce makes the astute observation that we all must either fight our dragons or become one.

Perhaps, the biggest lesson I took away from the course had to do with materialism. We can see this most clearly through the dragon Smaug, who had no use for gold but could tell you the exact amount in his possession, down to the ounce, and Thorin Oakenshield, who had such a great love of gold that he didn't want to share the gold with the people in Laketown whom he rightfully owed. Both Smaug and Thorin allowed their love of gold to consume them.  This underscores the message of "where your treasure is, there your heart is." While my heart doesn't value gold, I can see how some of my other possessions (my books) can be a stumbling block for me if I let them.  It is important for us as Catholics to keep our heart as close to God as possible.

If you're looking to gain a better appreciation for "The Hobbit" and the Catholic messages within it, this Catholic Course will be a good starting point. You can then follow it up with The Hidden Meaning of The Lord of the Rings - The Theological Vision in Tolkien's Fiction if you haven't studied it already. If you don't have time for an eight lecture course, Mr. Pearce also wrote a book on the subject called, Bilbo's Journey: Discovering the Hidden Meaning in The Hobbit. There are also other great courses that cover Dante's Divine Comedy or William Shakespeare if you are interested in literature, so be sure to check them out as well. For a brief introduction of the course, see the video below.

Catholic Courses: The Hidden Meaning of "The Lord of the Rings"

The world is once again buzzing with thoughts of Tolkien and hobbits thanks to Peter Jackson's "trilogy" on "The Hobbit." I am conflicted with the movies. I am glad that they exist as they will hopefully encourage people to actually read the books associated with Middle Earth. However, I am disappointed with the gross inaccuracies in the films. Also, don't get me started on the money-grab attempt of turning "The Hobbit" into three movies.

What a lot of people don't realize is that Tolkien's works are distinctly Catholic. Joseph Pearce, a Tolkien expert (though I imagine my aunt could give him a run for his money), has two Catholic Courses on Tolkien. The one I am reviewing today is called The Hidden Meaning of the Lord of the Rings - The Theological Vision in Tolkien's Fiction. I will review The Hobbit - Discovering Grace and Providence in Bilbo's Adventure in August.

The first two lectures (Disc One) don't immediately dive into "The Lord of the Rings," but instead discuss the who, what, when, where, and why of Tolkien. I was slightly disappointed at first, because I knew there was a limited number of lectures, and I wanted to dive right into the book discussion. Looking back on it though, it makes sense to discuss the author first. It's hard to completely understand an author's works if you don't understand both the author's point of view and the context within which he was writing. It was also interesting to learn about his involvement in C.S. Lewis' conversion to Christianity; unfortunately, Mr .Lewis didn't choose Catholicism.

Lecture Three was by far my favorite lecture, as Mr. Pearce discusses the meaning of the One Ring. Spoiler Alert: The One Ring symbolizes sin. He also talks about how the One Ring was destroyed on March 25th. This is significant, because this is the Feast of the Annunciation. The day Jesus became human was not the day He was born, but it was the day He was conceived. March 25th is also traditionally given for the day that Jesus died, and that is why Mr. Tolkien chose this date to have the ring destroyed.

Another topic addressed was the Everyman figures of the Hobbits, Gollum, Boromir, and Faramir. In this lecture he shows ways we can see ourselves in these characters. He also criticizes Peter Jackson for completely getting the character of Faramir wrong in the movies. Lecture Six discusses who the Christ-figure is in The Lord of the Rings. My wife and I disagree. She says Gandalf. I say Aragorn. However, we can both be right, because The Lord of the Rings isn't a strict allegory like The Chronicles of Narnia, which only has Aslan as the Christ-figure. I would disagree with Mr. Pearce that Frodo is a type of Christ-figure, though, as he is too flawed. I am especially pleased that Mr. Pearce took the time to address some of the overlooked characters, i.e., Tom Bombadil. He got excluded from the movies, and that was a shame!

This was a well thought out course, and I can't wait to begin The Hobbit - Discovering Grace and Providence in Bilbo's Adventure. Mr. Pearce did a fantastic job of showing just how Catholic The Lord of the Rings actually is. Whether you're a homeschooling parent looking for a way to help your kids understand Tolkien better or a nerd like me who just loves Tolkien and his many works, this is a study for you!

Catholic Courses: Unveiling the Apocalypse

Before the birth of our son, my wife and I were involved in several different ministries. We both taught Catholic Religious Education, were active at our parish in the Young Adult ministry, led one Bible Study, and participated in another Bible Study. Some of you might be thinking, "Where do they find the time?" Let me assure you that we have a set of friends who do ten times (at least) that much WITH two kids! After the birth of our son, we have had to set aside more time for family life and some cuts had to be made. One painful cut was the Bible Study in which we were just participants. They were studying the book of Revelation at the time, and unfortunately it didn't fit into our schedule anymore. Fortunately, Catholic Courses has a study on Revelation!

Revelation is a book that fascinates basically every Christian of every denomination. In fact some denominations avoid the book altogether. In addition to being a fascinating book, it is also a grossly misunderstood book. If you asked five different Christians what a specific passage meant, you would get five different answers. In this course, Unveiling the Apocalypse: The End Times According to the Bible,  Fr. Alfred McBride looks to answer these types of questions:

• Does the book of Revelation disclose the date of the end of the world?
• Will there be a millennium?
• Does Scripture support a belief in the Rapture?
• When will the seven years of Tribulation begin?
• Who was the book of Revelation written for?

You might recognize Father McBride from another Catholic Course - The Christ: A Faithful Picture of Jesus from the Gospels. I reviewed that course back in April, and he does another masterful a job in this course on Revelation. Like most Catholic Courses  this one is four DVDs and eight lectures. If you think that there is no way he can cover all of Revelation in four DVDs, you would be correct. For example, there are letters addressed to seven churches in the first few chapters of Revelation. Fr. McBride doesn't try to cover them all by cramming too much information into our heads. Instead, he picks a few, explains the meaning of the letters he does cover, and lastly explains the format of the letters so we can later study the ones he omitted. I greatly appreciated that.

I liked many things about this course. For starters, Fr. McBride approached the book of Revelation from different perspectives including historical and present day. Secondly, he taught this course from the idea that Revelation is inspiring and beautiful, not scary and to be avoided. I appreciate that viewpoint. I grew up Protestant and was basically indoctrinated to believe you could pick up a newspaper and find a passage in Revelation that relates to it. It definitely took a few years to eradicate that line of thinking. Lastly, he didn't bog you down with information, which is very easy to do when studying Revelation.

However, one aspect that I would liked to have seen touched on was Patristic thought on the book of Revelation. Since this book nearly was omitted from the Canon of Scripture, there was very little commentary on it. However, Andrew of Caeserea (6th to 7th Century) provided a full commentary on it, which I believe is very important as it gives us one of the earliest views of this book. This commentary is beneficial for Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants to read. because it is dated closer to the time Revelation was actually written than all modern commentaries.

Fr. McBride did an excellent job of cracking open the Scriptures. He provided a detailed but straightforward study of Revelation and also helped dispel some of the misinterpretation related to end of the world mania and fear. I recommend this course for anyone looking to better understand the most misunderstood book of the Bible. I especially recommend it for converts as it will provide you with the real way that Revelation is to be read and not some doom and gloom version you grew up with. To see a brief preview of this course, check out the video below. Also, tune in next month when I review The Hidden Meaning of "The Lord of the Rings."