Praying the Gospels (The Word Among Us Press)

In recent years, I have used Fr. Mitch Pacwa's Bible Study books available from Our Sunday Visitor, and I have always been pleased with the books. When I found out that The Word Among Us Press had a new Bible Study series by Fr. Pacwa, I knew that I had to give this a try. The series is called Praying the Gospels and the first two books are Jesus Launches His Ministry and Jesus' Miracles in Galilee. Each book is designed to help you reflect better on specific events in Jesus' life and ministry. Let me tell you about the books.

Jesus Launches His Ministry is an approximately 175 page book that is divided into the following eight chapters:

1. The Baptism of Jesus
2. Temptations in the Wilderness
3. Between Baptism and Capernaum
4. The Wedding Feast at Cana
5. Jesus Inaugurates His Public Ministry
6. The First Exorcism and Manifestation of Jesus' Authority
7. The Transition from Capernaum to the Galilean Ministry
8. Put Out into the Deep


Jesus' Miracles in Galilee is also an approximately 175 page book that picks up where the first book left off. It is divided into the following thirteen chapters:

1. Jesus Begins His Preaching Mission throughout Galilee
2. The Cleansing of the Leper
3. The Healing of a Paralytic
4. The Healing of a Man with a Withered Hand
5. The Centurion's Request for a Healing
6. The Raising of the Widow of Nain's Son
7. Storms at Sea
8. The Healing of the Hemorrhaging Woman and Jairus' Daughter
9. The Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish
10. Walking on the Storms of Life
11. A Syrophoenician Woman
12. Jesus Heals a Deaf Man
13. Sailing to Bethsaida

Within each chapter, there are several meditations, which break apart subsections of the Gospel passage. For example, in "The Baptism of Jesus." we see six meditations, which cover topics such as John the Baptist, Jesus' journey to the Jordan River, and the manifestation of the Trinity. Within these meditations, Fr. Pacwa instructs us with other Scripture passages, both Old and New Testament. He then probes the reader with reflection questions to answer and provides several lines at the end of each meditation to give you ample room to answer the questions and write your thoughts.

The books are nice in that they chronologically and thematically walk us through the Gospels. No one Gospel is the focus of these books, but instead Fr. Pacwa draws from all four of them to give us a complete picture. I also like the fact that each meditation is only a few pages long and only focuses on a tiny bit of the Gospel. Too often, when we read Gospel, we try and read a whole chapter at a time. These chapters contain a lot of parables, miracles, and other events that make it hard to grasp all at once. Fr. Pacwa eliminates this with his bite-size approach. I wish there had been a book before these two that focused on Mary, Joseph, and the infancy passages of Jesus, but the focus of this series seems to be the three years of Jesus' ministry and not the thirty years prior. That wish aside, I would highly recommend these books, for someone looking to take a slow, deliberate, and meditative walk through the Gospels. I look forward to seeing how many more books there will be in this series and am sure to recommend them as much as I recommend these two.

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

On Human Life and Evangelii Nuntiandi (Ignatius Press and Word Among Us Press)

Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini was the man who succeeded Pope John XXIII and continued and closed the Second Vatican Council. He chose the name Paul VI because he wanted to continue to spread the message of Christ worldwide. Like a lot of recent popes, he had a devotion to the Virgin Mary and issued encyclicals on her like Christi Matri and Signum Magnum. Perhaps his most important encyclical was called Humanae Vitae. It discusses married love, responsible parenthood, and rejection of most forms of birth control.

Ignatius Press recently released this encyclical, On Human Life, in paperback format. In addition to this book including the entire encyclical, there is a foreword by Mary Eberstadt (author of Adam and Eve After the Pill), afterword by James Hitchcock (author of History of the Catholic Church), and a postscript by Jennifer Fulwiler (author of Something Other than God). The encyclical itself does not need reviewing. It has been around for 45 years and has received a lot of commentary on it, including the book Why Humanae Vitae Was Right.

The foreword by Eberstadt was spot on and a perfect lead in to the text. It showed exactly how accurate Humanae Vitae proved to be. The afterword was sobering in that it showed how many priests immediately rejected the teaching on artificial contraception and said it was okay for spouses to use it. There was a bit of hope in the end, and that was found in Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and numerous laity who are promoting this encyclical. This is a very important document and one that every person (not just every Catholic) could benefit to read. The only thing that I would change about this edition is making it a hardcover, like Ignatius Press did for Pope Benedict XVI's encyclicals.

Evangelii Nuntiandi was written in 1975, close to the end of Pope Paul VI's fifteen year reign. This apostolic exhortation was directed at every Christian and affirmed the need to spread the Gospel to all men, women, and children. The exhortation is divided into seven sections with emphasis on different aspects of evangelization including content, methods, workers, beneficiaries, etc. In the book, with the same name, released by The Word Among Us Press, there is a brief study guide at the end with questions for both reflection and application. Since this is a manual of sorts for those embracing the New Evangelization, the study guide is extremely helpful for individual use or study within a small group/parish session.

This brief exhortation is nearing its 40th anniversary, but it has lost none of its truth and still packs a punch. I plan to make time to read this book again, a bit slower and a bit more carefully as I work through the study questions. I believe it will prove useful at the local level of the Church and can help us reach non-Catholics, lapsed Catholics, and also increase the understanding and faith of Catholics in good standing. So if you are interested in the New Evangelization, I'd pick up this book and pair it with Pope Francis' The Joy of the Gospel.

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

Remember Jesus Christ (The Word Among Us Press)

It's almost time for my favorite season of the Church Year...Advent! It's a time to start fresh, a time to make goals/resolutions for the coming year, a time to grow closer to God. For the past couple of years, I have made a book recommendation for the Advent season. Normally, I'll recommend something that provides you with short daily readings for the season to keep your mind and heart focused on the true purpose of preparing for the coming of our Lord. This Advent I decided to try a more difficult book, called Remember Jesus Christ.

I find myself collecting and reading a type of Catholic book I wasn't aware was available until recently. They are books which contain talks/retreats given to the papal household. My logic is that if these priests and their message is good enough for the Pope to hear, then they are good enough for me to read. I own several now, and my most recent one is Remember Jesus Christ by Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa. Fr. Cantalamessa was appointed to the papal household in 1980 by Pope John Paul II, and the book Remember Jesus Christ contains meditations that were given in Advent 2005 and Lent 2006 in front of Pope Benedict. It's like getting two books in one!

The book has eight chapter, four for Advent and four for Lent, with the entirety of the book focusing on the question, "What place does Christ have in modern society?" The Advent section's message revolves around the "proclamation of Christ." While the section on Lent has a message of "imitation of Christ, especially Christ in His Passion." Each chapter is broken down into four to six subsections. I recommend using each of these subsections as a daily reflection through Advent and Lent. There aren't enough subsections to get you through every day of either season, but they are interesting and deep enough that you'll want extra days to re-visit deeper parts.

My favorite chapter was Chapter 4: "To You This Day is Born a Savior: How to Proclaim the Salvation of Christ Today." In this chapter, Fr. Cantalamessa discusses what type of savior humanity needs. Though we all need salvation, we all come from different walks of life and therefore need salvation presented to us differently so that we can more easily understand it and accept it. However, the Faith does not just respond to expectations of salvation but creates and expands these expectations as well. He also explains why we still need a savior today and how that Savior is Jesus Christ Himself. Lastly, he discusses how Christ saves us from both space and time. We are saved from space by being freed from living in the vast universe being envious and instead are content with who we are. We are freed from time by Christ defeating death.

This was a very enlightening book that I plan on reading through again at a slower pace during Advent. I will then pick it up again during Lent and visit that section anew as I will have had time to let things marinate in my head. If you are looking for a challenging, but fruitful read for Advent, then I recommend Remember Jesus Christ. I look forward to checking out Fr. Cantalamessa's other two books Contemplating the Trinity and The Fire of Christ's Love.

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 Joy of the Gospel

Evangelii Gaudium or The Joy of the Gospel was an apostolic exhortation delivered by Pope Francis on November 24, 2013, which was the Solemnity of Christ the King and the conclusion of the Year of Faith. In the introduction, Pope Francis gives Biblical examples showing the relationship between the joy of the Christian faith and the joy of missionary work. The rest of the exhortation is divided into five chapters:

1. The Church's Missionary Transformation
2. Amid the Crisis of Communal Commitment
3. The Proclamation of the Gospel
4. The Social Dimensions of Evangelization
5. Spirit-filled Evangelizers

Looking at the numbers of this document, it is clearly a large document. It is 47,560 words. In this glut of words, Pope Francis uses the word "love" 154 times, "joy" 109 times, "the poor" 91 times, "peace" 58 times, "justice" 37 times, and "common good" 15 times. These figures were taken from Wikipedia. I am not going to analyze the words in this document. More brilliant minds than mine have done so. Instead, I am going to briefly compare two editions released by two different publishers.

The Image Books edition screams papal edition with its bright white cover. The unique features of this books are as follows. 1. It is a hardcover, so you know it will last longer and have shelf appeal. 2. It is deckle edged, which gives it a unique look. 3. It has a Foreword written by Fr. Robert Barron and an Afterword by Fr. James Martin. 4. The notes are at the bottom of the appropriate page and not at the end like normally issued by the Vatican. The only weird thing is the Table of Contents of the actual document (not the book) is in the back instead of the front and listed as an Index. 

The Word Among Us edition is a paperback version like, the one released by the USCCB. Because of this, it is slightly less expensive than the hardcover edition listed above. The cover is similar to other Word Among Us papal document releases, including Lumen Fidei, Verbum Domini, and Evangelii Nuntiandi. This creates an appealing looking on your shelf to have these important documents similar in look. The great part of this book and what sets it apart is the study guide. This makes it ideal for individual study or small group study.

So which edition should you get? The price is very similar, so you'll have to decide which features are most important to you. Perhaps, you're like me and will get both of them. The important thing is to read the words of our Holy Father, because they do contain a great deal of truth in them. Enter to win a copy here.

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

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.

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!