Saxum: The Life of Alvaro del Portillo

The process to attaining sainthood in the Catholic Church is a fairly lengthy process. For starters, the man/woman must have been dead five years. A bishop is then placed in charge of an initial investigation of this person's life to determine if the candidate is deemed worthy of further consideration. If so, a Nihil Obstat is granted and the deceased is called a Servant of God. After this, documents and testimonies are gathered and presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome to prove a life of heroic virtue. When approved, the deceased is called Venerable. After this one miracle is required to be called Blessed (unless the deceased was martyred). Finally, a second miracle is required after beatification to become a Saint (though a Pope may waive this requirement). September 27, 2014 Bishop Alvaro del Portillo will be beatified, due to his intercession for the miraculous cure of a Chilean boy. If the name Alvaro del Portillo is unfamiliar, then you might want to check out the book Saxum: The Life of Alvaro del Portillo, available from Scepter Publishers.

The organization Opus Dei received a lot of negative attention the past decade thanks to the likes of Dan Brown misinformation and flat out lies in The Da Vinci Code. Real Catholics know the truth about this organization and its great founder - St. Josemaria Escriva. Who many Catholics don't know is Alvaro del Portillo. He was the head of Opus Dei after Escriva passed away. Escriva referred to del Portillo as Saxum, which is the Latin for rock. That is where the book gets its title.

The book doesn't start like most biographies, which is to say at the beginning of his life, but instead gives us a glimpse of how Alvaro del Portillo met Josemaria Escriva. It is instead in the second chapter where we get a brief look at his early life. However, unlike most biographies, which spend at least one chapter devoted to a figure's birth and parents, this book only gives a few pages of details. In those few pages, we see that even at an early age, Alvaro is different than other boys. Much focus is then given to his teen years, where we see him discerning schooling and a career. He waffled between law (like his father) and engineering, but ultimately rejected the idea of law, because he didn't like to speak in front of people and thought he'd be better suited to a job he could perform alone. Despite eventually becoming an engineer, little did he know that his ultimate vocation would be quite the opposite.

Chapter Four proved to be one of the most interesting ones to me. It is here that we see del Portillo's beginnings in Opus Dei. We learn that he was a very vocal proponent and recruiter for Opus Dei. We also learn that he chose a life of celibacy as part of his mission with Opus Dei. Most fascinating to me was reading about the pillars of his "plan of life." These pillars included such devotions as daily Mass, mental prayer, and daily recitation of the Rosary. He learned from Josemaria Escriva that we are not to see these as separate activities from work and rest, but to turn every aspect of our lives into prayer. This is the heart of Opus Dei's message.

In addition to the aforementioned chapter, this book teaches us about the social climate and wars which shaped Alvaro del Portillo. We see him become a priest for Opus Dei and later a bishop. We see the members of Opus Dei seek and gain approval from the Vatican, because like present day, the organization was under attack by certain groups. Also covered in this book is del Portillo's work at the Second Vatican Council and what life was like after the council. The reader gets to see some of the inner workings of Opus Dei, what the core teachings are, and the impact Josemaria Escriva had not only on del Portillo's life but on the lives of all those around him.

This was a very interesting and easy to read biography about a Blessed man, so many people don't know about, including myself before this book. Alvaro del Portillo's life was inspiring and made me strive to live a better life. If you want to know more about him, Josemaria Escriva, and Opus Dei, I highly recommend this book. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if you pick up this book, you should also pick up Like Salt and Like Light, which contains a selection of del Portillo's writings and talks.

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

The Gift of Saint John Paul II (Word Among Us Press)

It's amazing to think that it's been less than ten years since Pope John Paul II died. Though I was just a recent convert at the time, he had a great impact on my life in the way that he lived his. It wouldn't be until years later that I discovered his writings. I am not bold enough to think that they made sense to me when reading them, but thankfully great men of the Church have helped spell them out. For example, Cardinal Wuerl shares his wisdom in his book The Gift of Saint John Paul II.

The Gift of Saint John Paul II is a 24 chapter tome, which covers key writings of Pope John Paul II. Among these key writings are fourteen encyclicals and ten apostolic exhortations. Unlike other books, which try to summarize and explain these types of writings, Cardinal Wuerl highlights key points and applies them to our everyday lives in the present. Before embarking on this task, Cardinal Wuerl provides an introduction which briefly talks about Pope John Paul II's papacy, explains the history of the papacy, and defines what an encyclical and apostolic exhortation are.

After this excellent introduction, Cardinal Wuerl takes us to the heart of this book with a chronological guide of John Paul II's papal writings. As expected, one of the longer chapters is on Evangelium Vitae or The Gospel of Life. This is one of the most important documents not only of his papacy, but in Church history. Despite what some people think, this encyclical did not teach anything new, but reaffirmed the Church's teachings on the human person. Such points reiterated deal with man being made in God's image, the value of all human life, and abortion as a mortal sin. Cardinal Wuerl also points out that both we as individuals and as the whole Church must speak out for life.

My favorite chapter covered was Rosarium Virginis Mariae (On the Most Holy Rosary). I picked this one because what Pope John Paul II did in this apostolic exhortation was monumental. The rosary had not changed in centuries, but in order to breathe new life into this prayer, he introduced a new set of mysteries called the Luminous Mysteries. These mysteries, based on the Scripture, filled in a "gap" that was missing between the Joyful Mysteries and Sorrowful Mysteries. Pope John Paul II also explained that the Rosary was a Christocentric prayer. As a convert the faith who always felt this prayer to be very Marian, this viewpoint was both enlightening and edifying.

With John Paul II's upcoming canonization, I believe The Gift of Saint John Paul II will be one of the must-read Catholic books of 2014. This great man not only had a big heart, full of love for God and His Church, but he also had a brilliant mind. Therefore, I encourage you to take your time and familiarize yourself with his works. Go to the John Paul II section of the Vatican's website. Read an encyclical or apostolic exhortation and keep your copy of this book by your side for commentary from one of our wonderful cardinals, Cardinal Wuerl.

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