Pocket RSV New Testament (Scepter Publishers)

It may sound cliched but, the Bible is my favorite book. (Even though, technically, it is a whole library of books.) I love it so much that I have several shelves of Bibles and even more shelves of commentaries. I was recently provided with the opportunity to review Scepter Publishers' Pocket RSV New Testament. It took a great deal of restraint, but I managed to decline the offer as I recently had acquired two other Bibles, and I was worried my wife would kill me if I acquired another Bible. It took several Pope Francis quotes (see below), but I was finally convinced to review the Bible, and I am glad that I did.

The Pocket RSV New Testament is 3" x 5" in size and contains approximately 700 pages in single column format. The translation is the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSV CE). It comes in Black Simulated Leather, Burgundy Simulated Leather, and for $10 more Black Leather. I have a personal preference towards the burgundy edition, but that's just me. There is a ribbon bookmark to help you easily keep your place, and a brief appendix at the end, which explains some of the nuances and differences between the RSV and the RSV CE.

This Bible reminds me of the ones that the Gideons hand out or one that you receive at First Communion. The Bible is truly pocket in nature and can fit in a breast or pants pocket easily. I enjoy this translation over the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE), because this one has a more literal translation. The only knock against the Bible is that the pages are thinner than I would like. However, I feel that way about most Bibles. The bible is a great tool and greater blessing to have so readily available. I will close with what Pope Francis said about the importance of reading the Bible.

"I pose a question to you: do you read a passage of the Gospel everyday? Yes, no… yes, no… half of the time … some yes, some no. It is important! Do you read the Gospel? It is so good; it is a good thing to have a small book of the Gospel, a little one, and to carry in our pocket or in our purse and read a little passage in whatever moment presents itself during the day. In any given moment of the day I take the Gospel from my pocket and I read something, a short passage. Jesus is there and he speaks to us in the Gospel! Ponder this. It’s not difficult, nor is it necessary to have all four books: one of the Gospels, a small one, with us. Let the Gospel be with us always, because it is the Word of Jesus in order for us to be able to listen to him."

This Bible was provided to me for free by Scepter Publishers in exchange for an honest review.

The Maiden of Nazareth (Scepter Publishers)

I don't normally read fiction, with the exception of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Every now and then, I will dive into some classics, historical fiction, or religious fiction, and today I want to tell you about a new religious fiction book I have recently read called The Maiden of Nazareth. Written by Javier Suarez-Guanes, an Opus Dei priest, this book combines elements of Scripture, tradition, and the author's imagination to weave a narrative of Mary's life.

The book begins with Joachim and Ana. We learn that Ana is aged and barren, like other notable women before her, i.e., Sarah and Hannah. However, it isn't long in the book before she experiences feelings of nauseousness and other pregnancy symptoms. She waits a few months to share the news, which is understandable given her age and probably high risk the pregnancy would be, but when she does inform others, they are all extremely happy for her. She eventually gives birth to a girl, whom they name Mary (Miriam), like Moses' sister.

The rest of the book takes us through the rest of her life all the way to her death and Assumption. I know the thought of Mary dying will upset some people who believe she was assumed into Heaven without experiencing death, but that is not what the ancient tradition teaches. In her life, we see her parents teaching her Scripture, her assisting in the Temple, and the role she in Jesus' ministry, both during Jesus' time on Earth and after. There is also a heavy focus on Joseph in this book, which is nice, because he surely was responsible in shaping the man Jesus became. In addition to Joseph, we see other Biblical figures, like Elizabeth, Cleophas, the Apostles, etc. Many are introduced before Jesus' ministry again, so it is like getting a glimpse of their lives before Jesus changed their lives forever.

The book has a nice pace and flow to it. You get a fair glimpse at what Mary's childhood could have been like, but it doesn't overly dwell on it. You can also see clear foreshadowing or references to Scripture in some of the things the author says. Two examples that most stand out in my mind are when she is memorizing Scripture, it says she remember them while other kids forgot them. This reminds of the passage where it talks about Mary treasuring all things and letting them dwell in her heart. The other most obvious one was her seeing a man about to be crucified. However, the author does a nice job of not glamorizing Mary's life. There are a few moments where it just spells out the mundane tasks of daily life and how it can be boring. Overall, I found this book to be an interesting read, and even if it was fictional it gave flesh to people in the Bible and made them feel more real.

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/or here and hit Yes!

16 Marriages That Made History (Scepter Publishers)

The World Meeting of Families is currently underway and Pope Francis is officially in the United States. It is an exciting time in the Northeast, and a part of me is a bit envious of those taking part in the meeting and the festivities. But if you are like me and cannot be there, you can offer up your prayers for a fruitful meeting and papal visit. In addition to praying for the Pope and those involved with the World Meeting of Families as well as the upcoming Synod, we can also take some time out of our day to read and educate ourselves. There are many books out there that talk on both the meeting and the synod, but there are few out there that just talk about marriage in general and the beauty of it. One such book that does is entitled 16 Marriages That Made History.

16 Marriages That Made History begins with the briefest of prologues explaining how marriage when faithfully honored is beneficial to both spouses. The author, Gerard Castillo, then adds "An awareness of a constant history of marriages that are united, faithful, and happy in the midst of great difficulties is a valuable reference for the present-day debate over the institution of marriage." We then are presented with the sixteen marriages that date from 40 A.D. to 1960. They are arranged by order of marriage, except that Chapters Three and Four seem out of order chronologically, which is merely a niggle. Some of the couples in this book include Aquila and Priscilla; G.K. Chesterton and Frances Blogg; and J.R.R. Tolkien and Edith Bratt. Each chapter provides both biographical information and details on their married life. There is also a theme related to married life in each chapter. For example. the theme for the Chestertons was two people succeeding as living as one despite being very different from one another.

Reading about all these marriages was equal parts fascinating and fruitful, but the one I enjoyed reading about most was Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra Fedoronova. There are very few real examples of love at first sight, but Castillo does an exquisite job explaining their love story. Nicholas knew he was going to marry his wife when they first met, and he had to wait ten long years before he finally could. This is different from most fairy tales of true love, because their version of love at first sight usually has a quick resolution. Despite these ten long years of difficulty, pressure to choose different spouses for political convenience, and questions of which religion they would practice (Anglicanism or Orthodoxy), they eventually were wed. Despite the tragic ending they suffered, this couple showed us how to approach a potential marriage partner and how to persevere in love, despite great hardship. They did not go into marriage speedily and blindly, but they took their time. They got to know each other thoroughly and that helped their marriage to be so stable and full of love. There weren't secrets or unexpected surprises, but two souls knew each other and belonged together.

One of the best things about this book is that the sixteen marriages weren't limited to Catholic marriages. This gives the book universal appeal for all Christian denominations. What I didn't like about this book was that there were two marriages in the 1st Century A.D. and then a huge jump to the 13th Century. Surely, there were history-making marriages in the 1100+ years in between. We are living in dark times right now with countries all around the world providing a new human definition of marriage. (Sorry, but God and the Church's view of marriage will never change.) If you are looking for an inspiring book that gives concrete examples of authentic marriage, then this is the book for you. I just wish it had been longer, because when it ended, I found myself wishing for more of these stories.

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!

Journey with Jesus through the Liturgical Year (Scepter Publishers)

Álvaro del Portillo was the head of Opus Dei from 1975 to 1994 and the successor to Josemaría Escrivá. He was beatified on September 27, 2014. During his life, del Portillo gave a myriad of homilies and wrote many pastoral letters. 241 of these pastoral letters were gathered, compiled, and organized according to the Liturgical Year in a book called Journey with Jesus through the Liturgical Year. The six sections are called:


1. Advent: Awaiting the Lord
2. Christmastime: Lessons from Bethlehem
3. Lent: A time for conversion and penance
4. Holy Week: Accompanying Jesus in the Passion
5. Easter: Fount of true joy
6. Ordinary Time: Sanctifying daily living

The lessons for Advent invite us to purify ourselves before Christmas arrives. The way to do this, del Portillo says, is by turning to the Virgin Mary and imitating her. He also invites us to "build a crib for our God in our hearts." During Christmas, some of the reflections tell us to focus on and learn from "the Three." Contrary to what I was thinking, "the Three" are the Holy Family and not the Holy Trinity. Other letters encourage us to practice poverty. Though, I enjoyed reading about the fast and feast seasons, the reflections for Ordinary Time proved to be the most fruitful, because that is where we spend over 60% of our year. These Ordinary Time letters tell us to see God in everything; to not seek extraordinary things; and to see the great value of little things.

Though the book is organized by season, the book is atypically organized for a series of letters/reflections. By this I mean that there isn't a reflection for every day of the year. Instead, there are just several groups of letters organized by season and then by theme. Each letter is approximately one page long, so you can easily read it in the morning over coffee. However, I found myself reading several letters at a time, since several letters were under each theme. Reading the words of saints (and future saints) is a practice I recommend to all. If you are looking for a book for the rest of this year or 2016, then Journey with Jesus through the Liturgical Year is sure to please.

This book was provided to me for free by Scepter Publishers in exchange for an honest review.

Created for Greatness (Scepter Publishers)

Created for Greatness is a brief (under 100 pages) book, which discusses the concept of magnanimity and the power it has. In Chapter One, the author, Alexandre Havard, defines magnanimity as "an ideal rooted in trust in man, and his inherent greatness. It is the virtue of action. It is the supreme form of human hope." He also says that, "it is the first specific virtue of leaders."  In Chapter Two, he couples magnanimity with humility, "the second virtue specific to leaders." Havard states, "Whereas magnanimity affirms our personal dignity and greatness, humility affirms the dignity and greatness of others." These brief definitions set the tone for the rest of this book and let the reader know that while this is a book aimed at leaders, it is also a book for all of humanity.

After the two introductory chapters, which define magnanimity and humility, the remaining three chapters focus on "Developing a Moral Sense," "Developing Magnanimity," and "Growing in Humility." In these three chapters, Havard mixes practical advice with personal, historical, and literary examples. Such useful advice, include ideas like working on yourself more than your ideas or working on your character more than your manners. The chapter on developing magnanimity was a fascinating read, particularly the sections that dealt with discovering your vocation and living it; being aware of your talent and increasing it, and concentrating your energies on your mission. It made me start to evaluate what God has given me and if I am doing all I can in my vocation and with my talents.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I received this book. It looked like a cheesy self-help book, and I thought that I certainly wasn't the target audience,  The old saying, "You can't judge a book by its cover," rang true again though, and as I stated earlier, this isn't a book just for leaders but for everyone. I would highly recommend it for management, people with management ambition, pastors, seminarians, ministry leaders, moms, and dads. You should also check out his other book Virtuous Leadership.

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!

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!

Why John is Different (Scepter Publishers)

Over the past several years, I have belonged to a Bible Study group that studied the Gospel of John and immediately followed that with the Book of Revelation. We primarily used the Agape Bible Study, which was hit or miss for me. I was looking for a Catholic book on John and/or Revelation that I could read and reference. Fortunately, I finally found the book I was looking for in Why John is Different. Unfortunately, the Bible Study is almost over. Nevertheless, I am still pleased to own this book.

When I requested to review a copy of Why John is Different, I thought I would be getting a book that explains how and why the Gospel of John is different from the three Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. However, what I actually got was that and so much more. The author, Fr. Juan Chapa, not only covers John's Gospel in this book; he also addresses John's three Epistles and the Book of Revelation. For those unfamiliar with Fr. Chapa, he is the current director of the Navarre Bible project. The Navarre Bible project is a great Bible series that includes the RSV text, commentaries, and explanations of the text. If you are a serious Catholic Bible student, you'll want that series. That's another review, though.

Why John is Different begins by putting the works of John in their historical context. Fr. Chapa examines the Johannine community; Christianity in the First Century; and the background for John's writings, like conflict with Judaism and the emergence of Gnostic thought. He then dives into the meat of the book, which is broken into three parts - The Fourth Gospel, The Letters, and Revelation. As to be expected, the Gospel receives the most attention in this book with 7 of the 10 chapters devoted to it. The first three chapters discuss authorship and apostolic testimony; similarities and differences between John and the Synoptics; and the overall content and structure of the Gospel.

We then jump into the meaty parts of the book with chapters 4-6. These chapters cover the signs Jesus performed, Jesus' famous discourses, and Jesus' Passion. I particularly enjoyed reading about the Bread of Life discourse. This passage in John 6:26-59 is a hotly debated passage. Oddly enough proponents of Sola Scriptura try and pass this off as Jesus speaking metaphorically. For those of us blessed enough to belong to a rich Tradition of the Catholic Church, it is clear that Jesus is speaking of the Eucharist. Fr. Juan Chapa says, "Jesus shows that he now is food not only as the Word of the Father (the teaching of God) but insofar as his flesh and blood are food for mankind. After recapitulating the previous ideas of the discourse (see 6:48-50); he affirms that he is the Bread and gives himself as Bread to be eaten."

This book is the perfect text for those looking to dive deeper into the writings of St. John. Represented symbolically as the eagle, St. John's writings "soar to the heights of the divinity, just as the eagle soars upward to the sun." With this book, you will understand not only how John's Gospel (and other writings) differ from the Synoptics, but why they have the insight and theology they do. It should be noted, however, that this is not a verse-by-verse explanation of these writings. You will therefore want to pair this book with a trusted Bible commentary, like the Navarre Bible to get the full effect. So if the writings of John have ever puzzled or intimidated you, I strongly encourage you to pick up a copy of this book and be intimidated no more!

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

Scepter Publishers: Encountering Christ: Homilies, Letters, and Addresses of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio

This week at Stuart's Study I have three great books to review and recommend to you. I know it might seem like I always say that about all the books I review, but I really mean it this time. Wednesday I will be reviewing a reprint of a classic Fulton Sheen work and Friday I have a photo journal of Pope Francis and his election. Today, however, I am going to review my #1 choice for books by about Pope Francis. You can find my #2 and #3 choices here and here, respectively.

Encountering Christ: Homilies, Letters, and Addresses of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio is a book from Scepter Publishers that I was dying to read, so much so that it got to the point where I was emailing them weekly to see if it had been released yet. In this book, one can read the words of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio from 2009 to 2013. Some of these homilies were given right before the conclave that resulted in his election to the papacy.

This book is divided into eight sections. Seven of the sections are addresses or homilies for specific occasions or people, including homilies for Christmas Eve; Lent; Easter Vigil; Corpus Christi, Catechists; Priests; and Bishops. The last section deals with Social Doctrines of the Church. I was super excited that there was a section for catechists. Although the audience is intended for catechists in Argentina, the message rings true for all catechists, and since I am a catechist, I felt like he was personally talking to me. In the Catechist section, he spoke about embracing the Year of Faith. I guarantee he never thought he would be the Pope closing out the Year of Faith when he was speaking on it.

Reading through Archbishop Bergoglio's homilies for Ash Wednesday, one begins to make sense of Pope Francis' actions upon ascending the papacy. The humility and service that those outside of the Church find astounding are the words he preached for years to the people of Argentina. He truly is a Pope who is not only talking the talk but walking the walk as well. Don't think of Pope Francis as just a simple man who preaches love and service though. He has a brilliant mind and that is on display in his social doctrine speeches.

This is my #1 choice for books to read by/about Pope Francis and easily gets a 5 star rating. Even though we just received his first encyclical, it was written primarily by Pope Benedict XVI. This book provides several years of Pope Francis' teachings before he was pope. I believe it will help illuminate the path on which he will lead the Church during his papacy, and frankly, I couldn't be more pleased. If you would like to read a few articles/interviews from someone involved with one part of the translation of these talks, then click the two links below. And as always, if you found this review helpful, please click this link and hit Yes!

http://www.thepersonalistproject.org/comments/sneak_preview
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/simcha-fisher/translating-bergoglio