Mother Angelica's Private and Pithy Lessons from the Scriptures (Image Books)

One of the first Audible books I listened to was Mother Angelica's Private and Pithy Lessons from the Scriptures. I listened to this book countless times throughout the years and always walked away with some new nugget of wisdom. Unfortunately, when I listen to audiobooks. I almost always space out, so I feel like I missed as much as I learned. For that reason, I knew I needed an actual copy of the book that I could read/reference whenever I needed to. The book is divided into three large sections - The Old Testament, The New Testament, and The Epistles.

The book begins with Creation and the Fall and moves on to Abraham. We then fast forward to Exodus and Moses. There are a surprising bit of entries on Numbers and Judges. The Old Testament section is than wrapped up with a few select passages from different prophetic books. The Old Testament section was much shorter than I had hoped it would be, but the amount dedicated to the Gospels is more than sufficient. In addition to reflections on key events like Jesus' birth and the Flight into Egypt, we receive meditations on a great deal of the miracles and parables of Jesus. The closing section covers both Paul's Epistles and the Catholic Epistles with no reflections on Revelation.

Like her programs on EWTN, this book is full of Mother Angelica's wisdom, wit, and insight. However, this is book is merely an appetizer, if you will. Mother Angelica had much to share with others, both on the air and in small groups, on Scripture. It would be amazing if we were able to compile it all in book format, but I don't know if that will ever happen. Instead, we must rely on this book and others compiled/edited by Raymond Arroyo to provide us with as much as he can on this potentially future saint. Be on the lookout for his latest book, Mother Angelica: Her Grand Silence, coming May 2016.

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

Signs of Life (Image Books)

The Catholic (and Orthodox) Church have a long history that stretches all the way back to the time of Christ and His Apostles. In that history, we have developed traditions, customs, devotions, and practices. Dr. Scott Hahn penned a book entitled Signs of Life in which he looks at forty of these traditions and their Scriptural roots. These forty "signs of life" are divided into nine categories: 1. Life Begins, 2. Life Times, 3. A Day in the Life, 4. Life Lessons, 5. Stages of Life, 6. Spice of Life, 7. Abundant Life 8. Love of My Life, and 9. Life Goes On. In "Life Begins," you will find some of the basics of the Faith, like the Sign of the Cross and Baptism. "Stages of Life" contains signs such as Confirmation, Marriage, Holy Orders, and Anointing of the Sick. You get the idea.

Each sign/chapter is four to six pages long and is chock full of Scripture, history, and teachings of the saints as it relates to the particular sign. Each chapter then closes with a section called "Ponder in Your Heart." In this closing section, we are provided with a long quote from a Church Father (such as St. Jerome), saint (such as St. Teresa of Avila), or theologian (such Romano Guardini) that further crystallizes the meaning and beauty of the particular "sign of life." Part 3 - A Day in the Life was very insightful for me, because the day to day aspects of life is where I get distracted or often feel like a failure, like I could be doing more and should be doing more. In this section, Dr. Hahn discusses discusses posture (like at Mass or in daily prayer), explained and recommended the practice of making a Morning Offering, and discussed other prayers like the Angelus and Grace Before Meals. These all seem like very simple things to do, which they are, Making ourselves do these to develop a spiritual discipline is the hard part.

Whether you are a lifelong Catholic or a new Catholic, you can benefit from reading this book. In fact, given the amount of topics in the book (40), you could make this a Lenten reading either this year or next if you already have a book this Lent. In fact, if you know someone or are sponsoring someone going through the RCIA process, this would be the perfect gift for them either after they are Catholic or for them to read through Lent all the way up to their journey at the Easter Vigil and initiation into the Church. I highly recommend this book!

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

Behold Your Mother (Catholic Answers)

"Catholic Answers is one of the nation’s largest lay-run apostolates of Catholic apologetics and evangelization." They are "dedicated to serving Christ by bringing the fullness of Catholic truth to the world. We help good Catholics become better Catholics, bring former Catholics “home,” and lead non-Catholics into the fullness of the faith." I became familiar with them on my drive home from work. Each day they devote several hours a day to answering questions for Catholics, non-Catholics, atheists, and agnostics. Their apologists also write books, one of which I am pleased to review today.

Behold Your Mother is a 300+ page blue hardcover (Really what other color would be appropriate?). It is written by Tim Staples, who is the Director of Apologetics at Catholic Answers, and is billed as "a Biblical and Historical defense of the Marian doctrines. The book is divided into five parts, one for each of the core doctrines. They are as follows:

Part I - Mother of God
Part II - Full of Grace
Part III - Ever-Virgin
Part IV - Assumed into Heaven
Part V - Mediatrix and Co-Redemptrix

Each part includes one to three chapters defining the doctrine; Scripture references/citations, which support the doctrine; and the historical Tradition that the Church has believed about these doctrines. Each of the five parts also includes a chapter, which answers common objections. These chapters above all are very useful for Catholics looking to defend Mary against Protestants, atheists, and agnostics. There are copious footnotes in this book as well, which even contain either citations or personal commentary by Mr. Staples on the subject at hand. Lastly, there are six appendices at the end of the book. Two of them use Patristics, which is a huge selling point for me, and one of them addresses the puzzling doctrine of Mary remaining a virgin, even during labor.

Each section of the book was well-organized, well-argued, and insightful. His argument for how Mary is Theotokos or God-bearer made perfect sense. Mary can't just be mother to Jesus' human-nature. She is mother to all of Jesus, humanity and divinity. Therefore, she is the Mother of God. Another section I enjoyed was the talk of Mary's Assumption, and his comparisons of her to the Ark of the Covenant. Though he doesn't state in the main text whether or not Mary died, because the Church doesn't have an official teaching on that, he does state in the footnotes that he believes she did. I too share that belief. With all these helpful sections, the one most important to me dealt with Mary as Mediatrix and Co-Redemptrix. This is a doctrine I have always struggled with, probably due to lack of understanding. I can't even begin to summarize Mr. Staples explanations in these chapters, but I can say I walked away from them at peace and with a better understanding of a doctrine that has caused me many nights of head-scratching.

With all the positive aspects of this book, the main question one must ask is who the book is intended for. I would say that this is primarily intended for faithful Catholics. While, they may believe all five of these doctrines (blindly or with limited understanding), they would benefit from this book in trying to articulate these points to people who don't believe in them. While Protestants and non-believers would benefit from reading this book, I have to think that only the serious inquirer would dare tackle a book this thick. Others would simply be turned off the size and possibly look for something a little more brief. I am proud to have this book in my library, and I know it will be a valuable reference for years to come. Five stars!

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