Whose Mass Is It?: Why People Care So Much about the Catholic Liturgy by Paul Turner My rating: 5 of 5 stars Like many books by Paul Turner, this one is a well-written, informative and accessible volume. The title of the book and the main question that is examined throughout the course of this short… Continue reading Review: Whose Mass Is It?: Why People Care So Much about the Catholic Liturgy
Month: August 2016
Now Where Will I Sit?
The front seats in Catholic churches are often left unoccupied for Mass. If the participants are the priestly people whose responsibility is to offer themselves in sacrifice together with the sacramental self-offering of Christ on the altar, their proximity to the altar is essential. Those who sit far away when seats are available in the… Continue reading Now Where Will I Sit?
Choosing Mass Music Wisely
When planners are asked to explain how they choose the music for the entrance chant, they usually say that they follow themes from the gospel or the lectionary's other readings of the day. There is virtually no liturgical tradition behind such a choice, nor was the lectionary compiled to influence music outside the Liturgy of the… Continue reading Choosing Mass Music Wisely
Review: Zealot: The Life and TImes of Jesus of Nazareth
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan My rating: 1 of 5 stars While Aslan's book is well-written and engaging, it is, ultimately, unconvincing. Arguing that the focus on Jesus the Christ in Christianity for the last two thousand years has overshadowed an understanding of Jesus of Nazareth (the "historical… Continue reading Review: Zealot: The Life and TImes of Jesus of Nazareth
Review: Monastic Practices
Monastic Practices by Charles Cummings My rating: 4 of 5 stars For anyone who has even the remotest connection with the monastic life, for example as an Oblate of a Benedictine house, there is much in this book to assist them in deepening their understanding of that particular form of religious life. With necessary adaptions… Continue reading Review: Monastic Practices
The Mystery of Stability
The practice of stability helps us to look for the loving presence and power of God everywhere and in every situation. Wherever we are right now is the place where God's mysterious design has placed us and wants us to be. We have not been thrown haphazardly into this precise situation, nor did we drop… Continue reading The Mystery of Stability
The Need for Forgiveness
I need to forgive for the sake of my own peace of mind, even if the other never asks to be forgiven. It is better to let go of the resentment and let it heal than to bear it for months or perhaps years like an open sore. Nursing a grudge does more harm to… Continue reading The Need for Forgiveness
Acceptance
Acceptance does not mean accepting behavior that is harmful to the common good, but it does mean that I stop trying to change or refashion everybody so that they live as I would prefer them to live. I recognize that I cannot expect to change other people. God will change them in his own time,… Continue reading Acceptance
Review: A Rare Benedictine: The Advent of Brother Cadfael
A Rare Benedictine: The Advent Of Brother Cadfael by Ellis Peters My rating: 3 of 5 stars View all my reviews
Travelling the Spiritual Pathway
The spiritual life of Christians follows the arc of Christ's life, through his victorious death, then back to the Father in his risen glory. Each fruitful participation in the liturgy of the Eucharist moves us further along the invisible pathway that passes from the Father who created us, along the way of the cross and… Continue reading Travelling the Spiritual Pathway
Body and Soul United
We can appreciate the reason for praying with one's whole self, body and soul, when we understand what it means to be a human being. A human person is not essentially a disembodied soul that happens to be housed for a short span of years in a mortal body that someday will be sloughed off.… Continue reading Body and Soul United
Review: Jackboot Britain: The Alternate History – Hitler’s Victory & The Nazi UK!
Jackboot Britain: The Alternate History - Hitler's Victory & The Nazi UK! by Daniel S. Fletcher My rating: 2 of 5 stars The story at the heart of this of this book was engaging and, indeed, gripping at times, focussing on what might have happened had Nazi Germany succeeded in invading the United Kingdom of Great… Continue reading Review: Jackboot Britain: The Alternate History – Hitler’s Victory & The Nazi UK!
The Danger of Impatience
On the reader's part, a common obstacle to sacred reading is impatience. If we expect to receive lofty insights from every line of the text, our expectations are doomed to disappointment. Impatience drives us to another book. The reader who trusts in the power of the text to communicate God's living word, however, will be… Continue reading The Danger of Impatience
Review: The Two Georges: A Novel of an Alternate America
The Two Georges: A Novel of an Alternate America by Richard Dreyfuss My rating: 4 of 5 stars Another wonderful yarn from the pen of Harry Turtledove and, this time, his co-author Richard Dreyfuss. There's enough possibility in this story for it to be feasible and entirely imaginable, and yet it is a thoroughly outside… Continue reading Review: The Two Georges: A Novel of an Alternate America
Review: Catholic Sacraments: A Rich Source of Blessings
Catholic Sacraments: A Rich Source of Blessings by John F. Baldovin My rating: 3 of 5 stars I enjoyed this book of short reflections on the various Sacraments of the Catholic Church. Each of the short reflections, only a few pages long, is written by leading scholars and they bring their expertise and scholarship to… Continue reading Review: Catholic Sacraments: A Rich Source of Blessings
