This important book provides a study of 12 of Pope John Paul II's encyclicals, from the first of his pontificate, Redemptor Hominis, through the much discussed Evangelium Vitae and Veritatis Splendor, the not-to-be-overlooked Redemptoris Mater, and Ut Unum Sint.
Scholars and non-scholars will be pouring over the Pope's gifts for the next century to come. The encyclicals offer Pope John Paul II's brilliant blueprint for the third millennium. It is a blueprint fashioned from Scripture itself, but with modern insights to carry us forward across the "threshold of hope."
J. Michael Miller, C.S.B. offers an excellent introduction to Papal encyclicals and helpful notes prior to each chapter. In addition, an exhaustive index makes this a superb reference for pastors, teachers, writers, theologians, researchers, and the average layperson desiring to know more about the Church.
This is an ideal complement / study guide to the aircraft manufacturer's Pilot Operating Handbook.
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It is a simple book, on one page it has a name of God such as "I am the friend of sinners" and one bible quote to back up the name, yet so powerful. I must be invoking something spiritual when I verbalize the names of God. I don't get it, but who cares, I simply delight in the presence of God.
When I learned that the book was available, I could hardly wait to read it. I regularly walk through my home, reading the names of God. As I do, I am aware that He comes to fill the spaces of my daily life as personally and powerfully as He did that Saturday night in Chicago.
I love to meditate on the names of God, because I am aware that as I do so, He is smiling and keeping a record of it. It is such a simple way to bring joy to the heart of my Heavenly Father. For me, it brings an immense awareness of His love, strength to my spirit, focus for my mind, and an increase of faith.
The author has identified 365 names of God and suggests that the reader meditate on a different one each day. When I pick up the book and begin to read, I cannot stop with just one. I usually do not put the book down, until I have read them all.
Five stars seem too few to rate how highly I esteem this author and I AM.
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I grew up with Katie John, and I can hardly wait for my new copy of this, her first book, to arrive at my house. Katie John is a wide-open, hysterical heroine for kids of all ages!
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Horgan's biography succeeds magnificently in two ways. First, for those who will be coming to the book from reading Cather, one will find vastly greater depth and detail than was possible in that novel. So, the book is a boon for Cather fans. Second, even if one has not read Cather, the book tells a magnificent story of a truly heroic man and his closest friend. Their story is also the story of the West as a whole, and Santa Fe in particular.
There are biographies that record the rote facts about an individual, and unfortunately most fall into this category. And the there are biographies that almost manage to bring you into contact and introduce you to someone you have never met. Lamy emerges almost as someone you know, instead of someone you merely know things about.
I heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in either history of the American West or in Willa Cather's great novel. Although I am not myself Roman Catholic, it would probably also be enjoyed by those whose main interest is in Church History. It is a tragedy that this book is not currently in print. With so many much weaker and less interesting biographies available, it is unfortunate that many of the truly excellent ones are not.
Author Paul Horgan won a Pulitzer prize for this book and it is not difficult to see why. It was readily apparent that Horgan had done exhaustive research from the numerous details contained in the book.
All in all, a meticulously researched book on a most remarkable individual of the American Southwest written by a diligent author.
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"Loving the Church" is a series of meditations on the Church given as a Lenten retreat(1966) to the Holy Father and his staff. The aim of the book(retreat) is to instill a more profound sense of Church(that's our reason for reading the book). I can imagine the difficulty of retaining a sense of mystery in the Church when such as a papal staff is unceasingly confronted with the practical, day to day, sometimes mundane requirements of a visibile and functioning organization. Yet the Church is fundamentally a mystery, founded in the mystery of Christ himself, human and divine. We are put into communion with this mystery through communion with Christ. I believe this to be a fundamental point for our author, Christoph Cardinal Schonborn.
Although the whole is always the sum of all its parts, two "chapters" alone are worth the price of the book. In "The Mysteries of the Life of Christ," Schonborn anchors us in God's plan for us; to be united to himself in the Son's humanity. That humanity, in Schonborn's view is "radically filial" not "sevile". By God's design we are to become "sons(daughters) in the Son". In the words of the Fathers of the Church, "divinized". For Schonborn becoming Church means, at its deepest level, this very participation in the Sonship of Jesus.
The other "chapter" which excels is "The Communion of Saints". Its key understanding is that "the Church does not come to an end at the threshold of death." In Christoph Schonborn's words, "She(the Church) is the communion of ALL who live in Christ." A more compelling explanation on the communion of saints than in this meditation will be hard to find anywhere.
A repeated emphasis found in "Loving the Church" is that our participation in the Mystery of the Church is reality and not theological theory. It is based on fact, the fact of the Incarnation of the very Son of God in the real womb of a very real woman approximately two thousand years ago, Mary.
Though I found the first part of the book a little slow. That may just be me or the fact that the Cardinal was preparing the ground, tilling the soil as it were. However, no one will come away from this book without having been abundantly enriched.
A must read!
The Catechism of the Catholic Church can be a heady book, very long, a bit technical for the layman. But it will spring to life for you in reading these spiritual exercises. This book taught me not just how to read the Catechism, but how to pray it.
Cardinal Schonborn's great gift is the intense spirituality of his writing, which is deeply rooted in traditional Catholic theology and ancient Catholic scriptural exigesis. Christoph Schonborn will teach you to see the Church as she sees herself, as Bride, as victim, as the great cloud of witnesses which is the mystical Body of her Divine Spouse; in short you will see the Church as the communion of saints in Holy communion with the Lord. You will see the Church as Christ sees her--and if you're a convert, as I am, you will fall in love with her all over again.
The thought of JPII is trans-modern, it is a bold and sophisticated philosophical approach to the problems that afflict our world. His insights penetrate into the philosphical and spiritual roots of the modern crisis and has found the solution. His approach is a rigorus engagement with modern thought and transcends the dead-end thought that has emerged among intellectual eliets and poisons our universities.
For those who would gloss over his writings, they would miss the mystical import and profound depth of this thinker and leader. So subtle, so rich, it is easily missed.
John Paul II is a prophet to the world, a prophet whose message has largely been ignored.
In the not too distant future, when our need for the TRUTH presses upon us ever more heavily, those who search will find John Paul's writings and be liberated and ennobled by this man's potent seed.
Take this and steep yourself in the truth and allow this man's spirit, the spirit of the Father, Child and Love to fill you.