Legenda Sunt

2014-03-10T11:00:00.003-07:00

The Eternal City: Rome & the Origins of Catholic Christianity
By Dr. Taylor Marshall

Why is the Roman Catholic Church “Roman”? Is it simply an historical accident? Or was the Church in Rome an integral part of God’s design from the beginning? Dr. Taylor Marshall believes that Rome is part of the eternal Divine plan, and he backs it that claim, working from the Book of Daniel, the Gospels, Revelation, and the records of the life of the early church.

Along the way he addresses standard anti-Rome arguments such as the claim that St. Peter was bishop of Antioch first, that St. Paul knew nothing of St. Peter’s presence in Rome, and the tired petros/petra argument.

I am not entirely on board with his exegesis of Daniel and Revelation (with respect to the latter, I am not settled on preterism as the right way to go), but he gives good reasons for his conclusions in an appendix and in some of the footnotes. Since his intended audience isn’t academic, my quibbles are satisfied.

This book is the third in a trilogy. I’ve read the first, The Crucified Rabbi: Judaism and the Origins of Catholic Christianity (The Origins of Catholicism), and found it well worth reading too. I didn’t realize that Catholic Perspective on Paul was in the series until I read the book on Rome, but I’m going to add it to my “to-read” list.

Minor problems: Either he uses voice dictation software or he thinks aurally, but either way there are a few minor errors such as “site” for “cite.” (I see similar things on his web ~~cite~~ site from time to time.) In the Kindle edition, a few illustrations are missing and display only as an X in a box.

Summary: If you want to know why the word “Roman” is not an accidental part of the title of the “Roman Catholic Church,” then this book is well worth your time and money. 5/5

Nothing Short of a Miracle

2014-02-21T13:49:00.000-08:00

Nothing Short of a Miracle: God's Healing Power in Modern Saints

I picked up this book at our local Catholic bookstore on something of a whim. Those who know me well know that I'm always interested in learning more about saints, so maybe that was the reason.

The book covers miracles attributed to the saints and prospective saints listed below. (Since not all of them are saints and not all of them are modern, the subtitle of the book is not entirely accurate.)

St. André Bessette (listed in the book as a blessed, which is odd since this edition of the book was published in 2013 and St. André was canonized in 2010)
St. John Bosco
Bld. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa)
St. Francis Xavier Cabrini (Mother Cabrini)
Ven. Solanus Casey
St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio)
Bld. (but soon St.) John Paul II
St. John Neumann
Blessed Stanislaus Papczyński
St. Luigi Scrosoppi
Bld. Francis X. Seelos
St. Elizabeth Seton
Ven. Fulton Sheen
Bld. Maria Troncatti

That's from a list in the back of the book giving contact information for those who wish to report healings; there may well be a few others mentioned in the text itself.

Although the saints themselves are not all from particularly modern times, most of the miracles described are from the 20th Century or later. For many of the saints, the book gives the story of the beatification and canonization miracles. It also gives stories of each saint's intercession in much more recent times, up to almost the present day.

The book is readable, interesting, and well-suited in its purpose of showing how God's healing activity continues through the work of His saints. The author said that in addition to showing the present existence of miracles, she also wanted to show how miracles affect those who receive them and their families. She showed some of that, and I'd have been interested to see more.

I do have a few minor complaints about the book. It's in its third edition and the material added to this edition (including the material on John Paul II and Fulton Sheen) could have used more careful editing—some of the prose is awkwardly written. The occasional pitching of books by the same author is a bit annoying. And perhaps there are a few too many reminders that the saints work miracles by the power of God—that's important to know, but the reminders break up the flow of the book.

As I said, those are minor complaints, and I found the book well worth my time and money.

The book is also available in electronic format.

Science Was Born of Christianity

2013-12-30T17:30:00.002-08:00

Science Was Born of Christianity: The Teaching of Fr. Stanley L. Jaki, by Stacy Trasancos.
A very brief summary of the book:

Fr. Jaki defined science (more precisely, exact science) as “the quantitative study of the quantitative aspects of objects in motion.” (It's not clear to me if the italics are from Fr. Jaki or Dr. Trasancos.) This settles the questions of science vs. theology by drawing a distinct line between the two, so that much of what passes as “scientific” discussion of various matters is excluded from science properly speaking. This also leaves physics as the only true science, though the more chemistry becomes reducible to physics, the more it becomes a true science as well, and the more biology becomes reducible to chemistry, the more it in turn becomes a true science.
Although many civilizations achieved great things in mathematics and practical physics, science as an ongoing study of quantitative aspects etc. only became a self-sustaining enterprise in a society that was rooted in a Christian view of the world.
Others societies ultimately became bogged down because of beliefs in a cyclical nature of reality, flowing in and out of existence. Only Christianity with its insistence on a God who is wholly distinct from creation, yet who also became incarnate in that creation, was able to break the cycle.

It’s an interesting enough argument, but the book is far from problem free.

Its most attention-getting claim, one that drew to it the attention of an atheist blogger who inadvertently gave the book wider publicity, is this:

To understand this claim is to understand why the Catholic Church has a legitimate right and authority to veto scientific conclusions which directly contradict divinely revealed dogma. (Kindle Locations 136-137).

The claim is never supported. I read the book and I still don't understand how this follows from what Fr. Jaki wrote. The Church can speak about pseudo-scientific conclusions drawn by scientists who do not understand the limits of their subject matter, but if “scientific conclusions” in the quoted passage is taken to mean only the results of quantitative study etc., then the Church has no grounds on which to veto anything.

The book also suffers from stylistic problems. It was originally Dr. Trasancos master's thesis, and it reads like a master's thesis. It is badly in need of a professional editor to untangle sentences that are made to do too much work, making three or four points at a time, and none of them clearly. (An editor could also have helped with punctuation issues that make the text even harder to follow.)

Then there's the discussion of the famous Paris condemnations of 1277. The author cites several of the condemned propositions, but she does so like this:

Proposition 27 asserted that God can make as many worlds as He wills. “That the first cause cannot make more than one world.” (Kindle Locations 1815-1816).

Proposition 27 is actually the material within the quotation marks. The proposition is false and therefore condemned, and from that one can draw the conclusion that God can in fact create more than one world (though not, in fact, the conclusion that “God can make as many worlds as He wills," true though it is). So it is with all the cited propositions: They all assert falsehoods, and it is from their condemnation that we can infer the truth. For someone who does not understand how the process of condemning propositions works, this section of the book cannot help but be confusing.

Then there is at least one outright factual errror:

By 711 the Arabs took Spain and twenty-one years later France.... (Locations 1029-1030).

This would come as news to Charles Martel.

I am well aware that summarizing Fr. Jaki's work into one short book was a Herculean task, and I did learn something from reading the book. It wasn't a waste of my time or money, but it isn't exceptionally good either.

What might have been

2011-07-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

From Slave to Priest: The Inspirational Story of Father Augustine Tolton
Sr. Caroline Hemesath

Fr. Augustine Tolton was the first acknowledged black priest in the United States. (James and Patrick Healy were ordained in 1854 and 1864 respectively; they were one-quarter black, and known during their lives as Irish, which their father was.) He was born in Missouri but went to school in Quincy, IL, and served as a priest both there and in Chicago, so he is a favorite son of Illinois. I won't repeat the whole story of his life here—you'll just have to read the book.

Two things in particular struck me as I read the book: one joyful, one sorrowful. The joyful part was seeing how Augustine grew in holiness through his persistence in pursuing his vocation against all obstacles, a reminder to me of what a great and undeserved gift the priesthood is for all of us who share in that life. The sad part was that so many of the obstacles he faced were utterly unnecessary—not just the persistent refusal to admit him to seminary (he was finally admitted to a seminary in Rome intended for training missionary priests), but the persistent obstacles thrown in his way when he was sent back to serve in the United States (much to his surprise; he had expected to be sent on African missions).

He was a magnificent priest, someone whose ministry was effective not just for black Catholics but for whites as well—which, sadly, lead to apparent jealousy and rivalry on the part of pastors of white parishes who were losing parishioners to his parish. (I fully realize the difficulty of discerning motives in a much different culture over a century later.) He also had to face a constant pressure from non-Catholic groups who would invite children from his to the activities of their own faith communities, drawing them away from their Catholic faith.

When he was transferred to Chicago, he faced many of the same problems there: rivalries with other parishes, temptations among his parishioners to leave the Catholic faith, and so on, to which was added the burden of poor health. He died in 1897 at the age of 43 during a heat wave. He is buried in Quincy, IL; I hope some day to pay a visit to his grave there.

I can only wonder what might have been if "Good Father Gus," as he was familiarly known, had been given much more support and encouragement than he actually received. Perhaps he could have done much more. Perhaps his persistance against the obstacles is what made him great in the first place.

The cause for his canonization was officially opened on Feb. 24 of this year. I could not help but think while reading the book that it was the story of a saint. I pray his cause proceeds rapidly and well.

Spirituality the Dominican way

2011-07-23T19:59:00.000-07:00

The New Wine of Dominican Spirituality: A Drink Called Happiness, by Paul Murray, OP.

(I ran across this book in the gift shop of a Trappist monastery; God’s sense of humor is astonishing.)

What intrigued me most about this book when I first saw it was the idea of a distinctly Dominican spirituality. I thought there had to be such a thing, but I couldn’t find anything about it.

My metaphysics teacher in seminary once told my class that we were a bunch of Dominicans and didn’t know it. I told him after class that I couldn’t speak for everyone else, but that I was well aware of my own Dominican tendencies. I’ve often said that if I’d had the vocation to community life, the Dominicans would have been the first place I looked.

Much of the spiritual writing of the last few centuries has come from the Jesuits, who have done much to popularize and promote spirituality for everyone, not just for those in religious life. For this, the Church undoubtedly owes them a debt of great thanks. That’s not just lip service—there may be no group that has done more to help bring holiness to the world than the Jesuits of the 19th and early 20th centuries. And yet the methods and ideas that dominate many books on prayer and spirituality have never worked all that well for me.

I found this sentence on page 9 of the book: “When, over the years, Dominicans have found themselves confronted with detailed methods and techniques of meditation, and with long lists of what to do in meditation and what not to do, their reaction has almost always been the same: they instinctively feel that something has gone wrong.” I do not know that the author is claiming that something has gone wrong universally—I certainly don’t—and yet I find the point well taken.

So what goes in the place of those methods and techniques? Most of the rest of the book works its way around that question without quite ever answering it. It seems to have something to do with study, and in particular study as a way to know God better and therefore to proclaim Him better (preaching being the primary charism of the Dominicans, who are officially known as the Order of Preachers).

I can’t give the book an unqualified recommendation, even for those of us who need another way to pray. Although it mentions frequently the need for meditation and contemplation, I’m not sure that the author does not downplay them a little too much. And while I found nothing unorthodox in the book, there are places that I read with a little wariness.

That having been said, I’m still glad that I bought the book (and read it). The page 9 sentence alone might have been worth the price, but I also found a fair amount of food for thought and prayer throughout the book.

Caveat lector, but if you’re in search of an approach to spirituality that’s different from what’s commonly presented yet still based solidly in centuries of practice within the Church, this might be the book you need to get you pointed in the right direction.

Books from the homily

2011-06-02T17:02:00.000-07:00

Below is a list of the books from my homily at Holy Family Adventure Weekend. Remember that reading books is a great way to come to know things about God; make sure you make good use of the sacraments and spend time in personal prayer so that you will come to know God Himself, which is infinitely better than knowing about God (important though that is).

Books for the more casual reader

Time for God, Jacques Philippe. If you read just one book on this list, read this one.

Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd ed.) You know this one.

Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Not as well known as the full CCC, though maybe it should be. It is cast in the tradition Q&A form of catechisms, and is less detailed but more accessible than its parent volume.

The Belief of Catholics, Ronald Knox. Knox was one of the most prominent Catholic writers in England in the first part of the 20th Century. This book is an admirable summary of what we believe and why we believe it. You can read the whole thing online here. Ignatius Press offers a print version.

Hail, Holy Queen, Scott Hahn. I confess it's been a while since I read this, but if memory serves, it is a good introduction to the place of Mary in Catholic thought and piety.

Jesus of Nazareth, Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI). I hesitate to write a review of a book by the Pope. Just read the book. (But be warned that the Holy Father does assume a certain level of familiarity with current debates in biblical studies.)

Life of Christ, Fulton J. Sheen. A profound meditation on the Life of Christ.

Theology for Beginners, Frank Sheed. A gentle but not shallow introduction to theology.

The Gospel According to St. John, Navarre Edition. The Navarre editions are good commentaries, for the most part, though I have to admit I now prefer The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament for an entry-level commentary for the books of the New Testament. But the Ignatius one wouldn't fit in my book bags, so it didn't make it into the homily.

Books for serious study (which is not to say that you can't study books on the earlier list, too!)

Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, Ludwig Ott. A concise one-volume summary of the Church's official teaching on nearly everything along with explanations of the belief, evaluations of the level of certainty associated with the teaching (defined doctrine down to pious opinion), and references to the appropriate sources. Not particular a book you'd sit down and read, but if you need to know what the Church teaches on a given point, you'll probably find it here. It was written in the 1950s, so it's lacking anything that's been defined and refined since then. There are also a few points at which well-informed people disagree with Dr. Ott's assessments. Still, there's no other book quite like it.

The Shape of Catholic Theology, Aidan Nichols, O.P. (Dominicans rule!) An overview of the process of Catholic theology: the role of philosophy, the use of the Bible, the resources of sacred tradition, aids to discernment, and a short history of theology.

Introduction to Moral Theology, Romanus Cessario, O.P. (Dominicans rule!) Just what it says; if you want to know how we know what a moral life in Christ is, this is a good place to start.

The Sacramental Mystery, Paul Haffner. Another seminary text, and one I refer to every now and then. It's got a good overview of the sacraments in general and a discussion of each sacrament.

Aristotle for Everybody, Mortimer Adler. It's hard to understand St. Thomas without understanding Aristotle, and it's hard to understand Catholic doctrine without understanding at least the vocabulary of St. Thomas. Ergo, if one wishes to understand Catholic doctrine, some acquaintance with Aristotle is quite helpful, and this book is one of the more painless way to make that acquaintance.

Summa of the Summa, St. Thomas Aquinas, O.P. (Dominicans rule!) ed. and annotated by Peter Kreeft. This book concentrates on the purely philosophical portions of St. Thomas's work (that is, it is not concerned with the Trinity, the Incarnation, sacraments, etc., which we know only through revelation [though we can then apply philosophical reasoning to them, which St. Thomas does]), but it is one way to begin making one's acquaintance with St. Thomas. I note that there are those who think Dr. Kreeft gets some things wrong, but we used this book in my Natural Theology course in seminary, and I'm confident it is far more right than wrong.

A Tour of the Summa, Paul J. Glenn. A brief summary of the Summa (well, briefer than the Summa itself, at least).

Of God and His Creatures, St. Thomas Aquinas, O.P. (Dominicans rule!) tr. and abridged by Joseph Rickaby, S.J. A shortened version of St. Thomas's Summa Contra Gentiles with commentary by Fr. Rickaby. There are places where I am afraid Fr. Rickaby gave in to the intellectual currents of the early 20th Century and edited out material he ought to have left, but there's still plenty here, and St. Thomas gives explanations a little more verbose than those in the Summa.

The Three Ages of the Interior Life, Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. (Dominicans rule!) in two volumes. A pair of weighty tomes on the spiritual life. Great stuff, but he presumes a fair amount of background knowledge, particularly of the writings of St. Thomas.

God: His Knowability, Essence, and Attributes, Joseph Pohle, adapted and edited by Arthur Preuss. Msgr. Pohle and Mr. (? maybe Dr.--nothing I have says for sure) Preuss produced a series of texts that were, I believe, standard seminary fare in the early 20th Century. They are among the first places I turn to when faced with a more technical question in theology. The drawback for a modern reader is that the authors assume that a page full of Latin is no problem, nor are they concerned over the occasional outburst of Greek and Hebrew. They also assume some acquaintance with St. Thomas, though they also explain his teaching in depth (occasionally getting it wrong, IMHO, though not so often as to make me dislike the books). Google Books and the Internet Archive (www.archive.org/texts) have copies of the whole series.

Jesus Christ: Fundamentals of Christology, Roch A. Kereszty, O. Cist. This was a textbook from seminary; I recall the class fairly well, but not much about the book. When I actually have a Christology question, I consult the book on Christology by Pohle/Preuss, and I recommend it instead of this one, but I don't own a hardcopy of P/P on Christology (I read a library copy) and so couldn't bring it.

Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th ed. (a.k.a. NA27). The current standard edition of the Greek text of the New Testament. I have the large print edition, which is hard enough on the eyes as it is. I can't imagine trying to read the smaller edition.

Pocket Interlinear New Testament, ed. Jay P. Green, Sr. I don't particularly recommend this edition as it uses an inferior version of the Greek text along a revised version of the King James translation (I think this copy came from a garage sale or some such place where at least the price was right), but interlinears are handy to get an idea what the Greek text is that underlies a given passage without actually having to learn Greek.

JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh. Hebrew text of the Old Testament in parallel with an English translation. (Tanakh is an acronym from "Torah" [the five books of Moses], "Nevi'im" [prophets], and "Ketuvim" [writings = everything else].)

Church Music in History and Practice

2011-04-04T10:03:00.000-07:00

Charles Winfred Douglas (not Winifred—this is a man, not a woman) was one of the most respected scholars of hymnody in the 20th Century. Church Music in History and Practice is a thorough introduction to the history of Church music up until the middle part of the last century. (Thomas Day's somewhat abrasive Why Catholics Can't Sing does much to explain the musical train wreck of the second half of the century.)

Douglas was an Episcopal priest, and the book can be at times a little tendentious toward Catholicism, but not nearly so much as to obscure its value. If you want to know why classical Church music sounds the way it does, both the text and the music, Douglas's book will explain.

Sadly, it's long out of print. Even more sadly, there's a revised edition (ca. 1962, also OOP) whose reviser was far too kind to the growing incursion of bad taste into Church music. Fortunately he seems to have restricted most of his revising to adding chapters at the end.

The good news is that used copies, even of the first edition, are available at fairly reasonable prices.

To Save a Thousand Souls

2011-03-29T17:58:00.000-07:00

To Save a Thousand Souls, Fr. Brett Brannen

Truth in advertising (or reviewing): Fr. Brannen was my formation advisor in seminary. I learned an immense amount from him and count myself fortunate in being able to regard him as a friend. So this isn't necessarily the most unbiased of reviews.

That being said, I am still confident I'd give the book a good review even if I'd never met the author. His primary audience is the man who thinks he might have a vocation to the diocesan priesthood, but nearly anyone interested in how Catholic priests become priests, from the moment of the first hint of a call through the day of ordination, will learn much from this book.

I've been ordained nearly three years (it seems a short time and forever simultaneously), and I was going through the period of serious discernment nearly a decade ago. I wish this book had existed then, and I wish I'd had a copy. Some of what I found was simply confirmation that what I'd experienced was typical; some of it addressed the fears I had to work through in other ways; and some of it was simply advice that I eventually figured out on my own eventually, a process that would have been easier had someone been able to point it out to me at the time.

Advice about prayer? It's here.

Information about what to expect? It's here.

Warnings of pitfalls and how to avoid them? They're here, along with advice on how to get back up if you've fallen.

And all of it is straightforward, clear, and without pretense.

Buy a copy for yourself, and give one to someone you know who's discerning.

Special Edition: Sherlock Holmes meets the Catholic Church

2011-02-14T08:35:00.000-08:00

(Full disclosure: I know the author of this book and my name is in the credits in the back.)

In this memorable year ’95 a curious and incongruous succession of cases had engaged [Holmes's] attention, ranging from his famous investigation of the sudden death of Cardinal Tosca—an inquiry which was carried out by him at the express desire of His Holiness the Pope.... “The Adventure of Black Peter”

From this intriguing hint, Ann Lewis has spun out not one but three tales of Sherlock Holmes and his involvement with things Catholic. (Arthur Conan Doyle was Jesuit-trained, BTW.) The result is Murder in The Vatican: The Church Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes

It has been some time (sadly) since I have drunk much from the original well, but the book doesn't have the uncomfortable feel that I get when I read something written in imitation of someone else's style. Holmes and Watson are demonstrably themselves, but seen through different authorial eyes. That's a good thing, not a bad one, and the result is an entertaining book.

Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette

2011-02-10T19:16:00.000-08:00

February 11 is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and the World Day of Prayer for the Sick.

St. Bernadette of Lourdes and I met at the end of her story. Her body is not in Lourdes; it's in the convent in Nevers, France, where she spent the last thirteen years of her short life (she died at age 35). I saw her incorrupt body there on a pilgrimage in 2001-2002 (over Christmas break). I do not remember any longer if I'd read The Song of Bernadette ahead of time or not. I tend to think not, since the story of her life seemed new to me as I heard it told at the convent. So my first encounter with her was a quiet one in a quiet place, hundreds of miles away from the place where she became famous.

Something about her caught my imagination in a way that few other saints have. I have tried on and off to understand what it is that draws me to her, and I have never gotten very far. Her life was very different from mine; apart from our common faith, I cannot think of too many things we have in common. But I feel somehow as if I understand her, and in understanding her I understand better Jesus and His Mother, whose chosen messenger was St. Bernadette.

A few years later I did get to Lourdes. I've been in the baths (very cold!) and still have some of the water. I have knelt and prayed the Rosary where St. Bernadette knelt and prayed at the first apparition. I'd still like to get back there someday.

In the meantime, though, I've acquired a fairly extensive collection of material on St. Bernadette and Lourdes--more than I have on any other saint except the Blessed Virgin herself, I'm pretty sure.

It's odd two of the best books about Lourdes are by a Jew (Franz Werfel, The Song of Bernadette) and a Presbyterian (Ruth Cranston, Miracle of Lourdes), but such are the facts of the matter. Much like St. Francis, St. Bernadette is able to reach across the borders of belief and speak to all sorts of people. (Perhaps there is a clue in there somewhere as to why I love her too. I'll have to think about it.)

Werfel's book is deservedly famous in its own right, and all the more famous for having been turned into an Academy Award winning-movie. The book is very readable and not overly fictionalized (Bernadette's father was perhaps not quite the hapless alcoholic it shows); the movie very watchable but somewhat more fictionalized, having a totally irrelevant love interest (though purely Platonic) thrown into the mix.

Cranston's book is non-fiction and does a decent job of giving the follow-up history of Lourdes after the apparitions, including some of the most famous cures.

When all is said and done, though, the best book I know of on the apparitions and on St. Bernadette herself is René Laurentin's Bernadette Speaks: A Life of St. Bernadette Soubirous in Her Own Words. Laurentin's aim is to cut through the layers of legend and present St. Bernadette as she was and her experiences as she lived through them. Fortunately, despite her lack of early education, St. Bernadette was a sharp observer with a strong memory and a gift for clear expression. I believe that it was reading this book that moved her up into my list of most favorite saints.

St. Bernadette is not a saint simply because Our Lady appeared to her. Others have seen her and have gone on to lead normal or, sadly, very troubled lives. St. Bernadette's life was troubled, too--in fact, Our Lady warned her: "I cannot promise you happiness in this life, but in the next"--but not because she drifted from the way of sanctity. She suffered because she wanted to be faithful to the graces she had received, and the death to self that requires is not easy.

Some say that the sisters at Nevers were harsh on her, and perhaps they were, but then they had seen the sad fate of the children who had seen Our Lady at LaSalette and were determined to keep St. Bernadette from making the same mistakes. She was a willing pupil, even when she found the lessons harsh. She bore physical and spiritual suffering with next to no complaint; she did what was asked of her; she was faithful to her calling. That's why she's a saint.

Happy Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas!

2011-01-27T14:58:00.000-08:00

Among his many amiable properties, St. Thomas Aquinas is my confirmation patron. He was notoriously of some girth (though I do not see how a man who walked everywhere could be very overweight), so there's one place I can somewhat match him. His handwriting is incredibly bad:

That gives another spot where I can hope to match him. When it comes to wisdom and holiness, he has me beat completely.

His life story is not that interesting, and in fact I've never run across a full biography of St. Thomas. Even in Louis de Wohl's novel, The Quiet Light: A Novel About Thomas Aquinas, St. Thomas spends most of his time off-stage. He did not have the gift for saying and doing memorable things ex tempore that graced the life of a St. Francis; all we have are anecdotes here and there.

Fortunately for us, the lack of biographical material means that G. K. Chesterton's habitual neglect of the lives of the subjects of his biographies isn't a problem. Saint Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox does well as an introduction to what we know of St. Thomas's life and an appreciation of his thought.

For those who wish to dive in and read St. Thomas, perhaps the most popular option is Peter Kreeft's A Summa of the Summa Dr. Kreeft does his best, but he runs up against my ADD in two ways: he does all the explanation in footnotes which break up the flow of the text, and he edits his selections to remove extraneous or potentially confusing material, which would be fine if it didn't ... leave the text ... littered by ellipses ... that throw me off the track ... of reading.

Purists, of course, insist that the only way to learn St. Thomas is to read him directly, eschewing even footnotes. I am no purist and will happily offer two other choices. For studying St. Thomas's thought in general, my current recommendation is Ed Feser's Aquinas: A Beginner's Guide. Feser's writing is very readable, his explanations are sensible, and (IIRC) he usually notes when there's a difference of opinion concerning what St. Thomas actually thought on a given topic.

The best explanation of St. Thomas on ethics (aka natural law) comes from the late great Ralph McInerny: Ethica Thomistica: The Moral Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. McInerny couldn't write a dull sentence even if he tried, and his explanations are clear.

I noticed when preparing this that I've owned all the above books except for Feser's for at least 10 years (Feser's just came out last year, and I have not yet perfected a time machine).

St. Thomas is often thought of simply in terms of his vast intelligence. But intelligence does not make a saint. Holiness, piety, and humility do.

On the sixth of December, 1273, St. Thomas was celebrating Mass for the Feast of St. Nicholas. The details are not relayed to us, but he had an intense mystical experience after which he ceased writing entirely. Pressed to continue, he could only say that after what he had seen, all his works seemed as so much straw.

In obedience to the command of Pope Gregory X, St. Thomas set off from Paris for the Second Council of Lyons. He fell ill along the way and was forced to go to a Cistercian abbey. He died there about a month later, on March 7, 1274. His last words were spoken to one of the brothers of the abbey, who asked him how we might live always faithful to God's grace:

"Be assured that he who shall always walk faithfully in his presence, always ready to give him an account of all his actions, shall never be separated from him by consenting to sin."

Though his birth year is uncertain, he was probably forty-eight years old at the time of his death.

March 7th is now reserved for the feast of the early martyrs SS. Perpetua and Felicity; January 28 is the date on which his relics were transferred to a church in Toulouse.

The Rite

2011-01-21T11:57:00.000-08:00

I see this book is coming out as a movie next week. Here's a review I wrote of the book last year, and a few comments about the movie afterwards.

The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist

By Matt Baglio

The author was, by his own statement in the Author's Note at the end of the book, more of a cultural Catholic than one practicing his faith, a freelance reporter living in Italy. He saw a news item one day that the Regina Apostolorum university in Rome was offering a course for exorcists, and thought it might at least give him an interesting article. He made contact with a priest from the US and followed him throughout his training, which he recounts in fairly dispassionate terms--not clinical or stark, but simply narrating what he observed.

What he observed was enough to convince him that something real was happening. He did his homework, interviewing psychologists from a variety of perspectives from believing to atheist, and reported those conversations as well.

There are a few dramatic scenes in the book, including the opening one, but anyone looking for cheap thrills is in the wrong place. If anything, it seems that the process of exorcism is usually a matter of slow progress rather than dramatic Hollywood-style episodes. Worth noting also is the repeated emphasis that prayer, Mass attendance, and the good use of the sacrament of Confession are often as important as anything the exorcist himself does.

I found the book informative and interesting without being sensational, and on a topic that deserves informative and interesting but non-sensational coverage, but it's just not quite there in 5-star territory, so I'll say 4-1/2 out of 5.

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I've seen only the trailers for the movie, based on which I have no plans to see the movie itself. It looks as if the caution and lack of prurient interest in evil have been abandoned in favor of the usual Hollywood-style episodes. Read the book. I won't tell you not to see the movie since I haven't seen it; I'll just say again that I have no plans to see it.

Defending Life

2011-01-21T11:53:00.001-08:00

When I came into the Church, I accepted that abortion was always wrong because I accepted the authority of the Church that taught me so. The book that first showed me why abortion is wrong and that it can be shown to be wrong without invoking the authority of the Church at all is The Unaborted Socrates: A Dramatic Debate on the Issues Surrounding Abortion, by Peter Kreeft. Despite the long title (Kreeft likes them), it is a very readable and at times even humorous discussion of the issue, featuring a fictional return of the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates in dialogue with three fictional pro-choice advocates approaching the question from different angles.

Dr. Kreeft revisited the topic in Three Approaches to Abortion: A Thoughtful and Compassionate Guide to Today's Most Controversial Issue. It is more pointed than the earlier book, but then the problem didn’t get any better during the 19 years between the two books. If you try the other book and find the dialogue format off-putting, you might try this book, only one third of which is in the dialogue format.

The most comprehensive reply to pro-choice arguments I know of is Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice, by Francis Beckwith (Cambridge University Press, 2007), Dr. Beckwith handles it and handles it well.

Finally, Abby Johnson's Unplanned: The Dramatic True Story of a Former Planned Parenthood Leader's Eye-Opening Journey across the Life Line is the very recently-released true story of Johnson's nine-year career with Planned Parenthood, starting as a volunteer and rising to clinic director, and her dramatic conversion to the cause of life. If you want to know what clinic workers think, how they justify what they do, and which approaches to evangelization and conversion are most effective (prayer and kindness: who would ever have suspected that?), this is the book for you.

After abortion:

Abortion always has at least two victims: the child and the mother. Often there is a third: the father. If your life has been touched by abortion and you need more help than you can get in the confessional, or if you have not yet even gotten to the point of being able to confess it, there is still hope and help for you.

Project Rachel is the Catholic Church’s national ministry for those who have been touched by abortion. The website is http://www.hopeafterabortion.com and their toll-free number is 1-800-5WE-CARE. Further local contact information can be found on the “contact us” portion of their web site.

Pocket New Testaments

2011-01-15T13:06:00.000-08:00

If you've decided to read the Bible more during this new year, a pocket New Testament can be handy. I'm well aware that iDevices and other mobile electronics provide apps for that, but there's something about reading the Bible out of a book that just feels more appropriate. (Those of us with high distractibility—hey! a squirrel!—don't need extra challenges while reading, either.)

If you want to read the whole Bible, you might be stuck with the electronic device of your choice or really tiny print. If that's the course you choose, then let me suggest this read-the-Bible in a year plan (free download) and say that my current translation of choice is The Ignatius Bible: Revised Standard Version - Second Catholic Edition (it even comes in a Kindle edition).

For reading the New Testament only, a pocket edition is much more practical. I have two, each with advantages and drawbacks.

The New Testament (Challoner-Rheims) is the last revision of the venerable Douay-Reims translation before the arrival of the New American Bible. It still uses "thee" and "thou" and has the old Catholic spellings of Old Testament names like "Jeremias" and "Noe." If that's going to distract you, then this isn't the edition you want.

On the other hand, it is definitely more pocket-sized than the alternative I'm about to offer; the language is often euphonious and fairly easy to read; the footnotes are few but helpful; and it offers a read-the-NT-in-a-year plan right with the text itself. It's even got a system wherein you can read the whole NT twice in a year.

My other choice is The New Testament And Psalms: Revised Standard Version, Dark Blue, Second Catholic Edition. It's less pocketable than the other version, being about an inch wider and two inches taller, but then I've never been comfortable stuffing a Bible in my pocket anyhow. It's probably a little heavier, too.

The text is very nicely typeset; the language is current without being obtrusively modern ("inclusive language" is not used); the few footnotes are printed as end notes, lessening potential distractions and making the pages look much less busy; and the inclusion of the Psalms adds a valuable resource.

If I had to pick one ... I'd pick them both.

If you are planning to try to read the Bible or just the New Testament in a year, let me offer you a few hints:

Have a plan and stick to it. "A plan" is more than just a list of the readings for each day. Know when you're going to do your reading: with your morning prayers, at lunch, before Mass, whenever. If the first time you pick doesn't work, find one that does. Be persistent. (I don't recommend picking evening or night times if you can avoid it; you may find yourself skipping days when you're tired.)
Should you miss a day, don't worry about it. Make it up the next day if you can and if you like. Missing a day is not that important. Quitting would be important. If you fall even farther behind, fine. Don't start over. Pick up where you left off. Don't give in to discouragement.
The goal is not to race through it and get it done. You may find that happening on occasion, though if you're just read the NT, the daily readings should only take a few minutes. If you find a passage that makes you want to take time and reflect, do it.

God's Fool

2011-01-08T11:40:00.000-08:00

I don't recall how I found out about Julien Green's God's Fool: The Life of Francis of Assisi. Amazon tells me that I ordered it in July of 1998, so perhaps I saw it mentioned on the page for some other book I was thinking of buying.

Back in the late 1990s, I fell in amongst Franciscan companions—none members of any official Franciscan order, but devotees nonetheless. I'd heard of St. Francis, of course, but knew little about him except that he was somehow connected with birds and animals and peace and stuff like that. I went looking for something to read that would tell me more about him.

There are dozens upon dozens, if not hundreds upon hundreds or thousands upon thousands, of books about St. Francis or some aspect of his thought. I read a few of them, but none of them stuck in my mind. I couldn't tell you much about any of them except Chesterton's St. Francis of Assisi, and what I remember most about that is being frustrated that GKC assumed his readers already knew the story of St. Francis. Later I discovered this was his typical method of writing a biography, consisting mostly of what he thought about his subject rather than writing about the subject himself. GKC's thoughts are almost always worth reading, but as an intro to the life of St. Francis, it wasn't working.

I do believe GKC said that every age finds its saint and that St. Francis had been the saint for the Victorian age (though come to think of it, I think he said it in his book about St. Thomas Aquinas); I would suggest that every age finds its St. Francis: the proto-hippy, the pacifist, the revolutionary, the child of nature, you name it. But none of these Saints Francis looked like a man who could change the world.

Julien Green's great accomplishment is to present St. Francis the saint: The man who found Jesus and counted everything else as worthless, throwing his whole life into relentless pursuit of faithful discipleship. There is perhaps a touch of St. Francis the anti-establishmentarian in the book, but it is more than balanced by constant respect for St. Francis the loyal son of the Church, and all is overshadowed by St. Francis the disciple of Jesus Christ.

Here at last was a St. Francis who was a real person. I could see how St. Francis's dream captured hearts and minds across the centuries to the present day. I could see how people met him while he was alive or heard of him years later and said, "I want to be like that!"

I remain not a Franciscan; there are other paths to holiness, and as far as I can tell the one St. Francis followed is not the one for me. But I nevertheless think that St. Francis is one of the greatest saints of the post-Apostolic ages—perhaps even the greatest. And more than any other book, it was God's Fool: The Life of Francis of Assisi that helped me to understand and to see.

Time for God

2011-01-02T18:02:00.000-08:00

If praying better was one of your New Year's resolutions, then Time for God, by Fr. Jacques Philippe, should be at the top of your to-buy list. There are lots of good books on prayer (Fr. Thomas Dubay's Prayer Primer: Igniting a Fire Within, for example), but Time for God may be the best I have found. It is a quick read (108 pp., counting the two brief appendices) and clearly written, but it leaves out nothing that an aspiring pray-er might need to know. I've read quite a few books on prayer and still learned some new things, or at least I was reminded of things I had forgotten.

Reading the book won't make prayer simple. Even reading the book and applying it won't do that. But reading it and applying it will get you moving on the path of holiness.

So here I am

2010-12-28T06:43:00.000-08:00

I really need to practice writing more. I read a lot of books. So it occurred to me that I could combine the two and earn a little account credit at Amazon by writing and posting book reviews regularly. I had thought about aiming for a review a day, but I don't read a book a day and not all of the books I read deserve a review anyhow. So I'll say that I'm going to shoot for at least one a week and see what happens.

Look for the first one maybe even before the end of this week, and definitely by next week.