Book Reviews
Looking for some good inspirational reading?
This is the place! Click on the book title below for reviews written by our own parishioners and available in our parish library.
The Language of Letting Go (294.4 Bea) by Melody Beattie
Kitchen Table Conversations: Preparing at Home for Sunday Eucharist , by Stephanie Baker & Anna Humaydan, 2010
Gifts of the Eucharist: Stories to Transform and Inspire (234.163Ree), by Nancy C. Reeves & Bernadette Gasslein Reviewed
The Language of Letting Go (294.4 Bea) by Melody Beattie
This is a slow-me-down book that offers the reader the gift of reflection. It is geared to those who have experienced loss, addiction or simply the weaker side of self as you struggle with an intractable problem. Each reflection nudges the reader to take a new step of insight to move forward.
Are you grieved? The book provides the right words for the right moment. The October 12th reflection puts language to the exhaustion of grief and the need to hunker down in a cocoon, needing more rest and comfort. August 17th speaks to yoking your thoughts to God in order to achieve healing thoughts. March 8th speaks of surrender. But as you soak in the daily reflections, the common thread of trust is there. It reaffirms God is our healer, our deliverer and our hope.
You can learn more about Melody Beatty at www.melodybeattie.com. Reviewed by Andrea Visione May 2011.
Peace in the Storm (242.4 Pra) by Maureen Pratt
When Maureen Pratt was first diagnosed with lupus over 10 years ago, she began to write prayers relating to her challenges and pains. Those prayers were the seeds of Peace in the Storm.
The book is divided into almost 120 Scripture verses, meditations and prayers related to specific aspects of living with chronic pain and illness. You'll find topics such as "Having a Bad Day," "Where Is God?", "Finding a Way to Dance," and "When the You You Knew Seems to Disappear." Each section is short enough to read in one sitting; many people have told me that they read one a day, often rereading the same meditation to focus on its message. Written with honesty and humor, Peace in the Storm helps readers who face chronic illness that challenge their spiritual and physical lives.
Maureen Pratt has a web site at www.maureenpratt.com , and on it, she announces, she will have a new book in 2010 entitled Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus and Joy. Reviewed by Andrea Visione May 2011.
Immersed in the Sacred (242.21 Cof) by Kathy Coffey
This book centers on a simple quest: seeking. Seeking implies more than just going about our world looking for something. As the author describes seeking implies an inner activity on a deeper level. Seeking implies a quest that nourishes the soul.
Since most of us are bound to ordinary, work-a-day worlds, Kathy Coffey explores finding the sacred in small moments, small treasures, and the unbridled overflowing abundant love that God gives. Reviewed by Andrea Visione May 2011.
My Life with the Saints (235.2 Mar) by James Martin, SJ
As a Jesuit, James Martin clearly has learned the message that Pope John Paul II gave to all us about New Evangelization in this third millennium. James Martin has a gift of penetrating the secular world with a Catholic message. His list of more than dozen books he has written is impressive. Would you expect a book entitledThe Jesuit guide to (almost) everything: spirituality for real life to be a “hot” book in our Naperville public library? Yet it is.
But if you have young adults (or if you, yourself are a bit of political junkie) you may know this Jesuit priest. James Martin has been a guest of the Colbert Report, a popular satirical cable TV show hosted by Stephen Colbert, multiple times.
My Life with the Saints is a great “starter book” within James Martin’s authorship. The book weaves the tale of James Martin’s life and experiences along with reminders of 17 different saints’ lives. As a lifelong Catholic, I enjoyed being reintroduced to the spiritual fruits of heavy-hitting saints. Equally, enjoyable, the book also introduces the reader to lesser known saints that pull at your heart.
Best of all, James Martin’s easy-to-read chapters provide the reader with laughter, lightheartedness and the living gospels of these great saints, each one a unique treasure and trophy within the universal Body of Christ. The first saint that is introduced is the patron saint of the sock drawer. Find out for yourself by reading the book!
This was the first book I have read by James Martin. But it won’t be the last! Reviewed by Andrea Visione May 2011.
Bad Girls of the Bible and What We Can Learn From Them (220.9 Hig)by Liz Curtis Higgins
and Really Bad Girls of the Bible: More Lessons from Less-than-Perfect Women
Reading a Liz Curtis Higgins book (she has several of the same ilk) is an easy way to have a bible study for yourself, with a friend or perhaps with mother and daughter mini-book discussion.
Liz Curtis Higgins creatively introduces her readers to biblical women in a quick, easy to read format for those that want bite-size study of the bible. In easy-to-digest, chapters, Liz Curtis Higgins introduces a modern version of the biblical story and follows with a retelling of what the bible tells us about the woman, complete with quoted bible verses.
Bad Girls of the Bible provides insight to Eve, Lot’s Wife, the Woman at the Well, Jezebel and more! Really Bad Girls of the Bible provides insight into the Medium of En Dor, Tamar the Widow, Jael, Bathsheba and more!
Again, these bestselling books would be great discussion among friends, mother-daughter or just for reading for your own enjoyment and education. Reviewed by Andrea Visione May 2011.
The Mass Is Never Ended (248.482Pie) by Gregory F. Augustine Pierce
How many Masses have you attended in your lifetime? That, author Gregory Pierce reminds us, is the number of times we’ve been sent forth to carry out the mission of Jesus of Nazareth to make this world a better place.
In straightforward fashion Pierce comments “ ‘Go in peace to love and serve the Lord’ lacks the urgency of the original Latin ‘Ite missa est’ which can almost be translated as ‘Go, what are you standing around for? Get out of here. You are being sent forth to do something. Go do it!’ ”
The Mass Is Never Ended views the Mass from the perspective of the dismissal—our mission—as we are sent forth into our daily lives to transform our tired, fractured world into a place more like God would have it. This book is deceptively small but powerful. It can be found in the 200’s shelves in our St. Raphael Library. Reviewed by Anne Hector Sept. 2010.
Kitchen Table Conversations: Preparing at Home for Sunday Eucharist (RCIA280Bak), by Stephanie Baker & Anna Humaydan, 2010
This step-by-step booklet is designed for home use by parents as primary teachers of faith for their children. It’s a simple, practical guide to sharing scripture, prayer and faith stories accompanied by projects such as making and breaking bread together and recording a family recipe.
Authors Stephanie Baker and Anna Humayden remind us that just as our church altar table is the center of life in the faith community, so our family table is the center of life in the home. Using Kitchen Table Conversations, parents and children explore and connect their family mealtime to the church’s mealtime—the mass. From these tables we are called to go out into our communities and spread God’s love to all. Let the celebrating begin! Reviewed by Anne Hector Sept. 2010.
Gifts of the Eucharist: Stories to Transform and Inspire (234.163Ree), by Nancy C. Reeves & Bernadette Gasslein
“Communion is the to-and-fro of love.” −Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche Communities
This wonderful quote introduces the eighth chapter of Gifts of the Eucharist. “Embrace.” Embrace is one of ten gifts of the Eucharist explored by authors Nancy Reeves and Bernadette Gasslein as they share personal stories from young and old who, in receiving Eucharist, discovered direction, comfort, love, courage, forgiveness, or whatever gift they needed for their life journey.
In each chapter Gifts of the Eucharist offers thought-provoking questions, spiritual activities, psalms and prayers to remind us of the gifts God bestows through the Eucharist. We are challenged to identify our own gifts, and to live richly from their many blessings. Some gifts will be familiar. Some may surprise you. What gifts have you received from Eucharist? Reviewed by Anne Hector Sept. 2010.
Clothed in Christ: Toward a Spirituality for Lay Ministers (253Gra),by William C Graham
This book is by William C. Graham, priest and former pastor in the Diocese of Duluth, now a professor of Theology and Religious Studies and director of Catholic Studies program at Duluth’s College of Scholastica.
In a return to our earliest roots, new pastoral ministers are undertaking their tasks not in place of priests, but side-by-side with priests. People in lay ministry know its joys and challenges well. Focusing on Jesus as model—and on the Church’s liturgy and traditions as guides—Father Graham offers tips and shares personal experiences to help sustain and invigorate those who serve as lay ministers today.
Make sure to take the time to contemplate the “Reflections for Discussion” that Father Graham provides at the end of each chapter. They will help you solidify your recognition of ministries that lie outside of Holy Orders. Reviewed by Tony Lavarda October 2010.
Fresh Bread and Other Gifts of Spiritual Nourishment (248.3Rup), by Joyce Rupp
Fresh Bread…is by Joyce Rupp, author of Praying Our Goodbyes, writer, speaker, retreat leader and member of the Servants of Mary community.
With life seeming busier, noisier and more demanding of our time and energy, is our fast-paced culture trying to convince us that silence and solitude are obsolete? Joyce Rupp shows us that every day is an opportunity to find solace and refreshment for our spirit.
Fresh Bread… is the perfect resource for busy people. You’ll find scripture texts for daily prayers and seasonal reflections to help recover more of what is missing in our lives. No additional meetings are demanded, no long periods of time in prayer. Rather, here is an opportunity to devote 15 minutes a day to personal prayer, using the scriptures as a foundation. Reviewed by Tony Lavarda October 2010.