While, I haven’t posted in quite a while I have still been reading a lot. I finished “Amazing Grace For Fathers” by Jeff Cavins, Matthew Pinto, Mark and Patti Armstrong. It is another book in the Amazing Grace Series. I have read most of them but this one touched me directly. The book is around 290 pages and it is filled with 75 wonderful stories. The book is broken down into 7 chapters each covering different topics. The chapters include A Father’s Love, A Father’s Strength, A Father’s Faithfulness, A Father’s Humor, A Father’s Wisdom, A Father’s Character and A Father’s Hope.
One story is one gentleman’s reinterpretation of 1 Corinthians 13. I am sure most of you are familiar with this passage about Love/Charity. The book is worth reading for this one story alone. Here is a small taste of that story. “When I was a child, I thought like a child, cherishing each moment when I took my daddy’s hand. When I became a father, I recaptured that moment each time my little girl her daddy’s hand.”
There is another story written by Mark Armstrong himself. It is called “Cost Versus Value”. It talks about how much in dollars it costs to raise a child from birth to age 18. By the end of the story you will think it is worth any amount.
Here is another story by an anonymous contributor that is very short but very meaningful. “One night a father overheard his son pray, “Dear God, make me the kind of man my daddy is.” Later that night, the father prayed, “Dear God, make me the kind of man my son wants me to be.” The book even includes a short story about Team Hoyt, an amazing father and son team. I highly recommend this book for all fathers even though it will make them laugh and cry.
I purchased this book before I started making rosaries, but I never read it. I am not 100% sure, but I think I first heard about the Rosary Army and making rosaries when listening to an episode of the Catholic Insider. It is another SQPN podcast. Hearing about the Rosary Army is what convinced me to make Rosaries. Their motto of “Make them, pray them and give them away” just seemed natural. The funny thing is I am not even sure if I ever prayed a rosary before making one. I know I have had a rosary since I made my first communion as a child and I still have it thanks to my mother. I even have one in most of my cars, placed their by my father. I began to read this book a little while after I started going to the Rosary Army forums looking for advice about how to teach my CCD/PREP class how to make rosaries. I have yet to tackle this task, but after reading the forums I am a lot more confident that we will be successful. 101 Inspirational Stories of the Rosary was compiled and produced by Sister Patricia Proctor, OSC. The book is about 211 pages long. It is filled with wonder stories about how praying the rosary has affected the lives of people just like you and I. The stories are filled with many “small” miracles. The stories are truly inspirational. The book also contains many quotes from Saints and famous people about the rosary as well as many prayers to our Mother Mary. One of the best parts about the book is its appendices. They provide a lot of information about the Rosary including its history, mysteries, how to make one and how to pray one. If you have any doubts about the Rosary this is a great book to read.
"Love the Madonna and pray the rosary, for her rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today."
– Saint Padre Pio
I found this book while browsing at Barnes & Noble. It is a small digest size hard back containing 117 pages of quotes from Pope John Paul II. It was edited by Carol Kelly-Gangi. The quotes are divided into a quite a few topics including peace in the world, suffering and death, and the modern world. The quotes are very inspirational and many will make sense to young people. It appears that this book is still available used and new at Amazon.com. Here are a few choice quotes. I tried to get a link to the original source where possible.
- “A mother’s presence in the family, so critical to the stability and growth of that basic unit of society, should instead be recognized, applauded and supported in every possible way. By the same token society needs to call husbands and fathers to their family responsibilities, and ought to strive for a situation in which they will not be forced by economic circumstances to move away from the home in search of work.” - Papal Message on Women’s Conference, 1995.
- “God calls every person, and his voice makes itself heard even in the hearts of children: he calls people to live in marriage or to be priests; he calls them to consecrated life or perhaps to work in the missions… Who can say? Pray, dear boys and girls, that you will find out what your calling is, and that you will follow it generously.” - Letter of the Pope to Children, 1994.
- “Death itself is anything but an event without hope. It is the door which opens wide on eternity and, for those who live in Christ, an experience of participation in the mystery of his Death and Resurrection.” - Evangelium Vitae, 1995.
- “What we talked about will have to remain a secret between him and me. I spoke to him as a brother whom I have pardoned and who has my complete trust.” - On visiting the imprisoned Mehmet Ali Agca, who wounded the Pope in a 1981 assassination attempt, as reported in Time, January, 1984.
- Pope John Paul II
I seem to browse the book in Barnes & Noble quite often and lucky for them I almost always seem to find a book or two that look good. Well, on one of those trips, I came across the book “Mother Teresa: Her Essential Wisdom” edited by Carol Kelly-Gangi. The book has nothing but quotes from Mother Teresa. The quotes are broken down into a couple of dozen categories including love, charity, family life, religion and many more. The words that came from her mouth are truly inspirational but quite often very difficult to live up to. I have listed a few here just to wet your appetite. The book is a small digest sized hard back and is about 134 pages of brilliance. Unfortunately, the book seems to be out of print. I did find some copies available at Amazon.com, but I don't know how long they will last. Just do a search on the web and I am sure you will find many books filled with her wisdom.
- “Bring love into your homes. If you truly love God, start loving your son or your daughter and your spouse. And the elderly, where are they? In nursing homes! Why are they not with you? And where is the retarded child? In an institution! Why is he not with you? That child, young mothers and fathers, is a gift from God.”
- “Often we Christians constitute the worst obstacle for those who try to become closer to Christ; we often preach a gospel we do not live. This is the principle reason why people of the world don’t believe.”
- “There is only one God and he is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic.”
- “Abortion destroys the image of God. It is the most terrible plague in our society, the greatest killer of love and peace. The little children still unborn have been created for bigger things: to love and be loved.”
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Mother Teresa
Podcast Reviews
Here is a nice list of the podcasts that I have reviewed in my blog. Some have been mentioned more than once, but here are the ones that offer the most information. Just click on the links to go to the post that discusses them. Of course, if you want to know more go right to their web sites. You should go there any way. You won’t be disappointed.
Catholic Family Podcast - WebSite
Catholic: Under The Hood - Website
The Daily Breakfast (Something extra to keep in touch.) - Website
The Daily Breakfast (Memo from God.) - Website
Sunday Sunday Sunday - Website
The Saint Cast - Website
Rosary Army - Website
For an extra special treat visit SQPN where you will find both Catholic and entertaining podcasts.
If you are looking for a podcast on a subject that interests you try search with Itunes or at Podcast Alley.
Please remember that you don't need an IPOD to listen to podcasts. You can use Itunes or many other software programs and listen right on you computer.
It took me a while, but I finally finished this reading “The Catholic Verses: 95 Bible Passages That Confound Protestants” by Dave Armstrong. The book is broken up into 16 chapters and is about 225 pages. The book is down in an interesting format. It presents a topic like The Church is the “Pillar of the Truth”. It then provides a bible passage or passages to support the statement. Then it provides what I would describe as a miniature debate on the validity of the assertion. It presents many opposing opinions and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of each opinion. It includes quotes from some very influential Christians including Martin Luther, John Calvin and many other Christian writers and apologists. The author is clearly very knowledgeable and a good debater. I learned a tremendous amount about Luther and Calvin. Much more than I have learned in similar books that I have read. The book covers a wide range of very controversial topics that divide Christianity. I am very glad I read this book. However, I have some reservations about this book. In my opinion, it often has an attitude that sounds like the author is gloating about the impenetrability of his defense of Catholicism and making fun of opposing views. I certainly would not recommend this book to my non Catholic Christian friends without first warning them about this attitude. However, his arguments are sound and easy to follow. I was just not thrilled with the presentation at times.
