Book Recommendations / Resources

Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

I read this last month and was deeply impressed. I of course knew of it from childhood, but always assumed it to be either a children's story or a mawkish Victorian novel. Boy, was I wrong!

If you want solid Christian morality, pretty good theology and biting social comment, this is it. No wonder Lincoln is alleged to have met her with the greeting, "the little woman who made this great war."

I believe that in times of great need, God in His providence stirs up the hearts of men and women to do great things, things beyond their normal abilities. The writing of Uncle Tom's Cabin is, I believe, one of them.

Free on-line:
http://www.iath.virginia.edu/utc/sitemap.html

Various publishers, but I would avoid edited versions in case they destroy any important component. There was nothing I could think of that could be helpfully omitted:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0899663788/theatlanticmonthA/

I just finished an excellent book called "The Fulfillment of All Desire" by Ralph Martin. It's of of many books which deals with the road to perfection (in love of God and neighbour). I also read "Fire Within" by Fr. Thomas Dubay which is similar.

Ralph follows a three phase approach (purgative, illuminative and unitive) and compares this with the Teresian 7 mansion approach. He draws on scripture and the writings of Ss. Bernard of Clairvaux, Teresa of Avila, Terese of Lisieux, John of the Cross and Francis de Sales.

The chapters from the book are as follows:

1. Called to holiness
2. An overview of the journey.
3. Awakening and conversion.
4. The biblical world-view of the saints.
5. The transformation of thought, desire and action.
6. The struggle against sin.
7. The importance of prayer.
8. Temptation and trials.
9. A certain stability.
10. Growing in freedom.
11. Growing in love.
12. Growing in prayer.
13. Help from Heaven.
14. A deeper purification.
15. Deep union.
16. The fruits of union.
17. There's always more.
- Final encouragement.

The book is full of quotes from scripture and the writings of the saints. Some great gems in it.

Currently reading VIRTUOUS LEADERSHIP, an agenda for personal excellence, by Alexandre Havard.

Halfway through it at the moment. Has given me plenty to think and pray on, especially in relation to work. Would recommend it to anyone.

kelly1 wrote: »

The book helped me to understand the difficulties atheists and agnostics believing in God especially in light of the suffering that goes on in the world

Atheists do not have any problems believing in a supernatural creator hence the term. Agnostics are just weak-minded atheists.

Zeus Bless!

Just read "Interview with an Exorcist" by Fr. Jose Antonio Fortea.

It's written in a very practical Q&A format with 110 questions such as:-

- Do demons experience time?
- What do demons do with their time?
- Why did God put the demons to the test? *
- What does a demon think about?
- Do demons know the future?
- Should we be afaid of the devil?
- Can a demon cause illness/ read our thoughts?
- Can we be tempted beyond our strength to resist?
-Why does God allow temptation?
- Why is hell eternal?
- How can we protect ourselves?
etc, etc...


* I found the answer to this one interesting and compelling:-

The real question is: Why did God not grant all the angels the Beatific Vision from the first moment of their creation? Why did He take the chance that some of them would rebel against Him and become demons? God could have created angelic spirits and immediately given them the grace of the Beatific Vision. This was perfectly possible for His omnipotence, and it would have been perfectly just to do so. But there were some powerful reasons to test the angels before granting them the Beatific Vision.

First, God had to give to each rational being a degree of happiness. Everyone in Heaven sees God, but no one can enjoy Him to an infinite degree; this is impossible for a finite being. Each finite creature enjoys to the fullest degree possible without wanting more. A common analogy used to understand this metaphysical concept is that of a glass: God fills each glass (i.e. the soul) to the rim but each glass is a specific size based on its degree of glory.

God, in His wisdom, decided that each angel would determine its degree of glory for eternity by its response to a divine test. Each angel determined its degree of happiness by the degree of generosity, love, constancy and other virtues it displayed in the test. A spirit can grow in its faith and its generosity towards God before it sees Him. But once admitted to the Beatific Vision, no further growth is possible - there can no longer be growth in faith where there is vision. Above all, the period of testing offered the angels the opportunity to grow in the theological virtues, and some angels would grow more in the virtue of perseverance, others in humility, others in petition etc.

Offering a being the possibility of faith also supposes the risk that in this same being evil may flourish instead of faith. God, by giving free will to the angels and human beings, knew that freedom, once bestowed, could be used for good or evil. Of course, God could have created the Cosmos in any way He liked, without any restrictions or limits. But a saint is not created; one becomes a saint through the action of grace. The gift of freedom allows for a Hitler as well as Blessed Mother Teresa. Once the gift of freedom has been given, consequences - good or evil - flow from every act of the will. In the material cosmos there is no spiritual good; the good of the cosmos is purely physical. Spiritual (or moral) good is qualitatively superior but necessarily requires a free choice. Thus, the appearance or moral evil in no way upset God's plan. The possibility of evil was already part of the divine plan before the creation of thinking beings.

Finally, the most important and powerful reason for God's granting angels the gift of freedom was for them to love. God loves His creation, and He desires to be loved in return. But love requires receptivity - it must be received freely (CCC1828). The same God who can create the cosmos with only an act of His will cannot create that love that is born and proven in the suffering of the faith. The love of God is not created; it must be freely given by a created being.

Just finished "The Glories of Divine Grace" by Fr. Matthias Scheeben. An excellent read which really helped me appreciate grace. Some great eye openers in it.

http://www.amazon.com/Glories-Divine-Grace-Exhortation-Sanctifying/dp/0895555093/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224519555&sr=1-1

As far as I can see this books promotes an aberrant form of Christianity. I find that there is just enough of Jesus mentioned on the website to draw one in, but anything beyond a superficial read will reveal that this is just a hotchpotch of Christian beliefs and other religions all lumped in with newageism. If you want to believe this then it's just fine, but it's not Christianity.

Just picked up "There is a God" by Anthony Flew today.

Judging by the preface by Roy Abraham Varghese, it's going to be an interesting read!

He talks about the rise and fall of Positivism and how Dawkins (and other "new atheists") is still clinging to it for dear life. I'm inclined to agree with his assertion that Dawkins' arguments are dishonest and uncritical and he is dismissive of other's opinions.

There is poignant quote from Bertrand Russell:

"Nothing can penetrate the loneliness of the human heart except the highest intensity of the sort of love the religious teachers have preached".

Reminds me of St. Augustines famous quote:

"Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee."

Beautiful!