3 comments about Lena.

1. I travel for a living- and I was up early on a Monday (4am) and wanted to sleep on the plane. I started to read this book and did not put it down until I was finished- from Minneapolis to San Francisco. What a story about a woman's child-like faith in God. This is a well-written book that clearly displays the true works of God through His faithful people. A MUST read.



2. The book Lena is one of the best I have ever read. I wish I could have known Lena. I have met the author. She's a wonderful womam.



3. A must read book for mothers of sons who are not "goody two-shoes." What a surprise this book was to me. The title and cover prove the axiom that you can't judge a book by its cover. I expected a story about a "little old lady" and instead found a wealth of information, inspiration, comfort and wisdom when faced with a prodigal son who had not yet come home. Readers will laugh and cry and praise God all in the same chapter. You will not want to put it down.

5 comments about Pickin' Up the Pieces: The Heart and Soul of Country Rock Pioneer Richie Furay.

1. Nice story about Richie's life. I saw the Springfield and Poco both in their earliest forms and always admired both. What put me off was all the God/Jesus references as it was bit much. I felt he could have summed that up in a final chapter about what's lead him to where he is now. Great read if you can get past all that "born again" stuff.



2. I want to admit this right off... I have a very big bias about Richie Furay. I saw him perform live in Buffalo Springfield when I was in high school, live with Poco when I was in college and live at a church fellowship with my family when I was in my 40's. In other words, I am a big fan. And I will read just about anything about him written by just about anybody.
   
   That said, I would be hard pressed to say which story impresses me most... his tales of being a music icon or the story of his acceptance of Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, which didn't lead to the instant rewards that so many "born again" Christians would lead you to believe is the result. The struggle to put back together a failed marriage by faith in the Lord and the story of dealing with a skeptical audience not ready for a Christian music legend is worth the purchase price. Pastor Furay's early emergence as a Christian songwriter predates the "Amy Grant" era by years and as Furay fought his own demons to bring his voice forward, his entire life was changed. But it took lots of time and lots of patience and lots of prayers.
   
   I am not sure where I would catalogue this book if I owned a bookstore. It could fit in music, religion, inpsirational or self-improvement. The message is there for you to see. And Pastor Furay pulls no punches. Being a servant of the Lord, a husband, a father and a muse to the music industry is no easy row to hoe. But Furay's example of perseverance and faith makes this book a no brainer. It should be on your shelf and read multiple times. It is a story of faith, kindness and love that will reach those that understand... and hopefully those that are looking for an answer to life's huge complexities.



3. A good picture of early country rock and the people/groups involved.



4. I have been a fan of Richie's since Buffalo Springfield and Poco. I was fortunate enough to correspond with him a few years ago and got a glimmer of the man. This book takes you with Richie on a wonderful ride, from folk to rock to country (always the pioneer)to his present position of Pastor, Calvery Chapel, Boulder, CO and a true child of God.
   
   This may be a disappointment to your average rock fan (see John Einarson's book for that) but for a glimpse into Richie's life and work, this is absolutely a Wonder!!



5. The book read quickly and was an interesting story of a full life. The writing was not poetic, but factual. I learned much about the folk scene and early roots of southern rock. The point of view was a bit self-centered and there appeared to be some pointed commentary. Overall, enjoyable.

2 comments about Introduction To Saint Thomas Aquinas.

1. It it a good overview of Aquinas and contains good selections, but the physical book kind of bothers me. It is very 'compact', meaning that there is the spacing between lines is too small for notes and almost too small for underlining; The margins are small , so you can't write in those. Also when reading, I tend to 'get lost' and skip or reread a line because they are so compacted.



2. Good introduction. Lays out the context for Aquinas and his times and the Medieval university milieu. Gives enough of his writing to get a good grasp of it, without overload.

5 comments about The Sun at Midnight: A Memoir of the Dark Night.

1. Foe a full panorama of A. Harvey's experience one must read the first 'Mother Meera " book to see how passionate and star struck ( and possibly demonically possessed ) a searcher can get. I read the Sun at Midnight book years back and count it among my many valuable learning experiences in discernment.. I will never again question getting the creepie crawlies when I see an Indian mystic swathed in brightly colored silk on a platform strewn with flowers ,surrounded by devotees addressing this entity as "Oh sacred one."The section in this book detailing the excorcism by proxy is enough for me..



2. Andrew Harvey is truly a gifted writer, and the passion with which he lives comes through in this book. This is an open, honest and blatant excavation of his deepest fears, needs, desires and motivations. The journey is incredible. He sheds light on the influence of ego in the spiritual journey and the importance of looking honestly at our motives, actions and beliefs. It's an incredible look into the manipulation and dubious nature of the "guru system" and a light to be shed on all spiritual teachers. A must read!



3. In his earlier work, Hidden Journey, Andrew Harvey literally wrote the book on Indian guru Mother Meera as he described how this woman he came to believe was an incarnation of the Divine Mother assisted him in coming into a more awakened state. Not much later, his view of Meera (for whom he had become the official spokesperson) began to change when she informed him that his homosexual lifestyle was spiritually wrong and insisted he renounce both homosexuality and his newfound lover.
   
   Harvey's account of his split from Meera and the resulting dark night of the soul is intensely personal, and some readers may find the graphic depiction of tantric gay sex in one chapter a little too personal. But the story is compelling as a raw chronicle of one man's courageous struggle to reclaim his spirituality from someone who was clearly abusing it and instead forge his own direct connection to the divine.
   
   The one problem I had with Harvey's account, however, is that while he outlines the process of projection that caused him to originally see Meera as an incarnation of the Divine Mother, I wasn't left with the impression that he understood that his new, negative perceptions of who Meera really is might also be subject to the same process of distortion.



4. When the foundations of your life crumble; when you've tried everything that's practical, and it doesn't work; and when you know what it is to enter the darkness of desolation and loss, then you can read and read this book, over and over again, and you can find a kind of comfort in it. For me, it is useful that Andrew Harvey is so emotional, because my own spiritual training has been in the direction of denying emotions. There is a lot of wisdom in the book and, because I love words and the English language, the literary style is a great pleasure; and I enjoyed the romance of the love story between himself and Eryk Hanut. For these and many other reasons, Sun at Midnight was an almost-daily source of solace for a couple of months last year.



5. As another reviewer said, the introduction, on the stages the soul must go through on the way to union with God, is excellent, one of the clearest expositions on the Dark Night of the Soul I've ever read. The Dark Night is not just depression, and it is not something that can be avoided or an unfortunate turn of events. It is the proximate cause of fuller awakening, the process through which the already-spiritualized ego now comes apart, to allow something better to take its place.

   But the story that follows does not qualify as a true Dark Night, though it was certainly painful and humiliating. The evidence that it is not the death of Harvey's ego is the self-absorbed story of his love for Eryk Hanut. Yes, it is amazing to fall in love. And yes, sex with someone you love deeply is awesome. But graphic descriptions of homosexual love are not to everyone's taste (nor would equally graphic descriptions of heeterosexual love seem called for). And the idea that your love and marriage is a Tantric revelation that is part of God's plan to save the planet is, well, it is ego-inflation, not ego-death.

   The level of detail here is amazing--every twitch, every conversation, every up and down of the roller-coaster ride of a new love affair, every anxiety attack, every act of vomiting, every kiss--it seems like both spiritual and sexual exhibitionism.

   If it's true that those who say don't know and those who know don't say, then this book says far too much.

   I like Harvey, and I am reading his other books, and there is a certain fascination in this close observation of himself. But I don't think it is a sign of healthy transcendance of the ego-self. (Leaving Mother Meera, though, probably was a wise step. And his warnings about the danger of gurus and the possibility that spiritual powers possessed by humans may be driven by evil is also worth thinking about.)

5 comments about Ordinary Work, Extraordinary Grace: My Spiritual Journey in Opus Dei.

1. This book shows you in a very easy way how to enjoy your life taking care of the little things that matter; how to live knowing you're God's children; how to be happy by complying your duty in every moment of your life.



2. The author writes a fantastic overview of the catholic spirituality for those wanting to live their christianity in a daily life.



3. This review stuck a tender nerve. Hahn's theology is based on dogma and beliefs, unleavened by faith, which is why his numerous writings are so ultimately uninspiring and uninspired. Hahn squeezes out faith from memorizing and breaking down Old and New Testament passages into digestible chunks, sucking the juice of wisdom dry, and regurgitating to a worshipful audience. In all his theological meanderings and desire to prove his points, Scott Hahn heavily relies on quoting biblical passages and citing their numbers, yet he misses the bigger, far more complex picture. This numerical correctness lacks depth; Hahn emulates a lawyer debating points, rather than a philosopher with something real to contribute.
   
   Hahn's descriptions of Opus Dei portray it as Catholicism with training-wheels, for those for whom Mass is Not Enough, actually reflecting a lack of faith. Members feel more devout by enacting little rights of self-mortification. In a world full of pain, why monstrously and egotistically borrow pain? Why not go help those who are really suffering in pain? Note to the pseudo-suffering: don't worry, if you live long enough, pain will come. Flagellation by choice or self-inflicted suffering is an act of enormous ego, of a superiority complex run amuck, not faith or devotion.
   
   One of Hahn's cheesy favorite phrases is, "It doesn't get any better than this." It's surprising how many fall for this spiritual used-car salesman. He displays a zealous desire to convert non-Christians and Protestants to his faith. Though apostolic, the Church claims to understand that other faiths must be approached with respect. Hahn needs to soak his head in Ratzinger's (Pope Benedict XVI) "What It Means to Be a Christian," and read it repeatedly. Make it the Way. Absorb where the Pope wrote, "Everything we believe about God, and everything we know about man, prevents us from accepting that beyond the limits of the Church there is no more salvation, that up to the time of Christ all men were subject to eternal damnation" (pg 45). Interreligious dialogue is not synonymous with moral or religious equivocation.
   
   Pope Benedict XVI has never said that Jews are unsaved unless they convert, in fact, he has described God's First Covenant with respect to the Jewish people. It is one thing to be a light to the world, but Christianity has a lot to answer for in two thousand years. Try James Carroll's superb "Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews." Faith has been horrifically misused by those who transform its truths into a bludgeon to force conversion. Currently, with the scandals of the Church sex abuse cases and cover-up, spiritual betrayal has been perpetrated on an unimaginable scale. What has Opus Dei done to assist victims of the Churches current sins?
   
   But Hahn's fascination with his own process of self "divinization" is incapable of complexity. The Opus Dei he presents exhibits consistent, ardent elitism, insisting that baptism is the only way to God's grace. Even in Hahn's conversion story, he would not suffer in patience, there was no saintly Way for this man. No, he broke his covenant with his wife in order to leave her behind and convert to Catholicism before she was ready for this drastic transition. And Opus Dei helped him in this process. Hahn, in his typically self-centered way, found scriptural justification for this action, and broke his promise to his wife that he would wait till she was ready. He exhibits the self-centered narcism of his generation, focusing on his "divinization," leaving his partner in spiritual darkness. And Opus Dei was there to hold his hand.
   
   Opus Dei exclusively consists of only the baptized, and attracts overzealous converts. For these aspiring lay people, simply attending Mass once a day is not enough, deep worship via Mass is simply inadequate to feed their narcissism. So their Dei consists of mimicking the Mass throughout the day, adding rules to the rules. Opus Dei is an elitist club within a club, completely counter to the humility of Jesus and His Dei, His work and His way. Hahn needs to prove the depth of his faith with a theological bludgeon, lacking grace and subtlety.
   
   Pope Benedict XVI has in fact distanced himself from this egocentric, self indulgent organization. Hahn remains busy creating the Hahn New Revelation Catholic Church, with legions of ardent fans waiting with bated breath for his next pearls of wisdom. I feel obligated, having (wrongly) purchased several of Hahn's books (donated to the Salvation Army Thrift Store, a far worthier organization than Opus Dei), to warn others about this seriously misguided man and Opus Dei (Egomaniac Masochists). It's clear Hahn aspires to be a new Aquinas or Augustine, but future theologians will find his numerous books to be trite at best; quantity does not quality make.



4. Scott Hahn gives a full and wonderful view of the Opus Dei way of life. It is a way of life that can bring a person closer to God in profound and wonderful ways. The Scriptures come alive. Prayers are more focused and a conversation with God. A deep spiritual learning and progress in life takes place.



5. i don't have much to add as I am not a writer but a reader
   i'm so thankful for this book
   Opus Dei was what brought me into the church
   Sedevacantism took me out and Scott Hahn's book helped to bring me back in
   Thak you so much for this Scott!!!

5 comments about St. Patrick of Ireland: A Biography.

1. Slight but well-researched and -written biography of St. Patrick. The little reliable history and biography of St. Patrick is based on two surviving letters he wrote. But the amazing thing is he lived from approximately 390-360 AD, and his letters and what little we know about him are the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world.
   
   And forget St. Patrick's Day and four-leaf clovers and everything else you think you know about Patrick. His life was at once more mundane and more amazing, and his Christian influence on that island nation covered incredible breadth and depth.
   
   Thomas Cahill's modern classic How the Irish Saved Civilization (Hinges of History) puts St. Patrick's story into the context of the present world that in saving he helped create.



2. Wanting to read a scholarly biography of St. Patrick, this book came up first in my library search so I went with it. I was at first skeptical of the author because of his name and alma mater. What possible legitimate interest, I thought, could some Harvard professor with a Jewish-sounding name have in St. Patrick, except to throw dirt on him? I was expecting an secular Ivy League scholar of Jesus Seminar pedigree, who would delight in discrediting cherished beliefs and tearing down the icons of the faithful from their place of honor. Now, I was specifically looking for nothing but the whole truth, and I accept that medieval legends should be discounted in a scholarly work, but after seeing what academic higher criticism has done to the rest of what Christians hold sacred, from the accuracy of the Bible to the very existence of Jesus Christ, I was a bit suspicious of Philip Freeman. I'm glad to say that my initial prejudices were (almost) totally proven wrong. This is a work of exceptional scholarship, with obvious respect and even affection for St. Patrick.
   
   The first problem in dealing with the life of St. Patrick is the paucity of primary source evidence. His two extant letters provide a wealth of biographical details relative to most other historical figures from the era, but certainly not enough to fill a book. The gaps in his biography have to be filled in with historical context and historical speculation and Professor Freeman excels in both. As a Professor of Classics, he is well qualified to tell us about the Roman-British world in which Patrick was born and the ecclesiastical structure in which he worked. As an expert on the Celts, he is also an authority on the culture, religion and language of the Irish people among whom Patrick spent the better part of his life. And because the details of Patrick's life are so few, Professor Freeman is of course forced to fill in the gaps with speculation. At no time did I find his conjectures anything but judicious, educated and utterly plausible. Apart from scholarly suppositions about the methods Patrick employed and the places he visited, Professor Freeman also beautifully imagines the inner dialogues Patrick must have endured and recreates the various dramas he must have experienced. I quote his wonderful visualization of the scene when Patrick told his family that God was ordering him back to Ireland:
   
   "They probably sat stunned, perhaps thinking it was some kind of joke. When they finally realized he was serious, they surely begged him to reconsider. To leave a prosperous villa, to abandon a promising political career, all for the sake of an island of hideous barbarians who had done nothing except cause pain to Patrick and those who loved him- unbelievable! Fine, become a priest if you must, they probably said, your grandfather Potitus did that, but he never left behind his wealth and position to run off and preach to savages. We'll even build you a chapel here at the villa, have services every day if you want. If you're looking for miscreants to convert, there are plenty here in your own neighborhood!" (page 54)
   
   My only complaint is that for some bizarre reason the word "Catholic" was used a grand total of 1 time in this book, and that was only to describe someone from the 17th century. Throughout the book, the author vaguely refers to Patrick as a "Christian" missionary for the "Christian" Church, to Brigid and others after her as "Christian" saints, to "Christian" monks, "Christian" bishops, "Christian" clergy, etc. That language is very odd. The adjective "Christian" is accurate as far as it goes, but not very descriptive and actually slyly deceitful. Patrick and his faith were indeed "Christian", but also more specifically "Catholic", a name the Church had been using since at least the late 1st century to describe itself and distinguish its divine legitimacy and Apostolic lineage from the various heresies that sprung up every now and then. If the Church used the word "Christian" as often as the word "Catholic" in those days, it was because there weren't 30,000 Protestant denominations around at the time to confuse the issue. The myriad sects birthed by the Reformation necessitated the use of more precise language. So, except for use in the most general terms, (such as "the cross is a Christian symbol") the word "Christian" is an amorphous glop of linguistic and theological goo in this day and age that no serious scholar can claim describes anything specific or tangible, such as a "Christian doctrine" or "the Christian Church". A similarly absurd evasion would be if a scholarly book about the Revolutionary War only described the patriots as "men" (Italians? Lithuanians? Aztecs?) who wanted independence from their "European" colonial overlord (Prussia? Turkey? Switzerland?). Such word usage is superficially true, but that kind of hazy equivocation serves to obscure the full truth rather than illuminate it. Patrick was a bishop in something called the Catholic Church, with a clerical hierarchy of deacons, monks, nuns, priests, bishops and Popes, and which was the direct doctrinal and historical forbear of the modern institution of the same name. So why did the author efface the Catholic Church from his history in an act of almost Stalinist historical revisionism?
   
   Could it have been for pusillanimously pecuniary reasons? Might his editor have told him that being Irish is trendy these days, so it would be advisable to make Patrick as ecumenically friendly as possible and not alienate the Protestant section of the market? Or was it for sectarian reasons? I don't know his faith, but he does teach at a Lutheran college in Iowa. Was he subliminally trying to advance a Protestant understanding of Church history and imply that the Catholic Church of today has no connection with the church that evangelized Ireland? After all, it is a widely-understood code word among evangelical Protestants in America that "Christian" refers to their particular brand of faith. (For example, you don't find Catholic or Orthodox books in "Christian" bookstores). The Protestants who colonized Ireland have long misappropriated Patrick as one of their own, in order to further their cause of religious and cultural genocide. Was this book an example of that kind of sectarian misuse of history? For whatever reason, Mr. Freeman's strange omission is unforgivable in a serious scholar. This book is excellent and valuable, but I'd only recommend reading it if you're savvy enough to read between the lines.
   
   Postscript: This reviewer has learned that Professor Freeman is a "practicing Catholic" who deliberately avoided use of the name of his and Patrick's church in order to "get away from modern divisions of Catholic vs. Protestant that are totally foreign to Patrick's time." Judge for yourselves, readers, whether such reasoning should be respected.



3. There certainly is a very large amount of information packed into a very small book (by comparison) here. This is an excellent work for those who have been curious, or are curious, about this famous Irish Saint, yet who are not so curious that they want to dig through a mind numbing academic work which would be better than xanax to provide a good nap. I am one of those people and I am one who greatly appreciated this work. In other areas of history, yes, I want something more in depth, but not on this particular subject. It is written in a scholarly manner, appears to be very well researched, yet I found not one page that I did not learn something from nor one page that caused my eyes to roll back into my head and wish the author would just get on with it. It was a good and informative read.
   
   I certainly am not going to rewrite the entire work in this form and call it a review. That has already been done. For greater detail refer to one of the well done and very in depth reviews already posted here. What I found most interesting about the book was the author's ability to paint a very vivid picture of the cultural and religious clash that too place in Ireland during St. Patrick's time. I enjoyed the brief look at the state of the Christian Church at that time and how it affected the people of that time. That story, to me, was just as fascinating as the one told by the author of the Great Saint himself. The brief look at the Celtic religious practices and beliefs was excellent. I also appreciated the author's ability to separate fact from all the fiction that has been dished out for years and years and do it in a nonoffensive way. This was quite refreshing. The author is quite careful to note fact from fiction, speculation from written and archeological fact. This was most helpful.
   
   The author has a wonderful popular history style, yet writes in a mode that does not insult your credulity nor does Freeman sensationalize events simply to hold the reader's interest. The facts alone, and the way the author presents them, are enough to keep you turning the pages on this one. The black and white maps provided are quite helpful as is the "dictionary" and foot noting. I enjoyed the translation of the two surviving letters of St. Patrick's "Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus" and the "Confession." Both are a nice touch and added much to the value of the book.
   
   A work such as this, where so much has been lost down through the years is not an easy thing to write, but this author, Philip Freeman has done an excellent job. Now there are books out there that go into much greater depth on the subject of this obviously great man and I certainly would recommend further reading for those who are interested or who want to become experts on the subject. For myself, this work fit my needs perfectly. I wanted to know a bit about the man and I certainly learned it here.
   
   Recommend this one highly.
   
   Don Blankenship



4. This is a great book for anyone interested in getting a glimpse at one of the most influential figures (in my opinion) in early Christianity. Freeman's book presents a concise, easy-to-follow account of Saint Patrick's life and ministry as well as pertinent historical and cultural information about Ireland and Roman Britain during his lifetime.



5. This is an excellent book that details the geography and history of the times, and the station of life that young Patrick hailed from. All of these background historical details are vital in understanding better Patrick's life and ministry. The author appeared to be as thorough as possible. What was startling was just how depraved, pagan, and cruel, at least the roving Irish were (slave traders, murderers, even cannibals) without the tempering influence of Christianity. It makes one realize how the conversion of Ireland did in fact bring the kind of normalcy that most of us take for granted within the context of civilized society.

1 comments about St. Augustine of Hippo: Life and Controversies.

1. This book is accurate source of material for research papers. For those who simply want to know more about the life and theology, it offers a great overview of it all.
   
   Professor Approved!

2 comments about Lost & Found: One Daughter's Story of Amazing Grace.

1. In an opening letter to her readers, Kathryn ("Kitty") Slattery says, "All of us have a story to tell. When we choose to share our stories, extraordinary things can happen." Most memoirs focus on a certain theme --- a thread that runs through the author's life. And here Slattery draws out "the story of my mother and me --- two very different people." In these pages, there is keen insight for daughters who have wished for better mothering. It's not that Kitty had a stereotypically abusive mother, but one with a perfectionist bent, a self-absorbed view.
   
   Kitty's childhood home looked a lot like that of other baby boomers --- a successful corporate father and a devoted wife who tended her family. (Did she really wear pumps as she vacuumed?) Kitty's one sibling was 10 years her senior, which plays into the family dynamics. One day young Kitty discovered a document that implied that her older sister was a step-sister, that her mother had been divorced before marrying Kitty's father. But Kitty's mother wouldn't answer her questions. "Don't be a snoop," she said. And, "This is none of your business... And it's certainly nothing for you to worry about." But Kitty was a worrier. "With the discovery of the birth certificate in the breakfront, my world had been turned upside down and inside out. The fact that things were out of order, and that things might not be as they seemed, scared me to death."
   
   Kitty obviously needed a mother who would listen to her, explain mysteries rather than withhold information, encourage her rather than ridicule. As Kitty saw it, "she was not exactly the kind of mother I wanted and needed." Nor was Kitty the perfect daughter, primed to catch the perfect man. "Oh, Kitty," Mrs. Mother said one day. "You think too much... Boys don't like girls who think too much." A little overweight (having once bought clothes in the "`Chubbette' department at Sears") in high school, Kitty felt parental pressure to take off the extra pounds. Dieting led to self-purging --- and this in the late 1960s, before magazine articles explained the phenomenon, before eating disorders took Karen Carpenter's life. It was Kitty's dark secret --- like her father's chronic drinking.
   
   In college Kitty committed her life to Christ, a turning point in her life, though not the end of her struggle with bulimia. That abated only after she realized it was a not uncommon disease; she no longer felt uniquely dysfunctional and found the inner resources and community support --- principally a secure relationship with the man she married --- to live on an even keel.
   
   In the last third of LOST & FOUND, after Kitty has children of her own, she works on mending her relationship with her mother, even bringing her into a "mother-in-law apartment" in her suburban home. Here she comes to a new understanding of her mother that one can hope for in middle age. She sensed God saying, "I'm giving you this time with her." For what purpose? Kitty wasn't sure, but, looking for grace, she eventually found out.
   
   --- Reviewed by Evelyn Bence



2. Each of us experience times in life when we feel alone and disconnected. The lack of relational intimacy with the people we love can be especially painful. It often contributes to unhealthy behaviors as a means to cope with the pain. In the stories of individuals who break their addiction, you will nearly always find one person or a group of people who helped heal the wounds of the addicted with love and encouragement.
   
   Lost & Found is the poignant story of Kathryn Slattery, a contributing editor of Guideposts magazine and author of several books. In the book, Kitty describes her disconnection with her mother and father, the onset of bulimia, how her husband Tom's love and encouragement helped her overcome bulimia, and finally how Kitty reconnected with her parents.
   
   I enjoyed this book. As a writer and speaker about the importance of connection in organizations, I was interested to see that some of the same dynamics that affect relationships in the workplace were also at play in Kitty's story. Lost & Found helped me see several examples of how connections are diminished and how they can be restored. Excessive criticism, lack of transparency, perceived indifference, geographic dislocation and alcohol are the agents of disconnection in Kitty's story. Kitty's husband Tom becomes the primary agent of re-connection and it is his affection, steady optimism and encouragement that help heal her wounds and give her the strength to overcome bulimia. Eventually, with time, healing and self-reflection, Kitty is able to reconnect with her mother and father.
   
   I recommend this book. On one level, this is Kitty's story; on another, it is a study of the powerful effect of relationships and connection in our lives. It will be especially valuable to those who feel disconnected from their parents or other family members. I imagine most of us feel that way with at least some of our family members. It will help you think about what contributed to disconnection in your own life and how to restore it. Lost & Found is an ideal book for a book group. It would stimulate a lot of discussion around the connections and disconnections in our lives. These conversations tend to be healing too.

3 comments about The Autobiography of Saint Margaret Mary.

1. I hesitated to purchase this book after reading the long, detailed negative review by an earlier purchaser, but ultimately decided to buy it.
   
   I have not regretted this. Yes, the book includes mortifications
   that lay people would not practise, but it is also rich in detail of her visions.
   
   I have yet to come across the worst mortifications mentioned by the prior reader. That may be due to the way I read, but they havenn't jumped out at me.
   
   Each section of several paragraphs or more is briefly summarized in a sidebar, making the book easy to navigate by topics of interest.
   
   The famous vision of St MM's heart being carried into a furnace and then being replaced, aflame, within her, is well described.
   
   I have no problems recommending this book for anyone interested in the origins of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart.
   
   John Lough



2. Margaret Mary Alacoque was a French nun and mystic, whom allegedly received instructions from of Jesus in the 17th century. I have alawys been inspired by decotions to Jesus's love and mercy, and think it is amazing that so many similar messages have been received by people throughout the ages, telling the world to have faith and implore in God's mercy and love as represented by the image sacred heart; an image whose physical representation may slightly change over time in order to impress the curent audience more deeply, but the core of the message never changes. People dedicated to promoting devotion to the heart of Jesus, who encouraged people to implore God's love and mercry, include but are not limited to Gertrude of Helfa, Birgitta of Sweden, Teresa of Avila, Therese of Liseux, and Faustina.
   
   I have heard much about how the devotion to that Sacred Heart, was most clearly articulated by Margaret Mary, and was interested in reading her autobiography, in order to learn more about the messages that she received and to see how the compared to those received by Faustina and her message of Divine Mercy. Like the work of Faustina, Mary Margaret's book was written in order to help her with confession. The introduction say that she implored one of the sisters to destroy the book upon her death.
   
   However unlike Faustina's book, Mary Margaret's autobiography contains little very few details about the nature of the messages she recieved in regards to devotion to the sacred heart. She often says that she "received advice" and leaves it at that, not specifying what the advice might be. She has a few details about her early life, but little commentary about life in the convent and how she interacted with people.
   
   This is a personal diary of hers, and where she mostly recorded her feelings about things but she often did not define what the things were, excpet in vague notions - "a conversation" here, "an act" there. It is vauge, but that is not fault of the author, as she was writing only for herself. However, the concequence is that the book provides very little information of substance from which a reader could draw inspiration or creat a role model. Faustina's diary was personal too, but she included much specific information about her dialogues with Jesus, and devotional practices recommended to her.
   
   Margaret Mary's writing style is not as easy to read nor as accessible, as if it were a conversation, as are the styles that characterize the work of Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, or even John of the Cross seemed more clear. As a reader I also felt very much an intruder by reading the book.
   
   She does go on at leangth about different forms of mortification which she performed that were probably not uncommon during her life time, but I found incredibly disturbing as a modern reader. I appreciate the fact that people, particuarly those in religious orders and who were likely to become saints, felt unworthy of Jesus' suffering and crucifixion, so that they often looked for ways to humiliate themselves and cause themselves pain so that they could share in his sufferings. She talks about eating vomit of a sister and doing something with feces from some one else who had dyssentary. I don't know if the images are so striking because they are the few occasions in the book where she elaborates details to events, or if it is because the nature of the acts. I would not want this book in a house with children, who are likely to read deatials of saints for role models or inspiration.
   
   The book has very few instructions about devotional practices to the Sacred Heart. If you are looking for more details about the messages given to Margaret Mary from Jesus and how to please God through life, I think that Fr. Colombiere, one of Margaret Mary's spiritual directors, published a book that contains such information. It is interesting to note that Faustina's spiritual director died on the aniversary of Columbiere's death. I feel terrible leaving a negative commenary on a book by a saint, but the book was not at all what I anticipated, and I don't want other people to buy it as I did, thinking that it contained a certain type of guidance that it lacks. When I finished the book, the only images that remained were not apects of Margaret Mary's life that I felt I could imitate or a new source of prayers for a bedrock of devotion (the book didcontain prayers, but they are prayers found in most Catholic prayer books), but instead images of mortification practices she adopted.



3. I always give five stars to religious books. But this one really deserved it. Bravo!

5 comments about Light And Fire of the Baal Shem Tov.

1. This is truly a special book. What comes through these pages are not just words and stories, but a real taste of the light and fire of the Baal Shem Tov. As I read it I had the sense that the book was a true vehicle for transmission. I was also touched by the effort of the author as I read the book. It is obvious that putting the book together was for him an act of service, and the author's feeling for the stories and teachings comes through clearly.



2. Beginning with his first book, "Jewish Spiritual Practices," Reb Yitzhak has written books that convey some of the deepest teachings of great Chassidic rebbes -- in this case the founder of Hasidism, the holy Baal Shem Tov himself. Written with loving care, humility and the utmost respect to the Besht, Reb Yitzhak has created not just another collection of stories of this charismatic Jewish leader, but rather a unique text -- somewhat approximating a scripture -- that uses isolated stories about the Besht to tell the overarching story of not only the Besht's life, but also his spiritual path, a teaching that has long eluded our generation. Indeed, in "The Life And Fire of the Baal Shem Tov," Buxbaum succeeds in bringing the Besht alive in the spiritual imaginations of his readers -- transporting them, as it were, into the lost world of Eastern European Jewry and setting them at the feet of this great Master. This is a holy book that belongs in the library of every Jew who hungers for spiritual sustenance.



3. A profound and moving book on many levels. Israel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov or 'Besht' was the founder of the Hassidic movement among Eastern European Jews in the 1700's, which survives to this day in Israel, the United States and elsewhere.
   
   The author says: "...I want it to be a book in which the Besht is alive", and: "the main goal is spiritual understanding." He succeeds in both, through the care in which he presents and orders stories about the Besht's life. One can also see how the spiritual approach of the Baal Shem Tov resonates back through two millennia to Hillel, and beyond, and forward two centuries, and beyond, to include the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlson, Yitzhak Buxbaum's own Rebbe.
   
   There is another side to this work, perhaps not intended. One can also read it as a lesson in how the spiritual, cultural and traditional intellectual resources of an oppressed people can be drawn upon for their emancipation and liberation -- here spiritual -- or can be turned in many directions, not all for liberation. Looked at from this side, this is a very contemporary book, and could interest readers from many different traditions including from the Caribbean, Africa, Latin America and perhaps Tibet, or others, who struggle with parallel issues.
   
   For Jews, and others, far from the world in this book, or who imagine ourselves to be so, there is nothing wrong with discovering how to turn a bowl of kasha or borscht into a holy meditation; or smoking a pipe (of tobacco) into an ascent; and perhaps being able to use these in turn to develop compassion or love of people.
   
   The Baal Shem Tov's natural successor, it would appear from the book, would have been his daughter Edel. I wonder how things would have changed if she had been accepted as such.
   
   [Written in honor of the memory of Aimee Cesaire: poet, philosopher, politician of Martinique and elsewhere; died April 17, 2008]



4. loved this book. gives you a great understanding of the life of the Baal Shem Tov and what his vision was.



5. I highly recommend this book. An intimate portrayal of the Baal Shem Tov's life. You will finish the book and want to start all over again. This book will inspire the reader to examine his/her own life and how he/she can make improvements. Words cannot fully describe the impact this book will have.