The occasional, often ill-considered thoughts of a Roman Catholic permanent deacon who is ever grateful to God for his existence. Despite the strangeness we encounter in this life, all the suffering we witness and endure, being is good, so good I am sometimes unable to contain my joy. Deo gratias!


Although I am an ordained deacon of the Catholic Church, the opinions expressed in this blog are my personal opinions. In offering these personal opinions I am not acting as a representative of the Church or any Church organization.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Special Lenten Reading

Today Ignatius Press officially published the second volume of Pope Benedict's Jesus of Nazareth. If like me you've read volume one, I am sure you'll want to read volume two. I've already ordered a copy for myself so I can make it the cornerstone of my Lenten reading. While volume one covered Jesus' public ministry, volume two takes the story from Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem through His Passion, Death and Resurrection and on to His Ascension. We are so blessed to have a pope who possesses such a breadth of knowledge, as well as the ability to present it clearly.

While browsing on Amazon, I also noticed that Ignatius Press has also  published study guides for both volume one and volume two of Jesus of Nazareth. I realize that some folks found the first book somewhat challenging, probably because they haven't spent a lot of time reading theological texts. They can be daunting, and are certainly not the sort of books we non-theologians might read at a single sitting. I would expect, then, that the study guides might be of help. I can't say for sure since I have used neither, but here are Amazon links: Volume One Study Guide and Volume Two Study Guide.

And if you'd like to read some good words about the newly published volume two, read the article by the always interesting and erudite Father James Schall here: Benedict's Second Volume.

Tomorrow I will suggest some other books for Lenten reading, because this evening I'm simply too tired to think. We had an early, long and busy morning at the Soup Kitchen today, followed by a board of directors meeting. It's been a full day for an old retired guy.

God's peace...

No comments:

Post a Comment