Courtney McGrailWhere I Find God: Personal Reflections from some of Ireland’s Finest Thinkers
edited by Cora Guinnane & Joanne O’Brien, with a foreword by Mary McAleese
(Columba Press, €24.99)
Some 53 contributors, drawn from many fields of life share in a few brief but intense paragraphs their experiences of the mystical as they personally encounter it. It can be imaged that such diverse people at Peter McVerry, Willie Walsh, Sr Stan and Brian D’Arcy provide very varied but insightful thoughts.
All this is enhanced by images from four different photographers that aim to relict aspects of human life and the glories of creation. This would make a very thoughtful gift for this season of the year.
l You can order this book now by calling 01 687 40 96 or email ellen@columba.ie; buy it online at www.irishcatholic.ie/shop (€24.99 including P&P).
Graced Horizons: A Journey through Mercy
by Bishop Brendan Leahy
(Veritas, €12.99)
This new book by the Bishop of Limerick might be seen as a product of the year of Mercy. It is an exploration of the nature of mercy, the mercy of God to confused human being, the mercy of initials towards each other, and towards creation, both of which have often been treated badly, neglected or abused.
Reconciliation with God, many would think, has to involve reconciliation with nature as well. Seeing mercy as a core value of Christianity, Bishop Leahy traces mercy as a core Christian value down the ages from the earliest days of the church. The intended gits of the Jubilee can be carried on through a thoughful appreciation of these figures and the attempt to make mercy a direct outgoing aspect of our own life and thought.
Waiting in Mindful Hope: Wisdom for Times of Transition
by Martina Lehane Sheehan
(Veritas, €9.99)
The author is a retreat director, and an accredited psychotherapist, whose earlier books from the same publishers may be familiar. Her hope is to bring healing to troubled minds. The three parts arouse patient waiting, and alert mindfulness, and a delight in accepting what seems new, but which can be a very old truth in an original aspect.
A gentle thoughtful book which will provide the reader, the author hopes, with a sense of consolation in these troubles time when each day seems to bring some reversals.
Best Loved Poems: Favourite Poems from the South of Ireland
edited by Gabriel Fitzmaurice, photographs by John Reidy
(Currach Press, €24.99)
This handsome volume is edited by the distinguished Kerry poet, Gabriel Fitzmaurice, a man who knows people and places of his region very well indeed. There is nothing hackneyed here at all, for the selection includes classic poems from the Gaelic, and some poets from the past, but most of those included are as distinguished as the editor if not all are as well known.
Every poem here strikes to the heart and the imagination. The words are enhanced by images of the regions cultivated acres, its small towns, and its wild woods and bleak mountains.
A perfect Christmas gift, for both those at home and those scattered as so many Irish people are, in other parts of the world.