Time with the Master: Reflections on the Life of Jesus
by Seamus Devitt CSsR (Messenger Publications, €7.95)
Though Christmas seems to dominate the annual round, Easter Sunday has always been for Chrstians the central feast day of the year. As we celebrate next Sunday this little book by Fr Devitt will remind many people that Easter is not just for Easter, but for every day. In a series of 37 short reflections he considers the everyday presence of Jesus in people’s lives.
He wishes to remind us, as he says, of “the presence of God in all things and the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf”.
He bases himself in scripture and the experiences of the early Christians, which is perhaps a very necessary reminder to many that Christianity had once a more unified and simpler aspect. He calls on his readers, or reflectors, to see the beauty of the Holy Spirit in the routines of everyday living. People find it easy to attend to the great feasts, but that “domestic” faith which St Teresa of Avila speaks about is actually where religion ought to live.
The Living Flame of Love
by John of the Cross, with an introduction by Baroness Caroline Cox (SPCK, £9.99)
In 1578, St John of the Cross, for what the editor of this book calls “political reasons connected with the government of the Carmelite order”, was imprisoned.
It was at this time that he largely composed the poems that are an ornament of Spanish literature. This text, however, belongs to a later period, and was conceived as an explication of one of them, “O, Living Flame of Love”.
The text is followed by a series of commentaries that provide a very close reading of its apparent and its inner meaning. It may well be that for many who, daunted by the scale of the saint’s accomplishments as a writer, hesitate to embark on his work, that this little book will provide an ideal first step in experiencing the high point of Spanish mysticism. Baroness Cox is the founder and chief executive of Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust.
13 Powerful Ways to Pray
by Eamon Tobin (DynamicCatholic.com, US$14.95)
These days we are told that a healthy diet is a varied diet. Eamon Tobin has applied this idea to the matter of prayer, explaining that there are different ways and modes of prayer suitable for different times and locations.
Over the centuries many have found prayer in solitude and in silence, but Fr Tobin reminds us that to pray one does not have to take time away from your normal activities. This of course recalls the ancient precept “laborare est orare”, to work is to pray.
This book is published by an internet publisher as a new form of evangelisation and its worth looking at. But remember the books come from the US so added postage is involved. Eamon Tobin, who comes from Kilkenny, is currently the pastor at Ascension Catholic Church, in Melbourne, Florida.
More of his other writings are available on www.ascensioncatholic.net.