The little lessons of life are very important too

Life Lessons: Fifty Things I Learned in My First Fifty Years

by Patrick Madrid

(Ignatius Press / Augustine Institute, US$16.95; also available as a eBook download; or by order from Veritas)

Patrick Madrid is a popular US apologist for all things Catholic. Indeed, he has some 25 years experience as a writer in this field, according to the title of an earlier book. This new book is also autobiographical. He passes on, for every year of his life so far, some truth which he has learned, often the hard way. However, he admits to being discreet: the truly dreadful disasters are only to be shared with God and his confessor.

Each little narrative, generally only a couple of pages long, is tagged to a Gospel quote. The very first chapter gives an excellent feel for what the whole book is like.

Visiting a strange Catholic church to give a lecture he noticed that the Protestant church on the hill above had a banner hanging out, which he read at a distance as “GUILT SHOW”.  He jumped to the conclusion that “those Protestants” were making a mock of the Catholic “guilt trip” in going to confession, instead of feeling saved once and for all as they did.

His hosts had not noticed the banner. He rang the Protestant church and learned that it did not read “GUILT SHOW”, but in fact “QUILT SHOW”. If the banner need straitening, he was told, the caretaker would look into it. But the incident, which rather shamed him, taught him to be something more of a care-taker himself.  He had jumped to a conclusion. “I had done, albeit in a minor way, exactly what Jesus tells us not to do: ‘Judge not, lest that you be judged’.”(John 7:24).

The memory of the incident has never left him. Ever since he has tried not to impute malice to others. “Maybe God intended me to read ‘GUILT SHOW’ just for me. After all, it showed me I had something in my eye.”

This is a very down-to-earth, wryly amusing book, but one with a very serious purpose. It is very enjoyable, and filled with apercus of faith in action. Many readers will find more than insightful. It might even be life changing.

By the way, Patrick Madrid website is www.patrickmadrid.com. It, too, is worth a visit.