Books on the Nightstand

+JMJ+ So many things are going through my mind tonight, I don’t know what to write about first. I’m in the middle of research for a couple of different projects and another one just fell in my lap, so there’s that. The feast day for the Conversion of St. Paul is coming up, and I’ve got some new used books I’m reading, along with some others that I bought with a gift card from my sister for Christmas. (I already mentioned one of the Edith Stein books I got.) So maybe I’ll just ramble about these things for a while. Here goes nothin’.

Saint Paul, pray for us!

A few years ago (has it really been years now?) I bought a set of talks from Catholic Productions by Brant Pitre called, the The Apostle Paul: Unlocking the Mysteries of His Theology. Dr. Pitre is one of my favorite teachers and this is a really good college-level course on the theology of St. Paul. There’s a sample and an outline on the product page. I’ve listened to this one all the way through a few times and it’s so good! At 19 hours 53 minuntes (17 CDs / MP3), you get a good overview of the subject and some depth, too. It’s been a couple of years since I listened to it. I’ll need to rectify that soon.

Video: Brant Pitre, The Apostle Paul: Unlocking the Mysteries of His Theology (Intro)

Join Us On Our Quest!

I’ve been thinking about the Quest we’re on. See the 6^th Book of the Month on the Table of Contents page and at this point the first and second post in the Quest series. The main book we’re using is Brant Pitre’s Introduction to the Spiritual Life: Walking the Path of Prayer with Jesus. Now I’m certainly not setting myself up as a spiritual teacher or leader, I have no delusions of anything like that. I’m just trying to find a way to deepen my practice of the faith and finally get somewhere with it. And since I have the same problems I figure most people have, I thought I’d invite others to come along on the journey with me. We can help each other along the way. I know there are many people out there who are further along than I am, but I can do what I can do, whatever that is, and no one can do that better than I can. ;) I’ll bring other helps along the way when I find something I think will be useful or inspiring. So join me on Thursdays and we’ll see what happens with that.

Books on the Nightstand

One of the books I got recently (not mentioned in the earlier post) is Mike Aquilina’s The World of Ben-Hur. I have the book Ben-Hur, too, but haven’t read it yet. I’m doing research on Biblical times for the story I’m still working on: A Journey. (Seems to be a pattern here. Quest. Journey. I feel like a Hobbit on an adventure!) So far it’s proving helpful. I have a bunch of other research to do for that project and it ties in with the Rosary books, too, because of something I have in mind for those, in case anyone was wondering by now if I had given up on them. The answer is, no, I have not. But the project has grown in my mind as time goes on and I need more background before I can do more with it. That may sound more mysterious than I meant for it to. Then again, it may be exactly as mysterious as I meant it to be! ;)

Another book is Rudolf Otto’s The Idea of the Holy. It’s not Catholic but I’ve seen this book mentioned for so many years that I’ve felt the need to read it for some time. It’s been on the to-read list as long as I’ve had one. Now I have a copy and I’m gonna finally do it!

Have another book I’m eager to get into, The Woman: The Mystery of Mary as Mediatrix in the Teaching of Fulton J. Sheen, by Peter J. Howard, and another one, Dante and the Blessed Virgin, by Ralph McInerny. Both of these look really interesting to me. The first one I’d had on my wishlist for a while and the second one I stumbled across while searching for something else. I’ll let you know more about them as I get to them. So many books, so little talent and ability to manage my time! Sigh.

Okay, that’s it for now. Thanks for visiting the blog and reading. Join me on Thursdays here at the blog so you and I can help each other stay holy and virtuous during this new year, and become who the Lord intends us to be: SAINTS. God bless you and may His Peace be always with you. +JMJ+

Join me on Fridays for the Rosary Project Live on Twitter at 8pm ET, 7pm CT, to cultivate a culture of Light, Life, Love, Truth, Beauty, and Goodness, for the conversion of sinners, and for the salvation of souls. There’s also a Rosary on the blog you can use anytime.

“The Rosary is the ‘weapon’ for these times.” — Padre Pio

Notes and Links

The Apostle Paul: Unlocking the Mysteries of His Theology, a set of Bible study talks by Dr. Brant Pitre: product page. Video intro.
Introduction to the Spiritual Life: Walking the Path of Prayer with Jesus, by Brant Pitre: Hardcover, Kindle.
The Idea of the Holy, Rudolf Otto: Paperback, Kindle.
The Woman: The Mystery of Mary as Mediatrix in the Teaching of Fulton J. Sheen, by Peter J Howard: Paperback.
Dante and the Blessed Virgin, by Ralph McInerny: Paperback.

The links to the books mentioned in this list are all Amazon affiliate links. See Full Disclosure below. The Apostle Paul set link is not an afffiliate link.

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Images: Conversion of St. Paul, by Benvenuto Tisi, and The Way to Emmaus by Robert Zund, both via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

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