Novena to the Sacred Heart

  

 

The Novena to the Sacred Heart continues

The Church's Most Powerful Novenas is a book of novenas connected with particular shrines.  Michael Dubruiel wrote in the introduction to this book he compiled:

When Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his Apostles to stay where they were and to "wait for the gift" that the Father had promised: the Holy Spirit.  The Apostles did as the Lord commanded them. "They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers" (Acts 1:14). Nine days passed; then, they received the gift of the Holy spirit, as had been promised. May we stay together with the church, awaiting in faith with Our Blessed Mother, as we trust entirely in God, who loves us more than we can ever know. 

June: Month of the Sacred Heart

  

The promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary:
1. I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
2. I will give peace in their families.
3. I will console them in all their troubles.
4. I will be their refuge in life and especially in death.
5. I will abundantly bless all their undertakings.
6. Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great perfection.
9. I will bless those places wherein the image of
My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and venerated.
10. I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.
11. Persons who propagate this devotion shall
have their names eternally written in my Heart.
12. In the excess of the mercy of my Heart, I promise you that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will receive Communion on the First Fridays, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance: they will not die in my displeasure, nor without receiving the sacraments; and my Heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour.
-Michael Dubruiel

May 31- Feast of the Visitation

 

 May is Mary's month, a month we pay special attention to the rosary. The Visitation is on of the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary. Check out this small hardbound book by Michael Dubruiel and Amy Welborn,  Praying the Rosary.  Click on the cover for more information.

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Here's an excerpt:

The Gospels show that the gaze of Mary varied depending upon the circumstances of life. So it will be with us. Each time we pick up the holy beads to recite the Rosary, our gaze at the mystery of Christ will differ depending on where we find ourselves at that moment.

Thereafter Mary’s gaze, ever filled with adoration and wonder, would never leave him. At times it would be a questioning look, as in the episode of the finding in the Temple: “Son, why have you treated us so?” (Lk 2:48); it would always be a penetrating gaze, one capable of deeply understanding Jesus, even to the point of perceiving his hidden feelings and anticipating his decisions, as at Cana (cf. Jn 2:5). At other times it would be a look of sorrow, especially beneath the Cross, where her vision would still be that of mother giving birth, for Mary not only shared the passion and death of her Son, she also received the new son given to her in the beloved disciple (cf. Jn 19:26-27). On the morning of Easter hers would be a gaze radiant with the joy of the Resurrection, and finally, on the day of Pentecost, a gaze afire with the outpouring of the Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14) [Rosarium Virginis Mariae, no. 10].

As we pray the Rosary, then, we join with Mary in contemplating Christ. With her, we remember Christ, we proclaim Him, we learn from Him, and, most importantly, as we raise our voices in prayer and our hearts in contemplation of the holy mysteries, this “compendium of the Gospel” itself, we are conformed to Him.

Michael Dubruiel: Pentecost Octave

  

Steps to Take as You Follow Christ

Ask— What do I do with God’s spirit?

Seek—From a prayer posture, concentrate on your breathing. As

you inhale, ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit, to animate

your every action to do his will. As you exhale, breathe the name

from the core of your being: Jesus. Continue to meditate on him.

Knock—Meditate on Galatians 6:7–9. Reflect on the difference

between a living person and a corpse. Are most of your actions,

actions of sowing in the flesh or sowing to the spirit? Ask God

for patience that you might endure in all things by sowing to the

spirit.

Transform Your Life—Make it a habit to pray the prayer of

Jesus from the cross whenever you find yourself tempted to do

something that you know is not of God: “Father, into your hands

I commend my Spirit.” This prayer that Jesus has given us is the

key to moving from sowing in the flesh to sowing to the spirit.

-The Power of the Cross by Michael Dubruiel 
 

Michael Dubruiel: Pentecost Octave

 

The letter to the Hebrews draws a strong connection
between the cross and prayer. Because every moment of our
earthly existence is threatened by death, and we know neither the
day nor the hour when that existence will come to an end, we,
too, need to cry out to the God who can save us. Like Moses, we
need the help of our fellow Christians to hold up our arms when
they grow tired. We, too, need the help of the Holy Spirit to
make up for what is lacking in our prayer. 

-The Power of the Cross by Michael Dubruiel

Pentecost - a Glorious Mystery

  

 Michael Dubruiel conceived and put together the small hardbound book, Praying the Rosary.  Click on the cover for more information.

. 

Here's an excerpt:

The Gospels show that the gaze of Mary varied depending upon the circumstances of life. So it will be with us. Each time we pick up the holy beads to recite the Rosary, our gaze at the mystery of Christ will differ depending on where we find ourselves at that moment.

Thereafter Mary’s gaze, ever filled with adoration and wonder, would never leave him. At times it would be a questioning look, as in the episode of the finding in the Temple: “Son, why have you treated us so?” (Lk 2:48); it would always be a penetrating gaze, one capable of deeply understanding Jesus, even to the point of perceiving his hidden feelings and anticipating his decisions, as at Cana (cf. Jn 2:5). At other times it would be a look of sorrow, especially beneath the Cross, where her vision would still be that of mother giving birth, for Mary not only shared the passion and death of her Son, she also received the new son given to her in the beloved disciple (cf. Jn 19:26-27). On the morning of Easter hers would be a gaze radiant with the joy of the Resurrection, and finally, on the day of Pentecost, a gaze afire with the outpouring of the Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14) [Rosarium Virginis Mariae, no. 10].

As we pray the Rosary, then, we join with Mary in contemplating Christ. With her, we remember Christ, we proclaim Him, we learn from Him, and, most importantly, as we raise our voices in prayer and our hearts in contemplation of the holy mysteries, this “compendium of the Gospel” itself, we are conformed to Him.

Pentecost Vigil

 The Mass Readings for the Pentecost Vigil: 

On the last and greatest day of the feast,
Jesus stood up and exclaimed,
“Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink.
As Scripture says:
    Rivers of living water will flow from within him who believes in me.”

He said this in reference to the Spirit
that those who came to believe in him were to receive.
There was, of course, no Spirit yet,
because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Books by Michael Dubruiel:

Pentecost Novena

Novenas were such a popular farm of Catholic devotion because the liturgy remained largely locked up in silent Latin and was simply an obligation to those people who were not inclined to use missals. Most people, in fact, did not use or even own a missal. Many who sat passively at the liturgy enthusiastically sang and prayed at the novena. In the early 1940s, when I first served as an altar boy at the novenas to Our Lady, one of my crusty Irish neighbors asked me if I was on my way to that Protestant service. He saw it as Protestant because it was in the vernacular and it was popular. He was probably a bit suspicious, too, because unlike Mass, you could enjoy a novena.  

From Michael Dubruiel's The Church's Most Powerful Novenas. 

A novena is a term used to describe a continuous praying of a formula nine consecutive times, usually nine consecutive days or once a week for nine weeks. The number nine derives from the time Mary and the Apostles waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit between Ascension and Pentecost. (from the Catholic Encyclopedia) This purse-sized prayer guide contains many of the Church's treasured petitions to Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saints, including Saint Anthony, Saint Peregrine and Saint Therese of Lisieux. A section devoted to American Saints includes a prayer to the North American Jesuit Martyrs. A new ?quick novena? from Blessed Teresa of Calcutta appears here for the first time in print. Illustrated throughout with art and religious images, each prayer in The Church's Most Powerful Novenas includes the history of that particular novena. A listing of shrines connected with novenas in the book is included. Although the practice of praying novenas has only been around since the 1600s, believers have embraced this commitment of devotion as a unique aspect of our Catholic identity.

Pentecost Novena

If your memory goes back before Vatican II, you will recall that every respectable parish had its perpetual or ongoing novena. These were in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ under some title, or they were devotions to Mary as Our Lady of Perpetual Help (originally a devotion of the Eastern churches), Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, or even Our Lady of Sorrows. Various saints had their own novenas, usually preceding their feast days; but St. Anthony was so popular that he might find himself bombarded by prayer on a weekly basis throughout the year. Parish novenas had several things in common: popular hymns and prayers in the vernacular, a devotional sermon, and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. These expressions of popular piety were rather rigidly controlled. The hymns and the prayers represented the best examples of the folk religion and piety that most of our ancestors had packed Into their shabby baggage as they came to this country as immigrants through the "golden door." In Ellis Island's beautiful and moving museum is a remarkable display of several religious articles of the immigrants — Jewish prayer stoles. Lutheran Bibles, and, of course, rosaries and novena books. 

From Michael Dubruiel's The Church's Most Powerful Novenas. 

A novena is a term used to describe a continuous praying of a formula nine consecutive times, usually nine consecutive days or once a week for nine weeks. The number nine derives from the time Mary and the Apostles waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit between Ascension and Pentecost. (from the Catholic Encyclopedia) This purse-sized prayer guide contains many of the Church's treasured petitions to Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saints, including Saint Anthony, Saint Peregrine and Saint Therese of Lisieux. A section devoted to American Saints includes a prayer to the North American Jesuit Martyrs. A new ?quick novena? from Blessed Teresa of Calcutta appears here for the first time in print. Illustrated throughout with art and religious images, each prayer in The Church's Most Powerful Novenas includes the history of that particular novena. A listing of shrines connected with novenas in the book is included. Although the practice of praying novenas has only been around since the 1600s, believers have embraced this commitment of devotion as a unique aspect of our Catholic identity.

Pentecost Novena

Indeed, without knowing it as such, the Apostles made a novena of prayer while waiting for the Holy Spirit. Since Our Lord himself counseled persistent and repetitive prayer in the parables of the Importunate Neighbor (Lk. 11:5-9) and the Unjust Judge (Lk. 18:1.7), it became obvious that the novena could be used for intercession, asking the Lord for what one needs. Novenas could also be an act of penance and sometimes imposed, one assumes, for fairly serious sins on the occasion of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. 

From Michael Dubruiel's The Church's Most Powerful Novenas. 

A novena is a term used to describe a continuous praying of a formula nine consecutive times, usually nine consecutive days or once a week for nine weeks. The number nine derives from the time Mary and the Apostles waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit between Ascension and Pentecost. (from the Catholic Encyclopedia) This purse-sized prayer guide contains many of the Church's treasured petitions to Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saints, including Saint Anthony, Saint Peregrine and Saint Therese of Lisieux. A section devoted to American Saints includes a prayer to the North American Jesuit Martyrs. A new ?quick novena? from Blessed Teresa of Calcutta appears here for the first time in print. Illustrated throughout with art and religious images, each prayer in The Church's Most Powerful Novenas includes the history of that particular novena. A listing of shrines connected with novenas in the book is included. Although the practice of praying novenas has only been around since the 1600s, believers have embraced this commitment of devotion as a unique aspect of our Catholic identity.

Pentecost Novena

 Novenas are prayers of devotion that are offered for nine days (or some other period of time with a factor of nine).They had their origin in ancient Rome as times of prayer for the dead over a nine-day period and were, essentially, prayers of mourning and commendation of the soul to the mercy of God. I have participated in this kind of novena many times, held by the Puerto Rican people after the death of a dear one. In the early Middle Ages, novenas became ways of preparing for great liturgical events, especially Christmas. One novena became linked to the antiphons of Vespers, which begin with the vocative "0" nine days before the celebration of Christ's birth. We recognize this custom from the Advent hymn "0 Come, 0 Come, Emmanuel," which in fact is the first antiphon of this novena. This novena may have been related in people's minds to the nine months that the infant Savior remained in his mother's womb. For this reason, novenas began to be associated with Our Lady, particularly in France and Spain. A bit later, the novena became associated with the nine days from Ascension to Pentecost. 

From Michael Dubruiel's The Church's Most Powerful Novenas. 

St. Rita of Cascia - May 22

  

 

From The Church's Most Powerful Novenas by Michael Dubruiel:


Rita Lotti was born near Cascia in Italy in the fourteenth century, the only child of her parents, Antonio and Amata. Her parents were official peacemakers in a turbulent environment of feuding families.
At an early age Rita felt called to religious life; however, her parents arranged for her to be married to Paolo Mancini. Rita accepted this as God’s will for her, and the newlyweds were soon blessed with two sons.
One day while on his way home, Paolo was killed. Rita’s grief was compounded with the fear that her two sons would seek to avenge their father’s death, as was the custom of the time. She began praying and fasting that God would not allow this to happen. Both sons soon fell ill and died, which Rita saw as an answer to her prayers.
Now alone in the world, Rita sought to enter religious life, feeling that God had cleared the path for her to fulfill the vocation that she had felt was hers from childhood. Yet she found that the convent she so desired to enter was reluctant to accept her due to fears that the political rivals that had killed her husband would bring violence on them.
She finally brought peace between the rivals and was able to enter the Convent of St. Mary Magdalene of the Augustinian Nuns. In religious life, Rita was noted for her holiness. She spent her days not only in prayer and contemplation but also in service to the sick and the poor.
One day while kneeling in prayer and contemplating the passion of Jesus, she received the wound of one thorn from the crown of thorns that she bore until her death some fifteen years later.
Devotion to St. Rita was almost nonexistent for five hundred years, but with her canonization in 1900, all of that has changed. She is truly a saint for every state in life, having spent her life as a married woman, a mother, a widow, and a religious.

Michael Dubruiel: Pocket Guide to the Mass

 Michael Dubruiel's Pocket Guide to the Mass - a sample page. 

Walks you through the Mass, explaining the biblical basis of prayers, the meaning behind gestures, and a brief overview of the spirituality that brings Catholics together for Eucharist each week.

Published in 2007, still in print. 

An excellent resource for your parish for the Eucharistic Revival year. 

More books by Michael Dubruiel

Michael Dubruiel: The Pocket Guide to the Mass

 A Pocket Guide to the Mass by Michael Dubruiel: introduction

Get the most out of the Mass...

A Pocket Guide to the Mass walks you through the biblical basis of prayers, the meaning behind gestures, and a brief overview of the spirituality that brings Catholics together for Eucharist each week.

Reenergize your time at Mass or help those who are new or returning to the Church with this quick and insightful overview. Rediscover the fullness of the Mass today!

Michael Dubruiel: Pocket Guide to Confession

     For a brief, pointed and helpful guide,

All of Michael Dubruiel's books listed on Amazon.

This pocket guide is meant to serve as an aid to such a varied group as those who: Confess regularly

Are becoming Catholic

Are making their First Confession

Have been away from this sacrament for some time

Are waiting for a sign that God can forgive whatever horrible sin has been committed

You will find:

 Answers to basic questions about Confession

Helps to preparing to make a good Confession by examining your conscience and praying before you celebrate the sacrament

A walk through the sacrament

How to use the experience of the Apostle Peter as a model for your own ongoing conversion to Jesus Christ.

More about Michael Dubruiel

Michael Dubruiel's Pocket Guide to the Mass

  

The Gospel readings at Mass during this time are focusing on the Eucharist via John, chapter 6.  Why not follow the Church's lead and learn more about the Mass during this time?

From Michael Dubruiel, in 2007:

I have written a lot about the Mass--without ever really intending to do so. First, I wrote about the Mass in The How-To Book of the Mass: Everything You Need to Know but No One Ever Taught You--this book has done so well that I was asked to write a follow-up to it. That book How To Get The Most Out Of The Eucharist, probably should have been titled "How to Offer Your Sacrifice at Every Mass." Then this year, A Pocket Guide to the Mass, which is part of the "A Pocket Guide" series. Each book is different and offers a slightly different way to open oneself up to the riches that are being bestowed upon us by fulfilling the Lord's command to "Do this." Thanks to everyone who has read any of the three and offered very positive reviews of them.

Pentecost Novena

  

 Pentecost 2023 is May 28

The Church's Most Powerful Novenas is a book of novenas connected with particular shrines.  Michael Dubruiel wrote in the introduction to this book he compiled:

When Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his Apostles to stay where they were and to "wait for the gift" that the Father had promised: the Holy Spirit.  The Apostles did as the Lord commanded them. "They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers" (Acts 1:14). Nine days passed; then, they received the gift of the Holy spirit, as had been promised. May we stay together with the church, awaiting in faith with Our Blessed Mother, as we trust entirely in God, who loves us more than we can ever know. 

Michael Dubruiel: Feast of the Ascension

  

The first reading at Mass, from the Acts of the Apostles: 

In the first book, Theophilus,
I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught
until the day he was taken up,
after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit
to the apostles whom he had chosen.
He presented himself alive to them
by many proofs after he had suffered,
appearing to them during forty days
and speaking about the kingdom of God.
While meeting with the them,
he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem,
but to wait for “the promise of the Father
about which you have heard me speak;
for John baptized with water,
but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

When they had gathered together they asked him,
“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons
that the Father has established by his own authority.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
throughout Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.”
When he had said this, as they were looking on,
he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going,
suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.
They said, “Men of Galilee,
why are you standing there looking at the sky?
This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven
will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”

Books by Michael Dubruiel

Our Lady of Fatima - May 13

  

 Michael Dubruiel conceived and put together the small hardbound book, Praying the Rosary.  Click on the cover for more information.

. 

Here's an excerpt:

The Gospels show that the gaze of Mary varied depending upon the circumstances of life. So it will be with us. Each time we pick up the holy beads to recite the Rosary, our gaze at the mystery of Christ will differ depending on where we find ourselves at that moment.

Thereafter Mary’s gaze, ever filled with adoration and wonder, would never leave him. At times it would be a questioning look, as in the episode of the finding in the Temple: “Son, why have you treated us so?” (Lk 2:48); it would always be a penetrating gaze, one capable of deeply understanding Jesus, even to the point of perceiving his hidden feelings and anticipating his decisions, as at Cana (cf. Jn 2:5). At other times it would be a look of sorrow, especially beneath the Cross, where her vision would still be that of mother giving birth, for Mary not only shared the passion and death of her Son, she also received the new son given to her in the beloved disciple (cf. Jn 19:26-27). On the morning of Easter hers would be a gaze radiant with the joy of the Resurrection, and finally, on the day of Pentecost, a gaze afire with the outpouring of the Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14) [Rosarium Virginis Mariae, no. 10].

As we pray the Rosary, then, we join with Mary in contemplating Christ. With her, we remember Christ, we proclaim Him, we learn from Him, and, most importantly, as we raise our voices in prayer and our hearts in contemplation of the holy mysteries, this “compendium of the Gospel” itself, we are conformed to Him.

Mary and the Muslims - Fatima

  

From Michael Dubruiel, 2008.

From the National Rosary Crusade, written many years ago by the Servant of God Bishop Fulton Sheen:

MARY

The Qu'ran, which is the Bible for the Muslims, has many passages concerning the Blessed Virgin. First of all, the Qu'ran believes in her Immaculate Conception, and also in her Virgin Birth. The third chapter of the Qu'ran places the history of Mary's family in a genealogy which goes back through Abraham, Noah, and Adam. When one compares the Qu'ran's description of the birth of Mary with the apocryphal Gospel of the birth of Mary, one is tempted to believe that Mohammed very much depended upon the latter. Both books describe the old age and the definite sterility of the mother of Mary. When, however, she conceives, the mother of Mary is made to say in the Qu'ran: "O Lord, I vow and I consecrate to you what is already within me. Accept it from me."

When Mary is born, the mother says: And I consecrate her with all of her posterity under thy protection, O Lord, against Satan!"

The Qu'ran passes over Joseph in the life of Mary, but the Muslim tradition knows his name and has some familiarity with him. In this tradition, Joseph is made to speak to Mary, who is a virgin. As he inquired how she conceived Jesus without a father, Mary answered:

Do you not know that God, when he created the wheat had no need of seed, and that God by his power made the trees grow without the help of rain? All that God had to do was to say, 'So be it, and it was done.'

The Qu'ran was also verses on the Annunciation, Visitation, and Nativity. Angels are pictured as accompanying the Blessed Mother and saying: "Oh, Mary, God has chosen you and purified you, and elected you above all the women of the earth." In the nineteenth chapter of the Qu'ran there are 41 verses on Jesus and Mary. There is such a strong defense of the virginity of Mary here that the Qu'ran, in the fourth book, attributed the condemnation of the Jews to their monstrous calumny against the Virgin Mary.

FATIMA 
Mary, then, is for the Muslims the true Sayyida, or Lady. The only possible serious rival to her in their creed would be Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed himself. But after the death of Fatima, Mohammed wrote: "Thou shalt be the most blessed of all women in Paradise, after Mary." In a variation of the text, Fatima is made to say, "I surpass all the women, except Mary."

This brings us to our second point: namely, why the Blessed Mother, in the 20th century, should have revealed herself in the insignificant little village of Fatima, so that to all future generations she would be known as "Our Lady of Fatima." Since nothing ever happens out of Heaven except with a finesse of all details, I believe that the blessed Virgin chose to be known as "Our Lady of Fatima" as a pledge and a sign of hope to the Muslim people, and as an assurance that they, who show her so much respect, will one day accept her divine Son too.

Evidence to support these views is found in the historical fact that the Muslims occupied Portugal for centuries. At the time when they were finally driven out, the last Muslim chief had a beautiful daughter by the name of Fatima. A Catholic boy fell in love with her, and for him she not only stayed behind when the Muslims left, but even embraced the faith. The young husband was so much in love with her that he changed the name of the town where he lived to Fatima. Thus, the very place where our lady appeared in 1917 bears a historical connection to Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed.

The final evidence of the relationship of Fatima to the Muslims is the enthusiastic reception which the Muslims in Africa, India, and elsewhere gave to the pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima. Muslims attended the church services in honor of our Lady, they allowed religious processions and even prayers before their mosques; and in Mozambique, the Muslims who were unconverted, began to be Christian as soon as the statue of Our Lady of Fatima was erected.

Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI

  by Michael Dubruiel...from 2007

I think with the release of this book (which I got yesterday and read straight through) the pope is positioning himself to be the St. Thomas Aquinas of our age. How or why do I say this? Because like St. Thomas who answered the objections to the Faith in his day, this pope is doing the same.

A few months ago someone asked me what book I would recommend that they give to their adult children who no longer practiced the faith, without hesitation I named this book as the one. At the time I had only read some excerpts available online from Germany and Italy. It was an act of faith then, now that I have the book I know that my recommendation was justified.

This is a great book, magisterial (even though the pope doesn't want it thought of in that way). It is not just another book about Jesus, it a revolutionary book about Jesus...in that it recaptures why people have had their lives changed by their belief in Jesus for over 2,000 years.
What makes this book so special? It is like a modern Summa (those who know St. Thomas Aquinas will understand me here) in that it answers modern questions of doubt, skepticism and even inquiry on not only who Jesus is, but why Jesus is the most important person anyone has ever or can ever know.
The pope's methodology is to take a scene from the Bible, like the Lord's baptism and then to draw on that scene from the entire Bible, to show what modern scholarship has done to help us to understand the historical context of the scene, tell us how the early Church fathers interpreted the scene, how would it have been viewed in Judaism (he uses the reflections of a Rabbi when discussing the Sermon on the Mount) and then to give the reader the meaning of this event for them. Along the way he answers questions to the many objections modern people bring to their encounter with Jesus.

As someone who has studied theology for a number of years and been exposed to every screwball theology out there, I found this book to be a corrective lens to refocus and correct my vision of who Jesus is and what following him means. What impresses me (and I'm not easily impressed) is that the Pope takes on the "screwball (my term, not his)" theologies in such a way as to making them seem silly (although he is incredibly charitable in his approach).

This book will have a great effect on renewing the Church and centering it on an image of Christ that is Biblical and credible, erasing years of poor and faulty preaching and teaching.

If you are not Catholic, but a Christian you will love this book too. In fact I predict you will be come a big fan of Joseph Ratzinger and will want to read his many published works to encounter someone rooted in Scripture and conversant with modern attacks on it. If you are a non Christian I think you will find in the book an excellent introduction to what Christians believe about the God-man from Nazareth. To all you parents out there who sent your kids to Catholic schools and now wish they would practice their faith, give them this book and reintroduce them to Jesus of Nazareth.