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That Man Is You
With the devastating directness of the Sermon on the Mount, Abbé Evely shows us how to attune our minds with God's on such issues as Scripture reading, love of neighbor, forgiveness, the life of faith, lay spirituality, and heaven.
"Abbé Evely has a knack of making us perceive the full import, spiritual and human, of the truths we thought we understood and of making us see them from a different angle, under irrecusable light...He makes the Gospels come to life, so that we often seem to be...reading them for the first time." -- Yves M.-J. Congar, O.P., in the Preface
"Abbé Evely has a knack of making us perceive the full import, spiritual and human, of the truths we thought we understood and of making us see them from a different angle, under irrecusable light...He makes the Gospels come to life, so that we often seem to be...reading them for the first time." -- Yves M.-J. Congar, O.P., in the Preface
297 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1964
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 31, 2015
I read this book because, as a participant in the Paradisus Dei TMIY program at Christ on the Mountain Catholic Church in Lakewood, CO for the last 4 years, the title caught my attention. My life and Catholic Faith will never be the same. I found the book to be enlightening because I never thought about the fact that when we call ourselves "Christian" it means being Christ to the world. It means that we have a hand in building God's Kingdom right here, right now, every time we help to make the world a better place by standing up to injustice, by helping those who need a hand, by even the little things of taking a group of high schoolers downtown to pass out coats, boots, gloves, blankets and food to the homeless. Instead of preaching our faith in words that we don't always live by, we spread God's love by helping those who need a hand like the good Samaritan, the saint that we are all called to be.
December 24, 2018
I am reading this for the 2nd or 3rd time. It is a devotional and an apologetic, and in my opinion, the best modern writing on the love that God shows us in Christ. I'm Protestant, and there is nothing in Evely's book that I had any trouble with. I buy copies to give to friends whenever I find this book (which is becoming increasingly rare.) I can't think of any book more worthy of a reprint.
May 2, 2020
Amazing book. Immediately started rereading it and looking for others by same author. He wil challenge your spirituality and beliefs
January 19, 2013
A classic!
August 9, 2014
Got my copy in 1967. It's on my night table! Have continued to pick it up and read excerpts for many years! Good for the soul!
March 17, 2020
It was my confirmation (now many years ago) when I received this book as a gift from my Aunt Mary, who came up to Lockport from North Carolina to be my confirmation sponsor. She said she really loved this book and would read two pages a night. Little did I know it was a spiritual classic. I read parts of it, trying to do just as she did -- read two pages a night. But I was a teenager. Life got in the way, and I never got around to finishing it.
Enter a weekend of solitude and stillness at Mt. Ireneaus. My mom died in February 2020 and there was down time, but not enough. There was so much to do. I just needed to be with my grief. To be with God. And allow myself to feel all the feelings without judgement, without needing to wipe my tears because I had to get something done for work, or I didn't want to cry in front of my stepdaughter, or ... or ... or.
So I read and I walked and I journaled. And I read and I walked and I journaled. And if anything this book helped me to just BE. To start, or continue, the earnest work of witnessing God (or spirit or whatever you choose to call it) in all things.
"Let's beware of so perfecting the formulas of dogma that we lose interest in its content. Let's beware of studying the signs so assiduously that we forget the reality they signify."
"It's His worry far more than ours. We're all panting and puffing under a burden that's unbearable because we've taken it on ourselves without authorization."
"In revealing Himself to us, God must necessarily reveal us to ourselves."
"Material poverty's an economic condition, not a virtue. If it sanctified us automatically , we'd be duty-bound to spread it rather than try to relieve it."
"Pride in one's poverty is the most dangerous of luxuries. 'I thank you that I am not like this publican' can easily become 'I thank you that I am not like this Pharisee.'"
"Only the poor can get out of the ego, start on their way, and learn to listen to something besides themselves, because they're counting on someone else, because they know they'd never manage alone."
"They have to feel they're loved very deeply and very boldly before they dare appear humble and kind, affectionate, sincere, and vulnerable."
"Nothing is so false as defining ourselves in terms of our activity, identifying ourselves with what we do."
"There's a big difference between us and our actions: we're worse than the good we do and better than the bad."
"Our real guilt can best be gauged, not by what we do, but by what we fail to do. Our indifference to others offends God and His Holy Spirit infinitely more than the mistakes we happen to make while on our way to Them."
Enter a weekend of solitude and stillness at Mt. Ireneaus. My mom died in February 2020 and there was down time, but not enough. There was so much to do. I just needed to be with my grief. To be with God. And allow myself to feel all the feelings without judgement, without needing to wipe my tears because I had to get something done for work, or I didn't want to cry in front of my stepdaughter, or ... or ... or.
So I read and I walked and I journaled. And I read and I walked and I journaled. And if anything this book helped me to just BE. To start, or continue, the earnest work of witnessing God (or spirit or whatever you choose to call it) in all things.
"Let's beware of so perfecting the formulas of dogma that we lose interest in its content. Let's beware of studying the signs so assiduously that we forget the reality they signify."
"It's His worry far more than ours. We're all panting and puffing under a burden that's unbearable because we've taken it on ourselves without authorization."
"In revealing Himself to us, God must necessarily reveal us to ourselves."
"Material poverty's an economic condition, not a virtue. If it sanctified us automatically , we'd be duty-bound to spread it rather than try to relieve it."
"Pride in one's poverty is the most dangerous of luxuries. 'I thank you that I am not like this publican' can easily become 'I thank you that I am not like this Pharisee.'"
"Only the poor can get out of the ego, start on their way, and learn to listen to something besides themselves, because they're counting on someone else, because they know they'd never manage alone."
"They have to feel they're loved very deeply and very boldly before they dare appear humble and kind, affectionate, sincere, and vulnerable."
"Nothing is so false as defining ourselves in terms of our activity, identifying ourselves with what we do."
"There's a big difference between us and our actions: we're worse than the good we do and better than the bad."
"Our real guilt can best be gauged, not by what we do, but by what we fail to do. Our indifference to others offends God and His Holy Spirit infinitely more than the mistakes we happen to make while on our way to Them."
July 16, 2023
I read this book years ago and it is one of the books I think of as helping shape my own religious beliefs. It is simply beautifully written and while it can be read it is a wonderful book for meditation. The Christ you will meet in this book has no resemblance to the divisive and hate filled rhetoric of the churches exercising sway in our current culture. Indeed this Christ calls out with a love that is amazing in its breadth and depth. Written in 1963, and difficult to find, it is so worthy of a reprint, but find it somewhere and see if “That Man is You”.
March 19, 2022
Another book that needs to be back in print. Encouraging and convicting.
March 17, 2023
Poetic style musings on the mystery of Christ.
I'm very much into that sort of thing but if you're not, this book isn't for you.
I'm very much into that sort of thing but if you're not, this book isn't for you.
December 27, 2025
Lots to reflect on!
February 3, 2016
This was a lovely book. It spoke truth in a poetic way that really lead me to want to contemplate what he was saying. This is a great book to pray with and to savor. I'm a little sad that it appears to be out of print. I read a library copy, and hope to get my own soon, so that I can read it again. There is so much good in here! I highly recommend it!
January 3, 2008
hard to find, so please let me know if you want to borrow my copy.
December 29, 2015
A definite spiritual classic.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews