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November 2016 BOTM - VOTING
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The Biblical Basis for PurgatoryRemembering Belloc
On the God of the ChristiansMartyr for Truth
Teresa of AvilaLetters from the Desert
I vote for "Brideshead revisited" consider for all experts the best catholic novel of the history. It is so good "The Upstart" was written by Piers Paul Read, who mixed with ability Evelyn Waugh, and William Somerset Maugham. I cheer up, that John including in the voting.
Brideshead RevisitedWay of the Ascetics: The Ancient Tradition of Discipline and Inner Growth
The Spiritual Combat, by Dom Lorenzo Scupuli
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Books mentioned in this topic
Brideshead Revisited (other topics)Letters from the Desert (other topics)
Teresa of Avila: The Progress of a Soul (other topics)
Way of the Ascetics: The Ancient Tradition of Discipline and Inner Growth (other topics)
The Cardinal (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Evelyn Waugh (other topics)Henry Morton Robinson (other topics)
Piers Paul Read (other topics)
Carlo Carretto (other topics)
James V. Schall (other topics)
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You may vote for two of the books listed below. Enter your votes by replying in this thread. Voting will end at or about 5 PM, Central time on November 18. A book will be randomly selected for elimination from the nominations list from those that don't receive any votes. The Perfect Blindside, The Upstart, Remembering Belloc, Brideshead Revisited and Reasonable Pleasures: The Strange Coherences of Catholicism are exempted from the randomizer as this is their first month on the list. The nominations are:
The Biblical Basis For Purgatory, by John Salza
Jesus taught us about it, and for centuries the Church has faithfully defined and defended it. Protestants deny it even exists, while many Catholics fundamentally misunderstand it. It is Purgatory: that place of purifying penance where souls saved by Christ are made perfect and acceptable to spend life eternal in heaven. In The Biblical Basis For Purgatory, author and apologist John Salza (Why Catholics Cannot Be Masons) offers the definitive scriptural explanation of this distinctively Catholic doctrine. Building on the teachings of Christ and St. Paul, he shows how the existence of a place of temporal punishment after death is not only a logical extension of what we know about the reality of sin and God's justice, but is also a supreme expression of God's love and mercy. Although Purgatory is a place of mercy, its pains are real, and they are severe. This book does more than defend and explain Purgatory it provides a solid plan, drawn from the Church's perennial wisdom for conquering our sins by God's grace, while still on earth.
Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh.
The most nostalgic and reflective of Evelyn Waugh's novels, Brideshead Revisited looks back to the golden age before the Second World War. It tells the story of Charles Ryder's infatuation with the Marchmains and the rapidly-disappearing world of privilege they inhabit. Enchanted first by Sebastian at Oxford, then by his doomed Catholic family, in particular his remote sister, Julia, Charles comes finally to recognize only his spiritual and social distance from them.
The Cardinal, by Henry Morton Robinson
On its first publication, The Cardinal was an immediate bestseller. A selection of the Literary Guild, it was published in more than a dozen languages and sold over two million copies. Later made into an Academy Award-nominated film directed by Otto Preminger and starring John Huston, the book tells a story that captured the nation's attention: a working-class American's rise to become a cardinal of the Catholic Church. The daily trials and triumphs of Stephen Fermoyle, from the working-class suburbs of Boston, drive him to become first a parish priest, then secretary to a cardinal, later a bishop, and finally a wearer of the Red Hat. An essential work of American fiction that is newly relevant with the ordination of New York's Timothy Dolan as cardinal, Henry Morton Robinson's novel is back in print by popular demand.
Cleansed by Fire, by James R. Callan
Churches are burning and a man is murdered, plunging a small Texas town into a state of fear. Father Frank DeLuca, pastor of Prince of Peace Church, is thrust into an impossible dilemma when he hears that another church will be burned. But the disturbing information comes to him via the confessional, and church law forbids him from telling anyone—even the police.
Letters from the Desert, by Carlo Carretto
Shows that a life of prayer, a passion for justice and the spirit of solidarity cannot be separated.
A Martyr for the Truth: Jerzy Popieuszko, by Grazyna Sikorska
On the God of the Christians:, by Rémi Brague
[The book description on GR is in French. The following is excerpted from Amazon, which indicates it is from the back cover of the book.]
On the God of the Christians tries to explain how Christians conceive of the God whom they worship. No proof for His existence is offered, but simply a description of the Christian image of God.
The Perfect Blindside, by Leslea Wahl
He's an egotistical snowboarder with a silver medal.
She's a judgmental honors student with a flair for photography.
Slashed tires.... False accusations.... A coded message.... When all they can see is each other's flaws, how can Jake and Sophie work together to figure out what's really been happening at the abandoned silver mine?
Reasonable Pleasures: The Strange Coherences of Catholicism, by James V. Schall
The fact of pleasure is obvious to us, but its relation to reason is less understood. We are beings who laugh and run, sing and dance, but we too seldom reflect on why we do these things. Above all, we are beings who think and who want to know whether our lives make sense. In this thought-provoking study of the relationship between our reason and our experience of pleasure, popular professor and author Fr. James Schall shows how reason, religion and pleasure are not in conflict with one another. Religion has to do with how man relates to God. Catholicism is not so much a religion as a revelation. It records and recalls how God relates to man.The popular mood of our time is that neither religion nor revelation has much to do with real life. Yet when we look at things as having meaning and order, they fit together in surprising ways. This coherence should bring us joy, and teach us how reason, religion and pleasure can work together for our benefit. Schall shows us in this book why we have many reasons to think that our lives make sense, that our pleasures can be reasonable, and our reason itself is a pleasure.
Remembering Belloc, by James V. Schall
Hilaire Belloc was a man of many parts. Half English, half French, with an American wife, Belloc was a man who thought and traveled widely. He was the best essayist in the English language. His historical studies covered much of European history. He wrote a book on America, another on Paris, another on the Servile State. He sailed his boat The Nona around England and into the Island of Patmos. He walked to Rome and, with his four companions, through Sussex. While he did so, he thought, reflected, laughed, wondered. He was a born Catholic. He saw the depths of European civilization in its classical and Christian heritage, as well as in their being lost.
The Spiritual Combat, by Dom Lorenzo Scupuli
The Combat is a practical manual of living. At first it teaches that the sense of life is incessant fighting against egoistic longings and replacing them with sacrifice and charity. The one who does not do this loses, and suffers in Hell; the one who does it, trusting not in his own, but God's power, triumphs and is happy in Heaven. The work of Scupoli analyses various usual situations and advises how to cope with them, preserving a pure conscience and improving virtue. It emphasizes also the boundless goodness of God, which is the cause of all good. What is bad originates from the human who rebels against God.
Teresa of Avila: The Progress of a Soul, by Cathleen Medwick
A refreshingly modern reconsideration of Saint Teresa (1515-1582), one of the greatest mystics and reformers to emerge within the sixteenth-century Catholic Church, whose writings are a keystone of modern mystical thought.
The Upstart, by Piers Paul Read.
The son of a poor Yorkshire parson, Hilary Fletcher grows to manhood with a deep loathing of the smug and privileged upper classes, a loathing burned into him by his humiliation at the hands of the wealthy Metherall family.
Way of the Ascetics: The Ancient Tradition of Discipline and Inner Growth, by Tito Colliander
Written for lay persons living in the world, this is an excellent resource for daily meditation, spiritual guidance and a revitalized religious life.