Send CathInfo's owner Matthew a gift from his Amazon wish list:
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/25M2B8RERL1UO

« previous next »
Pages: [1]

Author Topic: Informal Book club  (Read 62 times)

1 Member and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Philothea3

Informal Book club
« on: Today at 03:18:56 PM »
I want to start this thread to form a loose book club where people can share what you're currently reading and/or what book you recently read, and your thoughts/what you learned from it, just a sentence or two. Can be any book on any subject, but certainly needs to fit good Catholic morals. God bless!
Logged

Offline Philothea3

Re: Informal Book club
« Reply #1 on: Today at 03:50:59 PM »
I’m currently reading the book He Leadeth Me.

It has taught me several things:

1. The things that God calls us to do are not necessarily things that we—or the people around us—would consider beneficial, and they might even seem completely meaningless or useless in our eyes. For example, this priest was full of zeal, gave up everything, and spent years preparing to go to Russia as a missionary—only to be arrested immediately upon arrival, thrown into prison, and subjected to endless torment with no hope in sight. In human eyes, it looks like a total waste, utterly pointless; one might think, “If I’d known it would turn out like this, I wouldn’t have gone—I suffered for nothing.” Wouldn’t it have been better to just stay in Poland and continue serving the faithful? But in God’s eyes, it is not like that. Perhaps God precisely wanted to use such a roundabout and complicated path to purify the soul of someone who desired to follow Him.

2. Very often God does not take away our suffering; He may even seem to abandon us on purpose, allowing—or even adding more pain so that we suffer even more. At first glance this sounds cruel—isn’t God supposed to be love? Yet in reality these sufferings are truly for our good: they draw us closer to Christ and nearer to Heaven. Hasn’t God Himself endured every kind of agony for our sake? Even if we take a step back and consider the most excruciating process we are going through right now, it is still far less than one minute in Purgatory. Moreover, God never permits us to face a trial we cannot endure. The problem is that human perspective is extremely narrow; most of the time we simply cannot see the bigger picture—even priests who have lived many years of interior life may fail to see it. But thankfully, God knows how dull and limited we are, and He has not abandoned us.

3. God’s promise of help to us is not necessarily *external* help. Nothing should be taken for granted—including the sacraments. We never know when we might become homeless, have no food, no books, no Mass, no sacraments, not even a single rosary. When we still possess these things, of course we should make the best use of them: we should employ every grace and gift God has given us to help us advance toward Him. But when we lose all of these things, it does not mean we have lost the opportunity to become holy. On the contrary, it becomes an occasion to purify our souls and strengthen our faith. In this present age of widespread abandonment of the faith, this truth brings great consolation to us Catholics who are trying to remain faithful—because many of us already have very little access to Mass, or in some cases no access at all.
Logged

Offline IndultCat

Re: Informal Book club
« Reply #2 on: Today at 03:56:27 PM »
I'm currently reading "The Law Of Civilization And Decay" by Brooks Adams. Adams was the grandson of President John Quincy Adams. The book was written in 1896 and predates the similarly-themed Oswald Spengler's "The Decline Of The West" and Arnold Toynbee's "A Study Of History.

The book proves that the more technologically progressive a civilization becomes, the more Godless/Secular and dog-eat-dog/cruel it becomes due to the continued centralization and consolidation of all institutions of society. Money eventually replaces God in most peoples' lives. It's much worse now in the 21st century than when Adams wrote the book at the end of the 19th century.

Adams, like Belloc in his writings, proves that the Protestant Reformation was simply just a power grab to raid as much of the Church's property and wealth as possible. Of course, the Reformation was falsely promoted as primarily a "religious conflict that sought religious freedom and to liberate Christians from an oppressive Church which controlled all parts of society." That popular promotion (which is still taught today in schools) couldn't be further from the truth.

It's a fascinating read.
Logged

Online Lazarus

Re: Informal Book club
« Reply #3 on: Today at 04:10:58 PM »
Currently, I am reading the Old Testament. I am at the middle of it. I am currently reading the book of Job. Job is an example to us all, because he lost everything : his family, his wealth, his reputation, his health. Even his friends, instead of consoling him, decided to strike him when he was down. Instead of losing hope, he persisted in being a Saint, until the end.

How terrifying and indifferent God's plans seem to mortals. Not to mention someone like me, who is a worthless servant, who can be safe if God finds fault with them? Would I have been able to hold on, in Job's place? 
Logged

Offline Philothea3

Re: Informal Book club
« Reply #4 on: Today at 04:25:49 PM »
Quote from: IndultCat on Today at 03:56:27 PM
I'm currently reading "The Law Of Civilization And Decay" by Brooks Adams. Adams was the grandson of President John Quincy Adams. The book was written in 1896 and predates the similarly-themed Oswald Spengler's "The Decline Of The West" and Arnold Toynbee's "A Study Of History.

The book proves that the more technologically progressive a civilization becomes, the more Godless/Secular and dog-eat-dog/cruel it becomes due to the continued centralization and consolidation of all institutions of society. Money eventually replaces God in most peoples' lives. It's much worse now in the 21st century than when Adams wrote the book at the end of the 19th century.

Adams, like Belloc in his writings, proves that the Protestant Reformation was simply just a power grab to raid as much of the Church's property and wealth as possible. Of course, the Reformation was falsely promoted as primarily a "religious conflict that sought religious freedom and to liberate Christians from an oppressive Church which controlled all parts of society." That popular promotion (which is still taught today in schools) couldn't be further from the truth.

It's a fascinating read.
I'm surprised to read that a descendant of the Adams would write anything against the protestants. Did he become Catholic? And yes, centralisation creates more power, that power can be used either in a good way or a bad way, but given human nature it's almost definite that people would use that in a bad way to drive society again and again away from God. A somewhat repeated theme in Bp Williamson's talks.
Logged
Pages: [1]
« previous next »