Three decades ago in a cordoned-off corner of the developing world an angry Catholic priest armed only with pencil, paper, and crayons, declared a revolution. From a shanty school shared with Buddhists and Muslims in Bangkok's squatter slums, Father Joe Maier began his advance on abject poverty. Today, his Human Development Foundation and Mercy Centre charity is responsible for thirty-two preschools that have taught more than twenty thousand children how to read and write. Despite the crippling neglect found in impoverishment, he is raising international scholars and injecting a sense of purpose into shantytowns and squatter camps that used to have neither.
A key comic writer of the past three decades has created his most heartfelt and hard-hitting book. Father Joe is Tony Hendra’s inspiring true story of finding faith, friendship, and family through the decades-long influence of a surpassingly wise Benedictine monk named Father Joseph Warrillow. Like everything human, it started with sex. In 1955, fourteen-year-old Tony found himself entangled with a married Catholic woman. In Cold War England, where Catholicism was the subject of news stories and Graham Greene bestsellers, Tony was whisked off by the woman’s husband to see a priest and be saved. Yet what he found was a far cry from the priests he’d known at Catholic school, where boys were beaten with belts or set upon by dogs. Instead, he met Father Joe, a gentle, stammering, ungainly Benedictine who never used the words “wrong” or “guilt,” who believed that God was in everyone and that “the only sin was selfishness.” During the next forty years, as his life and career drastically ebbed and flowed, Tony discovered that his visits to Father Joe remained the one constant in his life—the relationship that, in the most serious sense, saved it. From the fifties and his adolescent desire to join an abbey himself; to the sixties, when attending Cambridge and seeing the satire of Beyond the Fringe convinced him to change the world with laughter, not prayer; to the seventies and successful stints as an original editor of National Lampoon and a writer of Lemmings, the off-Broadway smash that introduced John Belushi and Chevy Chase; to professional disaster after co-creating the legendary English series Spitting Image; from drinking to drugs, from a failed first marriage to a successful second and the miracle of parenthood—the years only deepened Tony’s need for the wisdom of his other and more real father, creating a bond that could not be broken, even by death. A startling departure for this acclaimed satirist, Father Joe is a sincere account of how Tony Hendra learned to love. It’s the story of a whole generation looking for a way back from mockery and irony, looking for its own Father Joe, and a testament to one of the most charismatic mentors in modern literature.
This is an invitation that, before the big sleep, we must learn to discover the joys of life where peace, love, and serenity thrive; that God’s love is the foundation of all forms of love and a driving force to share the love through our compassion and charity. Being self-aware is an essential step in our understanding of who we are, what we do, and why we do it, and what gives meaning to us in life. The mystery of prayer is key to understand the mystery of human life; that living the present moment is the grace that we have every day. Being grateful of life, of people, of events, and moments that we are called to take an adventure and learn to be playful as children of God. I love this book. So simple and powerful! Thank you Fr. Joe for refreshing my spirit with your words and life. Bo Sanchez Best Selling Author and Inspirational Preacher Fr. Joe Blas Nolasco’s book is a very helpful guide to living a truly meaningful, happy, and fruitful life. It is the fruit of his prayerful and biblically guided reflection on his many years of experience as a priest-chaplain dialoguing with thousands of patients and people in difficulties. Fr. Joe writes engagingly and challenges you to reflect and act on your own life. Reading this book will be a grace for you as it has already been for me. Most Rev. Teodoro Bacani, D.D. This book is a ray of hope in this troubled time. It will restore our conviction and strengthen our faith in a God who assures us, “BE NOT AFRAID!” (Mt. 14:27) Most Rev. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D. Bishop of the Diocese of San Carlos, Philippines I commend Fr. Nolasco for writing this book and for sharing the fruits of his pastoral experience to us all. His work will surely aid us in our journey towards spiritual maturity and realization as Christians. Its publication is definitely timely. The book creatively spells out moments of joy even in most difficult situations in our lives. His Eminence Jose Cardinal F. Advincula, Jr. D.D. Archbishop of Manila
"If God is so good, why do innocent people suffer? What is our hope when someone we love dies? How do we go on when our hearts are broken? When the heartaches come, these reflections, prayers, and activities will help every child find their way forward with God. In the back of the book, parents, grandparents, and teachers will find the coaching they need to love their children through difficult times" -- p. [4] of cover.
In Abide in the Heart of Christ, Rev. Joe Laramie, S.J., offers accessible wisdom from the foundations of Jesuit spirituality—St. Ignatius Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises—in a ten-day personal retreat that will help you encounter Christ, grow your relationship with him, and shape your heart. Laramie is your guide through this accessible retreat into the heart of Jesus. Based on a structure and approach he developed as a retreat leader at White House Jesuit Retreat in St. Louis, Laramie introduces you to classic themes of the Christian life, including sin, forgiveness, and creation. This book also helps you learn how to use key scripture passages to reflect on your own experiences. Each reflection includes teachings from the Spiritual Exercises and offers examples from Laramie’s own life. Reflection questions and activities guide you in further contemplation to help you see what’s in your heart, encounter Christ in your daily life, and live more fully in his love each day.
In this work of allegorical fantasy, author Boyd takes readers on a pilgrimage to a land of two kingdoms, but only one true King. An ancient land, where children never grow old. But also a dying land, where a false prince threatens to swallow everything in a dark shadow.
“Brilliant . . . Larry Brown has slapped his own fresh tattoo on the big right arm of Southern Lit.” —The Washington Post Book World Now a major motion picture starring Nicolas Cage, directed by David Gordon Green. Joe Ransom is a hard-drinking ex-con pushing fifty who just won’t slow down--not in his pickup, not with a gun, and certainly not with women. Gary Jones estimates his own age to be about fifteen. Born luckless, he is the son of a hopeless, homeless wandering family, and he’s desperate for a way out. When their paths cross, Joe offers him a chance just as his own chances have dwindled to almost nothing. Together they follow a twisting map to redemption--or ruin.
St. Joseph is the reflection of God the Father, Guardian of God the Son, Friend of God the Holy Spirit, and Spouse of the Immaculate Handmaiden. In his youth, he prayed for the coming of the promised Messiah. In his adult life, not only were his prayers answered, but he loved and upheld the Messiah, Jesus Christ. And now, in the Court of Heaven, St. Joseph intercedes for the Church before the throne of Christ. Using the words of Popes, Saints, and approved mystics, The Book of Joseph, aims to dispel the common belief held by many that nothing is known about the saint other than what is mentioned briefly in the Bible.This work, which has been granted the Imprimatur, presents the life of St. Joseph beginning with the faithful prayers of his parents to conceive a son to his birth and childhood, harassment by the devil, his marriage to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the birth and life with Christ, through to the circumstances of his death and his glorification in Heaven. In addition to the theory of the assumption of St. Joseph, his sanctification in the womb and perpetual virginity are discussed. The book concludes with a series of prayers, devotions, apparitions, relics, artwork, and more.
Have you ever found yourself tongue-tied when encountering someone suffering, dying, or having just lost someone close? As people of faith, we are invited to trust in the wonderful goodness of God. Then how are we to understand the sufferings of so many of God's people? Where is God to be found in the midst of a world filled with so much pain and loss? What difference does it make to pray? No One Cries the Wrong Way offers some glimpses into these great questions. Certainly, there are no easy answers. Any words about God will fall far short of the truth of who God is. Indeed, we stand here before the great mystery. But we do not stand along; without hope; or without something to offer. Consoling in a way that is both simple and profound, Fr. Kempf helps us trust the Love in the midst of the pain. At the end of the book, there is a prayer service for each chapter, questions for reflect or discussion, and quotes for meditation and prayer.
