The Journey - Peter Kreeft

The Journey:
A Spiritual Roadmap for Modern Pilgrims
Peter Kreeft
IVP Press
ISBN 0830816828

This is a great little book. It is enjoyable, imaginative and delightful. It is an allegory in the style of Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan or Pilgrim’s Regress by C.S. Lewis. It follows Peter Kreeft and Socrates on a journey out of the Cave and into conscious decision-making. They are in search of true knowledge and knowledge of truth - if we can know truth. Kreeft is a professor of philosophy at Boston College, a popular lecturer and author, and this is one of his best books.

This book is written around 10 dialogues with 12 historical figures: Epicurus, Protagoras, Diogenes, Gorgia, Democritus, Thrasymachus, Xenophanes, Pharmenides, Aristotle, Moses, Joshua and C.S. Lewis. Each of these men represent a school of thought, or a philosophy that has resurfaced again and again throughout history.

Through those 10 dialogues each answer a different question and each question leads to others. They are:

1. Shall I question? Shall I go on this quest for truth at all?
2. If I question, is there hope of answers, or should I be a skeptic? Is there objective truth?
3. If there is any objective truth, is there objective truth about the meaning of life?
4. If there is an objective truth about the meaning of life, is it that life is meaningless, “vanity of vanities”?
5. If life has real meaning, is it spiritual and not merely material?
6. If it is spiritual, is it moral? Is there a real right and wrong?
7. If there is a real right and wrong, a real moral meaning, is it a religious meaning? Is there God?
8. If there is a God, is God immanent (pantheism) or transcendent (deism), everywhere or nowhere?
9. If God is both immanent and transcendent (theism, creationism), are the Jews (who first taught this idea of creation) his prophets, his mouthpiece to the world?
10. If the Jews are God’s prophets, is Jesus the Messiah?

Each one of these choices is momentous and life changing. They will either lead you into relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or the rejection thereof. This book puts forward all the popular theories for why not to believe at each step along the way.

This is a great little book either to help you know why you believe what you believe or to lead you into a faith based relationship with God.

Other Kreeft Reviews:
Socrates Meets Jesus
The Sea Within
Handbook of Christian Apologetics
Pocket Handbook of Christian Apologetics
The Journey
The Unaborted Socrates
The Best Things In Life
Between Heaven Hell
Doors in the Walls of the World
Catholic Christianity

…

Contributed to:

Beautiful Eucharist

...

Articles That Mention Kreeft:
Opus Dei
Opus Dei Part II
Catholic Catechism Dialogue blog
4 Resources

The Unaborted Socrates by: Peter Kreeft

The Unaborted Socrates
A Dramatic Debate on the Issues
Surrounding Abortion
Peter Kreeft
IVP
ISBN 0877848106

This is one of those books that will surprise you in many ways. It was not what I was expecting - of course I did not have the subtitle, only the main title at that time. I was expecting a book on philosophy from Peter Kreeft, a professor of Philosophy. But it was three debates on issues surrounding abortion lead by Socrates.

The format is three discussions led by Socorates with three groups of people. The first is with a Dr. Rex Herrod (King Herrod) held in a hospital in Athens in the present time. The second is again with Dr. Rex but also with his friend, a philosopher, Professor Atilla Tarian (Atilla the Hun) who is an ethicist, and it is held at a Philosophy convention. The final is in a Psychiatric ward with “Pop” Syke, (Pop Psychology) the psychologist.

Each debate is written as a mini morality play, like those of classical Greek plays. Each is written as a dialogue and written somewhat tongue in cheek, filled with puns and word plays.

This book was not an easy read, in that the material it deals with is very difficult and very controversial. It raises many questions that most people on both sides of the abortion debate probably do not think about. It is easy to read in that it was written in an easy style and flows nicely.

The main focus of all three debates is when does life begin, and who will speak for the most helpless, the unborn. This is a tough read but one that will not leave the reader unchanged.

Other Kreeft Reviews:
Socrates Meets Jesus
The Sea Within
Handbook of Christian Apologetics
Pocket Handbook of Christian Apologetics
The Journey
The Unaborted Socrates
The Best Things In Life
Between Heaven Hell
Doors in the Walls of the World
Catholic Christianity

…

Contributed to:

Beautiful Eucharist

...

Articles That Mention Kreeft:
Opus Dei
Opus Dei Part II
Catholic Catechism Dialogue blog
4 Resources

Megan Shore Profile

A Return to UW
New leadership in an old role at SJU

Dr. Megan Shore began her academic career here at the University of Waterloo, and this year she has returned to St. Jerome’s University (SJU) as staff, with a new leadership role. Dr. Shore is now the director of the St. Jerome’s Centre for Catholic Experience.

The Centre’s first lecture is this Friday, when Dr. William F. Ryan S.J. will be speaking on the topic of Globalization and Catholic Social Thought: Present Crisis, Future Hope at Siegfried Hall 7:30pm. Dr. Shore recently took some time from her busy schedule to answer some questions for Imprint about the SJU Centre, life, the universe and everything.

Megan you began your university career at UW completing your B.A. here before moving on to an M.A. at Dalhousie University and a Ph.D. at the University of Leeds. Is taking the role as Director of the St. Jerome's Centre for Catholic Experience a homecoming of sorts for you?

I guess you could call this a homecoming; however, I never really left St. Jerome’s. Although I have lived in many different places, I have remained connected to members of the St. Jerome’s faculty and staff and community.

What excites you most about this year’s lecture series and your role in bringing it to fruition?

I am excited about our topic “Catholic Social Teachings”. This is a great opportunity to discuss this “Best Kept Secret” and raise awareness of the social justice dimension of the Catholic tradition. Too often Catholicism is equated almost exclusively with sexuality. The reality is that the Catholic tradition has a long history of promoting just labour practices, a fair distribution of wealth, and sustainable development. These are some of the topics we want to highlight this year.

This being your freshman year as director is there anything you intend to do differently? Any big changes you see for the future of the series?

I don’t plan on changing things too much because the series is already so successful. Besides, with David Seljak stepping down as director and Michael Higgins moving to St. Thomas University, the public face of SJU is already undergoing a fairly major transformation. Former Director of the Centre, David Seljak, did a remarkable job making the lecture series one of the most respected in the country, so I will primarily be following his lead.

This year’s series seems to have fewer lectures then the past few years. Is there any specific reason for that change?

We usually try to have at least one lecture a month during the academic year. That is how I focused on setting up the program so there was no conscious decision to hold fewer lectures this year. Last year we had a few “extra” lectures, which were actually re-scheduled lectures from the previous years—weather and the health of a speaker or two a few years back meant we had to cancel one or two lectures. The number of lectures fluctuates each year.

All but one of the lectures have some type of corporate sponsorship. Are you actively seeking new partnerships for more lectures, and if so, with whom?

I wouldn’t say they have corporate sponsorship. All of our lectures have been endowed through generous gifts to St. Jerome’s. We have a tradition of highlighting these names in our programs and in the lecture to show our thanks. I’m not actively seeking new partnerships or endowments, but they are always welcome. Our development office, under the direction of Harry Froklage, is usually the point person on this.

Going back o your days as an undergraduate at UW, did you attend any of the lectures? If so did you have a favorite speaker or series?

Yes I attended events when I was a student. It would be hard to pick one favorite, but if I had to, I would say Sr. Helen Prejean in 1998. She is a passionate and engaging speaker. I admire her personal commitment to social justice that stems from her faith.

At many of the lectures in the past, undergraduate participation appears to be minimal - 15 to 25% of attendance. Do you have any plans on how to increase this student participation?

We realize students are busy and they typically see Friday nights as “down time”. Still, a number of lectures do attract the undergrad population. In the past, lectures by Helen Prejean, Joe Clark, and Romeo Dallaire, brought out large numbers of undergrads. This year I think undergrads will find the lectures by James Loney (the Canadian held hostage in Iraq in Nov-Dec 2005) and Adele Reinhartz (on religion and Hollywood…the CBC lecture) particularly exciting.

This year, as well as in past years, the Centre has had some very big names in lectures, such as Jean Vanier, Sr. Helen Prejean, Henri Nouwen, Joe Clark, Romeo Dallaire, Karen Armstrong, John L. Allen Jr. and many, many more. Are you specifically courting any for next year? Will any of these notary speakers be asked to return under your directorship?

We try to get a good blend of speakers who can speak to the political, social, and cultural issues facing Canadians today. Our purpose isn’t to advance just one viewpoint in the series, but to provide as many perspectives as possible. This is why we try to avoid over-exposing speakers.

Dr. Shore, with teaching at King's University College at University of Western Ontario in London this year, do you foresee any difficulties carrying out your duties as director of the program?

I have amazing support at both St. Jerome’s University and King’s University College. Most importantly, I have Carol Persin helping me at St. Jerome’s, so I don’t believe there should be any difficulties carrying out my duties.

From your new seat as director, is there anything you would like to share with the readers of Imprint, either about the Centre or your role there or even about yourself?

I’m honored to be heading up this lecture series. David Seljak and those associated with the lecture series over the years have set a very high standard. For example, our new partnership with CBC reflects the quality of lectures. Because we are now working with the Ideas program on CBC radio, all of Canada will be able to take part in a lecture series that has a tremendous local and regional reputation. Being a part of this kind of forward-looking lecture series is truly exciting.

What would you advise today’s undergraduates based upon your years and experience in academia?

Study what you love. If you have passion for what you are studying, it won’t seem like work!

Dr. Shore has shared with us some of the wisdom she has gleaned over the years. Part of that wisdom came from the lecture series at SJU. Some of us at Imprint look forward to this year’s series and where Dr. Shore will lead us in the future.

(First Published in Imprint as ‘Shore, a fresh return for STJ’ 2006-09-22)

Weight by: Jeanette Winterson

Weight
Jeanette Winterson
Knopf Canada
October 2005

Now on to much weightier matters. Winterson takes a much different approach than Atwood. She tells this tale as herself telling her tale retelling a tale. Confusing? No not really. She begins with herself, tells the story of Heracles ad Atlas and then returns to her own life and lessons learnt.

Unlike the Penelopiad, this book Weight is very dark and brooding and leaves one with a feeling of unease as if we missed something, or even that in reading this book, like Pandora, we have opened a box and cannot now close it and will be forever different. Though we are not sure how.

How does Winterson accomplish this? In this deep brooding book she touches something primal inside. Much as Heracles is awoken and bothered by the question “Why? Why? Why?” this question arises and will not let him go.

So too, this book will awaken questions in your mind and your spirit, and maybe, just maybe, if we are lucky, in this book we will find the questions to lift our weight. If we can learn from it to tell our story we can be freed, and step out from under the burden on our shoulders, as Atlas so desperately desired.

(First published in Imprint 2005-11-05 as ‘Myth Novels’)

The Penelopiad by: Margaret Atwood

The Penelopiad
Margaret Atwood
Knopf Canada
October 2005

I am not normally a fan of Margaret Atwood’s writings. I often find that she is too dark or has too much edge. Not that it is not good writing, and she is probably currently the most famous of the living Canadian authors, she just isn’t usually my thing. I cannot say that for this book.

The Penelopiad is a hilarious romp through a story that most of us know, but told outside of time. There is an old saying that “dead men don’t tell tales” and that may be true, but in this inventive retelling, a dead woman and her chorus of dead girls do just that.

Atwood has turned this myth on its head and told it from the female perspective. Unfortunately, our heroine is dead and in Hades, retelling her story from across the river Styx. She is telling her whole story but especially the events around Odysseus’ long absence during the war against Troy and that unfortunate event with her cousin Helen.

The story is written in the format of a Greek Tragedy but with the humor and temperament of a comedy. Our chorus is the twelve dead maids, hung strung together on a ship’s rope by Odysseus. They appear from time to time, in song, dance, or mock plays and trials to re-enact events from their lives to punctuate Penelope’s story.

The twists and turns in this story will make you laugh out loud. A friend of mine who read it stated, ‘It begs to be read aloud.’ And I could not agree more. Pick up the book, get some friends together and read it aloud, over an evening or two together. Much fun will be had with the ghosts of our 13 dead ladies.

(First published in Imprint 2005-11-05 as ‘Myth Novels’)

St. Jerome's Centre 2006 Lecture Series

Pssst. Want to know about Social Justice

Every year on campus there is a plethora of activities to partake of, some just for entertainment, some for learning and some for physical activity. This year is no different. Each of the four church colleges has different areas of expertise, both in the classroom and out. This year, The St. Jerome’s Center for Catholic Experience is hosting an exceptional range of speakers on the issues of Social Justice.

Yet that is not the only change taking place this year. The Center also has a new Director. Dr. Megan Shore is leading the charge in tackling these issues. Shore in a recent press release stated: “What is our best kept secret? No, it is not the Da Vinci code. It is our Catholic social teaching!” She cited a history of social justice teachings, going back to Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum (On the Condition of Labour). The church has a long distinguished history of Catholic Social Teaching or CSTthat address such issues as international development, racism, human rights abuses, sexism, poverty, global ecological issues and weapons of mass destruction.

The ‘Justice’ series this year will look at many of those issues through a contemporary Catholic lens. This series will comprise 8 lectures, and even a book launch. The lectures on CST will be from speakers near and far, from St. Jerome’s own David Seljak, former Director of the Centre, speaking on Ethnic Diversity and Christian Unity to Archbishop Weisgerber of Saskatoon speaking on Bridging the Gap: Reaching Beyond Our Social Difference.

Each of the nine speakers is an expert in their field bring years of experience and practical work to their lecture. These lectures are co-sponsored by many organizations and groups in our community and further abroad. CBC Radio One will be here in January to record Dr. Adele Reinhartz lecture on Jesus of Hollywood to air later as part of the CBC’s Ideas program.

Another sponsored lecture is The John Sweeney Lectures in Current Issues in Healthcare a lecture b Katherine Rouleau, MD speaking on HIV/AIDS from a Canadian Catholic Perspective Rouleau has served as advisor to Malawi and is a staff physician and researcher at St. Michael’s Hospital at the University of Toronto. This lecture is sponsored annually by St. Mary’s General Hospital in Waterloo.

The first lecture is Globalization and Catholic Social Thought: Present Crisis, Future Hope by William F. Ryan S.J., PhD Friday September 22nd at 730pm in Sigfried Hall. Ryan will be speaking on how globalization affects economics, politics, ecology, culture and how CST interacts with this complicated issues especially as we move forward into the 21st century.

On a personal note, having attended many of these lectures over the past few yearsthey are worth the time and effort to attend. They are informative, encouraging and often challenging to one’s world views and preconceived notions about Catholicism.

So come across the creek from main campus and check out a lecture or two. Come and see where Dr. Shore is guiding the SJU Centre this year and into the future. The Complete listing of the lectures is available at www.sju.ca/centre/lectures.html .

(First Published in Imprint 2006-09-15 as ‘New activities to inspire and inform: St. Jerome’s commences lectures on racism, human rights, sexism, poverty, global ecological issues and weaponry.’)

Out of the Silent Planet by: C.S. Lewis

Out of the Silent Planet

The Ransom Cycle Book 1

C.S. Lewis
Scribner Paperback
ISBN 0684823802

This is the first book in C.S. Lewis’s amazing Space Trilogy. These books are far less known than Lewis’s Narnia series or even his Mere Christianity or The Screwtape Letters, yet it is just as good as any of those writings and goes to show the versatility of Lewis as an author.

This first book begins with our hero, Dr. Ransom, out for a walking tour in the countryside, dressed in that shabby way for which professors are renowned. His foes are his former schoolmates Devine and Weston. These men believe they need a human sacrifice, and by capturing Ransom they have their victim, for they have made a spaceship and are taking Ransom to Malacandra the red planet.

Once on Mars, Ransom escapes his captors, meets many species, and finds out that on Mars there has been no ‘Fall’ and Ransom from Earth or the Silent Planet is a bit of an oddity. People from earth are considered to be ‘bent’ in nature, from the original sin of the fall.

Follow Ransom as he treks across a strange world, and must find the courage to risk it all to save not only an alien race, but also, possibly his own soul.

This is a first book in an amazing series. Try it - you won’t be disappointed.

Note: reread in 2024 and loved it even more than first time I read it.

Note 2: Recent scholarship published found a handwritten preface to The Screwtape Letters in the C.S. Lewis Archive in Wheaton, IL. This note indicates the letters were found and translated by Dr. Ransom. And that they were written in Old Solar. Thus linking the 3 Ransom novels, the 2 Screwtape pieces and the partial fourth Ransom novel into one series. 

Other Reviews of Lewis's Books.
A Grief Observed
The Four Loves

...

The Ransom Cycle:

Out of the Silent Planet

Perelandra

The Screwtape Letters

Screwtape Proposes a Toast

That Hideous Strength

The Dark Tower and Other Stories

...

Original Space Trilogy:
Out of the Silent Planet
Perelandra
That Hideous Strength

...
The Dark Tower and Other Stories

...

Narnia Publication Order:

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Prince Caspian

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Silver Chair

The Horse and His Boy

The Magician's Nephew

The Last Battle

...

Narnia Chronological Order:

The Magician's Nephew

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Horse and His Boy

Prince Caspian

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Silver Chair

The Last Battle

...

Books about C.S. Lewis:

Planet's In Peril: A critical Study of C.S. Lewis's Ransom Trilogy - David C. Downing

C. S. Lewis Apostle to the Sceptics - Walter Hooper - CTS Biographies

The Man Who Created Narnia - Michael Coren

Further Up & Further In Understanding Narnia - Joseph Pearce

God and Grief - An Essay

Between Heaven  Hell - Peter Kreeft

...

Perelandra by: C.S. Lewis

Perelandra

The Ransom Cycle Book 2
C.S. Lewis
Scribner Paperback
ISBN 0684823829

This is the second book in C.S. Lewis’s amazing Space Trilogy. This book was written as a sequel to the immensely popular Out of the Silent Planet but Lewis also wrote it so that the story can stand on its own. So if you haven’t read the first you can start here.

This book takes place some time after the first, but we are not sure how long. Ransom has received a summons to Venus, a planet that is just beginning its inhabited life. This planet’s ‘Adam’ and ‘Eve’ are on the planet and they must choose to obey God or to reject his law and face a ‘fall’ as has happened on earth.

Ransom must face his old foe Weston, and try to save a planet from great evil. Can he navigate this watery planet; can he negotiate the intricacies of human weakness, temptation and corruption? Can he conquer himself and help others to learn obedience?

This is a great creation story. Try it - you won’t be disappointed.

Note: reread in 2024 and it was an even more powerful story after 26 years.

Note 2: Recent scholarship published found a handwritten preface to The Screwtape Letters in the C.S. Lewis Archive in Wheaton, IL. This note indicates the letters were found and translated by Dr. Ransom. And that they were written in Old Solar. Thus linking the 3 Ransom novels, the 2 Screwtape pieces and the partial fourth Ransom novel into one series. 

Other Reviews of Lewis's Books.
A Grief Observed
The Four Loves

...

The Ransom Cycle:

Out of the Silent Planet

Perelandra

The Screwtape Letters

Screwtape Proposes a Toast

That Hideous Strength

The Dark Tower and Other Stories

...

Original Space Trilogy:
Out of the Silent Planet
Perelandra
That Hideous Strength

...
The Dark Tower and Other Stories

...

Narnia Publication Order:

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Prince Caspian

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Silver Chair

The Horse and His Boy

The Magician's Nephew

The Last Battle

...

Narnia Chronological Order:

The Magician's Nephew

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Horse and His Boy

Prince Caspian

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Silver Chair

The Last Battle

...

Books about C.S. Lewis:

Planet's In Peril: A critical Study of C.S. Lewis's Ransom Trilogy - David C. Downing

C. S. Lewis Apostle to the Sceptics - Walter Hooper - CTS Biographies

The Man Who Created Narnia - Michael Coren

Further Up & Further In Understanding Narnia - Joseph Pearce

God and Grief - An Essay

Between Heaven  Hell - Peter Kreeft

...

That Hideous Strength by: C.S. Lewis

That Hideous Strength

The Ransom Cycle Book 5
C.S. Lewis
Scribner Paperback
ISBN 0684823853

This is the third and final book in C.S. Lewis’s amazing Space Trilogy. This book was written as a sequel to the immensely popular Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra but Lewis also wrote it so that the story can stand on its own. So if you haven’t read the first, you can start here.

That Hideous Strength, unlike the first 2 books in this series, where Ransom leaves earth and fights evil in space and on other planets, the battle in this book takes place on earth.

Ransom must lead a group of faithful believers against National Institute for Coordinated Experiments or N.I.C.E., an organization that believes that Science can solve all of humanity’s problems. He must battle the people in this organization, super aliens trying to invade and control earth and use its population against other planets and against God.

On top of all of that, Merlin has arisen from his long sleep and has arisen in England’s time of greatest need. But the question is, who will find him first - N.I.C.E. or Ransom and his team? The fate of the world, and possibly the universe, rests on this question.

Lewis called this story an adult’s fairy-tale. It is a mix of sci-fi and fantasy, and a book that will keep your attention as you raptly turn the pages to find out where Lewis will lead you.

Note 2: Recent scholarship published found a handwritten preface to The Screwtape Letters in the C.S. Lewis Archive in Wheaton, IL. This note indicates the letters were found and translated by Dr. Ransom. And that they were written in Old Solar. Thus linking the 3 Ransom novels, the 2 Screwtape pieces and the partial fourth Ransom novel into one series. 

Other Reviews of Lewis's Books.
A Grief Observed
The Four Loves

...

The Ransom Cycle:

Out of the Silent Planet

Perelandra

The Screwtape Letters

Screwtape Proposes a Toast

That Hideous Strength

The Dark Tower and Other Stories

...

Original Space Trilogy:
Out of the Silent Planet
Perelandra
That Hideous Strength

...
The Dark Tower and Other Stories

...

Narnia Publication Order:

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Prince Caspian

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Silver Chair

The Horse and His Boy

The Magician's Nephew

The Last Battle

...

Narnia Chronological Order:

The Magician's Nephew

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Horse and His Boy

Prince Caspian

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Silver Chair

The Last Battle

...

Books about C.S. Lewis:

Planet's In Peril: A critical Study of C.S. Lewis's Ransom Trilogy - David C. Downing

C. S. Lewis Apostle to the Sceptics - Walter Hooper - CTS Biographies

The Man Who Created Narnia - Michael Coren

Further Up & Further In Understanding Narnia - Joseph Pearce

God and Grief - An Essay

Between Heaven  Hell - Peter Kreeft

...

Rosary Books

Reflections on the Mysteries of the Rosary
Mark G. Boyer
Liturgical Press
ISBN 0814630154

This is a great little book about the Rosary, and how to pray it. Having just been recently published, it provides some fresh insight and new Meditations for each of the twenty mysteries. This little book will be a valued addition to your collection of prayer books and books used for meditation.

Holy Rosary
St. Josemaria Escriva
Scepter
ISBN 1889334928

Though there are many editions of St. Josemaria Escriva’s meditations to accompany the rosary prayers, this edition is updated and has meditations for all 20 mysteries - the mysteries of light drawn from the saint’s writings on the passages. It also has beautiful woodcuts of each station that can be used for visual focus while meditation upon these scenes from the bible.

Mysteries of Light:
Meditations of the Mysteries of the Rosary
Pope John Paul II
Pauline Press
ISBN: 0953854043

This is a great little tool to help you pray and meditate upon the rosary. With Classic art prints from Helen Protopapadakis – Papaconstantinou. This book, from a man who was deeply devoted to Mary, and to the power of praying the rosary, wrote these heartfelt meditations that will help draw you closer to Jesus through reflection upon these biblical passages.

The Rosary
Liz Kelly
Loyola Press
ISBN 082942024X

This is a book I have loaned to a number of non-catholic friends to help them understand the Rosary and how it is used to deepen your faith. Everyone I have lent it to has come away with fresh insight and clearer vision. Kelly does an excellent job of showing the history of the rosary, and its purpose in our lives. Her chapters are:

1. What is the Rosary
2. The Rosary Then and Now
3. Mary in Our Lives
4. A Part into Prayer
5. The Rosary as Meditation
6. We Joyfully Adore: The Joyful Mysteries
7. Hold the Lamp: The Luminous Mysteries
8. Sorrow in the Mix: The Sorrowful Mysteries
9. The Promise of Glory: The Glorious Mysteries
10. A Place to Grow: Variations on the Rosary

This book is a great tool in your spiritual toolbox.

The Rosary
Gary Wills
Viking Press

ISBN 0670034495

Wills writes a great book that is good for both Catholics and non-Catholics. He writes in an enjoyable and engaging style and has a nice chapter going into depth on each of the 20 mysteries. I have loaned it to a few close friends, one from an Anglican Background and one Mennonite. Both enjoyed the book and found it very useful. A book cannot not receive more praise than that.

Pray The Rosary
Books 1-9
Martha Ortega
Word-Rosary Intercessors, Inc.

This is a great little series of booklets that I have been using for years. This collection is a series of scriptural rosarys’ with readings for each mystery and a verse between each 2 Hail Mary’s to Meditate upon. The books in the series are:

1. Taste and see how good the Lord is.
2. Worship the Lord.
3. I will lay my burdens down.
4. Be made whole.
5. Seek His kingdom.
6. There is Freedom.
7. In His Presence.
8. The Blessings will come.
9. The luminous mysteries.

They are each $1.75 USD and can only be ordered by calling or a form in the back of them. The contact information is:
Word-Rosary Intercessors, Inc.
1330 Helmen Drive
South Bend, IN 46615
574-234-2028
They are more than worth the money you will pay for them.

Finding Balance in School and Life

Finding Balance
How to succeed at school and life.

Want to avoid the frosh 15, that legendary habit that first year students have of loosing 15% on their average and gaining 15lbs of weight? By learning how to be more balanced and deliberate in how you live, you might be able to avoid that curse of the 15.

Find your balance, between body, mind and spirit. University can be the time to learn how to do that. Don’t just spend all your time with your books. Learn to have a life, learn to live well. University should teach you how to be, and how to become good at being.

I once heard a talk where they said life was like a three-legged stool. A three-legged stool is actually the most stable of seating. In life the three legs are mind, body and spirit.

If you are on uneven ground, or rough terrain then this chair will hold you steady. A four-legged chair will often wobble on an uneven floor, yet this will provide stability. So as such you need to work to develop balance in the three realms of your life, the physical, spiritual and intellectual. For if one of these is suffering that leg is too sort or too long and topples the chair.

There are many ways to develop each are of your life while at UW. There are clubs galore that offer everything from the Aboriginal Students Association to the Waterloo Wargaming Society, and everything in between. http://www.feds.uwaterloo.ca/clubs/fullclubslisting.html Has nearly 120 clubs at UW listed. Clubs that will challenge you in any of the three area’s of your life. Also Campus recreation has a large group of associated clubs. http://www.athletics.uwaterloo.ca/CampusRec/Clubs/ClubsHome.aspx

Pick up a sport that you have always been interested in and give it a try fencing, curling or karate are but a few of the options offered there. Most of the campus rec. clubs have an additional cost, but usually much less than if you were to take up the same activity at a non-UW venue. Check out the events of clubs that are of a different religious or spiritual tradition the Jewish Students' Association, Hindu Students Association or Muslim Students' Association or one of the many different Christian clubs. Each of these clubs usually have events open to the public and people that want to understand their neighbor better.

Plan you week with breaks from the school for physical or spiritual or non-academic mental activity. The fencing club has classes for beginners Monday and Thursdays for 730pm-9pm. Most clubs have set times that they meet and options for beginners or someone just looking to check it out.

Take these years here at UW and expand your horizons. Learn a new skill or craft, archery or what ever piques your interest. Make the most of the opportunities presented to you at a much reduced or no cost to try something you might end up picking up for life. Or continue a tradition if you were euchre king or queen in high-school. Join the club and put your reign to the test.

By exploring the options and developing different area’s of your life, you will grow as a person and the effort will be worth it. Try it you may like it. As you experience new things and develop new habits you will help yourself to become a more balanced person.

A wise man once quipped “The one thing you can be absolutely sure of in your life is change. It's the only thing that never changes. The law of nature is that you either grow or you die; there's no in-between. So, what have you chosen so far? Are you growing in every area of your life? Hey, it’s not enough to be growing and looking great just because you work out. That’s only a small part of your life. What about your emotions, spiritual life, family, friends, career, hobbies? Are they growing as your body does? Become a complete person and not an in-shape and great-looking version of an incomplete person. There’s way more to life than just working out. Go with the flow and embrace changes in all areas of your life. The change will do you good.” When Robert Wolff wrote those words he was speaking of bodybuilding, yet here we can speak them of school and your academics. Make the most of your time at UW learn to grow in all area’s of your life.

There fore try something new, check out a club or too or a group at the recreation complex. Use them as tools to try and you stave off that notorious frosh-15 work on developing your whole person. And learn how to balance the tripod of your life.

(First Published in Imprint as ‘The three legs of the tripod’ 2006-09-01.)