Book Reviews and More: In Conversation With God Volume 4 Part 2 Ordinary Time Weeks 19-23

Thursday, 8 November 2018

In Conversation With God Volume 4 Part 2 Ordinary Time Weeks 19-23 - Francis Fernandez

In Conversation With God
Volume 4 Part 2 Ordinary Time Weeks 19-23
Francis Fernandez
Scepter Press
eISBN 9780906138915
ASIN B006O1YAHS

I love this series. And I especially love these eBook editions. In fact I enjoy the eBook version so much, I just gave away my physical copies. I have been reading this series since I was a student at Queen's University back in the late 80's and early 90's. I started reading them as they were coming out. They are an incredible series and I highly recommend them. Mike Aquilina states: "Now we can travel with more books stored in our telephones than the ancient Egyptians kept in their vast library at Alexandria.". And I love having my eBooks available any time and where. And with this series I can travel with all of them with me at all times. There are also features in the eBooks that I consider an advantage over physical. I love highlighting when I read the eBook, I also like being able to select from a number of different colors. I use a different color each year I read. I also love that you can click on the link for a reference for a quote and jump to it, and then immediately jump back and keep reading. And with the eBook you can change the font, color, size to make it easier to read, and as someone with Dyslexia this is my favorite feature of eBooks. Another great feature is using accessibility features on some mobile devices and some dedicated eReaders and use text to speech, and listen to the text.

This specific book, Volume 4 Part 2 Ordinary Time Weeks 19-23, has a meditation for each day Monday-Saturday, and three different meditations for Sundays, 1 each for year A, B, and C. Each reading is roughly 6 pages long, and each days reading is separated into three sections, roughly equal in length most days. Reading through it this year I highlighted 54 passages over the 6 weeks. I will share a few of those as samples of the writing in this book:

“There are many good Marian devotions. There is no need to practise every single one of them. But anyone who doesn’t live some of them, who doesn’t express his love for Mary in some way, does not possess the fullness of the faith. Those who think that devotions to our Lady are a thing of the past seem to have lost sight of the deep Christian meaning they contain. They seem to have forgotten the source from which they spring – faith in God the Father’s saving will, love for God the Son, who really became man and was born of a woman, and trust in God the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies us with his grace.”

“If you look for Mary, you will necessarily find Jesus; and you will learn, in greater and greater depth, what there is in the Heart of God. Let us consider how our own lives reflect this ancient Christian practice of special devotion to our Lady on Saturdays.”

“In the Most Blessed Virgin we find the perfect model of one who listens with attentive ear to what God is asking, in order to put it into practice from a standpoint of complete availability. Indeed, at the Annunciation Mary entrusted herself to God completely, with ‘full submission of intellect and will’ (Dei Verbum, 5), manifesting ‘the obedience of faith’ to him who spoke to her through his messenger. We go to her, in finishing our prayer, asking her to teach us how to listen attentively to everything that comes from God, and to put it into practice.”

“Fullness of grace and fullness of freedom went together in our Lady, since one is more free in so far as one is more holy. As a result, she gave a most faithful response to these gifts of God, and through that response she obtained abundant merits. Let us, who are her children and who have such great need of her help, go to her now.”

“Jesus never stops loving us, helping us, protecting us, talking to us, not even in our moments of sheer ingratitude, or after we have committed the greatest disloyalty. Perhaps it was during such sad circumstances that our Lord has been most attentive to us, as today’s parable suggests. Among the hundred sheep in the flock, only the one that was lost had the honour of resting on the good shepherd’s shoulders. I will be with you always,[76] in each situation, at every moment, our Lord tells us. And especially when we begin that final journey towards him.”

Across the 7 Volumes in this series; or 14 eBook volumes because each book is split in two there are over 450 meditations. There is a meditation for each day of the church calendar, Advent, Christmas, Ordinary Time, Lent, Eastertide and of course the 34 weeks of Ordinary time. There are also 2 volumes dedicated to special feats, specific feats, novenas, Saints, and holy days that fall on specific calendar days. I have used the eBook editions for the last few years now and they are excellent.

These books are incredible for your spiritual life. Every time I read them, every day I am challenged, challenged to become a better version of myself, challenged to live more joy, more hope, more dedication. These books will change your life, and as you read them again and again you will only grow to appreciate them more.

Of all the devotionals and spiritual books, I have read over the last nearly 30 years I can recommend this series as one of the best. You can read it again and again and always get something more out of it. I was recently asked to come up with my all-time Top Ten Catholic Books this series came in at number 4 but to be honest 2-5 are almost all interchangeable. So this is one of my all-time top Christian reads!