Book Reviews and More: In Conversation With God Volume 5 Part 1 Ordinary Time Weeks 24-28

Monday, 11 November 2019

In Conversation With God Volume 5 Part 1 Ordinary Time Weeks 24-28 - Francis Fernandez

In Conversation With God
Volume 5 Part 1 Ordinary Time Weeks 24-28
Francis Fernandez
Scepter Press
eISBN 9780906138922
ASIN B006O1V4IQ

There are three editions of these book available in English. The original vinyl bound. The Kindle Editions that split each volume (based on Kindle max file size at the time they were released.) And New Single volume eBook editions. I have owned a few copies of the vinyl, but now love these Kindle editions.

I have been reading this series for almost 30 years now. Since they first started being available in English. At first, I bought them in individual vinyl covered editions. And later replaced them with the boxset. And then once the eBooks were available, I grabbed them up, and after 2 years of using the eBooks I gave my physical copy to a local school teacher to use in his high school class. I love these books and have read them around 15 times over years. I love the newer eBook editions.

I have said it before but there are a few features I love about the eBook versions that I want to highlight. First as a reader you can highlight and make notes easily in the digital editions. You can also pick colors and change your highlighting from year to year. But the best feature of the Kindle version is you can export your highlights and notes and start fresh. I also like having all the volumes on me at all times. I can use them to look something up, using the Subject index or index of quotations to look something up in any volume. I also love that in eBooks you can change the page color, the font, and even font size to make reading better suited to your personally.

As with each volume in this series each reading in this book is about 6 pages long. Each Day is broken into three sections. There are numerous references. But I want to give you a sample of the highlights I made in this volume this year. This year when I read it I highlighted 20 passages.

“Humility is the prerequisite to belief, to coming close to Christ. This virtue is the narrow road that leads to faith and to growth in the supernatural life. Humility allows us to understand Jesus.”

“We should make sure to go to Confession frequently. In this way, we will avoid any separation from the Lord, even in little things. Let us ask the help of Our Lady, Refuge of sinners, that we may constantly improve the quality of our confessions. We should think also of the splendid work of mercy involved in bringing a friend, relative or colleague to this Sacrament and to a renewal of supernatural life.”

“The gift of speech comes from the hands of God. It should be used to sing his praises and to speak well of others. It should never be used to do harm. Acquire the habit of speaking about everyone and about everything they do in a friendly manner, especially when you are speaking of those who labour in God’s service. Whenever that is not possible, keep quiet. Sharp or irritated comment may border on gossip or slander.”

“Our speech should be at the service of the good – to console those who suffer; to teach those who are ignorant; to correct in a courteous manner those who are in the wrong; to strengthen those who are weak. Holy Scripture reminds us that the tongue of the wise is health.”

“To be recollected is to join what is separated, to re-establish a lost order. If we want to be recollected souls, we have to guard our senses from hazardous dissipation. Otherwise, we shall find it impossible to be contemplatives in the middle of the world, no matter how tranquil our immediate surroundings may be.”

“The life of each man and woman exists in the present moment. These are the only moments which we can truly sanctify. The past and the future only exist in our imagination. The memory of our past can inspire us to acts of contrition or thanksgiving, yet even these prayers take place in the reality of the present.”

“Our challenge is for us to want the Will of God in everything, to accept it with joy, to love it no matter how difficult or incomprehensible it appears.”

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.

These books are incredible food 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.

I had planned on reviewing each of the eBook editions as I read them but have fallen behind. This is my third time reading this volume as an eBook. This series has been invaluable in my spiritual life. Sometimes I read it for years in a row. And every time I benefit from it. I grow, I deepen. I strive to mature.

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!