What book(s) are you reading?

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JosephDColeman said:
In my opinion, the chapter where Ivan talks to himself/the devil was much more entertaining and profound. When the devil said things like, “it’s not necessary to convince someone I’m real… just to cause a switching back and forth between belief and doubt is enough to drive a person to hang himself…” I really felt like it explained how the devil works. Of course, I’m paraphrasing. Just my opinion 😁.
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Yes…I remember thinking a great deal about that part of Brothers Karamozov. That part was profound. I agree. The issue is that if the devil convinces somebody he is real, that can be part of the source of conversion to Christianity for many people…on some levels this includes me. This part of Brothers Karamozov certainly got me thinking.
JosephDColeman said:
I honestly didn’t understand why the section on the grand Inquisitor was so esteemed.
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I understood the grand Inquistor fairly quickly. I’m a Catholic Convert. I wanted to convert when I was…like 12. I remember the discussing the arguments from the grand Inquistor with my parent when I was about 12 (my parent was not Catholic and didn’t want me to convert and was discussing this when I was was around 12…they came around on the Catholic thing btw). Anyway, the grand Inquistor had literary value. It was clever and well written.
JosephDColeman said:
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.
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Tolstoy I liked and I easily understood. I liked War and Peace. Tolstoy thinks like I do. Dostoevsky thinks in a very different way than me. The latter part of Brothers Karamozov was the struggle for me. I’d have to think and rethink the stuff in the later part of Brothers Karamozov before I actually thought I started to understand it.
 
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I just finished reading “A Church in Crisis”…Pathways Forward…by Ralph Martin.

He is a very insightful author, and the book ends with much hope for the future.
 
Books for faith, from conversion to evangelization

Here are Catholic book titles recommended by the author fr. Normand Thomas

I’ve read them all !

Please message me if you want to know more about them…

Or i might just write the postfaces in the next messages…

A path to conversion

Daily path to conversion

Let’s reveal God

Refusing sin

Let’s love God

Let’s be Loved

… for Love

The heart’s mission

Watch with faith

The Shepherd’s Mission

The Fruit that lasts

Up! Let’s go!

Here, where we are

Caring for our poverties

Let’s evangelize

Joy in heaven !

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=
Preface of each book
  1. A path to conversion
Peace with the past, wonder of the future, living the present moment.

Who is Jesus, why and how to follow him? The answer is engraved in the heart of every person. But for us to discover and live a conversion, it’s necessary to know the resources we have to begin in the faith.

Then, for the disciples of Jesus Christ, it’s a good opportunity to revisit the foundations of our faith. Is our faith progressing or regressing? Is it steady? Is it caught in a trap or do we profit from difficulties to respond positively? Do we leave the responsibility of our faith onto others, or we take it in hand?

These are the questions that can come from this book and who knows, it could drive us in a new path by modest successive conversions?
  1. Daily path to conversion
Daily path to conversion, Pathways 7-12, is a good complement to the first book: A path to conversion, Pathways 1 - 6.

After a first conversion or following a new conversion, it’s good to find ways to continue on a spiritual journey. Every day, let’s replace ourselves in a relationship with Jesus. We want to keep him with us, we want to stay in him. We want to follow Jesus so that he will lead us to his Father’s house.
  1. Let’s reveal God
From generation to generation, humans have often conceived and projected on God imprecise thoughts. But God wants us to discover his unique reality; he is Love.

Strangely, misfortune and suffering give us the impression that God wants evil. Why, when God is Love, do we perceive that he’s colluding with evil, as subtle may the evil be?

In this book, the Love of God is passed under the microscope, then magnified with a magnifying glass. It offers us ways to simply understand that God is Love and that he has absolutely no connection with evil.
  1. Refusing sin
We are constantly in front of two choices: good or evil. There are choices that seem easier than others. Every decision colors the future.

We know the feelings caused by evil and we wish to remain in the good, the truth, the real.

Jesus draws us to what is good. He Loves us and he helps us to live the passage of human life. As we progress in the Love of God, we will also want to share it without restraint.
 
Preface of each book 6 and +
Books for faith, from conversion to evangelization

Here are Catholic book titles recommended by the author fr. Normand Thomas
  1. Let’s be Loved
Where is Love and where is he going? Do we know what is his reality? This book allows us to observe this unknown.

We may have an idea about what Love is. It is also possible to further deepen it. Have we dreamed about the Greatest Love? We found him and we’ll share him with you.

Love also has different movements from God to us. What are they?

Then, a question is proposed to us: Do we truly Love? And if we would let ourselves be loved?
  1. … for Love
To let ourselves be joined by the Love of God is what we seek. We are created to receive him. As soon as we receive him, our life is transformed. The heart learns how to let the light of God pass. We are invited to observe the signs of joy, peace and hope.

For this, it is necessary to return to the Trinity every day. Meditating and praying with God keeps us in reality and leads us on a path of truth. Far from disrupting our occupations, the Lord accompanies us and helps us to see clearly.

It’s overwhelming when we discover that Jesus lives in our heart! But for that, it is necessary to tame our idea of the Lord, to know who he really is and to live in his presence. Let’s learn at the Shepherd’s School.

8 The heart’s mission

God’s Mission in which he inscribes us, what he wants, is that we become servants of Love. He has created us and he is waiting, all the same, for a precise answer from us. That’s the responsibility we have. It is the decision of our whole life: to be servants or not of Love.

We are invited to prepare our hearts every day to receive the Presence of the Trinity in our lives. Is our heart ready to receive so much Love? Mary accompanies us, with Joseph and all the saints, during the daily pilgrimage while following of Jesus.

9 Watch with faith

The mission supposes that we want to receive everything from God. Prayer helps us to listen to him. It is a necessary support for a successful mission.

Whenever we leave it to the Lord to teach us, we prepare ourselves for an active evangelization. As we witness the presence of God in our lives, we must continue to improve in faith through teachings and faith studies. Faith must always be nourished while improving our personal relationship with Jesus.

10 The Sheperd’s Mission

To offer the graces received from God, it is important to continually strengthen our faith foundation. Let us place our pride in God, because with Jesus, we can find ourselves quickly with the double of members in the community in a short time.

Are we ready to open the doors and greet?

Do we leave priests with this initiative or do we commit ourselves?

We are in a place of pilgrimage, where we are at this moment, and the people around us are those who seek God sometimes without even knowing it. We have the mission to lead the sheep to Jesus.
 
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Preface of each book 11 and +
Books for faith, from conversion to evangelization

Here are Catholic book titles recommended by the author fr. Normand Thomas

11 The Fruit that lasts

Some readers commentaries:

“It’s easy to read. There are so many touching and praying phrases.” Sr. Berthe Labelle, fdls

“I believe it is an ascent to holiness, nothing less, a kind of bliss.” Pauline Perron

“It helps me think and make better choices!” Ida O’donnell

“The content is excellent, because in addition there is the method!” Louise Roy

“It rejoices the soul.” Lise Laniel

“This book is as if it said to me: "You are not alone in what you live, I am here and I accompany you.” Virginie Poulin

“It’s surprisingly simple the way you help us understand these simple things that some complicate so much.” Isabelle Genard

“We feel that you write with your heart. I pray that your books be read everywhere.” Andrzej Vignier, priest

12 Up! Let’s go!

Peace of the heart is to allow a person to discover Jesus in his life. It is knowing that Jesus is near him and that he will always be. This balm is precious for encouraging the person to recognize Jesus in his life, as for us who discover his inner transformation before our eyes.

Signs are not lacking. Joy, peace and Love can be seen on the face of the person. He feels that he is no longer alone. His whole being turns to the Light. He takes confidence in himself and regains dignity as a child Loved and fulfilled by God. Let’s encourage him to find ways to offer these graces to others.

Jesus came to serve humanity. And if we shared our faith? To evangelize is also evangelizing ourselves. To serve increases the reception of the Love of God in us.

13 Here, where we are

The mission has often been lived as sending one to a new country to evangelize their people where the Word of God has not yet been.

But in addition to the traditional mission, we find it imperative to think not only about preparing for the mission, but also about carrying the gospel message wherever we go, that is where we are. And the present moment is the most precious moment to evangelize.

Evangelization is realized when we listen to others and when we allow them to discover faith in them. If the mission is to let us be filled with all that the Lord can transmit to us, evangelization is to simply transmit to others what we have received from God.

14-15

16 Joy in heaven!

When a person testifies about his faith, it is difficult to put forth what he really would like to say. The first time, it will come out kind of awkward and often enough the words used will be lacking. But by testifying, a person will develop a way of understanding more and more what he’s living with God.

For the listener, he cannot judge of one’s testimony of conversion, even if it doesn’t seem to sound right. Better to pray and not mention what is hurtful to that person. So, we must let that person decide when he will talk about it again. Evangelization is first of all… listening to others.

Then comes, in this book, my testimony of faith. May God be blessed always and may we receive his Love and let it pass from our heart into others hearts.

+++ See previous messages
 
I am almost halfway through a book titled “A Family Guide to Spiritual Warfare”, “Strategies for Deliverance and Healing” by Kathleen Beckman.

The author has 12 years of active participation on an exorcist’s team. Her advice can be very helpful for families.
 
I hadn’t considered this. Makes you wonder. Carrie married an older widower with children. With all the moving around and perhaps limited opportunities, the marriages could have been more for security and not having children? They certainly knew hardship and perhaps chose not to have children or couldn’t. There is always the possibility that there could have been a predisposed genetic issue with male children. I know someone who has a condition where any female children do not survive. She has lost two little girls shortly after birth. It was so said with the last pregnancy - she knew all along this would happen and did the right thing by carrying the baby through birth. She is Muslim.
 
Because I have to be “that guy”
The book of Leviticus…
for the fifth time.
 
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