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The Gift of Peace: Personal Reflections

The Gift of Peace: Personal Reflections
Author: Bernardin, Joseph Cardinal Bernadin, Joseph Cardinal

ISBN: 0-8294-0955-6
LCCN: 96050335
Dewey: 282/.092 B 21
Number:

Category: Christian moral & pastoral theology
User Rating: 5.0 Stars
Pages: 153

Hardcover Loyola Press

From Library Journal The well-loved cardinal of Chicago completed this book during the last few months of his life. In it he records the personal struggle of his final three years, during which he faced charges of sexual misconduct, later dropped as admittedly false. Eventually, Bernardin made peace with his accuser, helping the younger man reconcile with his Catholic faith before he died of AIDS. Bernardin also accepted his own imminent death from pancreatic cancer as a true lesson of the cross, writing here about his mixed sense of abandonment and hope with a profound awareness of the meaning of shared suffering and Christian love. A very moving last testament, written with simplicity and deep wisdom. Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. Midwest Book Review The Gift Of Peace is the final legacy left to us by one of America's most beloved and respected clerics. Preparing The Gift Of Peace was an extraordinary effort which consumed Joseph Cardinal Bernardin's final days, and offers deeply personal reflections about his last three headline-filled years. The Gift Of Peace also reveals the Cardinal's spiritual growth amidst a string of traumatic events: false accusations of sexual abuse; reconciliation a year later with his accuser (who had earlier recanted the charges); a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and surgery; the return of cancer (in his liver); his decision to discontinue chemotherapy and live his remaining days as fully as possible. Even after Cardinal Bernardin relinquished the day-to-day operation of the Archdiocese in his final weeks, he continued to work on The Gift Of Peace. Cardinal Bernardin was known for his gift of reconciliation, and for a "consistent ethic of life" that urged a reverence for life from conception to natural death. In his final years he made a trip to Israel with Jewish leaders; launched the Catholic Common Ground Initiative to heal rifts among America's Catholics; and sent a letter to the Supreme Court urging them not to approve "physician-assisted" suicide. The Gift Of Peace is a worthy testament to the memory of a Christian life amidst contemporary issues and modern day challenges of life in the last years of the 20th century.

Journeys of Courage: Remarkable Stories of the Healing Power of Community

Journeys of Courage: Remarkable Stories of the Healing Power of Community
Author: Carol, Joy (Editor)

ISBN: 1-893732-79-7
LCCN: 2003021976
Dewey: 302/.14 22
Number:

Category: September 11 Terrorist Attacks
User Rating: 4.0 Stars
Pages: 256

Paperback Sorin Books

From the Publisher The real communities in these compelling stories have faced tremendous adversity -- from abuses within the church to the devastating losses of September 11 to surviving trauma in Northern Ireland to the torment of addiction and poverty. They have stumbled and fallen, and they have also learned and grown. Not only do their stories show that broken communities can heal, they underscore the enormously positive impact healing has on our world. Journeys of Courage offers hope, inspiration, and courage for everyone in the larger community that is our world, from environmentalists to social activists to those of us struggling with problems in our families, our churches, and our local communities.

Living Peace: A Spirituality of Contemplation and Action

Living Peace: A Spirituality of Contemplation and Action
Author: Dear, John Hanh, Thich Nhat

ISBN: 0-385-49827-6
LCCN: 00048390
Dewey: 261.8/73 21
Number:

Category: Religion - Classic Works
User Rating: 5.0 Stars
Pages: 240

Hardcover Doubleday

Amazon.com John Dear, a Jesuit priest, directs the Fellowship of Reconciliation, "the largest, oldest interfaith peace organization in the United States." Since 1915, the organization has advocated nonviolence as the only sure path to peace; its members have included Martin Luther King Jr., Thomas Merton, and Helen Prejean. Living Peace: A Spirituality of Contemplation and Action is a spiritual handbook for readers who seek to make peace in their lives and in the world. The journey to peace, as Dear describes it, is composed of an Inner Journey (involving solitude, silence, prayer, and mindfulness), and a Public Journey (involving direct political action), which, undertaken together, make possible reconciliation and transformation on a global level. "If we try, and keep trying, and stay faithful to the journey unto our last breath, we will find great joy and a peace not of this world, knowing that we serve not only the human family but the God of peace." Dear's book includes historical anecdotes and concise descriptions of particular challenges facing American readers today ("If we want to live in peace, we must learn to love the people of Iraq."), but his descriptions of spiritual exercises, particularly his own morning devotions, may be the most compelling parts of Living Peace. --Michael Joseph Gross From Publishers Weekly The Fellowship of Reconciliation is the oldest interfaith peace group in America, its members having included Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King Jr. and Helen Prejean. Now its director gives readers a succinct, moving paean to peace, in which he suggests that peacemaking on a world level first requires making peace within. Dear advocates long amounts of time in prayer, and peaceful prayer at that not just talking to God, but listening for God. Dear recommends that readers take up Ignatian prayer, in which one meditates on a Scripture passage and imagines one's way into the biblical scene (though readers will have to turn elsewhere for a truly thorough introduction to this method of prayer). "To live a life of peace," writes Dear, we must also practice peace "with the whole world," so in the second section, he turns to "The Public Journey." Worldwide peacemaking begins with an active choice for peace: Dear himself committed his life to peace while on a trip to Israel during the war with Lebanon. Some of the book's most encouraging passages recount Dear's own efforts at peacemaking: stays of execution he was instrumental in bringing about, trips to war-torn El Salvador, protests against Trident nuclear submarines. Remarkably, Dear never sounds moralistic or self-congratulatory; the book reads more like one friend sharing his experiences with another. In this inspiring little book, Dear proves himself the William Sloane Coffin of our day. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

When Bad Things Happen to Good People

When Bad Things Happen to Good People
Author: Kushner, Harold S.

ISBN: 0-8052-3773-9
LCCN: 81040411
Dewey: 296.3/11 19
Number:

Category: Theodicy
User Rating: 4.0 Stars
Pages: 149

Hardcover Schocken

Amazon.com Rarely does a book come along that tackles a perennially difficult human issue with such clarity and intelligence. Harold Kushner, a Jewish rabbi facing his own child's fatal illness, deftly guides us through the inadequacies of the traditional answers to the problem of evil, then provides a uniquely practical and compassionate answer that has appealed to millions of readers across all religious creeds. Remarkable for its intensely relevant real-life examples and its fluid prose, this book cannot go unread by anyone who has ever been troubled by the question, "Why me?" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Publishers Weekly When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold S. Kushner. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, this book features Rabbi Kushner's perspective on how people can better deal with evil that enters their lives. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

When the Trees Say Nothing: Writings on Nature

When the Trees Say Nothing: Writings on Nature
Author: Merton, Thomas Berry, Thomas (Foreword) Deignan, Kathleen (Editor) Giuliani, John (Illustrator) Giuliani, John

ISBN: 1-893732-60-6
LCCN: 2002015094
Dewey: 508 21
Number:

Category: Christian social thought & activity
User Rating: 5.0 Stars
Pages: 192

Hardcover Sorin Books

Book Description Millions know Thomas Merton as the author of The Seven Storey Mountain, the autobiography that became an international bestseller and a modern spiritual classic. Merton, a prolific spiritual writer and social activist, inspired a generation from the silence and solitude of a Trappist monastery. Decades after his death, he remains a modern spiritual master, a source of wisdom on peace, racial harmony, poverty, alienation, and the engagement of Eastern and Western spiritual traditions. Now Merton is also revealed as a man whose spirituality is rooted in nature, an environmentalist ahead of his time. His writings on nature serve as a primer on eco-spirituality. He approaches ecology as a spiritual issue, one that exposes the degree of human alienation from the sacredness of the planet. When The Trees Say Nothing gathers for the first time over 300 of Merton's nature writings, grouping them thematically into sections on the seasons, elements, creatures and other topics. Edited by Merton scholar Kathleen Deignan, the collection is cohesive and accessible, drawing from both Merton's public writings and his recently published private journals. The lyrical writings are enhanced with Deignan's own informative Introduction, along with a Foreword by Thomas Berry, renowned spiritual mentor for the environmental movement. Unique and powerful on its own, When the Trees Say Nothing is enhanced with the art of John B. Giuliani, known for his stunning iconography. Giuliani's drawings harmonize exquisitely with Merton's meditations on nature, making When the Trees Say Nothing a spiritual and aesthetic prize. From the Back Cover Thomas Merton is now revealed as a man whose spirituality is rooted in nature, an environmentalist ahead of his time. His nature writings serve as a primer on eco-spirituality, and his gift to us is what will save us-a sense of the sacred in nature

Liturgy and Social Justice

Liturgy and Social Justice
Author: Searle, Arthur Lopresti, James Bowman, Thea Hunthausen, Raymond Hehir, Bryan

ISBN: 0-8146-1891-X
LCCN: 89063328
Dewey: 264/.02 20
Number:

Category: Christian liturgy, prayerbooks & hymnals
User Rating:
Pages: 72

Paperback Liturgical Pr

Homily for the opening session / Raymond G. Hunthausen -- Liturgy and scripture / Dianne Bergant -- Justice, power, and praise / Thea Bowman -- Liturgy and social justice / J. Bryan Hehir -- Homily for the closing session / James Lopresti.

Seeds Of Peace: Contemplation & NonViolence

Seeds Of Peace: Contemplation & NonViolence
Author: Shannon, William

ISBN: 0-8245-1557-9
LCCN:
Dewey:
Number:

Category: Christian Life - General
User Rating:
Pages: 192

Hardcover The Crossroad Publishing Company, Inc.

From the Publisher William Shannon offers hope and answers to all of us who want peace in our personal lives, our relationships, and the world in which we live. He calls us to new and exciting experiences that far surpass the kind of life that is possible at the level of just the superficial. He shows us how a contemplative life, which enables us to experience our oneness with God and in God with one another, inevitably leads to a lifestyle of non-violence and unconditional love. These ideas are the seeds of a peaceful life. It is William Shannon's gift that he can help us to achieve it. From The Critics BookList Though this is not a book about Thomas Merton, it is so thoroughly informed by Merton's thought that it reads like a commentary. Shannon maintains that nonviolence (understood as unconditional love) is inextricably connected with contemplation and that both are inextricably connected with the Christian gospel. That argument, in the mainstream of Roman Catholic thinking about peace since Merton, is relevant well beyond the boundaries of Roman Catholicism. Readers familiar with Merton will gain greater insight from an encounter with Shannon; readers not familiar with Merton may be moved to read him. Either way, Shannon's book fulfills the promise of its title: it is not a blueprint but a collection of reflections scattered as seeds.