Leap Day Contest

In honor of this being a leap year, I am happy to offer this Leap Day contest to you, my wonderful readers.  Thanks to the fine people at Oxford University Press and Image Catholic Books, I will be offering two fantastic books which will certainly provide spiritual nourishment for the remainer of the Lenten season.  The two prizes for this contest are:

1) Dr. Brant Pitre's Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist (newly released paperback edition w/ study guide)

2) The Catholic Study Bible Third Edition (NABRE) paperback

Rules for the contest:

1) If you have an active Facebook or Twitter account, please announce this contest. If you don't, that is OK. You can still enter the contest.

 2) Please enter your name in the comment section of this blog post. I (or my wife) will randomly draw one winner at the conclusion of the contest, which will be on Sunday March 6th at 11:59 PM.

 3) I will announce the winner on Monday March 7th. The winner must contact me, via email, within a week with their full name and address.  I will ship the the books free of charge.

 4) One entry per person.

 5) Contest is only available to those who live in North America.

Sunday's Message: 3rd Sunday of Lent (Year C)

Welcome back to another edition of Sunday's Message.  When I did this series last year, I showed all the readings for that particular Sunday.  However, this year I have decided to focus on just one reading each week.  I would like to pick out the one that really strikes me, particularly in light of The Message: Catholic/Ecumenical Edition translation, which often arouses some spirited debate on this blog.  (I hope it continues to do so!)   On my part, along with providing a particular reading each week, I plan to offer some personal reflections, as well as the occasional question or two for you to ponder. 

I offer you this question, which comes from the Message weekly email, for this week's reflection:
What important work could bear fruit in your life right now if you have more confidence in God's loving care?

Luke 13:1-9

About that time some people came up and told him about the Galileans Pilate had killed while they were at worship, mixing their blood with the blood of the sacrifices on the altar. Jesus responded, “Do you think those murdered Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die. And those eighteen in Jerusalem the other day, the ones crushed and killed when the Tower of Siloam collapsed and fell on them, do you think they were worse citizens than all other Jerusalemites? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die.”

Then he told them a story: “A man had an apple tree planted in his front yard. He came to it expecting to find apples, but there weren’t any. He said to his gardener, ‘What’s going on here? For three years now I’ve come to this tree expecting apples and not one apple have I found. Chop it down! Why waste good ground with it any longer?’  “The gardener said, ‘Let’s give it another year. I’ll dig around it and fertilize, and maybe it will produce next year; if it doesn’t, then chop it down.’”

Fr. Nick King Audio Course

Many of you are familiar with Fr. Nicholas King S.J. as the person who recently translated the Bible from the Greek to English.  Currently, he is a Visiting Professor at the School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College, where he teaches New Testament and Koine Greek. For 12 years, he was a lecturer in the same subjects at Oxford University. Prior to coming to Oxford, he taught in South Africa, where he served as a District Observer for its first democratic elections.  

The fine people at Now You Know Media have recently come out with The New Testament: A Bible Study Course by Fr. King.  According to the website description, this audio set includes: "36 engaging lectures that give you access to modern scholarship on the New Testament. Fr. King’s original translations breathe new life into the words you have so often heard and studied, accurately conveying the mood of the original documents.  After a fascinating general introduction to the New Testament, you will take a fresh look at the Pauline epistles. You will enjoy four lectures on each of the Gospels before looking at Acts of the Apostles, the general epistles, and Revelation. Finally, you will consider the important themes of Christ’s Resurrection, divine inspiration, and the necessity of the Old Testament.  Above all, you will gain a fuller sense of Jesus as a devout Jew who was telling the old story of God and the People of God in a new way. And as Jesus preached, the gospel message is open to all."

I have at least a dozen sets from Now You Know Media and they are of the highest quality.

Review: Sermon in a Sentence by Baronius Press

"Character is not revealed when life shows its best side, but when it shows its worst." -Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Sermon in a Sentence 63)

At the end of 2015, our friends at Baronius Press published a new series of books called Sermon in a Sentence.  Each volume seeks to provide a "treasury of quotations on the spiritual life"  in a compact, yet readable package for today's Catholic.  Baronius Press decided to inaugurate this new series by selecting three of the most influential and beloved Catholics of the 20th century: St. Faustina Kowalska, Archbishop Fulton Sheen, and St. John Paul II.  Each book, edited and arranged by John P. McClernon, contains "hundreds of direct quotes and short sayings arranged according to the Christian virtues and other spiritual topics, allowing the reader to encounter their thoughts about particular aspects of the Christian life."  There are truly hundreds of quotes in each volume for you to ponder and pray over.  These books are not haphazardly arranged like some of the "quote books" you may have encountered.  The amount of time that Mr. McClernon put into each volume must have been enormous.  The material from the St. John Paul II volume was gleaned from his various public talks, while the Fulton Sheen one comes from ten of his works.  The St. Faustina edition comes entirely from her Diary.

In each of these three books, the first fifteen chapters are arranged corresponding to the classical Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary.  There is an additional section in all three volumes for the Luminous Mysteries as well.  Other topics that are covered and found in all three books include prayer, the Mass, the Church, the priesthood, as well as topics unique to each person, like St. Faustina and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.  Each quote ranges from 1-3 sentences in length and includes a reference to where you can find the quote in the particular author's body of writing or talks.  In our fast-paced world, these little volumes certainly meet an important need in the Church.  Many of us can easily get overwhelmed by the demands of each day, yet these small devotionals allow us to take a moment to reflect on various topics from these three spiritual masters.  

As usual with anything that comes from Baronius, these books are produced of the highest quality.  Like the various bibles, prayer books, and other volumes they produce these will last a lifetime.  Each hardcover edition measures around 4 5/8" X 6 3/4", which makes them incredibly portable.  The paper is thick and opaque, making reading a pleasure.  The binding is smythe sewn and contains a ribbon marker.  Head/tail bands and endpapers (which many of you know I adore) round out a wonderfully produced volume.  I can't say enough about the continued high standards that Baronius Press continues to meet with each of their releases.

So, if you are looking to add some wisdom from three great heroes of the faith to your daily recitation of the Rosary, the Sermon in a Sentence series is just what you need.  These make perfect gifts for birthdays, for teens receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation, and those entering the Church at the Easter Vigil.  The price for each volume is $14.95, which is amazingly cheap for the quality of the book, itself, as well as the wisdom that is contained within it.  I truly look forward to future volumes.  I would love to see one focused on this blog's patron saint, Msgr. Ronald Knox.

I would like to thank Baronius Press for providing the review copies for this review.

First Look: The Catholic Study Bible (NABRE) 3rd Edition

Yesterday, I received a paperback edition of The Catholic Study Bible 3rd Edition, which appears to have been released about 10 days earlier than expected.  It has the same look and feel as the the 2nd edition (NABRE), which came out in 2011.  The big difference, of course, is that all the reading guides have been updated to reflect the NABRE OT translation.  Also, there are brand new reading guides for the Pentateuch, 1&2 Chronicles, 1&2 Maccabees, Lamentations, Baruch, Tobit, Judith, Mark, and Acts of the Apostles.  All of the other features found in the prior edition, like the New Oxford Maps, concordance, full lectionary readings, in-text maps and charts, are all present in this edition.  I think there may be a few more.  This is a fine edition and certainly worthy of your consideration.  My only complaint is that the bonded leather edition is $95, which is crazy.  The past two editions, including this one, have not come out in genuine leather, which is a shame since the NOAB 4th (NRSV) was produced in a very soft genuine leather.  Get on it Oxford!

Thank you to Oxford University Press for providing a review copy

Knox on the Old Testament

"We mustn't think of the Old Testament as an awkward fact which we've got to get over somehow, hush it up if possible because it is so difficult to make propaganda out of it.  It's the lock into which the key of the Incarnation fits, and if you begin the Bible with St. Matthew, it makes a mutilated story." -The Hidden Stream

One Thing with the NABRE NT Revision

With the helpful update we received last week from Mary Sperry on the revision, I thought maybe we could have a discussion about what we might see in 2025 when the revision may be published.  So, let's list one thing you would like to see in the NABRE NT revision.  This could be something that would be new to the translation or something retained from the current '86 revision. 

For me, at least, I would really like to see certain word choices that the '86 revision did maintained.  For example, the NABRE is one of the few translations to go with "Amen, Amen", "Gehenna", the "I AM" sayings, and "magi".  

What say you?