[Book Review #1] Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul by Tony Hendra

Synopsis: Tony Hendra's memoir about his 40-year friendship with Father Joseph Warrilow (a.k.a. Father Joe), a Catholic Benedictine Monk from Quarr Abbey. Ironically this friendship which helped preserve Hendra's soul throughout his rather messy 40 years of life, was initiated by an act of sin - Hendra's affair with a married woman when he was 14.

Comments: I like every bit of this book except when it came to Hendra's career, where it just seems too messy and draggy to keep up with. I love its fun take on certain aspects of the Catholic faith, the breath of fresh air it gives with regards to the character of God and the little morsels of Father Joe wisdom which gets you thinking.

My favorite excerpt from the book was an extract itself by Meister Eckhart: "When the Father laughs at the Son and the Son laughs back at the Father, that laughter gives pleasure, that pleasure gives joy, that joy gives love, and that love is the Holy Spirit". Not sure how theologically accurate is that, but it did help give me a different perspective on the Trinity.

Though I admit there are some parts which I find rather irreverent (such as Jessica Christ) but it's in context, so I'll let it pass. ;)

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

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Click here for FATHER JOE: THE MAN WHO SAVED MY SOUL on Amazon.com

Books / April Recommendations

Oh Lord, I have amassed so many (unread) books...

1. John Harding // One Big Damn Puzzler
2. Nick Hornby // How To Be Good
3. Sue Townsend // Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction
4. Annie Proulx // The Shipping News
5. William Shakespeare // Macbeth (comic)
6. William Shakespeare // The Tempest (comic)
7. J. R. R. Tolkien // The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series
8. Peter Carey // Collected Stories
9. Harriet Evans // Going Home
10. Pope John Paul II // Memory and Identity
11. Pope John Paul II // Rise, Let Us Be on Our Way
    
12. Raymond Flynn // John Paul II

...and I have not included all the Penguin classics which I have collected along the way. Ugh.

CURRENTLY READING: Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul by Tony Hendra - so far so good, looks promising. Reviews coming up!

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April Recommendations:

• books & such by bookwormy // for booklovers
  
• twitter.com // micro-blogging is IN!
• Batdood // funny and down-to-earth. (check out his music player!)
• Eva Cassidy's Songbird // her first posthumous album
• The Reaping // starring hilary swank

Christus Resurrexit!

Quia surrexit Dominus vere
(For the Lord has truly risen!)

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

A very happy Easter to all! :D

Good Friday: The Peter Condition

Peter said, "Master, I'm ready for anything with you. I'd go to jail for you. I'd die for you!"

Jesus said, "I'm sorry to have to tell you this, Peter, but before the rooster crows you will have three times denied that you know me."

[...]

Arresting Jesus, they marched him off and took him into the house of the Chief Priest. Peter followed, but at a safe distance. In the middle of the courtyard some people had started a fire and were sitting around it, trying to keep warm. One of the serving maids sitting at the fire noticed him, then took a second look and said, "This man was with him!"

He denied it, "Woman, I don't even know him."

A short time later, someone else noticed him and said, "You're one of them."

But Peter denied it: "Man, I am not."

About an hour later, someone else spoke up, really adamant: "He's got to have been with him! He's got 'Galilean' written all over him."

Peter said, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about." At that very moment, the last word hardly off his lips, a rooster crowed. Just then, the Master turned and looked at Peter. Peter remembered what the Master had said to him: "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." He went out and cried and cried and cried.

- Luke 22:33-34; 54-62 (The Message version)

Sin has a way to creep on us just as how it had crept onto Peter. We don't realize the magnitude of our sin until we've committed it. Worse still, like Peter we commit the exact sin that we thought we wouldn't. And we become so ashamed of ourselves that instead of asking Him for forgiveness, we run away from the God who looks at us with mercy and love. Our God is one who believes that action speaks louder than words and by hanging on the cross, He shouts LOVE and FORGIVENESS to you and to me.

"This is a form of religious oppression ... an affront to human dignity."

Statement by the Conference of the Catholic Bishops of Malaysia

Re: The Court of Appeal Decision in the matter of R. Subashini - Saravanan

We are deeply disappointed and feel aggrieved by the recent majority decision of the Court of Appeal that the non-Muslim wife had to seek recourse through the Syariah Courts. This is a form of religious oppression and an affront to human dignity. As the Federal Constitution is the supreme law of the country, a person of one religion should not be made subject to laws of and governance by another religion. We urge all to voice their grievances against this injustic through proper channels. Let us do all that is possible and also pray that justice and freedom of religion be restored.

Most Rev Datuk Murphy Pakiam
President, Conference of Catholic Bishops of Malaysia
Dates this 27th March 2007 in Kuala Lumpur