Review: The Heart Mender: A Story of Second Chances

God is the ultimate lover and therefore the ultimate example of forgiveness.  If you don't understand this very simple concept, than you just won't "get" Andy Andrews book, The Heart Mender: A Story of Second Chances. Written by a New York Times bestselling author, this book is a reprint of the book Island of Saints (published in 2005), but this new version published by Thomas Nelson Publishing includes a "where are they now" and study guide questions -- questions that will add much to the enjoyment and attainability of this book. 

The Heart Mender is a story within a story:  the book starts when the author finds some interesting items while pulling up an old wax myrtle on his property -- buttons, medals and photos sealed in an old can.  Thus, begins a quest to figure out what they are and why they are buried on a small island off the coast of Alabama.  

As he begins this search, the book goes back to 1942 America ... when the Germans are trawling the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, torpedoing American ships laden with supplies and oil.  The Fuhrer has decided that blowing civilian ships out of the water is a necessary part of the overall war-effort and the small, American coastal towns along the way witness the results -- bodies and boxes washed up on the shores of their once-quiet towns.

The book is part mystery, part spy-novel, part romance,part self-help book.  The reader's question while reading the book:  how much of Andrews' work is fact and how much fiction?  Could German spies have landed on the shore-towns?  Could this really have happened with little mention in our history classes?  
But Andrews' book is much more than the plot-line.  The most important aspect of this book is the method Andrews describes through his allegory; a method of how to heal even the most hardened of hearts hurt by the world, a method which is slowly revealed through the characters of this well-written story.  Basically, a method of how to heal the broken hearts of us all.

This is a GREAT read ... fast-paced story-line, believable characters and a message that goes deeper than a simple novel.  I highly recommend this one -- especially as summer reading.  The story would also make a great basis for a unit-study on WW2 and the German Kriegsmarine and their Unterseeboots which mauraded the American coast during 1942, a fact kept hidden for many years by all but the locals.

---

This book was provided free through Thomas Nelson Publishing's Book Sneeze (where great books are contagious!) program.  I was required to write a review but all the comments above are my true view of this book.

Review: The Fathers Volume II by Pope Benedict XVI

No doubt about it, Pope Benedict XVI is a born educator -- his speaches and writings are amazing learning/teaching tools to elucidate the Catholic faith. In addition, his writings are always very accessible to even this non-theologian/non-academic!

Since I'm such a fan, I jumped at the chance offered by The Catholic Company to review his latest volume:  The Fathers Volume II, based on Pope Benedict's Wednesday audiences given in 2008 and 2009.  These particular audiences (given in Italian) focused on the Fathers of the Catholic Church.  This book, published by Our Sunday Visitor, contains the official English translations of the 25 audiences.  [For a great overview of the Fathers of the Church, read NewAdvent's article  -- this will explain who the fathers are and why we rely on their writings/teachings to help learn more about our faith.]

What are "Wednesday General Audiences"?  From the Pontifical North American College website, the purpose of general audiences is explained as:
So the Wednesday audience is used by the Holy Father as a chance to teach the faithful ... and Pope Benedict used many of his audiences during 2008 and 2009 to teach all of us about the foundations or our Catholic faith, using the Fathers of the Church as the theme.  Each audience (and "chapter" in this book) covers a different "Father of the Church":

Each Wednesday, the Holy Father holds a general audience in Vatican City at 10:30 a.m. During the audience, a Gospel passage is read and is followed by a reflection given by the Holy Father. After this reflection, the Holy Father will greet many of the large groups present at the audience. At the end, he imparts his Apostolic Blessing upon the pilgrims present, their family and friends, as well as any religious objects.

1. St. Leo the Great
2. Boethius and Cassiodorus
3. St. Benedict of Nursia
4. Pseudo-Dionysius, the Areopagite
5. St. Romanus the Melodist
6. St. Gregory the Great
7. St. Columban
8. St. Isidore of Seville
9. St. Maximus the Confessor
10. John Climacus
11. Bede, the Venerable
12. St. Boniface, the Apostle of the Germans
13. Ambrose Autpert
14. Germanus of Constantinople
15. St. John Damascene
16. St. Theodore the Studite
17. Rabanus Maurus
18. John Scotus Erigena
19. Sts. Cyril and Methodius
20. St. Odo of Cluny
21. St. Peter Damian
22. Symeon the New Theologian
23. St. Anselm
24. Peter the Venerable
25. St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Each of these men have one thing in common -- they each wrote or preached in the first and second generations after the Apostles, helping to defend the newborn Christian faith, helping to elucidate the tenets of the Catholic Church, helping to "create a timeless anchor of faith that extends through the challenges of today."

Now, some of these guys I'd heard of -- Sts. Cyril and Methodius who helped bring the Faith to Eastern Europe, St. Boniface who evangelized the Germanic peoples, St. Bernard of Clairvaux who is famous for his great devotion to the Blessed Mother as well as some others.  But, about a quarter of these men, I'd never read about before:  Boethius and Cassiodorus, Ambrose Autpert, Germanus of Constantinople, St. Theodore the Studite, and Rabanus Maurus.  But, this little book ... with its half-a-dozen pages on each man's life and works, has taught me so much about our Faith, has helped me to understand the underpinnings of some of the Catechism I take for granted.

This is a great read but also a great book to have on each Catholic's shelves (as would Volume 1, which discusses the fathers from St. Clement (the third pope) to St. Augustine of Hippo).  This is a wonderful reference book or meditation and I will be using it next Fall when teaching my own kids about our Catholic faith.

---

This book was sent to me as a part of the Catholic Company's book review program.  I was only required to write a review, but the above comments are my true and honest opinion of this work.  For further information about this book, please check the Catholic Company's website.

AMAZING resource for Catholic homeschoolers ...

... is just a subscription away.

The Spring 2010 issue is arriving in mailboxes as I write.  This issue includes a great unit study on learning about world geography with little kids (altho the unit would work with older siblings, too!) while the articles carry-through the theme of picture books and the wonder within childhood. 

Of special note, is a wonderful review of my book, In His Image.  Check it out and let me know what you think ... and if you haven't subscribed yet, what are you thinking?  mater-et-magistra is the ONLY Catholic homeschool magazine published and is well-worth the subscription price.   I write the quarterly column on handcrafts ... but there are always great articles with teaching tips, resource suggestions, and supportive stories to "educate the heart and the mind of the Catholic home".  There is always a pull-out unit study as well as reviews of wonderful books for young and old.

 

Field Trip: Williamsburg June 2010!

One of the nice things about educating our kids in the heart of our home is that we can take advantage of off-times for field trips and other activities.  Often there is a community group that will set-up "homeschool days" at some of the choicer sites.  One such group ... REACH of Virginia ... specializes in organizing fantastic field trips and awesome activities for homeschooled kids in our area. 

Case in point:  We just got back from 2 days in Williamsburg, thanks to REACH.  A mini-homeschool expo at the Great Wolf Lodge was the "excuse" for spending an overnight -- the amazing waterpark at the Lodge had nothing to do with our enthusiasm, of course! 

The expo was small, but we were able to actually talk face-to-face with vendors about area attractions and potential field trips, finding out about special programs and activities geared to maximize our ability to come during "off season".  Later Monday afternoon, we spent 4+ hours of swimming, sliding, floating and generally having a wonderful time in water.  Tuesday we got even more exercise walking around the entire Colonial area of Williamsburg and shopping at the Yankee Candle Factory (where it snows every 4 minutes). 

Since Williamsburg is just two hours from home ... seems like we'll be heading down to that area alot, especially now that we have a handle on what's available for homeschoolers at the Virginia Living History Museum, Yorktown-Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg and other area hotspots!

Gotta love homeschooling!

Feast Day: Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Birthdays: Happy 21st, Brickhead!

Happy 21st Birthday, Brickhead --

we love you and miss you!

 

Feast Day: Bl. Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad

Blessed Maria Elizabetta Hesselblad was the fifth of 13 children in a Lutheran family in Sweden.  In order to help support her family, Maria Elizabetta (18 years old) emigrated to New York, attended nursing school and began working as a nurse at Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan as well as doing home care for the aged and home-bound.  Her work took her into heavily Catholic neighborhoods and she began to see the fulness of the truth in the Roman Catholic Church.  At the age of 22, Maria Elizabetta received conditional baptism in Manhattan and then went to Rome and received her confirmation.  Later, when reflecting on her conversion/baptism, she wrote:

In an instant the love of God was poured over me. I understood that I could respond to that love only through sacrifice and a love prepared to suffer for His glory and for the Church. Without hesitation I offered Him my life, and my will to follow Him on the Way of the Cross.

She returned to New York briefly, sailing back to Rome to begin life as a religious sister.  She was welcomed by the Carmelites, who had custody of the house where St. Bridget of Sweden lived and died in 1373.  In 1906, St. Pius X allowed her to take the habit of the Order of the Most Holy Savior of Saint Bridget and profess vows as a spiritual daughter of the Swedish saint. In 1911, Maria Elizabetta re-established the Order of the Most Holy Savior of St. Bridget (the Brigettines) in Rome and immediately began to receive vocations to her order, including the establishment of other convents throughout Europe -- Djursholm (Sweden, 1923), Lugano (Switzerland, 1924), Iver Heath (England, 1931), Piazza Farnese (Rome, 1931), and Vadstena (Sweden, 1935), to which the Brigittines returned after 350 years of suppression. In 1937, a mission of her daughters is sent to India.

WW2 found Maria Elizabetta assisting the persecuted (Jews and others the Third Reich deemed unnecessary) -- hiding them, feeding them, helping them at great risk to herself and her convent.

In 1957, at the age of 87, Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad died a natural death.  She was beatified by JP2 in 2000.