What are you currently reading?

Started by Francisco Suárez, December 26, 2012, 09:48:56 PM

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Gardener

The book of Isaiah, Louis de Wohl's The Joyful Beggar (St. Francis of Assisi), and Col. Stuart A. Herrington's Traitors Among Us: Inside the Spy Catcher's World.
"If anyone does not wish to have Mary Immaculate for his Mother, he will not have Christ for his Brother." - St. Maximilian Kolbe

Jacob

Quote from: Jacob on November 12, 2019, 07:04:55 PM
Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin, translated by Lisa C. Hayden.

I enjoyed this very much and got a lot out of it.  It is an easy read, moves right along, with interesting characters.  It doesn't drag at all.
"Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker's game because they almost always turn out to be—or to be indistinguishable from—self-righteous sixteen-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time."
--Neal Stephenson

Jacob

Went to the library today and dropped off Laurus.  Picked up The Aviator by Vodolazkin.  It was well reviewed.  It won awards.  Translated by the same woman.
"Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker's game because they almost always turn out to be—or to be indistinguishable from—self-righteous sixteen-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time."
--Neal Stephenson

red solo cup

Rescue of the Bounty: Disaster and Survival in Superstorm Sandy by Michael Tougias and Douglas Campbell.
non impediti ratione cogitationis

Philip G.

#2209
I am reading Tan Modern Saints, Louis Lamour short stories of the frontier, and Pascal's Provincial Letters. 

I just came across a passage last night that seems like a prophecy in Letter 2 of Pascal, where in dialogue with the New Thomists who try to ride a middle between the Jesuits and the Jansenists, Pascals says to him/them.  "The Jesuits will gain a triumph, it will be their grace, which is sufficient in fact, and not yours which is only so in name, that will pass as established: and the converse of your creed will become an article of faith." 

For a bit of context, Pascal says "in one word, then, I found that their difference about sufficient grace may be defined thus.  the Jesuits maintain that there is a grace given generally to all men, subject in such a way to free will that the will renders it efficacious or inefficacious at its pleasure, without any additional aid from God and without wanting anything on his part in order to act effectively; and hence they term this grace sufficient, because it suffices of itself for action.  The Janesnists, on the other hand, will not allow that any grace is actually sufficient which is not also efficacious; that is, that all those kings of grace which do not determine the will to act effectively are insufficient for action; ;for they hold that a man can never act without efficacious grace."

As for the doctrine of the new thomists "it is rather an odd one, they agree with the jesuits in admitting a sufficient grace given to all men, but they maintain at the same time, that no man can act with this grace alone, but that in order to do this, he must receive from God an efficacious grace which really determines his will to the action, and which God does not grant to all men."  "So, this grace is sufficient without being sufficient?  Exactly."

Do you think Pascal's prophecy came true?  Do you think the Jesuit's sufficient grace ties in with modernism? 
For the stone shall cry out of the wall; and the timber that is between the joints of the building, shall answer.  Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and prepareth a city by iniquity. - Habacuc 2,11-12

Bernadette

Little Dorrit. One of my favorites. :)
My Lord and my God.

red solo cup

The Last Job: The "Bad Grampas" and the Hatton Garden Heist by Dan Bilefsky
non impediti ratione cogitationis

Prayerful

A Kindle Liturgical Year which seems fairly well done, and at c. 18 Euro is cheap than the hardcopy, which I'll get in time. Also an abbreviated Butler's Lives of the Saints[/url] 'edited for daily use' by Rev. Bernard Kelly. Published 1949. Interesting.
Padre Pio: Pray, hope, and don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.

Philip G.

I started reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and so far I am enjoying it. 
For the stone shall cry out of the wall; and the timber that is between the joints of the building, shall answer.  Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and prepareth a city by iniquity. - Habacuc 2,11-12

Michael Wilson

Phil,
the critique by Pascal on the Thomistic concept of "Sufficient grace" is the same as that emitted by other Catholic non-Thomistic theologians. The Thomists responded by stating that the Jesuit concept of "Sufficient grace" is Neo-Palagian. I agree with Pascal's view; but the Church has permitted both the Thomists and Molinists to hold their view and not to qualify the opposing one with the note of heresy. So things pretty much stand as they were after the "Chapter of Grace".
"The World Must Conform to Our Lord and not He to it." Rev. Dennis Fahey CSSP

"My brothers, all of you, if you are condemned to see the triumph of evil, never applaud it. Never say to evil: you are good; to decadence: you are progess; to death: you are life. Sanctify yourselves in the times wherein God has placed you; bewail the evils and the disorders which God tolerates; oppose them with the energy of your works and your efforts, your life uncontaminated by error, free from being led astray, in such a way that having lived here below, united with the Spirit of the Lord, you will be admitted to be made but one with Him forever and ever: But he who is joined to the Lord is one in spirit." Cardinal Pie of Potiers

Michael Wilson

I just finished reading "This Kind of War" by T.R. Fehrenbach. The classic history of the Korean War;
I found it very interesting, one of the best Military History books I have read. The action is gripping and heartbreaking at the same time, as one reads of the sad and unprepared state that our soldiers were in when thrown into combat with a very determined enemy.
an Amazon Review From Mike Powers:
QuoteBefore this year, I knew very little about the Korean War. Now I know a lot more about what is called "the forgotten war," thanks to two books on the subject that I've read over the last two months. Earlier this week, I finished "This Kind of War: The Classic Military History of the Korean War" by T.R. Fehrenbach.

Fehrenbach tells his story primarily through the perspective of the individual soldiers who fought on the front lines of the war. He describes the living hell of some of the great battles of the war, including Seoul, Osan, Inchon, Imjin River, Chosin (Changjin) Reservoir, Bloody and Heartbreak Ridges, Pork Chop Hill, and others.

Fehrenbach wrote "This Kind of War" about ten years after he served in Korea as an Army officer. Although doesn't mention his Korean War experiences anywhere in his book, Fehrenbach's disillusionment with how the war was fought at all levels fairly drips from each page. His main criticism is that the United States was very much unprepared to fight a major land war in Asia – or anywhere else, for that matter. The Truman Administration had spent the five years after the end of World War II gutting defense budgets, reducing military personnel levels, and depriving the armed forces of the essential equipment they needed in order to win. Soldiers – especially those stationed in Japan, the ones who would end up being sent to Korea – had lost their fighting edge due to inadequate training and soft living.

Fehrenbach brings to life many of the most famous historical events of the war, including President Harry Truman's firing of General Douglas MacArthur, the death of General Walton Walker in a motor vehicle accident, and – most interestingly – the plight of prisoners of war (POWs) on both sides. Relying on interviews with American POWs who survived captivity, Fehrenbach paints a devastating picture of the sub-human conditions these soldiers were forced to endure. The author also gives a detailed account of the uprising in the United Nations POW camp on Koje-do Island, and how that rebellion by North Korean and Chinese prisoners was suppressed.

"This Kind of War" is an excellent account of the Korean War. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and I learned a great deal from it. Highly recommended.
"The World Must Conform to Our Lord and not He to it." Rev. Dennis Fahey CSSP

"My brothers, all of you, if you are condemned to see the triumph of evil, never applaud it. Never say to evil: you are good; to decadence: you are progess; to death: you are life. Sanctify yourselves in the times wherein God has placed you; bewail the evils and the disorders which God tolerates; oppose them with the energy of your works and your efforts, your life uncontaminated by error, free from being led astray, in such a way that having lived here below, united with the Spirit of the Lord, you will be admitted to be made but one with Him forever and ever: But he who is joined to the Lord is one in spirit." Cardinal Pie of Potiers

Lynne

Quote from: Prayerful on December 19, 2019, 12:11:42 PM
A Kindle Liturgical Year which seems fairly well done, and at c. 18 Euro is cheap than the hardcopy, which I'll get in time. Also an abbreviated Butler's Lives of the Saints[/url] 'edited for daily use' by Rev. Bernard Kelly. Published 1949. Interesting.

That *is* a great price for The Liturgical Year... I bought the Advent and Book One of the Christmas volumes (so far).
In conclusion, I can leave you with no better advice than that given after every sermon by Msgr Vincent Giammarino, who was pastor of St Michael's Church in Atlantic City in the 1950s:

    "My dear good people: Do what you have to do, When you're supposed to do it, The best way you can do it,   For the Love of God. Amen"

Heinrich

Twilight of the Hapsburgs by professor Alan Palmer. 
Schaff Recht mir Gott und führe meine Sache gegen ein unheiliges Volk . . .   .                          
Lex Orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi.
"Die Welt sucht nach Ehre, Ansehen, Reichtum, Vergnügen; die Heiligen aber suchen Demütigung, Verachtung, Armut, Abtötung und Buße." --Ausschnitt von der Geschichte des Lebens St. Bennos.

Bernadette

#2218
Quote from: Prayerful on December 19, 2019, 12:11:42 PM
A Kindle Liturgical Year which seems fairly well done, and at c. 18 Euro is cheap than the hardcopy, which I'll get in time. Also an abbreviated Butler's Lives of the Saints[/url] 'edited for daily use' by Rev. Bernard Kelly. Published 1949. Interesting.
Finally! I've been waiting for so long for a kindle version! I've got a hardcover set that I'd be willing to part with, if you're interested. ;)
My Lord and my God.

Prayerful

Quote from: Lynne on December 25, 2019, 04:18:44 AM
Quote from: Prayerful on December 19, 2019, 12:11:42 PM
A Kindle Liturgical Year which seems fairly well done, and at c. 18 Euro is cheap than the hardcopy, which I'll get in time. Also an abbreviated Butler's Lives of the Saints[/url] 'edited for daily use' by Rev. Bernard Kelly. Published 1949. Interesting.

That *is* a great price for The Liturgical Year... I bought the Advent and Book One of the Christmas volumes (so far).

I ordered v1 off Ebay, for most of what I paid for the Kindle text. A hardback book has a comfy aspect, and a hardback Liturgical Year, but the price tag for it, and quite probably the space requirements, will be a bit beyond me for a while. Glossaries for words link to the online Catholic Encyclopedia[/url], and the content is properly navigable.
Padre Pio: Pray, hope, and don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.