The Queue

Life Is Messy is a self-help book. God is mentioned, but He is peripheral to what Matthew Kelly describes as an essentially human project. This is anathema to the Christian faith, the core of which is that we cannot help ourselves, cannot save ourselves. If we could, we would not need a Savior. The Cursillo Movement exhorts us to read only the best books; a lifespan of a thousand years would not be enough to read all the books one might desire to read, so only reading the best books is an act of self-care & a manifestation of wisdom. To continue reading claptrap like Life Is Messy would be both self-destructive & foolish. Life Is Messy is thus the last of Kelly's books I will read.

Last week, I started co-facilitating a study of The Bible Timeline: The Story of Salvation at our parish, Saint Matthew. Walking with God, co-written by Bible Timeline creator & presenter Jeff Cavins, follows & expands upon the Bible Timeline's mnemonic device of parsing the story of salvation into twelve color-coded periods, & I thus thought it would be an excellent companion to the study. The Bible Timeline study is scheduled to last until May; so, I ought to be reading Walking with God bit by bit until then.

Centered is a gift I received as a result of signing up for a free month of the Word on Fire Institute. The only extended writing of Bishop Barron's I've read is his Letter to a Suffering Church. I routinely enjoy his weekly sermons, podcasts, films (both the shorter YouTube reaction videos & the longer film series, such as Catholicism & The Pivotal Players), & Gospel reflections, & I have a couple of his books in the queue; so, I'm looking forward to delving into his literary output.

Recently
Cy Kellett, A Teacher of Strange Things: Who Jesus Was, What He Taught, & Why People Still Follow Him
Ralph Martin, A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward
Matthew Kelly, Life Is Messy

Currently
Robert Barron, Centered: The Spirituality of Word on Fire
Tim Gray & Jeff Cavins, Walking with God: A Journey through the Bible

Presently
Pope Saint John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint: On Commitment to Ecumenism
Robert Barron, Eucharist
various, The Word on Fire Vatican II Collection
David Russell Mosley, The Green Man