
Rita Carfagna recommends The Impact of God, Soundings from St. John of the Cross by Iain Matthew. She writes, "It was highly recommended by a Carmelite friend of mine and it is very good." She also recommends Everything is Grace, The Life and Way of Therese of Lisieux by Joseph Schmidt.

Janet Lehane recommends Margaret Silf's Roots and Wings, and work being done by Louis Savary on the Exercises in light of his study of Teilhard de Chardin. She writes, "I like to think of Ignatius' gift of the Exercises as adaptable to current consciousness- they are timeless in so many ways."

Pat Cleary-Burns recommends Paul Elie's The Life you Save May Be Your Own: "It is a wonderful combination of biography and literary criticism woven together of 4 Catholic writers of the 40's-70's: Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Walker Percy and Flannery O'Connor."
He also recommends Michael Downey's Altogether Gift, for its "terrific spirituality of the Trinity."
Julie Exline recommends Sue Monk Kidd's When the Heart Waits. She writes: "I would highly recommend this book especially for those dealing with midlife issues or transitional seasons of life. It focuses on periods of waiting and how we basically have to cocoon and wait in the darkness--but spiritual growth is happening while we are inside, and we will eventually come to a place of transformation. The book is beautifully written, and I got a lot out of it. It's like a positive spin on the "Dark Night of the Soul" concept in a highly readable format."
Eugenia Gyi recommends 101 Questions and Answers on the Bible by Raymond E. Brown, an eminent Scripture scholar, the author of the book used in ISI during Advent (An Adult Christ at Christmas) She writes:
"The book was recommended as an optional companion reading in my "journey into Scripture" series in my parish. I enjoyed the book so much, that I decided to share my enthusiasm with all of you. It is an easy read; I could hardly put it down...
"As the title states, the author formulates questions (commonly asked by the audience at his lectures, probing, "modern day" questions) and answers them. The unique style of his answers captivated me. In the words of Brown: 'Throughout my responses you can detect that I have a sense according to which Christianity, stemming from the incarnation, has to preserve attitudes that are in tension - the incarnation, involving the fully divine and fully human in Jesus, is a primary tension. The Scriptures, as entirely words written by human beings and yet stemming uniquely from God, involve tension. The church and the sacraments, instituted by Christ and yet going beyond any blueprint or expressed detailed plan uttered by Jesus, involve tension. So also does ministry, identifiable with the community from whence the ministry springs and yet set apart for service in the presence of God and representing Christ the priest.' (p 127)"
BOOK REQUESTS
Janet Lehane is looking for John English, SJ's article Twenty-Four Spiritual Exercises for the New Story of Universal Communion published by Progressio, Rome, 2003 (a CLC publication). If anyone has access to Progressio, she would appreciate help as she is having trouble finding it. Please email her at lehanecooney@hotmail.com.