Pope John Paul II

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Quotable Quotes from Pope John Paul II
Inspirational!
powerful words that inform, enlighten and inspire
Inspirational
Inspiring Quotes at a Nice Price

Pope John Paul II: In My Own Words
Pope John Paul II
Manufacturer: Gramercy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Way to Christ: Spiritual Exercises
Crossing the Threshold of Hope
Jesus of Nazareth
Memory and Identity: Conversations at the Dawn of a Millennium
The Poetry of Pope John Paul II Roman Triptych Meditations

ASIN: 0517220849
Release Date: 2002-08-06

Book Description

Spiritual father of millions, globally influential leader: Pope John Paul II's words have brought inspiration, solace, and courage to those who have listened. The quotes and prayers collected here are both for the faithful and for those who have been touched by and want to know more about this remarkable man. His words on love, family, truth, freedom, human relationships, the power of God, and the importance of hope and prayer explore what it means to be alive and what we are doing here on Earth, and offer answers to some of life's hardest questions.

Customer Reviews:

Quotable Quotes from Pope John Paul II.......2006-11-04

`Pope John Paul II: In My Own Words.' Whose words? The title was ambiguous and misleading. Though I found the book on the stands I didn't buy it. Eventually a friend gave me a copy and I sat down with it. The inside flap cover of the book calls it "Pope John Paul II: In His Own Words." That title makes better sense. Whatever the title be, the book contains valuable quotes from the spiritual giant of our time, Pope John Paul II. These quotes and prayers from the Pope's pastoral letters, homilies, encyclicals, speeches and audiences are classified into different heads. There is also an introduction containing a short biography of the late pope. It is a nice little book on Pope John Paul II, useful for easy reference.

Inspirational!.......2006-03-24

This book is a collection of quotations by the late Pope John Paul II and covers a variety of topics, including Salvation, Truth and Freedom, The Christian Life, Marriage and the Family, The Priesthood, Mary among many others.

This is not the type of book where you should take large bites of in one sitting. This work is better off nibbled piece by piece. I found the passages in this book wonderful inspiration for reflection and prayer. I would rarely read more than a couple of pages at a time. I would read a limited number of passages (as few as one, rarely more than five) and pause to reflect on them and sometimes oven pray over them. I found them not only spiritually edifying, but also intellectual in content.

These quotes were selected and compiled by Anthony F. Chiffolo. The come from homilies, encyclicals, pastoral letters, his own autobiography, among other sources. They are highly inspirational. The holiness and love for God, Christ, and Mary that the Pope has is clearly evident. Even though he is on his eternal journey in Heaven now, for many people like myself, though we have a new Pope, he will always have a special place in the hearts of millions.

powerful words that inform, enlighten and inspire.......2006-03-24

Anthony Chiffolo has compiled the words of His Holiness, Pope John Paul II from many of the Pope's letters, speeches, presentations and encyclicals. The quotes and prayers of Pope John Paul II are arranged into fourteen short and concise chapters, with the subjects being the Trinity, Faith, Christian Life, Progress and the Modern World, the Church, Sacraments and the Priesthood as well as others. His words are personal and intimate, yet at the same time they reach out to everyone. They have the power to touch the reader and to inform, enlighten and inspire.

Inspirational.......2005-12-23

It is hard to imagine not having this in my personal library now that I own it. I struggle at times to find a springboard for my prayers, and after opening up the pages of this book, it was easy to find sources of inspiration. It is a well organized collection of some of Pope John Paul II's most interesting and moving quotes taken throughout his papacy. I recommend it for people who seek an introduction to this Pope's life and legacy.

Inspiring Quotes at a Nice Price.......2005-10-15

This is one of many books of quotes by Pope John Paul II. It is a good set of quotes at a nice price. A great gift for any one... very readable.

Highly Recommended.

For the Children: Words of Love and Inspiration from His Holiness Pope John II

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Short, Sweet, but Profound
A Message of Hope and Peace for Our Youth
Words of wisdom for our younger ones
A Wonderful Book!
Beatiful, inspiring

For the Children: Words of Love and Inspiration from His Holiness Pope John II
Pope John Paul II
Manufacturer: Scholastic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0439149029

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This collection of quotes from Pope John Paul II is a testimonial to his love and respect for the children of the world. Each page offers a stirring, inspirational message that speaks to important Catholic themes in childhood, such as "Family," "School," "Prayer," "Suffering," "Peace," and "My First Communion." Alongside each quote there is an exquisite color photograph of a child or group of children that embodies the theme.

Under the opening heading "Greeting," Pope John Paul offered these words in an address to a crowd of 10,000 children at Vatican City: "The Pope wishes well to everyone, but he has a preference for the youngest, because they had a special place in the heart of Christ, who wished to remain with the children and to talk with the young. He addressed his call to the young especially, and John, the youngest apostle, was his favorite." What child would not feel honored and captivated by such a respectful invitation? This is an excellent gift book for Catholic children, who will certainly beam with pride, prayer, and purpose upon reading this loving tribute. --Gail Hudson

Customer Reviews:

Short, Sweet, but Profound.......2005-05-02

Beautifully written for ease of reading (easier words, short sentences, concise points). Gorgeous messages of God's love for all children and simple ways in which children can live good lives. Pictures are full pages, very colorful, and evoke children of all cultures and races. A great bedtime book, and an absolute keepsake - worth every penny.

A Message of Hope and Peace for Our Youth.......2001-10-18

This book is one of hope and inspiration for all children of the world. It consists of passages taken directly from speeches given by Pope John Paul the II to children and youth groups around the world. The book is geared toward elementary school children of the Catholic faith, but the words will speak to any heart. Each page has a heading, such as "Peace," "Love," "Family," "Faith," and an excerpt from one of the Pope's speeches. There is also an accompanying photo of young children (often depicted with the Pope himself or in the midst of typical religious activities). This is a book that is meant to be read aloud to your child and shared together, as you talk about the meaning of the words within. I find "For the Children" to be especially apt today, in light of the unfortunate tragedies that have befallen our nation and world. One of my favorite passages states: "I say to you, with all the love I have for you,...do not listen to voices which speak the language of hatred, revenge, retaliation....Love life, respect life in yourself and others...do not think that courage and strength are proved by killing and destruction...true courage lies in working for peace." The book also talks about the unconditional love that God has for everyone, about hope for the future, and about praying for peace and harmony in our world. Pope John Paul II is a very wise man, one of the biggest peacemakers of our time. I have a lot of respect for him as a person.I would encourage any parent to buy this book to share with their family and share the message of love and peace found therein.

Words of wisdom for our younger ones.......2001-01-07

This book has excerts of Pope John Paul II's speeches which have been directed to Catholic children. These words of our Pope, however, have significance even to those over the age of 10. I highly recommend this book for First Communicants and for all other Catholic children, because had I had this book when I was younger, I would probably not have fallen into as many traps as I did.

A Wonderful Book!.......2000-05-09

As a second grade religion teacher, this book is one of the most inspiring gifts you can give to your child! It is an ideal gift for a First Comminion, or to children preparing for First Communion next year. It's also a great gift for anyone working with chilren preparing for the sacraments. While first and second graders will need some help with the bigger words, this is a book to be read and shared with your child. The Pope's words speak volumes for both children and adults. I also purchased a copy for the pastor at my church, who used portions of the book in his homily at my parish's First Communion Mass. My favorite section is the Pope's recollection of his own Holy Communion day.

Beatiful, inspiring.......2000-05-04

This is a beautiful book. It contains photographs of children from all over the world with the Pope along with the text from his writings and speeches about children, including his letters to children. Very thoughtfully put together, easy to read. It makes a wonderful gift for children as well as adults who work or live with children - a wonderful reminder of what a precious gift children are in our lives!

The Poetry of Pope John Paul II Roman Triptych Meditations

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A beautiful book . . .
Looking Back - You Will Be Grateful For Buying This Book
A Poet-Pope's Enigmatic Finale
A Wonderful Book
Not the Originals

The Poetry of Pope John Paul II Roman Triptych Meditations
Joannes Paulus II
Manufacturer: USCCB Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Memory and Identity: Conversations at the Dawn of a Millennium
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ASIN: 1574555561

Book Description

In this collection, Pope John Paul II contemplates the great questions of our lives-the mystery of creation, the invisibility of beginnings, the end of existence, and eternity that follows.

Customer Reviews:

A beautiful book . . . .......2007-02-06

. . . showing the deep thoughts of one of the spiritual giants of our time.

Both poetry and spiritual meditation, this book is a gift of love to the world from Pope John Paul II (The Great) as he contemplated the approaching end of his long life. The reader will want to take time with this volume; it is not designed for "speed-reading". Rather, it is to be savored slowly and prayerfully.

A powerful book from a mystical perspective. I can't speak highly enough about it.

Looking Back - You Will Be Grateful For Buying This Book.......2006-03-30

Yes, it is a slim volume of poetry. And yes, poetry is not usually at the top-of-the-charts in popularity. But this was no ordinary poet. This was Our Great Holy Father, John Paul II. And while some said he could have done more for the faithful, in my opinion he did everything possible - if you truly believe in God's will. And most respectfully, this was (again, in my opinion only) John Paul II's only way of conveying the dire times in which we live and prophesying as well via the poetry genre - always subject to differing interpretations. One can feel his heart on every single word of each poem. Thank goodness we live in a country that offers us the most precious Freedom of Speech & Press - so that all we need do is "click" and purchase such a treasure for a song.

A Poet-Pope's Enigmatic Finale.......2005-11-02

The handsome little volume comes with drawings by Michelangelo for illustrations and an afterward by Cardinal Ratzinger. The work itself takes up about twenty pages, and directly references the coming conclave at the pope-author's death, but does not name names. Nor does it explicitly discuss church parties and issues. The three parts of the poem are first, a meditation while walking on a mountain stream, next reflections in the Sistine Chapel including the musings on conclave, and finally a casting of the Abraham and Isaac story. The language is plain and the verse entirely free; it has little to put off a reader uncomfortable with poetry. The observations and thoughts are also broadly stated and, on the surface, reassuringly mainstream. The book was cast in about as straightforward a form and universal a language as possible. One becomes aware, as it slowly unfurls, that it is consciously aimed on one level at a very broad audience. Thus one slowly begins to confront the seriousness of its intent. And it then becomes clear that this is a fully intentioned closer to the entire poetic career, and arguably to much more.

The earlier Wojtyla as a poet was no modernist in the theological sense but he certainly shared the coded, existential approach one finds in Iron Curtain poets such as Milosz or in Solzhenitsyn's prose poems. There is often in such writers a double disguise -- religious message largely hidden, the language and context of Marxist intellectuals often adopted. The local cultural commissar would have let it all pass. Thus the future pope was able to sharpen a useful underground strategy as a creative writer. That should not be ignored here, however superficially it might seem that this strong pope was able to say just about anything he wanted.

In Triptych's first section, "The Stream," a man is hiking along clear mountain streams, and considers its clear course downhill over stone. In that direction lies an easy trek home. The meditation turns to water itself, as a sort of mystery to be unlocked in itself:

"What do you say to me, mountain stream?
Where do you encounter me?"

The enquiry thus at least opens toward pure metaphysical speculation. One cannot help but recall young Wojtylas's virtual immersion in the modern philosopher Husseryl and the very odd philosophy of phenomenology, which held that things are what use we put them to, how they stand in relation to other things -- not absolutes -- a viewpoint fundamentally different from the Thomism one might have expected. This is the direction of the walker's question, as he quite literally in his wanderings follows the meandering path cut by the stream. The stream is thus asked questions only it can answer. We are quite clearly and quickly, then, in a realm where the entire issue of belief is wide open. But what a yawning gulf this seems! And we have a pope here on this precipice of doubt and unbelief, and at age 83 no less? It may not necessarily shake your faith but, for a moment, it may well make you shake your head. Certainly no pope in history has ever spoken in the first person in these terms, even implicitly or under the mask of art. But the plain surface clarity, like the cold water, is at least for once refreshing. John Paul II was certainly a modern through and through, at least on an artistic level, and obviously could not escape such a root formation in the society from which he came. He candidly reveals how at home he was with that here, near his end. Yet we must also keep in mind the strategy of appearing to be a secular man, learned under Communism's fist, and consider what might be coded underneath a modernist mask.

Our mountaineer quickly realizes that "the rushing stream cannot wonder . . . but man can wonder!" And just as quickly turns uphill -- the more difficult trek to "the source," against the current.. For in this direction only lie the answers to his restless questioning. It is good at least to have decision -- in the vocabulary of phenomenology and Wojtyla's graduate thesis, an act of an "acting person." Whether action must precede faith the audience will leave for another day, but only because we have no choice: this is the last word from this quester, after all, the closer. There will soon be no more such days for him. And he is revealing both that an analytical faith has always been his way and that, to all intents and purposes, at least in this most personal voice, he knew no other.

The next section, "Meditations on the Book of Genesis at the Threshold of the Sistine Chapel," lands us firmly in the Sistine Chapel, guided specifically by the art of Michelangelo's Last Judgment on the ceiling above. The mystery of the Creation toward which the climber in "The Stream" mounted his steps against the current is now made manifest:

". . . the Book awaits its illustration. -- And rightly.
it awaits its Michelangelo."

Great praise for the artist, indeed, but the artist is also the art -- Michelangelo also stands for man, as a created being. And a subtle change in atmosphere has occurred, as the anonymous pilgrim has melded into the strictly personal: "I stand at the entrance of the Sistine Chapel." Yet "this threshold" too has a general meaning, it is metaphor for the eternal Word, also named as a threshold. As for the content of this lesson, "Michelangelo penned it." And it is all about:

"the Judgment, the Last Judgment.
This is the road that all of us walk --
each one of us."

Thus begins a long meditation on the end and the beginning, both "invisible" but knowable, it is asserted, by careful meditation on the ceiling as it explicates the story of the garden alongside the story of the Judgment. Michelangelo, as man, thus takes us back to the first man, who is also, before his fall, an unimaginable paradigm of the heavenly perfection promised to the just. The pope-poet insists we grasp this difficult mystery of perfection "pre-sacrament," as also explicated in words he passed under every day for eight years, "as I entered the gate of the gymnasium in Wadowice":

"Heaven is pleased with what is pure; come with pure robes
and with unsullied hands drink from the source"

This, then, is the dead center of the poem, the source of the mountaineer's stream. And the pope also insists that this perfection which God saw, and upon which He proclaimed "it was good" -- in His image and likeness as embodied in "the richness of a riot of colors" in Michelangelo's vision -- remains the Truth, the Word, against the argument of history which denies it -- "Even our own twentieth century!" For "no century can obscure this truth."

Here then, too, seems to lie a pointed reply to the criticism of a whole party in the present day Church, and perhaps an explanation for aspects of his papal program that it found scandalous -- particularly in the realm of ecumenism. Simply, John Paul II had made a prudential judgment as pope: that a reply to the monstrous argument of materialist "history" was a more paramount task for himself as pontiff, at this particular human "threshold," than tipping the balance in favor of this party or that party in Roman Catholic affairs. He tacitly acknowledges any argument against his judgment in this respect; say what you will, on whatever side, he knew somebody had already said it. But if I have been wrong, he almost seems to plead for himself, it was not for want of prayer and meditation on my responsibility -- much of which prayer occurred before the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel, the same place that the conclave would take place. This meditation quickly dovetails back to 1978 where his papacy began and ahead, to its end:

" . . . in August, and again in October
in the memorable year of the two Conclaves
and so it will be once more, when the time comes,
after my death."

The pope's only expressed hope, regarding this coming event, was that those cardinals there assembled would meditate on these same frescoes of Judgment, and "see themselves in the midst of the Beginning and the End." It was an urgent desire:

"Michelangelo's vision must speak to them . . . .
During the conclave Michelangelo must teach them --
Do not forget . . .
All is laid bare and revealed before His eyes."

Of one fact concerning his successor the poet-pope was confident: "He will point him out."

This drama faced, the third section begins, "A Hill in the Land of Moriah," the story of Abraham and Isaac cast in classic exegesis as a prefigurement of the sacrifice of Cavalry. A climb up a mountain for a second time in the poem, a formal repetition of motif, prefiguring the third mountain which does not explicitly appear in the text. The pope's questioning mode renews, and mystery remains but is unfolded formally, slowly. And again it is act -- in this case obedience to the will of God -- that is explicated as the key, indeed:

"For God revealed to Abraham
what it means for a father to sacrifice his own son --
a sacrificial death."

The dialogue of son with father, and the invisible force that stays the dagger are seen as prefigurement of another set of three, the Trinity. This is another parallel to the original setting, "The Stream": the harder way, against the current. To give ourselves in love, true, but in this case a very specific act of love -- total sacrifice, of everything loved, of everything knowable by solely human knowledge. Finally, God's directive to Abraham in the poem's last lines:

"Remember this place once you go forth from here,
this place will await its day . . . ."

In other words, Cavalry. The pope's career as a poet ends with an ellipsis, but the direction to the third mountain, amazingly unnamed throughout the poem, is obvious. Indeed, one is more astonished to realize that the name of Jesus Christ has also been entirely absent throughout, although the poem is all about
His Church and following His cross.

One is thus left with the startling and somewhat unsettling impression of a dialogue that began on the edge of modern relativistic philosophy, and ended with something very unusual in major Catholic art -- the cross not as joy but as warning. So here, the re-examination of this so plain, apparently non-controversial, and even simple stretch of free verse must begin. There is no way this can now even be undertaken, for in the manner of the poet-pope, the enquiry will quickly be seen to be shot through with perhaps unanswerable questions. Was Triptych after all subversive? To whom was this warning directed? Why a warning at all? What great dear thing needed be sacrificed? Why was obscure poetry enlisted for such a major purpose?

Any answers will be seen to open up to major issues concerning this whole long pontificate. That sort of "judgment" awaits the sort of history that is not instant, that will take terribly long if it is ever even possible. But one thing is certain: this pope knew all the criticism from all sides, and expected to be shortly facing an awesome judge. Determinedly, he did not go into that place signing off on a religion of despair. As for those who told him he was dead wrong, a reasonable guess is that many of them -- to his view -- would soon be standing under those frescoes in conclave. They like Abraham, his faith told him, would be provided with a voice of direction. A large part of this poem's burden was to pray, publicly, that they follow it.

A Wonderful Book.......2005-04-21

If you want to know why so many gathered and cheered at his funeral, just read this book.

Not the Originals.......2005-04-14

Bear in mind that this book is a TRANSLATION into English. A translation is never exactly the same as the original.

The Theology of the Body Human Love in the Divine Plan (Parish Resources)

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Theology of the Body -
GREAT !
The fruit of this work has yet to be discovered
A philosophical masterpiece and a "Theological Time Bomb"
Important insights into realist/Christian phenomenology

The Theology of the Body Human Love in the Divine Plan (Parish Resources)
Pope John Paul II , and John S. (FWD) Grabowski
Manufacturer: Pauline Books & Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Customer Reviews:

Theology of the Body - .......2005-06-14

Theology of the Body (T.O.B) gives a dynamic vision of the human person. Pope John Paul discusses human sexuality, vocation (marriage, religious life,etc) through the lense of biblical revelation.

PJ II quotes Vatican II in saying that we are the only creatures on earth "that were willed for their own sake" (Lumen Gentium 26). All the other creatures were created for mankind. Humans were commanded to rule the other creatures.

I found T.O.B to be the best exegesis of Genesis. Truly brilliant and amazing. I was so inspired that I am devoting part of my next book on this very topic.

PJ II tells us that Adam and Eve didn't merely want to be equal with God but they sought to usurp their Creator. They were sharing in the love of God and so they weren't inferior to God. However they believed in the word of a creature over that of the Creator and thought they could take God's throne and take His power!

Yes it is a correlation between human sexuality and God. But it is even more than that. It is about the dignity of the Human Person and Psychosomatic Unity of the Human Person. In giving of ourselves so totally we discover who we are. This is what happened with Adam. He was alone and could not identify with the animals until Eve came from His rib (or as the late Pope puts it, his heart - wow!)

Pope John Paull II does not use the word "SEX" as contemporary society does. He uses it to refer to male or female. Personally I think the word "sex" depersonalises a sacred act. Let me explain. The Catholic Church uses the word Conjugal Union. This refers to a union of body and soul and open to the gift or trasmission of life. Ok, so it may be a mouthful, "Conjugal Union" and take a bit to get used to. Let me challenge you to learn it and use it in discussions. Another word used is "Conjugal Love" Doesn't this sound better than making love.
Through Conjugal love the husband gives himself totally body and soul to his wife and his wife gives herself totally body and soul to her husband.

Did you know that through the Eucharist we can receive Conjugal Love. Christ gives himself totally to us, "Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity!" Now this is a really big WOW! This is awesome, inspirational and mind-boggling. Christ unites with us in the Eucharist.

So yes, Conjugal Union is spiritual and so is receiving our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist!

I have a MP3 talk I've given on Theology of the Body which I can send you. It was a brief talk - only 10 minutes + questions given for a "Faith, Revelation and Theology" paper I have just finished studying at our Catholic Theological College. Email me through my website [...] and I will send the MP3 to you. My next book (my fourth) will feature explaining Theology of the Body for lay people.

I am really happy that more and more people are hearing about Theology of the Body and beginning re discover the richness and power behind the writings of Pope John Paul II. Let's continue to read His works and spread the messages he bestows.

God bless

Brendan Roberts

GREAT !.......2005-03-12

Buy this book. Awesome, awesome explanation of
how we are trully to love .

Thanks !

The fruit of this work has yet to be discovered.......2002-12-18

Pope John Paul II has given us one of the best (if not the best) books of modern theology today. This book is a compilation of many weekly addresses the Pope gave in the early 80's. Now compiled into this one work, we can view the absolute genius of the mind of Pope JPII. His insights into humanity, creation, the human person and the body are without equal. In fact, he may be known for this work more than any other when history judges him in the future. He has given the Church new insights into the dignity of the human person, marriage,... and made it challenging to all of us.

If you haven't read any of the Pope's writings, I suggest you start with his encyclicals, and study them hard, before jumping into this work. The Theology of the Body has already started several grass-roots evangelism projects and my guess is that we are only starting to see the fruit this book will bear.

A philosophical masterpiece and a "Theological Time Bomb".......2002-08-29

The Theology of the Body is comparable in depth of thought to the works of Augustine and Aquinas.

The writings speak to a reader at numerous levels: the personal, the organizational, global, sacramental, familial, paternal, maternal, fraternal, vocational, scriptural, anthropological and many others. The beauty is the integration of teachings at and across each level!

The teachings encapsulated within this work synthesize many truths about humanity and Catholic Christianity.

The book's writings shed light on the fullness of Truth revealed in and over the fullness of time. What was implied in the truth of the Gospel is revealed in a more explicit way in the Pope's analysis.

Topics of interest include: the dignity of the human person, the human body in art versus pornography, the intended relationship between man and woman from the beginning - in the present - and future, what the physical human body reveals about the nature of the person and God, the call to Chastity and Modesty, the universal call to holiness, the mystery of Body of Christ, the mystery of the priesthood, celibacy, and the mystery of the Eucharist and much, much more.

The book is a difficult read if you are not familiar with the Pope's method... but well worth it!!

Important insights into realist/Christian phenomenology.......2001-05-27

Those with a philosophical background may regard JPII's leaning toward phenomenology as either a peripheral "quirk" or a departure from traditional (i.e., Aristotelian-Thomist) realism. "Theology of the Body" should dissuade of either conclusion. JPII's approach to phenomenology is foundational to his celebration of human personhood, and totally realist and thus thoroughly compatible with traditional Christian philosophy. The theological significance of JPII's philosophical approach is clearly demonstrated in his phenomenological exegesis of the existential signficance of man's transition from "original solitude" (before Eve's creation) to "original nakedness" (Adam's encounter with Eve). JPII's meditation on how man's personal self-awareness - and thus his personhood - is fulfilled through the bodily disclosure of another person literally "fleshes out" the teaching of the universal Catechism: God is an eternal exchange of Love, in which man is destined to participate (CCC 221). I only regret that the Pope did not develop the analogy implicit in his meditation between the purely relational Personhood of the Blessed Trinity and the nuptial meaning of the human body.

Catechism of the Catholic Church: Revised in Accordance With the Official Latin Text Promulgated by Pope John Paul II

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A Must Have for any Catholic
Exactly What I Wanted
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Catechism of the Catholic Church
What We Believe and Why We Believe It! A Page-Turner

Catechism of the Catholic Church: Revised in Accordance With the Official Latin Text Promulgated by Pope John Paul II

Manufacturer: Our Sunday Visitor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0879739762

Amazon.com

Catechism of the Catholic Church is the first new edition of the catechism in 400 years. Catechism means "instruction," and this text will remain the standard reference for Catholics for many future generations. It is the authoritative summary of Catholic belief regarding the Church creeds, sacraments, commandments, and prayers. To get some idea of the level of detail with which the Catechism engages Catholic doctrine, consider that 17 pages of explanation accompany the opening words of the Apostle's Creed ("I Believe in God the Father"). The book is exceptionally well organized, with line-by-line explanations of every conceivable aspect of orthodox Catholic belief. Extensive cross-referencing, indexing, footnotes, and "In Brief" summaries of each section further ease the project of finding the precise answers to any questions a reader might have. Even the layout of information on the page is easy on the eyes, with wide margins for readers who wish to make notes. Furthermore, the back cover features a true rarity in the annals of world literature: a blurb by the Pope. --Michael Joseph Gross

Customer Reviews:

A Must Have for any Catholic.......2007-05-06

This book is a must have for any Catholic. If you want to read it online you can go the Vatican's own web site and read it or print it out. However, having a copy of your own that is well made and clearly printed is a must for any Catholic. Why? It is because most Catholics have no idea where to go to get a full document of the stated beliefs of the Catholic religion. Well, my friend, this is it! Finally we have the authoritative teachings of the Catholic Church written down in one large book. That's what this book is. It has taken a long time for this document to come about. It was fought for and Pope John Paul the second finally made it happen.

I will warn you, it is very long and very wordy. It is a scholarly work to say the least. If you have ever read the works of St. Thomas Aquinas then you will have some idea of what caliber this book is. It is not a question and answer session as many other books are. Instead, this book takes you from step one to step 100 in standard book format so that it is as clear as possible given the complexity of the subject matter. It will take you some time to read, at least it is me. But it was worth every penny.

If you want to know more about being a Catholic then definitely get this book and read it. If you are running a Catechism class or teaching young ones then as well get this book and use it. That's why it was made. This book was created to teach you what we as Catholics believe. It is worth gold. Use it in conjunction with the Bible.

Exactly What I Wanted.......2007-04-21

Great little book. It includes everything you need to know, right there.

Love it.

Catechism of the Catholic Church.......2007-03-14

The book was in excellent condition. It was exactly what I expected.

Catechism of the Catholic Church.......2007-02-21

Has answered many of my questions. Very helpful with teaching a confirmation class.

What We Believe and Why We Believe It! A Page-Turner.......2007-02-05

You get wonderfully lost 'in' this Big Green Book - in the wonder of it all - when you start to look up something in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. My husband and I were Converts and, although we knew the Bible very, very well when we came into full-Communion in the Catholic Church, we still had a lot to learn. We both had our own copies of the Big Green Book (this one) as well as several copies of the small light weight white one which went into our book bags. However, this larger Catechism has everything - the best foot notes and an excellent Glossary. The Glossary was written by former Archbishop William Levada, of the Archdioceses of San Francisco Agana, who is now William Cardinal Joseph Levada, the Prefect of the Congregation of the Faith. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is to promote and safeguard the doctrine on the faith and morals throughout the Catholic world - the former role of our new Pope Benedict XVI. Cardinal Levada was the only American to work on the new Catechism.

My husband always called the Big Green Book a page-turner as he just could not stop reading. He would pick up the book to look up one thing and keep reading for hours.

The Amazon price is so amazingly low and you will find it is a great gift. Catholics who feel they must defend their faith - which has lasted over 2,000 years - or just want to learn more about what they believe - will want to own this book. Terrence J. Sexton commented in his review of this Catechism, one of the best comments of all: "Fulton Sheen once wrote that there are only a handful of Americans who hate the Catholic Church, though there are millions who hate what they think the Church is." I have discovered that many cradle Catholics say they came from a very poorly Catechized time and they, too, need and appreciate this book. Truth, and that is Truth with a capital "T" is so clear in this Catechism and topics are all easy to locate.

We, unlike any other Christian group, have the Authority of the Church. It is wonderful to know What we Believe and Why we Believe It.

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This Book Changed my Life. Tolle, Lege.
Changed my heart...
The antidote to the outside world
The best book about love
much more readable than theology of the body

Love and Responsibility
Pope John Paul II
Manufacturer: Ignatius Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0898704456

Book Description

Drawing from his own pastoral experience as a priest and bishop before he became Pope John Paul II, Karol Wojtyla has produced a remarkably eloquent and resourceful defense of Catholic tradition in the sphere of family life and sexual morality. He writes in the conviction that science--biology, psychology, sociology--can provide valuable information on particular aspects of relations between the sexes, but that a full understanding can be obtained only by study of the human person as a whole. Central to his argument is the contrast between the personalistic and the utilitarian views of marriage and of sexual relations. The former views marriage as an interpersonal relationship, in which the well-being and self-realization of each partner are of overriding importance to the other. It is only within this framework that the full purpose of marriage can be realized. The alternative, utilitarian view, according to which a sexual partner is an object for use, holds no possibility of fulfillment and happiness. Wojtyla argues that divorce, artificial methods of birth control, adultery (pre-marital sex), and sexual perversions are all in various ways incompatible with the personalistic view of the sexual self-realization of the human person.

Perhaps the most striking feature of the book is that Wojtyla appeals throughout to ordinary, human experience, logically examined. He draws support for his views on the proper gratification of sexual needs, on birth control, and on other matters, from the findings of physiologists and psychologists. His conclusions coincide with the traditional teachings of the Church, which invoke scriptural authority. His approach ensures that non-Christians also can consider his arguments on their own merits.

Customer Reviews:

This Book Changed my Life. Tolle, Lege........2007-02-15

This is a poetically dangerous book. I first read it some ten years ago, just after having graduated college, when I was emerging from my adolescent decadence & skepticism.. I was searching for understanding, for faith. The thought herein is so limpidly potent it made me high, like great poetry. It radically changed my thought & heart for good. For better. It made me actually embrace the Faith, and the Church's ethic on sexuality & the human person. It really sheds the deepest insight, revealing the pith of what it means to be a human being. To be a man or a woman, a Christian.

So I cannot possibly recommend it highly enough. It should be read by, or explained to every Christian, not just Catholic. It ought to be a part of every Catholic's catechesis, as well as at the top of the reading list of anyone who seeks to understand the Faith.

[Aside: If you are a priest, have you quoted this book in a homily yet? Please, Father.. I mean, I realise hearing from the likes of S. Ambrose or John Chrysostom is waaay too much to ask, but can we get at least this much of the Tradition? Please? Is thirty years back already too far? By that mark we should have already had enough of the St. Louis Jesuits & their ilk by now.. and we all know we're *never* going to get sick of them!]

I've heard (or rather have read) some folks - a rank few - attack this work, and it's author, on the grounds that they are theologically suspect: for being phenomenalist. More Heidegger & Husserl, than Augustine or Aquinas.. For being modernist, in other words. Instead of being reactionary, the pope's too "liberal" for some. Funny. People are such a hoot.

All I can say is that I know nothing about this supposed masonic subversion of the papacy, myself. I only report the nattering for the sake of full disclosure, as it's the only negative criticism I've read of this book anywhere. Virtually every Catholic I respect who has read this book loves it.

Lots of folks from the other side of the spectrum shoot their mouths off and scratch their pens over the Church's teaching on sexuality in general, without ever really bothering to understand it. They call John Paul (and Paul VI & Benedict, etc., etc.) authoritarian killjoys, amongst worse things. (The Church's prohibition of condoms prevents the control of AIDS! Or didn't you know? Wait.. Or is it the Church's prohibition on sexual activity outside marriage? Is that killing people too? I get so confused.. Anyway..) They would never bother to touch this book. They cannot afford to give it a fair read. Like witches with water, trolls sun, vampires garlic, or Kal-El kryptonite, exposure to the truth in these pages burns.

Despite all the cocky posturing, I think many of them sense this.. They know it might actually awaken conscience, and move them to become someone they would rather not be. For, as we all know, an informed conscience can be a truly inconvenient thing. Tant pis..

But useful, nonetheless. Being that it can free you from unhappiness, addiction, "poor self esteem," and that ultimate killer of love, freedom & life: sin. Which is why this book and the "inconvenient" yet beautiful truth that it proclaims is so essential.

Purgatorial fire (Truth, Love) hurts, but cleanses.

Final admonition: acquire & read this book.

Changed my heart..........2006-12-13

This book is so beautiful and stunningly true. It took my breath away and it spoke to my heart. It brought me to a new understanding of my body and how I express Love through it. I feel that it is truly inspired by the Holy Spirit and is a "must read" in this age. It's a great companion to his "Theology of the Body."

The antidote to the outside world.......2006-07-27

"Love and Responsibility" is Karol Wojtyla's analysis of erotic love between men and women. Originally given as a series of university lectures in 1958-59, the book was first published in 1960, ironically the same year the first oral contraceptive pill was approved by the FDA. "Love and Responsibility" is the philosophical foundation on which Wojtyla (later known as John Paul II) based his "Theology of the Body".

The overarching theme of Love and Responsibility is the personalistic norm, whereby one treats others as persons, not as objects of use. This idea is especially important in the realm of sexuality since it can be easy to use the other person even within the bounds of marriage.

I found Wojtyla's writing about shame to be especially interesting. Shame has negative connotations these days, but in Wojtyla's understanding, shame is simply when something that is private crosses a boundary and becomes public. The sexual values of our bodies should remain private, but today many young women dress immodestly making the sexual value of their bodies public, so this would be "shamelessness".

And if anyone is under the impression that the ideas in this book are going to be prudish, just take a read through the final section of the book on Sexology. Wojtyla says a husband must take into account the different sexual arousal rate of his wife so that "climax may be reached by both the man and the woman, and as far as possible occur in both simultaneously." I can see why women liked this pope!

While the reading might be a bit on the philosophical side for some readers at times, I believe if every man would read "Love and Responsibility" and take it seriously, women today would be treated with more dignity and respect that they currently are given.

The best book about love.......2006-02-22

If you have trouble reading theology and a serious analysis about love, but would love to start, this is the book to start with.

much more readable than theology of the body.......2005-09-08

After being involved in a study group about Theology of the Body, someone recommended that I read "Love and Responsibility." I devoured it in a few days, and it was fascinating to see the seeds of his theology being developed. I found it much more readable, and because of this, I gave my boyfriend a copy. John Paul discusses what it means to love another person in such beautiful language. People often think of the Catholic church as being "against sex" and saying that Catholics think sex is dirty, etc. Obviously, this could not be farther from the truth, but John Paul discusses how God's plan for our salvation is intimately entwined with his plan for our human relationships.

My favorite part of the book is towards the end where John Paul shows his true colors as a *real* feminist (not a liberal militant one). He talks about the obligation of a husband to satisfy his wife sexually. That he wrote this before the women's movement is mind-boggling. He discusses the true nature of love, and that in a loving, committed relationship, people will see the other's desires as part of their mission.

An absolutely beautiful book. I feel that if more people read this book, we would have less divorce. It is incredibly powerful.

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Everyone, and Anyone Can Pray to Jesus Christ.
influenced by expectations.
The Pope in person
The pope as a teacher
A beautiful spiritual enlightening book!

The Way to Christ: Spiritual Exercises
Pope John Paul II
Manufacturer: HarperSanFrancisco
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II

ASIN: 0060642165

Book Description

The Writings of One of the World's Greatest Religious Leaders on the Most Important Spiritual Issues of Our Time.

The Way to Christ offers a unique opportunity to experience inspiring sermons Pope John Paul II preached during spiritual retreats he led while he was still a cardinal. In them he addresses the pressing spiritual issues of our day: the miracle and dignity of each human life, the need for a community that nurtures humanity, the necessity of cultivating the inner spiritual life, and the power of Christ to transform our present and future realities. These deeply scriptural, very personal talks celebrate the reality and the immediacy of Christ, offering rich insights and solid guidance for Christians living in today's world.

Customer Reviews:

Everyone, and Anyone Can Pray to Jesus Christ. .......2005-11-09

Knowledge is superb,and easy to learn from Pope John Paul the Second. He says that anyone can learn to pray and that everyone knows how to pray. People should not place themselves down in case they say they don't know. In a couple of minutes one can learn (to Pray to Jesus Christ). Prayer is recommended for one daily. One needs to Pray in order to be at Peace with oneself, as well as with Christ. We follow the commandments, we pray for ourselves, for the poor,repent of our Sins, pray for the sick children, the dead, and to Jesus Christ(most Importantly)-so we can have Salvation. It is through the Son that one will get to the Father. Like i said, very valuable knowledge. Yes! This book is highly recommended.

**another book i recommend to you is "How to avoid Hell" by Friar Schouppe."

influenced by expectations........2005-10-10

A good book about a great man. Yet, it fell short of my expectations - as I expected much more from a man who had risen to tne papacy. One might want to consider the other side of the `John Paul Coin' - Albino Luciani or John Paul I - the valiant champion of human dignity for women, orphans, the remarried, homosexuals and others whose everyday lives are scorned by doctrine. Unlike his successor who was taught from an early age not to question the authority of his ancestors, Albino received his commission to rise to the papacy and bring change to the Church at the age of twelve from his revolutionary activist papa. Two good men - yet, two very different men - two very different sides of the same coin, John Paul II the conservative side and John Paul I the liberal side. I would suggest a look-see at Lucien Gregoire's PAUPER WHO WOULD BE POPE.

The Pope in person.......2005-07-28

This book presents retreat talks for university students by Karol Wojty³a while he was still a cardinal. He doesn't speak as a pope but as an ordinary person and at the same time a great spiritual master. His words are very clear and lucid, even comonsensical but at the same time his message and vision is very deep. He appeals to our deepest yearnings and spiritual intuitions. I'm not a Catholic but a Buddhist but I really recommend this book to everybody as the author's vision seems to embrace all human beings no matter what their faith is.

The pope as a teacher.......2005-04-06

Among the many accomplishments of the man known to the world as Pope John Paul II, his role as a teacher is probably the least trumpeted, but perhaps among the farthest-reaching of his talents. He has worked to shape the theological and spiritual direction, not only of Roman Catholics, but for Christians generally, and even beyond the borders of Christian thought. He was able to accomplish this was some integrity because he did not take syncretist approaches, nor did he shrink from stating very clearly what he himself believed.

This book derives from times he spent as a teacher of students; taking place before he was elevated to the papacy, these essays and lecture/conversations show a depth of thinking in Christian thought.

'It is significant in an age where it would seem the whole destiny of the person and of his existence must be guided and directed from outside,' he said, as he looked for the image of God that is contained in each of us. We are created in the divine image, and that image is reflected in our very being. Every human being has this image. If we deny this image and the relationship with God which it sets up, then we risk the fragmentation of our lives into a lot of external problems.

Humanity tends to ignore both its gift and its obligation in regard to being created in the divine image; the way of Christ is the way we are called to live this image into its fullness, the Pope advocated.

This is a good book for those who seek spiritual renewal; it could also be used as a guide of sorts for spiritual direction and retreats, both on an individual and more communal level.

A beautiful spiritual enlightening book!.......2005-04-03

Pope John Paul just died today, and it is a loss for millions of people. But his words live on in books that he wrote. His words touched lives and will continue to do so long after his death and passage to heaven. God bless this dear man!

Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II

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Jan Tyranowski
The classic bio of one of our greatest modern leaders
Superior in every way
The Hope of Changing the Culture
excellent read

Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II
George Weigel
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060732032
Release Date: 2005-04-05

Amazon.com

Witness To Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II by George Weigel is as comprehensive a biography of its subject as can be hoped for while the Pope still lives. Weigel, a journalist who came to the Pope's attention after the publication of his book, The Final Revolution: The Resistance Church and the Collapse of Communism, wrote Witness To Hope with his subject's encouragement and assistance. Weigel had unprecedented access to the Pope's correspondence (with, among others, world leaders including Mikhail Gorbachev). He reports lengthy conversations with many members of the Pope's inner circle, and he occasionally reveals vivid details of the Pope's daily life (for example, at the beginning of each day, the Pope's adviser's hear moans and groaning from John Paul's solitary prayers in his private chapel).

According to Weigel, the Pope told him that other biographies "try to understand me from outside. But I can only be understood from inside." Unfortunately, Weigel's method for understanding the Pope "from inside" depends on psychological conjecture ("It may help to begin by thinking of Karol Wojtyla as a man who grew up very fast") and is weakened by his extreme eagerness to praise his subject ("the man with arguably the most coherent and comprehensive vision of the human possibility in the world ahead"). More troubling, Weigel does not ask some of the really difficult questions about this Pope--regarding his involvement with sects such as Opus Dei, for example, or the relationship between his innovative "theology of the body" and his conservative stance on homosexuality, or even the vicissitudes of prayer life. Witness To Hope is a valuable book because it reports many facts that others have not reported. But for incisive analysis of this Pope's theological and political significance, or for insight into his spiritual life, readers will have to wait until the principals in his life story are free to speak more frankly with some future biographer. --Michael Joseph Gross

Book Description

Witness to Hope is the authoritative biography of one of the singular figures -- some might argue the singular figure -- of our time. With unprecedented cooperation from John Paul II and the people who knew and worked with him throughout his life, George Weigel offers a groundbreaking portrait of the Pope as a man, a thinker, and a leader whose religious convictions defined a new approach to world politics -- and changed the course of history. As even his critics concede, John Paul II occupied a unique place on the world stage and put down intellectual markers that no one could ignore or avoid as humanity entered a new millennium fraught with possibility and danger. The Pope was a man of prodigious energy who played a crucial yet insufficiently explored role in some of the most momentous events of our time, including the collapse of European communism, the quest for peace in the Middle East, and the democratic transformation of Latin America. This updated edition of Witness to Hope explains how this "man from a far country" did all of that, and much more -- and what both his accomplishments and the unfinished business of his pontificate mean for the future of the Church and the world.

Download Description

The Definitive Biography of Pope John Paul II

Witness to Hope is the authoritative biography of one of the singular figures -- some might argue the singular figure -- of our time. With unprecedented cooperation from John Paul II and the people who knew and worked with him throughout his life, George Weigel offers a groundbreaking portrait of the Pope as a man, a thinker, and a leader whose religious convictions defined a new approach to world politics -- and changed the course of history. As even his critics concede, John Paul II occupied a unique place on the world stage and put down intellectual markers that no one could ignore or avoid as humanity entered a new millennium fraught with possibility and danger.

The Pope was a man of prodigious energy who played a crucial yet insufficiently explored role in some of the most momentous events of our time, including the collapse of European communism, the quest for peace in the Middle East, and the democratic transformation of Latin America. This updated edition of Witness to Hope explains how this ""man from a far country"" did all of that, and much more -- and what both his accomplishments and the unfinished business of his pontificate mean for the future of the Church and the world. "

Customer Reviews:

Jan Tyranowski.......2007-04-12

There is a fiery, mystical core to the young Wojtyla's faith. It is the deepest, darkest layer of the soil which has nourished him throughout his life. All his early heroes are passionate visionaries: the strange, otherworldly Jan Tyranowski; the Spanish mystic, St. John of the Cross; the stigmatic faith healer, Padre Pio. Their emotional, poetic view of the world has sustained him throughout his life. This is a man for whom the great religious truths are viscerally experienced. Christ is alive and walks the earth; the Virgin is a real woman; the Devil is a person not an abstraction. Good and evil are powerful autonomous forces battling each other--the powers of darkness and light. As Pope, he has attended exorcisms, and even officiated at one.
Arguably the most important of all his spiritual mentors was Jan Tyranowski. He met Tyranowski on a cold Saturday afternoon in February 1940, at a weekly discussion group in the parish church; it was a crucial moment in Wojtyla's life. Tyranowski was a strange man--a forty year-old tailor with white-blond hair, a high-pitched laugh and piercing eyes. Neighbors spoke to us about his oddness and his intensity. He was a bachelor who lived with his mother in a small apartment across the street from the Wojtylas. Tyranowski's small rooms were filled with stacks of religious books, sewing machines and several cats. He would stop young men on the street and try to interest them in joining his "Living Rosary," a praying circle and theology discussion group for young people. He recruited youngsters so aggressively that one of them, Mieczyslaw Malinski, the future priest and seminarian friend of Wojtyla, remembers being alarmed by his intrusive personal questions and worried that he might be a Gestapo agent. Father Malinski told us that it took him a long while to warm up to "this bizarre character who talked in a high-pitched affected voice."
Wojtyla, however, was immediately gripped by Tyranowski's personality and the power of his ideas. Tyranowski and Wojjtyla spent an increasing amount of time together discussing the Scriptures and mystical philosophers such as St. Theresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. Malinski tried to argue with Karol about this strange man and even brought up rumors that he had been in a mental institution. Father Malinski wrote about Karol's response in his own biography of the Pope: "Tyranowski has gone through a major life-changing conversion. Look at what is inside him, not his outward experience. Yes, he speaks in a slightly odd, affected manner, but look beyond that. He is a man who lives truly close to God." For Karol, Tyranowski was aflame with God--and this closeness to the flame was an irresistible quality for the young Karol and would remain so for the rest of his life.
Ultimately, Father Malinski grew attached to Jan Tyranowski and entered the rigorous world of The Living Rosary: "When Karol and I committed ourselves to this prayer group, it was all-encompassing. Every moment of the day was organized around activity and relaxation. We were asked to keep detailed records of our prayers and thoughts. Tyranowski took us through each stage very calmly and methodically until we reached the central core of his teaching--what he called the plenitude of inner life. His influence on Lolek was gigantic. I can safely say that were it not for him, neither Wojtyla nor I would have become priests."
Wojtyla later wrote about this defining experience: "What Tyranowski wanted to do was work on our souls--to bring out the resources he knew existed within us." Karol was particularly struck by the quiet, mystical core of his teaching and he remembered vividly the day and hour when his teachings sank into him: "Once in July when the day was slowly extinguishing itself, the word of Jan Tyranowski became more and more lonely in the falling darkness, penetrating us deeper and deeper, releasing in us the hidden depths of evangelical possibilities which until then we had tremblingly avoided...Tyranowski was truly one of those unknown saints, hidden among others like a marvelous light at the bottom of life at a depth where night usually reigns. He disclosed to me the riches of his inner life, of his mystical life. In his words, in his spirituality, and in the example of a life given to God alone, he represented a new world that I did not yet know. I saw the beauty of a soul opened up by grace. "
One of the Pope's most insightful biographers (and our consultant), Tad Szulc, believes that the influence of Tyranowski on the young Wojtyla flowed from their shared attraction to the mystical quality of spiritual life: "Tyranowski gave a wholly new dimension and understanding to Karol's instinctive mysticism and, as much as any profound experience of his young years, it set him on a course towards the priesthood...his mystical legacy to Karol Wojtyla was the 16th century poet and mystic, St. John of the Cross and the desire for the contemplative life." (In fact, after he became a priest, Wojtyla, on two separate occasions, requested permission from his superiors to enter a Carmelite monastery; each time they refused, believing his gifts lay elsewhere.)
On February 18, 1941, exactly one year after he met Tyranowski, Karol suffered possibly his greatest loss--the death of his father. Unlike his calm demeanor and stoic submission to God's will following the deaths of his mother and brother, the loss of his father provoked a torrent of tears and visible pain. He lamented bitterly that he had not been present when his father died. His friend, Maria Kydrynska, was with Karol when they returned home to discover that Karol Wojtyla Sr. had died of a heart attack in bed. She described the scene vividly to Tad Szulc before she died a few years ago: "Karol, weeping, embraced me. He said through his tears, 'I was not present when my mother died, nor when my brother died.'" The apartment was too painful to stay in alone, so he moved in with the Kydrynskas. Years later, John Paul II told the writer Andre Frossard: "I never felt so alone." His friend Father Malinski observed him going to the cemetery every day to pray at his father's grave and said to us, "Karol was so distraught that I was truly worried about him."
From that point onwards, Karol spent a great deal of time with his mentor, Jan Tyranowski, but it would take a year and a half for his vocation to take final shape. Years later the Pope would reflect on the mystery of his vocation in his memoir: "At 20 I had already lost all the people I loved. God was, in a way, preparing me for what would happen....After my father's death I became aware of my true path. I was working at a plant and devoting myself, as far as the terrors of the occupation allowed, to my taste in literature and drama. My priestly vocation took place in the midst of all that--I knew that I was called with absolute clarity."
His reticence--or detachment--is exemplified in his friendship with the theater director, Mieczyslaw Kotlarczyk. Biographer Tad Szulc has described him as "Karol's intellectual, cultural and thespian mentor, the most important person in Karol's life after his father and Tyranowski." For an entire year during the Nazi occupation when all travel was restricted, Karol and Kotlarczyk wrote letters to each other that Halina Krolikiewicz, an actress in the Rhapsodic Theater, would smuggle back and forth from Krakow to Wadowice. Karol's letters were unusually revealing--up to a point. "I surround myself with Books. I put up fortifications of Art and Learning. I work. Will you believe me when I tell you that I am almost running out of time. I read, write, learn, pray and fight within myself. Sometimes I feel horrible pressures, sadness, depression, evil." What is striking about this letter is that Karol could not share, or would not share, his great inner conflict. His friend Lorenzo Albacete described Karol's unusual detachment: "He lived in the most intense solitude, a burning loneliness, and to some extent it was self-imposed...it all goes back to St. John of the Cross, to his exhortation of emptying yourself, stripping away ordinary human supports..."

The classic bio of one of our greatest modern leaders.......2007-03-28

This book is simply superb. It is very long, but the length is justified by the importance of the material and the quality of its handling. Wiegel gives you a long, slow build which describes in great detail every aspect of John Paul II's life. He balances the different aspects of his material extremely well; he will jump from a description of personal events, for example, to a detailed discussion of a philosophic or theological point, but he does so in a way that is easy to read and easy to follow.

This book assumes very little knowledge on the part of the reader, but it conveys a tremendous amount of knowledge. This is a great service, because most of us know very little, for example, about early 20th century Polish culture, yet it is critical to understand this to understand John Paul II. In the same way, there are many subjects which you have to understand to understand John Paul II and Wiegel does a great job of explaining the basics of each, from 20th century philosophy to Eastern European communist politics, and from the political and theological leanings of the Amercan Church to the cult of Mary.

Too much of the time we get bios by writers who know nothing about their subject's areas of activitiy. We get, for example, bios of Napoleon by writers who know nothing about military affairs. We get bios of Plato by people with little understanding of philosophy.

This is not one of those books. Wiegel has made himself the master of all of the subjects needed to understand this amazing man. This book will take you a long time to read, but it is all time well spent.

Superior in every way.......2007-01-29

Its not often that one reads a truly great book, a book that is well-written,informative,moving, and inspiring. This book is such a book. While to some this book might be dauntingly long, it well worth the time and is really not a difficult read. I learned a lot about the papacy and pre-papacy life of John Paul the Great. The author does an outstanding job of capturing the spirit and spirituality of this great man. At the same time, this is not a book that paints an unrealistic portrait of history. It is so gratifying to read a book by an author that is obviously extremely well informed about his subject matter and passionate about it as well. I recommend this book to everyone, Catholic or no. I especially recommend this book to anyone interested in the historical truth about secularism/Nazism/Communism.

The Hope of Changing the Culture.......2007-01-08

A few years ago, I had the pleasure to meet George Weigel. During a Q & A with his audience, I asked about the oft quoted description in Witness to Hope of John Paul II's Theology of the Body (i.e., a "theological time-bomb set to go off with dramatic consequences...perhaps in the twenty-first century."). Of the hundreds of thousands of words in his book, Weigel playfully wondered what it is about that "munitions" wording that leads to such inquiries. Simply put, George, it is a wonderful line!

From what I observe, Catholics do seem to be waking up to the Theology of the Body. Much, much credit is owed to Christopher West, Jason Evert, and others for making the Theology of the Body more accessible. As John Paul II helped do for Poland in the years before the collapse of Communism, we are seeing some first glimpses of leadership for cultural change.

To a world ravaged by Naziism & then Communism, John Paul II was an incredible Witness to Hope. Weigel's work is magnificent and inspiring.

excellent read.......2006-06-22

great insight into the struggles and life of this amazing man! you will walk away with a profound respect for him, even if you didn't like him to begin with.

John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father

Average customer rating:

A Measure of Greatness
Good, But...
A Loving Portrait of a Great and Holy Man
Not Much About Pope John Paul II
Good book about a great man

John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father
Peggy Noonan
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0143037943

Book Description

From New York Times bestselling author Peggy Noonan comes “a beautifully written testimony about . . . the most historically recognized pope” (Library Journal) With such accla imed books as When Character Was King, Peggy Noonan has become one of our most eloquent and respected commentators. Now she offers a stirring portrait of a spiritual and intellectual giant who personally confronted all of the worst tragedies of his age. Drawing on scholarship, interviews with prominent Catholics, and her own experience, Noonan traces the extraordinary life and struggles of Pope John Paul II with characteristic insight and probity—and explores how much we can learn from his leadership, diplomacy, humility, and holiness. Passionate and often deeply personal, John Paul the Great is as exceptional as the man it celebrates.

Customer Reviews:

A Measure of Greatness.......2007-03-22

There can be little doubt that the late Pope John Paul II has been the dominant religious figure of the last fifty years. From the time rose to the papal seat to his recent passing, he exhibited a combination of intellectual clarity, media mastery, incredible charisma, and personal holiness that will likely remain unmatched by any figure on the public stage for some time to come.

Given the qualities of the late pontiff, effective communicating his cultural influence can be a daunting task. A mere bigraphical approach that details the events of his life really will not do justice to the man as his life was far more than a series of events and extended to the manner in which he elicited a response from the faithful. Peggy Noonan understands this connundrum and masterfully presents a fitting tribute to the pope she obviously loved and admired in John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father. In a series of vignettes that focus on key elements of the longest papal reign in recent memory, Noonan combines history and anecdote in a powerful mix that fleshes out the reality of the late pope's overwhelming presence on the world stage.

The key to the insight provided by Ms. Noonan is that besides being a keen observer of world events, she is also a convert to the Catholic faith who looked to Pope John Paul II for spiritual leadership. For one cannot truly understand the late pontiff without understanding the source of his spiritual strength. Without armies and weapons, he manged to have the leaders of superpowers trembling. In this superb tribute, we can see why such trembling occurs despite the lack of earthly power. It was a spiritual battle that Pope John Paul II waged against the "culture of death" and even in the wake of recent scandals in the Catholic Church, he could not and would not be silenced.

Overall, John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father has provided us with a great tribute to a great man. In an era dominated by the shallowness of the media culture, words like "great" get thrown around carelessly at the mediocre. When we do finally come face-to-face with true greatness, we no longer know how to react and often feel threatened. Only those who realize the source of the greatness Pope John Paul II possessed was not of himself could come to grips with his legacy and with this book Peggy Noonan fully grasps the source of his greatness.

Good, But..........2007-03-10

This book is well-written, typical of what you would expect from Peggy Noonan. My only criticism is that she, like most of the American media, seems inordinately obsessed by the priest sexual abuse scandal (she devotes the bulk of two chapters to this topic).

She says that JP II is "guilty" of not doing more about this; yet regarding the worldwide rise of secularism, she does a near-180 and completely exonerates him of any blame. I see this as a lack of consistency on her part.

The more I read, the more I wondered whether her own son might have been a victim of abuse. If that were the case, it would certainly explain much of this curious inconsistency.

A Loving Portrait of a Great and Holy Man.......2006-12-14

To be perfectly honest, Peggy Noonan is not an author whose work I have generally found to be appealing and I only decided to buy this one because of a TV appearance she made promoting the book. In that interview she exhibited a clear sincerity and love for her subject that made me decide to give this book a try. Noonan is of course a very partisan figure and not one that I am apt to agree with very often. Even in a book like this she couldn't resist taking a shot at the Bill and Hillary Clinton but otherwise she managed to leave politics out and I must admit that I was very impressed and deeply moved by this book.

This is not so much a traditional biography of John Paul II as it is the story of how this great man affected one life, that life being the life of Peggy Noonan. Traditional biographies of this great and Holy man are all easy to find and many of them are very good but for the most part they miss out on a very important facet of John Paul's life. That being the effect that he had on millions of individuals from all around the world. Sure he was a intellectual giant, sure he was a great mystic, sure he was a major player in the fall of the Eastern Block and Soviet Russia, sure his impact will be felt on the institutions of the Church for generations to come and he is most assuredly a Saint but there was more. Much more!

This was a man who reached out to people and made them feel special. In John Paul many of us found a spiritual father, as did this author. She only met this Pope on a couple of occasions and I never met him but I felt a closeness to him that is really beyond description. So did Noonan and she does a fabulous job of telling the story of her connection to this great man. The story of the impact that John Paul had on the life of this author and so many millions of other lives is a very important part of his story and this book tells this part of his story in a very moving way.

Despite her great love for John Paul, Noonan does not sugar coat history in this book and she does point out his shortcomings. She is especially hard on the Church leadership regarding the sex scandals that have rocked the American Church over the last few years. She has apparently been very hard on the Church leaders in her columns and when she attended the Beatification ceremony for Mother Teresa she ran into Cardinal Law and they seem to have had words. The very presence of Cardinal Law at the Vatican is a disgrace and I say bravo Peggy Noonan for telling it like it is. I have no clout but with people like Peggy Noonan leading the charge maybe some day Law will get the defrocking and excommunication that he so richly deserves.

No, this is not a book that will give readers a new knowledge of the historical John Paul II. This is instead a book that takes a look at John Paul the Saint, the man who touched us all. Read the other biographies but do not make the mistake of missing out on this aspect of his ministry. To do so would be to miss out on what was truly remarkable about this star of Poland, this John Paul the Great.

Not Much About Pope John Paul II.......2006-12-11

For me John Paul The Great was a major disappointment. Having read and enjoyed Peggy Noonan's columns in the Wall Street Journal for years, I was looking for a good in depth story about the pope. Unfortunately, this book is not so much about the pope, but about the influence the pope had on Ms. Noonan's spiritual renewal and embracing of the Catholic faith.

It is also apparent from Ms. Noonan's comments that she did not have a close relationship with the pope that she could draw upon in writing the book. Rather, her knowledge of the pope was gathered from afar, much like most of us who saw him on television or read about him in the media. If my recollection is correct, she only had two very short audiances with the pope.

The book also tends to ramble about Ms. Noonan's internal struggles with spirituality. Some readers may find this of interest, but since I was looking for insight into the life of John Paul, I was disappointed.

However, the book is not without merit. I for one found the chapter on The Great Shame very interesting and Ms. Noonan's comments parallel exactly how I feel toward the Catholic Church's inability to deal with the child molestation issues. As a Catholic myself, I have been outraged and angered over how the church bishops have handled this issue and they continue to act in a state of denial. The only way this issue is ever going to be satisfactorily resolved is to bring complete transparency to the actions of the church. Unfortuately, the Church continues to maintain a vail of secrecy. Ms. Noonan pulls no punches in critising the American bishops over their behavior regarding the sexual coverup.

If you have an interest in the personal life of Peggy Noonan, I would recommend that you read this book. If not, you may want to pass on this one.

Good book about a great man.......2006-12-08

I give this book a good rating because this book is very honest and decent. It is not really a deep biography as much as it is a light biography with some of Ms. Noonan's own personal disclosures of her own spiritual journey through Christianity. The book to me was inspirational in that it made me think about my own Christian journey and lead to some very good insight on how all of us can be better people. Although I am a Catholic I have only been one for about 4 years after being an Evangelical Protestant for twenty fives years prior. I wish that I knew more about John Paul II and studied him before I became Catholic. I am coming to see that he was really a great man who really loved God and his fellow man. My only criticism of the book is that Ms. Noonan tends to go off on a rabbit trail or two and just when you think that there is going to be a big climax to what she got sidetracked on, the story sort of fizzles out.

This is a short read and it does deal with some of the more major events that occured during the Pope's life. For instance I didn't know that the man who shot John Paul II had lied about his reasons for doing so and changed his story numerous times over the years. I didn't know that John Paul's mother was a seamstress as was Margarette Thatcher's and Ronald Reagan's. Of course all three were instrumental in bringing an end to communism in Europe and the Soviet Union. Finally there is a small history lesson on Pope John Paul I which some may find interesting. It seems that John Paul I did not want to be Pope and knew that he time as Pope was going to be very short.

This is a good read, however if you are expecting a major history lesson concerning Pope John Paul II, this is not the best source. If you are looking for some information on John Paul II along with some very inspirational writing you will be pleased. I give the book five stars for a good read, minus one due to the number of rabbit trails the authors tends to go off on.

Average customer rating:

God Bless JPII
Shows the convictions of the former pope during his life time
Theology Made Easy
EXCELLENT!
Amazing Commentary from an Amazing Pope

Crossing the Threshold of Hope
Pope John Paul II
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679765611
Release Date: 1995-09-19

Book Description

A great international bestseller, the book in which, on the eve of the millennium, Pope John Paul II brings to an accessible level the profoundest theological concerns of our lives. He goes to the heart of his personal beliefs and speaks with passion about the existence of God; about the dignity of man; about pain, suffering, and evil; about eternal life and the meaning of salvation; about hope; about the relationship of Christianity to other faits and that of Catholicism to other branches of the Christian faith.With the humility and generosity of spirit for which he is known, John Paul II speaks directly and forthrightly to all people. His message: Be not afraid!

Customer Reviews:

God Bless JPII.......2007-01-10

I have to say that I had much inspiration from this book. Not because I like JPII (RIP), but because of the way he approached religion and society. Every person has his own way of looking at the world, and it is illuminating to read what the leader of the Catholic Church has to say.

Shows the convictions of the former pope during his life time.......2007-01-09

Many people believe that the former pope stood for the Word of God. If you read the book and honestly compare it's content with what the Bible says, you will find, that this was not true. Otherwise the book is a waist of time and it will be better spend if you read the Bible itself.

Theology Made Easy.......2007-01-07

In this book, John Paul II has made a great effort to answer as efficiently all the questions presented in the book. Many of the theological concepts are explained in a simple fashion so that the average Catholic can easily understand the meaning of his words. If one has a good chunk of questions relating to the Church then this book is definitely worth being sought out.

EXCELLENT!.......2006-08-31

Crossing the Threshold of Hope
by Pope John Paul II
THE BEST BOOK I EVER READ.

Amazing Commentary from an Amazing Pope.......2006-07-23

This book takes the form of answers from the late Pope John Paul II to a list of questions from an Italian journalist by the name of Vitorrio Messori. This shows the extent to which the late Pontiff reached out to the world through all media available to him. Over the course of this book, he answered tough questions concerning the need for faith, Salvation, and the existance of other faiths (including other Christian faiths.)

Reading this book, one can't help buy be impressed by the enormous piety and intellectual prowess of the "Pilgrim Pope." Just reading it through once as I have done really isn't enough. I plan to read it through again prayerfully to gain more insight. He references scripture as well as the writings of the early Church Fathers and other intellectual giants of the Faith (of which he must now also be considered) in his answers that are provoking, yet fulfilling.

This if a definate read for the Catholic who is looking for a deeper understanding of his/her faith. Non-Catholics should also consider giving this a read if they want to understand what the Catholic faith is really about.

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