I’m deeply encouraged by St Teresa of Avila’s advice in her autobiography, Life, that reading a spiritual book is a good aid for mental prayer if one finds it hard to pray. Keeping a dedicated personal prayer time can sometimes feel like the hardest thing in the world to do on a regular basis, but I…
Category: Books
Thoughts on The Lord of the Rings
Each evening I read a chapter of JRR Tolkien’s epic, The Lord of the Rings, to our youngest boys. I think this might be my third read through of Frodo the hobbit’s long journey from his home in the Shire in a remote corner of Middle Earth to Mordor’s Mount Doom to destroy the One…
Author interview: Michael D O’Brien and The Lighthouse
Though written before the coronavirus pandemic began, the latest novel by Michael D O’Brien explores themes of isolation, loneliness and the need for connection with others and God. It’s called The Lighthouse and was published by Ignatius Press this month. More than a dozen books, many of them best-sellers including Fr Elijah: An Apocalypse, Elijah in Jerusalem, The…
FRANKLY my dear…
One of the things I do is to work as part of the team which produces the annual Catholic magazine, FRANKLY (not to be confused with the women’s arty/crafty/fashion magazine Frankie). FRANKLY is pretty cool; it’s designed to be given as a gift at Christmas Eve Masses or other special events in the life of a…
Marilyn Rodrigues 