Author: Pope Francis
Series: one of a long list of papal encyclicals, hopefully one of many more from this Pope
Published Date: July 22, 2013
Publisher: Pauline Books and Media
ISBN: 1490925597
Buy It Link: Amazon
Rating: 3 1/2 stars
Synopsis: Pope Francis’s first encyclical illuminates the urgent need in today’s secularized culture to reclaim faith as the guiding light to understanding human existence. Faith is considered in light of idolatry, reason, science, knowledge, truth, love, and theology.
Review: I'd like to thank the publisher and Net Galley for allowing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I've been strictly anti-Catholic for over half of my life, but I am purely pro-Pope Francis. I'm not going into the reasons why I have been anti-Catholic, but I have mine. After speaking to my rector at the Episcopalian church I attend, I decided that it was time for me to set aside my unreasonable anger towards the Catholic Church. In a fashion true to my own form, I met it head on, and tried to surgically dissect the why's and how's and what's of my anger. And when I finally decided that I had debrided enough of my old festering wound, I decided to test out my newly healed wound by reading a Papal Encyclical.
The introduction is written by someone very staunchly Catholic, and it tested my limits, but I had faith (many of the times that Pope Francis would mention this word in his encyclical) that I could get through it with flying colors. Before this, I would read an encyclical just to have the pleasure of ripping it apart. Now, I tried my best to read it with an open heart.
There are some parts of it that are absolutely amazing. They fill me with such hope for the future of the Catholic Church. There are parts in it that are true gems...rough gems, surely, but they are there. There aren't just hunks of glass, but with some polishing, you can really see the diamond.
One that I absolutely hold dear is: "Faith does not merely gaze at Jesus, but sees things as Jesus himself sees them, with his own eyes: it is a participation in his way of seeing."
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