Parochial and Plain Sermons

Parochial and Plain Sermons Volume VII by Bl John Henry Newman, 257 pages

This is the seventh of eight volumes collecting the popular sermons preached by Newman during his time as an Anglican.  Most of the eighteen sermons in this volume center on the theme of religion - why it is a virtue, why it is difficult, its demands and rewards, but especially exhorting the reader to courage in the face of the world's perpetual disapproval.

Strength to Love

  

Strength to Love by Martin Luther King, Jr.   158 pages

There was more to Martin Luther King, Jr. than as the leading representative of the early 1960s Civil Rights Movement. He was a Baptist preacher first and foremost. And here we have a collection of his sermons, some written while he was jailed.

This is the third of the five books King collected/wrote before his tragic assassination in 1968. They were composed during the years 1955-1963. It’s also one of his most requested works.

Theses short and meditative sermons, crafted during the heyday of the Civil Rights Movement, are predominately about racial segregation in America. They have a heavy emphasis “on permanent religious values. I was amazed that the words spoken by King sixtyish years ago are purposeful today as they were back then. Well, the first ten spoke to today’s racial unrest; the other five didn’t for me, carry the weight of modern times.

His widow, Coretta Scott King, wrote in a Forward that was penned in 1981:  "I believe it is because this book best explains the central element of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s philosophy of nonviolence: His belief in a divine, loving presence that binds all life. That insight, luminously conveyed in this classic text, here presented in a new and attractive edition, hints at the personal transformation at the root of social justice: “By reaching into and beyond ourselves and tapping the transcendent moral ethic of love, we shall overcome these evils."

One of the things I thought about as I read, is that we, event in the 21^st Century, and especially here is St. Louis, are still practicing segregation. Oh the Colored Only signs may be gone, but look at our neighborhoods. And not only in St. Louis, but around the country, blacks and whites are segregated via their neighborhoods.  Interesting concept, in my opinion, and something on which to ponder.

Faith and Prejudice

Faith and Prejudice and Other Unpublished Sermons by Bl John Henry Newman, 128 pages

This book presents nine sermons delivered by Newman which he did not see fit to include in the collections of sermons published in his lifetime.  Some of them are of special interest, being among the first he gave after his conversion to Catholicism.  None of them rank among his best, but even a dim Newman is brighter than most writers.  Especially penetrating is the last sermon, "The Infidelity of the Future", which is as relevant in 2015 America as it was in 1873 England.

St Paul's Gospel

St Paul's Gospel by Ronald Knox, 72 pages

This book compiles a series of Lenten lectures delivered by Msgr Knox in 1950.  His concern is the "Gospel according to St Paul", that is, the Christology of the Pauline epistles.  From the outset, he notes that St Paul does not spend much time dwelling on the words or miracles of Christ, but focuses on the mysteries of the Redemption and Incarnation, and their application in the life of the believer.  

Knox writes, as always, with insight and intelligence.  St Paul's Gospel is edifying reading during Lent, or at any time of year.  

Violence of Love

The Violence of Love by Oscar Romero, compiled and translated by James R Brockman, SJ, 206 pages

 

In 1977, Ven Oscar Romero became the Archbishop of San Salvador.  Initially, his appointment was welcomed by the Salvadoran oligarchy, but after the assassination of his friend Fr Rutilio Grande he became a dynamic voice for change in a country divided by massive economic inequality and bloody civil war.  As a result, he was assassinated by a paramilitary death squad while saying Mass in 1980.

 

The Violence of Love is a selection from Romero's writings and sermons, edited in such a way as to turn them into a sort of poetry.  Although it is not difficult to imagine this approach decontextualizing and deforming a body of work into something unrecognizable, that is not the case here.  Especially interesting is that the selections, although divided into chapters with thematic titles, are nonetheless arranged in strict chronological order.  This allows the reader to grasp both the development and the continuity in Romero's teaching from his installation as Archbishop to the sermon he gave immediately prior to his assassination.  It is unfortunate that there is nothing here from the first sixty years of his life, as opposed to the last three, but since this is not a biography the flaw is forgivable.

 

Fr Brockman concentrates the wisdom and power of Romero's teaching, neglecting neither his love of God nor his love of neighbor, resulting in a work that is simultaneously enlightening and inspiring.

Poems and Prose of Gerard Manley Hopkins

Poems and Prose of Gerard Manley Hopkins by Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ, selected with an introduction and notes by W H Gardner, 217 pages

"I thought how sadly beauty of inscape was unknown and buried away from simple people and yet how near at hand it was if they had eyes to see it and it could be called out everywhere again..." 

So Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote in his journal on July 19th, 1872.  Much of his poetic - and, indeed, prose - output can be explained in these terms, lending us his eyes to see the "beauty of inscape".  Inscape is Hopkins' own term for individual distinctiveness, the shining forth of the inner nature of a thing through its external characteristics.  The inscape is created and maintained by an instress, the Power behind the form, a Power that is also a Person.  The inscape, then, is, by its beauty, a path to God, and in his poetry a beautiful creation speaks eloquently of its Creator.

Hopkins' poems were meant to be read aloud ("you must not slovenly read it with your eyes but with your ears"), so it is helpful that this volume includes the author's own preface explaining his use of rhythm.  This volume includes a good deal of his prose writing, from journal entries to sermons, which are, sadly, not as remarkable as his poetry.  His poetry alone, however, is enough to establish him among the greats.