An Elect and Some Reads

Last Sunday, I attended the Rite of Election, where the Bishop of the Diocese, on behalf of the Catholic Church, gave the official "OK" for me to receive the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil. In reality, it was just the Catholic Church recognizing God's call for me to join the Christian Community.

It was beautiful.

With each day, I am getting more excited to finally be welcomed at the table. This weekend we went to a Saturday mass where I sat through the whole thing. It is so hard to see and feel what is happening with the Eucharist, but not be able to join! Fortunately, I feel the Eucharistic Minister could sense my hunger, and spent extra time and extra effort in blessing me. It is going to be some marvelous to finally receive Holy Communion.

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I've been filling up my free time with prayer and reading. Here are some books I've just finished or am currently reading...

Daily Prayer and Reflection:

• Sacred Space for Lent 2014 by the Irish Jesuits
• Through the Year with Pope Francis: Daily Reflections by Pope Francis and Kevin Cotter

Both of these are really great. I love the little Lenten and Advent books, so the Sacred Space for Lent fills that void. And the book of daily reflections is nice and short but with a good amount of meat. Pope Francis is just so great with his words. Easy to relate to him.

Books, etc:

• The Writings of St. Francis from Acheron Press
• The Woman's Bible edited by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
• Exploring the Nicene Creed by M.R. Hyde

The Woman's Bible is a real treat. I recommend it for anyone regardless of faith. The critiques are written from well-educated women (Bible scholars and the like) from the 1880s. They were fighting for suffrage and to be considered human, not property. Their perspectives sadly ring as true today as they did back then. The critiques are much more in line with Protestant and LDS beliefs than Roman Catholic, but it is still a fascinating read. And it's in the public domain!

The Writings of St. Francis is a little dry so far, like the laws for the Friars Minor. But interesting. And Exploring the Nicene Creed was pretty neat. It just goes line by line, what do Catholics mean by "God" and so on.

I am always looking for book recommendations! I even enjoy historical fiction, a la The Red Tent. Please share some!