Fifth Sunday of Lent (Cycle A)

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The Raising of Lazarus Lectionary:  34 Reading 1 -  Ezekiel 37:12-14 Responsorial Psalm -  Psalm 130:1-8 Reading 2 -  Romans 8:8-11 Verse - John 11:25a, 26 Gospel -  John 11:1-45 Lazarus, come out! LESSON: The Power of God Through Those Who Believe We’re a week away from the start of Holy Week. Our Lord now has his sights set on Jerusalem, and the pace is quickening. In these next two weeks, we’re living just one part of the Gospel passage from today: an encounter with the reality of suffering and death. Jesus is asking us to have faith in him. In today’s First Reading the prophet Ezekiel reminds us of the Lord’s promise to not only to bring us back to life but to bring us home. The background of this passage is the famous "Valley of Dry Bones." The people of Israel were in exile in Babylon. They weren't just sad; they were spiritually and nationally "dead." Their common saying was: "Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off." They d...
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Review: The Christian Moral Life: Directions for the Journey to Happiness

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The Christian Moral Life: Directions for the Journey to Happiness The Christian Moral Life: Directions for the Journey to Happiness by John Rziha

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Performance: Let's be real ... I expected this book to read like a text book and that's okay because I am very interested in the topic. This makes evaluating the narration difficult ... so I started with a comparison to my college professors somewhat monotonous lectures (multiple character voices are obviously missing). In that regard, I enjoyed Andrew's performance. His tone and cadence varied just enough to keep me paying attention to the content ... which is the goal here right?

Story: The first part of the book explores "ethical concept" of what it means to be created "in the image of G*d" ... specifically what is the soul and what is its connection to the body. The text skillfully includes references to some of the greatest Christian Theologist of the Western Faith to support the authors narrative (without subordinating the author's voice to these great thinkers). As might be expected, there are a few assumptions that are necessary to fully accept the philosophical arguments built upon these assumptions; principle of these would be the assumption that the reason or purpose behind the creation of man was for man to seek a knowing and loving relationship with his creator ... to be in harmony with body and soul and creation itself (aka perfection or paradise). Once the archtype of creation has been established, the author then explores the fallen nature of man. Finally the book gets to the whole point of the journey ... how do we get back to where we were ...

Bottomline ... I learned a lot from this book that I didn't know or had not thought about. That gives this a solid 4 stars. The fact that I anticipate coming back to this book to reinforce my understanding of the material gives it another star (I rarely come back to books after the first read)

Highly Recommended for any who wish to explore human morality.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. 

#FreeAudiobooks #TheChristianMoralLife

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