Fr Jamie

THE WAY
(St Josemaria Escriva)

Fr Jamie says: "A book that changed my life. It’s a collection of pithy points for meditation, written by a Spanish priest in the 1930s to encourage students and busy professionals to make time for personal prayer and grow in love for God. In his preface, the author describes the contents of the book as “things I whisper in your ear as a friend, as a brother, as a father, so that some thought may arise and strike you and so your life will improve and you will set out along the way of prayer and of Love.”

THIS TREMENDOUS LOVER
(Eugene Boylan)

Fr Jamie says: "What does it mean to be a saint? For Eugene Boylan, it means to be united to Christ in love. This book is an attempt “to outline the love story between God and man,” in which Christ is the “tremendous lover” of our souls. As well as giving an overview of salvation history, he gives practical advice on how this life of union with Christ is lived out concretely. Highly recommended!"

THE CREED IN SLOW MOTION
(Ronald Knox)

Fr Jamie says: "Ronald Knox was a brilliant, successful Anglican cleric who became a Catholic priest. Translator of the Bible and author of detective fiction in his spare time, he was Catholic chaplain at the University of Oxford from 1926-1939. This book (and its companion volume ‘The Mass in Slow Motion’) are a collection of talks he gave to evacuated school-girls during World War II. They are amusing, endearing and nonetheless profound."

THE EVERLASTING MAN
(G. K. Chesterton)

Fr Jamie says: "This is a sweeping overview of human history with Jesus Christ (‘The Everlasting Man’) at its centre. Exploring the fundamental question of what it means to be human with sparkling wit and profound wisdom, Chesterton explores humanity’s search for God and the uniqueness of Christian Revelation, a message “rushing through the ages as a winged thunderbolt of thought and everlasting enthusiasm; a thing without rival or resemblance, and still as new as it is old.”

THEOLOGY OF THE LITURGY: COLLECTED WORKS
(Joseph Ratzinger / Benedict XVI)

Fr Jamie says: "This is a bit of a cheat, because it’s actually a single-volume collection of various books, articles and essays written by Joseph Ratzinger / Benedict XVI on the Church’s liturgy. Why does the Second Vatican Council describe the celebration of the Eucharist as the “source and summit of the Christian life”? How do we participate in a deeper way at Mass? What do we mean when we say that Jesus is ‘truly present’ in the Blessed Sacrament? These questions (and very many more) are answered in these pages.