From the Pastor -Dec 29

Some Good Reading
Winter is a great time for reading. I did not read much in college due to engineering classes, baseball and pickup basketball. However, since graduating in 1992, I’ve been reading happily and constantly. The following books I found especially enjoyable. Some I’ve read three times.
John Adams and 1776 by David McCullough. McCullough loves history, loves his country, and he loves the human person. He has a great way of telling a story. He includes many beautiful letters between John and Abigail Adams.
With Malice Toward None: A Biography of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen B. Oates. This is “the standard one-volume biography of Lincoln”. You will get a dose of central Illinois history, too, such as Judge David Davis of Bloomington and others. You also peer into Lincoln’s marriage and family life. Most of all, you will be inspired by the long-suffering, diligent, prudent and self-sacrificing leadership of President Lincoln. We Americans stand on the shoulders of giants.
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset. As a seminarian with Monsignor Eric Powell at Saint Mary’s in Kickapoo in 2000, I asked for a suggestion of a good novel to read. He mentioned Undset’s Kristin Lavransdatter, which had just been retranslated into modern English (from Norwegian) by Tiina Nunnally. The story is set in medieval Norway and follows the life of Kristin from her girlhood through a storm-tossed marriage and motherhood and unto death – a hard and beautiful story of sin and redemption. Undset was a Nobel laureate and became a Catholic soon after finishing this trilogy (“The Ring”, “The Wife” and “The Cross”).
The Shadow of His Wings by Fr. Gereon Goldmann, OFM. Father Gereon was a seminarian in the Franciscan order in Germany and then got drafted into Hitler’s dreaded SS. He was on three fronts in World War II: in Italy, France and Africa. It is a story of God’s Providence and grace during a terrible war.
Grant by Ron Chernow. It was a #1 New York Times best seller. U.S. Grant’s story inspires us to persevere. Grant did not complain; he simply went on ahead, even with cancer at his life’s end.
He Leadeth Me by Walter Ciszek, S.J. Ciszek was an American priest who snuck into Russia in 1940 to serve the Catholics there. However, he was soon caught and imprisoned for 23 years in solitary confinement and hard work in Siberia. These are his spiritual reflections on that trying time.