A wonderful book that integrates faith and science!

Ana Braga-Henebry and Anita Barghigiani have created an engaging book about Venerable Dr. Jerome Lejeune, the father of modern genetics. This lovely book is instructive for all ages! The book includes a timeline of important events in the life of Dr. Lejeune with dates and photographs from pivotal moments in his life. The author shares the story of Dr. Lejeune's childhood, his marriage, and his work as a pediatrician.

As a researcher, Dr. Lejeune worked hard to discover the genetics underlying Down syndrome and other genetic conditions. This book is an inspiring story of faith and excellence in scientific research. The book seamlessly integrates the true story of a faithful Christian man who understood the importance of both faith and science.

Jesus and I remains a delightful catechism used to prepare both older and younger children for their First Confession and First Holy Communion. In use for decades, the content is solid yet presented in a manner that is clear and usable with young students. Gentle black and white drawings appeal to more sensitive and/or younger children who shy away from more graphic pictures in modern texts.

Jesus and I is organized into very short lessons that lend themselves to direct, oral teaching and discussion. It is designed to be used BY the teacher WITH the student, not by handing the book to the student to read and fill in answers by himself. The book begins with several pages of prayers that we should know by heart. The lesson titles are phrases from these prayers, and the lesson content explains that particular phrase. For example, the lesson titled "Angel of God, my guardian dear" explains Catholic teachings on angels. The lesson titled "And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus" explains the Incarnation. As the children memorize their prayers, they are also being taught what the prayers mean.

Each lesson begins with a narrative written in simple, short sentences. This is followed by the "How Many Can You Answer?" section of questions for the youngest students. Next are the "Can You Also Answer These?" questions for older students, which come from the First Communion Catechism in use when the book was originally written. The book ends with sections on "When I Go to Confession" and "When I Go to Holy Communion" followed by a summary of all of the First Communion Catechism questions.

It's rather lovely, I think that the Pope uses in his own book a phrase (which he applies to the parables of Jesus) which aptly describes this fascinating book: "...it not only or even primarily adds to what we know, but it changes our lives." In Jesus of Nazareth, Our Holy Father presents a vision of primary events of the Gospels (this volume covers significant stories chronologically from the Baptism of Our Lord through the Transfiguration - a second volume is expected in the future). He delves into these Gospel stories (many of which are commonly taken for granted - both because we've heard these stories since we were young and because we're missing some of the background details that add depth and additional significance to these stories) to help bring Our Lord to life for modern readers. Here are the basic Gospel stories that are covered in the text: The Baptism of Jesus The Temptations of Jesus The Kingdom of God The Sermon on the Mount The Lord's Prayer The Disciples The Parables (with an emphasis on The Good Samaritan, The Prodigal Sun and the Rich Man and Lazarus) Images from St. John's Gospel (Water, Vine and Wine, Bread, and the Shepherd) Peter's Confession The Transfiguration Jesus Declares His Identity (The Son of Man, The Son, "I Am") Here's a sampling of the style and content of the book, taken from the chapter on the Our Father in which the Pope discusses what we mean by "Hallowed be Thy Name".

God establishes a relationship between himself and us. He puts himself within reach of our invocation. He enters into relationship with us and enables us to be in relationship with him. Yet this means that in some sense he hands himself over to our human world. He has made himself accessible and, therefore, vulnerable as well. He assumes the risk of relationship, of communion, with us. The process that was brought to completion in the Incarnation had begun with the giving of the divine name.... God has now truly made himself accessible in his incarnate Son. He has become a part of our world: he has, as it were, put himself into our hands. This enables us to understand what the petition for the sanctification of the divine name means. The name of God can now be misused and so God himself can be sullied. The name of God can be co-opted for our purposes and so the image of God can also be distorted. The more he gives himself into our hands, the more we can obscure his light; the closer he is, the more our misuse can disfigure him. Martin Buber once said that when we consider all the ways in which God's name has been so shamefully misused, we almost despair of uttering it ourselves. But to keep it silent would be an outright refusal of the love with which God comes to us. Buber says that our only recourse is to try as reverently as possible to pick up and purify the polluted fragments of the divine name. But there is no way we can do that alone. All we can do is plead with him not to allow the light of his name to be destroyed in the world.

He elucidates the various Gospel stories from many angles, though certain patterns emerge. In many places, he discusses and refutes modern theories about the Life of Christ (many of which have the common thread of doubting the historical validity of the Gospels). These are usually the most difficult portions of the book to follow. I found it helpful to underline principal portions in order to keep a particular thread fresh in my memory. Brief notes on the various threads might also be helpful. He also references Eastern imagery from traditional icons and what we have learned from Tradition (from the teachings of the Church Fathers) about the various Gospel passages. This is a life-changing book. There are many stories, like the Transfiguration, that I had little understanding of to begin with and will never hear or think about in the same way again. I studied this over the course of a school year with a group of high school students. We studied approximately 10 to 15 pages at a time and discussed everything in depth. I don't think it's a book that most high schoolers could read on their own. Reading it in chunks together allowed us to delve into it more deeply (I'm certain that I got more out of it than I would have if I had read it on my own.) The discussions provided an opportunity to clarify confusing parts of the text (many times I was able to provide some helpful background info such as an explanation of a philosophical idea). The students really enjoyed the book and got a lot out of it. Besides the obvious benefits of the content of the book itself, they're now less intimidated by an "intellectual" book and understand that it's okay to just make a beginning in reading such a book and that it's perfectly normal to get more out of such a book every time they read it. For those who might be interested, I wrote a number of blog posts on this book while I was studying it. You can read them here.