Good Friday Meditation

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), German Composer and Musician of the Late Baroque Period

Heaven Does Not Block All Roads by Anna Beth Keim

About the book: Heaven Does Not Block All Roads: A History of Taiwan Through the Life of Huang Chin-tao (17 April 2025) is a hundred-year history of modern Taiwan’s challenges and triumphs, through the inspiring life of one man who saw it all.

Huang Chin-tao was born in 1926, when Taiwan was still part of the Japanese Empire. By the time he died in 2019, Taiwan was a bustling, high-tech democracy–and Huang had lived through every twist and turn along the way. He served as a Japanese soldier in China during World War II; joined an armed uprising against Taiwan’s Chinese Nationalist post-war government; spent twenty-four years imprisoned during the island’s decades of martial law; and finally emerged to help lead the pro-democracy movement of the 1980s in his hometown, Taichung.

Drawing upon archives, memoirs, interviews and more, Anna Beth Keim tells the story of Taiwan through the journey of one extraordinary individual. From his childhood scuffling with Japanese children to his transformation into a ‘democracy farmer’, Huang’s life vividly reflects contemporary Taiwanese history, and continues to inspire young Taiwanese today who are fighting to keep their home independent.

Over roughly a century, the island transitioned from an imperial outpost to an authoritarian state to a democracy–one still at risk of being snuffed out by China. 

This story is uniquely Taiwanese, yet illuminates experiences shared by countries everywhere: of colonisation and its aftermath, and the ongoing struggle to be free.

About the author: Anna Beth Keim is a freelance writer and translator, who has been reporting on Taiwan since 2015. Her work has appeared in ChinaFile, Foreign Policy, YaleGlobal and The Foreign Service Journal. This is her first book.

Torn and Thumbed For Comfort Just Designed

Purgatory by Fr Faber

About the book: Is Purgatory almost like Hell? Or is it a place of peace and even joy? The famous Fr Faber explains both of these classic Catholic views of Purgatory, basing his discussion on Catholic teaching and the revelations of saintly souls, especially St Catherine of Genoa, in her Treatise on Purgatory. 

This now famous work (from his All for Jesus) is both sobering and inspiring. For here, Fr Faber discusses whether it is better to pray for the conversion of sinners or to pray for the Souls in Purgatory, how the fear of Hell helps save souls, the influence through supernatural means which God has given us on those in Purgatory, how helping the Poor Souls shows our love of Jesus, how it increases our fear of offending God, how the Holy Souls tenderly love God and are loved by Him, their yearning for God, their desire for purification, their pain of loss, their pain of sense, their joy, their helplessness, the length of their suffering, the Angels' role in aiding them, our false confidence in our own goodness, how some on earth are angered by the thought of Purgatory, how our charity toward the Poor Souls benefits us by increasing Faith, Hope and Charity in us, the other beautiful effects of this devotion on us, and the example of the Saints toward the Poor Souls.

Over all, Purgatory (1854, 2002) is a book to help us appreciate the supernatural treasures at our disposal, both to help the Poor Souls, and to help us avoid Purgatory ourselves: to inspire us to use wisely the rest of our time on earth so that we ourselves one day will not have to go there.

About the author: Father Frederick William Faber (1814-1863) was born in Yorkshire, England in 1814. He was converted from the Anglican ministry to Catholicism in 1845. Ordained a priest in 1847, he joined the Oratorians in 1848 under John Henry Cardinal Newman. In addition to numerous fine hymns, Fr Faber authored nine books: Spiritual Conferences, All for Jesus, Growth in Holiness, The Blessed Sacrament, The Foot of the Cross, The Precious Blood, Bethlehem, The Creator and the Creature and Notes on Doctrinal Subjects, plus a volume of poems, essays and other minor works.

In addition, he published a series of 49 Lives of Modern Saints (the "Oratorian" Lives) which highlight the Saints' growth in sanctity under the operation of grace. Fr Faber died in London in 1863. He is considered a master of the theology of the spiritual life.

How Much You Learn

The True University

Mothering Sunday

Neighbourhood Forts

St Patrick's Day

‘Spring Walk’ by Gerhard Glück

100 Things We've Lost To The Internet by Pamela Paul

About the book: Remember all those ingrained habits, cherished ideas, beloved objects, and stubborn preferences from the pre-Internet age? They are gone.

To some of those things we can say good riddance. But many we miss terribly. Whatever our emotional response to this departed realm, we are faced with the fact that nearly every aspect of modern life now takes place in filtered, isolated corners of cyberspace - a space that has slowly subsumed our physical habitats, replacing or transforming the office, our local library, a favourite bar, the movie theater, and the coffee shop where people met one another’s gaze from across the room. Even as we have gained the ability to gather without leaving our house, many of the fundamentally human experiences that have sustained us have disappeared.

In one hundred glimpses of that pre-Internet world, Pamela Paul, editor of The New York Times Book Review, presents a captivating record, enlivened with illustrations, of the world before cyberspace - from voicemails to blind dates to punctuation to civility. There are the small postcards, the blessings of an adolescence largely spared of documentation, the Rolodex, and the genuine surprises at high school reunions. But there are larger repercussions, weaker memories, the inability to entertain oneself, and the utter demolition of privacy.

100 Things We’ve Lost to the Internet (2021) is at once an evocative swan song for a disappearing era and, perhaps, a guide to reclaiming just a little bit more of the world IRL.

100 Things We’ve Lost to the Internet is named one of the ten best books of the year by Chicago Tribune and the Dallas Morning News.

About the author: Pamela Paul is the editor of The New York Times Book Review and oversees books coverage at The Times. She also hosts the weekly Book Review podcast. She is the author of seven books, How to Raise a Reader, co-authored with Maria Russo, My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues, By the Book, Parenting, Inc., Pornified, The Starter Marriage and the Future of Matrimony and Rectangle Time. Prior to joining the Times, Paul was a contributor to Time magazine and The Economist, and her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and Vogue. She and her family live in New York.

Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Old And New Testaments

About the Bible: The whole of Scripture, Old Testament and New, is being published in a single volume, featuring the beautiful Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE) translation along with introductions, outlines, and explanatory notes for each biblical book, extensive cross references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and an array of visual and educational aids to bring the message of Scripture into clear focus for Catholic readers.

More than any other study edition of the Bible on the market, the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible (2024) is "like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old" (Matthew 13:52). It draws insights from the best of modern scholarship as well as the best of the Catholic tradition of interpretation through the ages.

It explains the historical, cultural, literary, and archaeological background of Scripture, while at the same time looking to the Fathers, Doctors, and Councils of the Church for insight into its theological and spiritual teachings. The result is a veritable library of Bible study resources, all under one cover, designed to help readers understand the written Word of God and apply its lessons to their lives today. It is simply the most ambitious undertaking of its kind in our generation.

1) Key Features:

Introductions and Outlines for every book of the Bible

17,500+ explanatory footnotes for every chapter of the Bible

20+ topical essays on major topics in the Bible

140+ word studies on the most important vocabulary in the Bible

25+ charts on the chronology, kings, parables, and other features of the Bible

50+ maps on the geography of the Bible

1,700+ cross-references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church

9 point type size, 7 point type for footnotes

2) The Ignatius Press Study Bible has been developed by leading Scripture scholars:

Scott Hahn, Ph.D., General Editor, St. Paul Center

Curtis J Mitch, M.A., Co-Editor

3) Contributing Authors:

Kelly Anderson, S.S.L., Ph.D., Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary

Michael Barber, Ph.D., Augustine Institute

John Bergsma, Ph.D, Franciscan University and St. Paul Center

Mark Giszczak, S.S.L., Ph.D., Augustine Institute

John A Kincaid, Ph.D., University of Mary

Jeffrey L Morrow, Ph.D., St. Paul Center

James B Prothro, Ph.D., Augustine Institute

Andrew Swafford, S.T.D., Benedictine College

Leeanne Thomas, M.A.

Matthew J Thomas, D.Phil., Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology

David Twellman, Ph.D., Sacred Heart Major Seminary

André Villeneuve, Ph.D., Sacred Heart Major Seminary & Jerusalem Center for Biblical Studies

Never Say Never by Danielle Steel

About the book: Never Say Never (2025), the story of a woman who finds her life turned upside down while living temporarily in the French countryside, is an enthralling testament to new beginnings from billion-copy bestselling author Danielle Steel.

Oona Kelly Webster is an editor at a prestigious New York publishing house. Married with two children, her twenty-five-year relationship falls apart when she books a silver wedding anniversary getaway at a luxurious château in France and her husband Charles suddenly drops a bombshell which will shatter her carefully built world.

Although devastated, Oona decides to travel to France without Charles, but soon after her arrival in the charming village of Milly-la-Forêt, the world comes to a standstill due to a terrifying pandemic and all travel is forbidden. Isolated and fearful, Oona then receives another shock when she discovers her job has been made redundant. The only thing which helps her to face the tragedy taking place across the world is that she can remain in France, where the beautiful surroundings and slower pace of life will slowly begin to heal her.

And when a chance encounter with her new neighbour, a well-known Hollywood actor who is also stranded far from home, blossoms into something deeper than friendship, Oona wrestles with the risks of opening her heart again - especially to a younger, very famous man who has two young children grieving for their mother.

With a second chance at happiness before her, Oona must be brave enough to stay open to even greater life changes at a time when the world is experiencing great fear and turmoil.

About the author: Danielle Steel has been hailed as one of the world's most popular authors, with a billion copies of her novels sold. Her many and recent international bestsellers include Property of a Noblewoman, Blue, Precious Gifts, Undercover, Country, Prodigal Son, Pegasus, A Perfect Life, Trial by Fire, Triangle, Joy and other highly acclaimed novels. She is also the author of His Bright Light, the story of her son Nick Traina's life and death; A Gift of Hope, a memoir of her work with the homeless; and the children's books Pretty Minnie in Paris and Pretty Minnie in Hollywood. Danielle divides her time between Paris and her home in northern California.

Rating: 3/5