Fr. Ken's Suggested Reading List (page two)

The Seven Storey Mountain: An Autobiography of Faith
Thomas Merton
Harcourt Brace, 1948

This is one of the great Christian autobiographies! Thomas Merton’s story of his life ranks along with St. Augustine’s Confessions, St. Therese of Lisieux’s The Story of a Soul, and C.S. Lewis’ Surprised by Joy.  An American born in France in 1915, Merton was brilliant, well-educated, and possessed a unique talent for spiritual honesty and writing. Merton wrote more than 50 books over 27 years.

As a young agnostic Merton, as St. Augustine, lived a worldly and, at times, reckless life in search of that which is truly sustaining and fulfilling. Merton’s difficult quest leads, much to his surprise, to Jesus Christ and, in time, to the renunciation of all for the life of a Trappist monk.

A valuable aspect of this book is the systematic and memorable way Merton works through the counter-cultural claims of Christianity as he moves from skepticism to a deep and articulate faith in Christ. Looking over his shoulder, his wrestling and discoveries become our own. He doesn’t shrink from the most difficult issues as his words on hell show: “Why should anyone be shattered by the thought of hell? It is not compulsory for anyone to go there. Those who do, do so by their own choice, and against the will of God, and they can only get into hell by defying and resisting all the work of Providence and grace. It is their own will that takes them there, not God’s.” (Page 238)

The restlessness of Merton’s life is finally filled by a commitment to cloistered religious life. On reflecting on the life of Cistercians he wrote: “Yet because they have nothing, they were the richest men in the world, possessing everything: because in proportion as grace emptied their hearts of created desire, the Spirit of God entered in and filled the place that had been made for God.” (Page 347)

“The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of other men! A weird life it is, indeed, to be living always in somebody else’s imagination, as if that were the only place in which one could at last become real!” (Page 362)

It is said that a classic is a book that stays in print. 73 years on – this is a classic!

The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien
Houghton Mifflin, 1994 edition

The Battle for Middle-earth: Tolkien’s Divine Design in the Lord of the Rings
Fleming Rutledge
Eerdmans, 2004

The Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
The Return of the King
New Line Home Entertainment
“Special Extended DVD Editions”

Go on one of the great adventures that does not require a boarding pass. Take a three-tiered adventure that will be one of the most memorable and important pilgrimages of your life.
First, read, or re-read, The Lord of the Rings, the 1000-page adventure, composed of Tolkien’s three books: The Fellowship of the Rings, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. The Lord of the Rings recounts the great ‘mission’ undertaken by Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring to destroy the One Ring that rules all others to free Middle-earth from domination by the Dark Lord, Sauron. You know, or think you know, all the characters: Gandalf the Grey, the hobbits Merry, Pippin and Samwise Gamgee, Legolas the Elf, Arwen, Bilbo Baggins, Elrond, Gimli the Dwarf, Boromir of Gondor, Galadriel, the nightmare making Smeagol, and, of course, Aragorn the Dunedain.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) the creator of the elaborate and stunning geography, history, and Elvish language of Middle-earth, in which the story of the Rings of Power is set, was a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford. Tolkien, a devout Catholic, was a close friend of C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams the other members of The Inklings, an informal scholarly discussion group that meet weekly in an Oxford pub. The Christian and literary contributions of these three scholars/writers are breath-taking.

Second, read The Battle for Middle-earth: Tolkien’s Divine Design in The Lord of the Rings by Fleming Rutledge. Rutledge opens up the theological themes that lie just below the surface of Tolkien’s saga. Rutledge’s exhaustive study of Tolkien’s correspondence reveals the “deep narrative” of his work – the Biblical and liturgical motifs of the epic. God’s transcendence, grace, providence, and power are everywhere and provide a new and encouraging understanding of Frodo’s personal and cosmic struggle against the Dark Lord.

Finally, watch the DVDs of Peter Jackson’s great Oscar-winning production of The Lord of the Rings series. Of particular note, the Special Extended versions of the DVDs have wonderful video appendices on Tolkien, background on the story, production of the films, the music, computer generated art and sets, on and on.

The Lord of the Rings in its “deep narrative” is the story of God’s creature, the fall of humanity, our struggle against the deadly allure of power, and the ongoing spiritual battle against Satan but also the promise of an eternal order and design that will not be defeated.

The Stigmatist
Hurd Baruch
Mystic Publications, 2010 (Available through Amazon)

I picked up Hurd Baruch’s novel The Stigmatist during the pandemic and I couldn’t put it down. This is a roller coaster adventure of Vatican and international intrigue that is imaginative, literate, and downright fun.

Personalized and frightening visions first experienced by American pilgrims in Spain begin to spread around the world. A Vatican official sends an American priest, Fr. Anthony Santorelli, to investigate. Fr. Santorelli also experiences visions of personal warning and judgment. The priest is commissioned to carry messages to the Pope and is given painful stigmata as signs of his commission. The Pope’s endorsement of the authenticity of the visions leads to escalating friction within the Curia, with the European Union countries, Israel, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, and the Unites States. Catastrophic events unfold in unexpected and revealing ways as Fr. Santorelli struggles with a call from God to lay down everything in faithfulness to his ordination and the Gospel.

This is an addictive read full of much direct and subtle teaching on Christian history, doctrine, and the call to a life of faithfulness and holiness before God.

Hurd Baruch is a parishioner at St. Thomas the Apostle who has written widely and well on the life and teaching of the Catholic Church.