BOOK REVIEW: The Strangest Way - Walking the Christian Path

November 13, 2003

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the third in a series of book reviews featured monthly in The Globe. The review is sponsored by the Religious Education Media Center as a service to those interested in developing their own spirituality. Books featured in this column can be borrowed from the diocesan media center. This week's book is available using the code number PR 2071.92.

You may request this or other books by writing Deacon Larry Sitzman, Religious Education Media Center, 1821 Jackson St., Sioux City, IA 51102, e-mail him at larrys@scdiocese.org or phone (712) 255-7933.

Father Mervin Hood offers this review on the book The Strangest Way - Walking the Christian Path by Father Robert Barron.

We are apprentices in our spiritual life, looking for mentors who help us on the way. Robert Barron takes us down the path with many masters pointing the way to a closer relationship with the Center, Jesus Christ.

The author, Father Robert Barron, is a seminary professor at Mundelein in Chicago. I picked up the book at the seminary bookstore while attending a workshop. I enjoyed the first reading. The second that followed, gave a deeper appreciation in walking the Christian path. The years flow on in our stream of life. Our monkey mind jumps around as we try to remain in the presence of God. Thank God, The Hound of Heaven pursues us all the days of our life. The Strangest Way - Walking the Christian Path, can help move us from our spiritual laziness to a more active Christ-like life. We realize, we are not pursuing God, as much as God pursues us. As Father Barron, in the last sentence of his book, tells us: The way which is the Christian life begins and ends with the man who is God dying on the cross.

Walking the Christian Path, reminds us of having Christ at the center, we are rooted in Christ Jesus. We launch into the deep as Jesus bids us to get connected once again, and with it the resolve to stay connected to God's presence in our life. There are a number of chapters and sections that will catch your interest.

Father Robert Barron is a master of diction. His quotes from many sources cannot go unnoticed. I like his style. Perhaps it is the pen pictures he paints for us in our minds eye. Enjoy, and may the Strangest Way-Walking the Christian Path, be a help on your own spiritual journey with the Lord.

(Mervin J. Hood is a retired priest of the Diocese of Sioux City.)