What Does It All Mean?: A Guide to Being More Faithful, Hopeful, and Loving

by Richard Leonard SJ

Overview

What Does It All Mean? builds on the wisdom, accessibility, and insight of popular author Richard Leonard's previous writings in this down-to-earth exploration of a life of faith, narrated through stories and human experience.
†

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780809106417
Publisher:	Paulist Press
Publication date:	02/07/2017
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction xiii

Part I The Case for Faith

1 From the Air 3

2 The Common Ground 9

Dialogue with Atheists 11

St. Thomas More (1478-1535) 13

3 Freedom to Believe and Not Believe 16

Not All Christians Are the Same 17

Science and Religion 18

Religious Experience 21

Bl. Oscar Romero (1917-1980) 26

Part II Challenges to Faith

4 Religion and War 33

5 Faith, Religion, and Child Sexual Abuse 37

The Witness to Truth 42

6 Is the Bible Fact or Fiction? 45

7 The Historical Jesus 50

8 A Loving God, Jesus, and Good Friday 53

9 A Loving God, Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory 62

10 Women's Leadership 66

St. Mary Mackillop (1842-1909) 70

11 The Challenge of the Gospel 74

St. Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) 77

12 Religion, Politics, and Law 82

Dorothy Day (1897-1980) 87

Part III The God of Love and the Problem of Evil

13 Belief in Times of Tragedy 97

14 The Nature of God 104

God's Holiness and Love 107

15 Our Search for Meaning 110

Different Types of Evil 113

16 The Role of Prayer 115

A Big-Picture God 119

17 St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) 123

Discernment of Spirits 129

18 Free Will and the Problem of Evil 133

19 What of Miracles? 136

20 God Our Friend 138

21 Love in Truth and Action 142

Part IV Lifetime Lessons on Prayer

22 What Is Prayer? 147

Doing Your Best 147

23 When Prayer Is Personal 152

The Personal Is Social 153

Images of God 154

Christian Prayer 156

24 When Prayer Is Public 164

The Word of God 168

Gathering with the Assembly 169

25 Mary and the Saints 173

Reclaiming Mary Now 176

Mother of the Poor 178

26 The Effects of Prayer 182

A Sinful Church 183

Witness in Word and Action 184

Enculturation 185

Liberation 186

27 Jenny and Sebastian 190

Conclusion 197

Notes 201

Index 207