A Crossroad book

These meditations are inspiring reflections on the mystery of Christmas. The author approaches the mystery of Christmas from several, converging perspectives. As usual, talk of one mystery of the Christian faith involves talk about them all, and that talk is never far away from talk about the depths of human existence. A happy combination of the best "theological Rahner" and the "spiritual Rahner", this book offers solid insight into the basis of our hope and the source and object of our love.

A young boy relates how he and his family came to terms with the death of their young sister.

"The Great Mysteries responds with passion and skill to the growing concerns of spiritual seekers and teachers of the Catholic faith. In radical, refreshing fashion, Greeley explores 12 essential questions of faith and grounds them in human experience. With the skill of a master storyteller and the passion of a deep believer, Greeley contemplates questions at the heart of human life--is there any purpose in my life? Are there any grounds for hope? Why is there evil in the world?--and reveals how the symbols, rituals, teachings and mysteries of Catholicism both shape and respond to these profound uncertainties" -- back cover.

Written after his wife's tragic death as a way of surviving the "mad midnight moment," A Grief Observed is C.S. Lewis's honest reflection on the fundamental issues of life, death, and faith in the midst of loss. This work contains his concise, genuine reflections on that period: "Nothing will shake a man -- or at any rate a man like me -- out of his merely verbal thinking and his merely notional beliefs. He has to be knocked silly before he comes to his senses. Only torture will bring out the truth. Only under torture does he discover it himself." This is a beautiful and unflinchingly homest record of how even a stalwart believer can lose all sense of meaning in the universe, and how he can gradually regain his bearings.