Reflections from Pope Francis

February 1, 2015

Stark and Pierson (former director of religious education, Roman Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids) previously collaborated on What Do I Do Now? In this compilation, the authors gather 125 short quotations by Jorge Mario Borgoglio drawn chronologically from his first year as Pope Francis (March 2013-March 2014). A single quotation on each page--drawn from speeches, sermons, or the Pope's official Twitter feed--faces a page containing a related Bible quotation with space for the reader's own thoughts. (The dedicated space for writing within the book may give pause to libraries.) However, the appendix provides a thematic list of quotations on subjects such as courage, faith, goodness, hope, love, openness, and service. The introduction gives simple suggestions for working through reflections and states that quotes may be for journaling through writing, sketching, or drawing by people of all spiritual traditions. Most of the cited sources are listed in the book as available online from the Vatican web site, www.vatican.va. VERDICT This workbook might be useful for religion classes or retreat groups but may be of limited value as a library acquisition, depending on local clientele needs.--Anna Donnelly, St. John's. Univ., Jamaica, NY

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