What Pilate doesn’t know is that Pilate is encountering truth firsthand. I think of Pilate asking Jesus, “What is truth?” Jesus doesn’t answer. We may miss Him because we’re so busy, but we’re called to be encountering Jesus in our day-to-day lives. Plus, encountering truth is really about encountering Jesus, and we do encounter Jesus every day. Father Spadaro liked that, but to me it felt a little too philosophical. The original title was Truth is an Encounter. What made you choose the phrase “encountering truth” for your title?įather Spadaro and I communicated back and forth about what to do on this. Sit with a phrase from the pope or a few words from the commentary and allow it to penetrate your heart. I really see each of these 180-plus homilies as a daily reading you can use as jumping off point for daily reflection or for lectio divina. Not one to be read all the way through in a couple of sittings, though you could do that. For me, Encountering Truth works best as a devotional. I really wanted this book to have as wide appeal as possible. The intent was to give the reader the best highlights from each sermon. Each homily is a mixture of summary and the pope’s own words mixed together. And this book came with even more challenges because of its unique structure. But the pope’s message of compassion and mercy isn’t a Catholic message, it’s a catholic message, meaning universal. There are plenty of people who won’t read a Catholic book, even Catholics. The biggest challenge when it comes to Catholic books is that they get labeled Catholic, which makes perfect sense, but ends up limiting its audience. What audience did you have in mind as you edited these highlights from Pope Francis’ homilies?ĭefinitely a general audience. Moreover, few people get to attend those Masses-they’re small and intimate-and I wanted to bring that experience to as many people as possible. I really liked the jazz feel to the homilies-that they can go off in different directions, but eventually come back to the motif found in the Gospel reading of the day. The pope didn’t use notes or a prepared speech he just riffed off the liturgy, like any good priest can do. (Remember Nirvana Unplugged? Classic.) These morning homilies, compiled by Radio Vaticana, were spoken off the cuff. I’m going to show my age in this response, but I saw this book as “The Pope Unplugged,” so to speak. The book also includes summaries by Vatican Radio (which recorded and transcribed the homilies) and a commentary by Father Antonio Spadaro, S.J. Jansen is editor of the new book “Encountering Truth: Meeting God in the Everyday" (Image), a collection of highlights from Pope Francis ’ homilies in the Vatican chapel of Saint Martha from March 2013 to May 2014. He lives in New York with his wife and two sons. His writing has also been featured in the Huffington Post, Religion Dispatches, USA Today and Newsday. He has appeared on A&E, the Sundance Channel, the Travel Channel, Coast to Coast AM, CNN.com and NPR. His books include “The Rosary: A Journey to the Beloved,” “Exercising Your Soul: Fifteen Minutes a Day to a Spiritual Life” and the memoir “Holy Ghosts” (Tarcher/Penguin). The easy exercises that figure in each chapter help readers experience the ideas that Singer presents.Gary Jansen is a writer and senior editor of religion and spirituality at the Crown Publishing Group.
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Enlightenment and the embrace of universal consciousness are the subject of part four.Īnd finally, in part five, Singer returns to daily life and the pursuit of “unconditional happiness.” Throughout, the book maintains a light and engaging tone, free from heavy dogma and prescriptive religious references. Ways to overcome tendencies to close down to the rest of the world are the subject of part three.
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Part two examines the experience of energy as it flows through us and works to show readers how to open their hearts to the energy of experience that permeates their lives. In part one, he examines the notion of self and the inner dialogue that all of us live with.
Divided into five parts, the book offers a frank and friendly discussion of consciousness and how we can develop it. In this book, spiritual teacher Michael Singer explores the question of who we are and arrives at the conclusion that our identity is to be found in our consciousness, the fact of our ability to observe ourselves and the world around us.īy tapping into traditions of meditation and mindfulness, Singer shows how the development of consciousness can enable us all to dwell in the present moment and let go of painful thoughts and memories that keep us from achieving happiness and self-realization.