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In Conversation with God – Volume 4 Part 1: Ordinary Time Weeks 13 - 18
Published by Scepter, In Conversation with God – Volume 4 Part 1: consists of 54 meditations for Weeks 13 through to 18 of Ordinary Time. ISBN 978-0-906138-90-8 (Kindle) In Conversation with God – Volume 4 Part 2: consists of 45 meditations for Weeks 19 through to 23 of Ordinary Time. ISBN 978-0-906138-91-5 (Kindle) The complete work of In Conversation with God has more than 450 meditations for every day of the year. These meditations deal with the main topics of Christian doctrine and life. Author Francis Fernandez makes generous use of the writings of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, the Fathers and the great saints, as he brings you focused and moving meditations on themes taken from the Mass readings for that day, the liturgical season, and more. This work is rich and extensive enough to serve as your spiritual reading and for a meditative prayer, as it helps you relate the particulars of the message of Christ to the ordinary circumstances of your day.In Conversation with God – Volume 1 Part 1: Advent consists of 29 meditations for the whole of Advent and ends on Christmas ISBN 978-0-906138-84-7 (Kindle)In Conversation with God – Volume 1 Part 2: Christmas and Epiphany consists of 22 meditations for the whole of Christmastide, up to and including the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the First Sunday of Ordinary ISBN 978-0-906138-85-4 (Kindle)In Conversation with God – Volume 2 Part 2: Eastertide consists of 50 meditations. ISBN 978-0-906138-87-8 (Kindle)In Conversation with God – Volume 2 Part 1: Lent and Holy Week consists of 46 meditations. ISBN 978-0-906138-86-1 (Kindle) In Conversation with God – Volume 3 Part 1: consists of 51 meditations for the first six weeks of Ordinary Time. ISBN 978-0-906138-88-5 (Kindle) In Conversation with God – Volume 3 Part 2: consists of 54 meditations for Weeks 7 through to 12 of Ordinary Time. ISBN 978-0-906138-89-2 (Kindle) In Conversation with God – Volume 5 Part 1: consists of 45 meditations for Weeks 24 through to 28 of Ordinary Time. ISBN 978-0-906138-92-2 (Kindle) In Conversation with God – Volume 5 Part 2: consists of 52 meditations for Weeks 29 through to 34 of Ordinary Time. ISBN 978-0-906138-93-9 (Kindle) In Conversation with God – Volume 6 Part 1: Special January – March consists of 29 meditations for the months of January, February and ISBN 978-0-906138-51-9 (Kindle)In Conversation with God – Volume 6 Part 2: Special April – June consists of 29 meditations for the months of April, May and ISBN 978-0-906138-68-7 (Kindle)In Conversation with God – Volume 7 Part 1: Special July - September consists of 29 ISBN 978-0-906138-63-2 (Kindle) In Conversation with God – Volume 7 Part 2: Special October – December consists of 26 ISBN 978-0-906138-72-4 (Kindle)
303 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 18, 2011
51 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
Francisco Fernández-Carvajal
253 books38 followersFrancisco Fernández-Carvajal, natural de Albolote, Granada, es Licenciado en Historia por la Universidad de Navarra y Doctor en Derecho Canónico por el Angelicum de Roma. Sacerdote de la Prelatura del Opus Dei. Durante más de diez años fue Redactor-Jefe de la revista Palabra.
Es uno de los autores contemporáneos de obras de espiritualidad más conocido.
En Ediciones Palabra ha publicado Hablar con Dios, del que se han editado más de dos millones de ejemplares. Esta gran obra contiene más de quinientas cincuenta meditaciones para cada día del año. Ha sido traducida al inglés, francés, italiano, portugués, alemán, holandés, rumano, eslovaco, checo y polaco. Actualmente se está llevando a cabo la traducción al ruso y al húngaro.
También en esta misma editorial se han publicado -con numerosas reediciones- otras obras suyas: Vida de Jesús, Donde duerme la ilusión (La tibieza), Hijos de Dios (en colaboración con Pedro Beteta), Quédate conmigo, Como quieras Tú (meditaciones sobre la Pasión del Señor), El día que cambié mi vida, Antología de textos para la oración y la predicación, y Para llegar a puerto (El sentido de la ayuda espiritual).
Es uno de los autores contemporáneos de obras de espiritualidad más conocido.
En Ediciones Palabra ha publicado Hablar con Dios, del que se han editado más de dos millones de ejemplares. Esta gran obra contiene más de quinientas cincuenta meditaciones para cada día del año. Ha sido traducida al inglés, francés, italiano, portugués, alemán, holandés, rumano, eslovaco, checo y polaco. Actualmente se está llevando a cabo la traducción al ruso y al húngaro.
También en esta misma editorial se han publicado -con numerosas reediciones- otras obras suyas: Vida de Jesús, Donde duerme la ilusión (La tibieza), Hijos de Dios (en colaboración con Pedro Beteta), Quédate conmigo, Como quieras Tú (meditaciones sobre la Pasión del Señor), El día que cambié mi vida, Antología de textos para la oración y la predicación, y Para llegar a puerto (El sentido de la ayuda espiritual).
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 7, 2020
It has been eight years since I have purchased this volume, I have now read this edition eight times. There are three editions of these book available in English. The original vinyl bound. The Kindle Editions that split each volume (based on Kindle max file size at the time they were released.) And New Single volume eBook editions direct from Scepter. I have owned a few copies of the vinyl, but now I love these Kindle editions.
I have been reading this series for 30 years now. Since they first started being available in English. At first, I bought them in the individual vinyl covered editions. And later replaced them with the boxset, twice. And then once the eBooks were available, I grabbed them up, and after 2 years of using the eBooks I gave my physical copy to a local schoolteacher to use in his high school class. I love these books and have read them around 15 times over years. I love these newer eBook editions. And have read them every years since getting the eBook editions.
I have said it before, and will say it again, but there are a few features I love about the eBook versions that I want to highlight. First as a reader you can highlight and make notes easily in the digital editions. You can also pick colors and change your highlighting from year to year. But the best feature of the Kindle version is you can export your highlights and notes and start fresh. I also always like having all the volumes on me. As mike Aquilina stated:
“Now we can travel with more books stored in our telephones than the ancient Egyptians kept in their vast library at Alexandria.”
And I always appreciate having them all on me. I can use them to look something up, using the Subject index or index of quotations to look something up in any volume. I also love that in eBooks you can change the page color, the font, and even font size to make reading better suited to your personally with my dual form of dyslexia.
When these books were originally released in English this was the first half of the fourth volume. This volume consists of 54 meditations for Weeks 13 through to 18 of Ordinary Time. A sample of the highlights I made in this volume this year are:
“So many people have their own plans for their own well-being that only too often they look on God simply as someone who will help them to carry out those same plans. The true state of affairs is just the opposite. God has his plans for our happiness, and He is waiting for us to help him accomplish them – and let us be quite clear about it: we cannot improve on God’s plans.”
“Simplicity means having rectitude of intention and behaving with firmness and consistency. Prudence always points out to us the most appropriate means of achieving our end.”
“In the society in which we live we will have to speak out with the certainty and firmness that truth unfailingly gives. We will have to talk about many subjects which are of transcendent importance for the family, for society and for the dignity of the human person. Take the indissolubility of marriage. Freedom in education. The Church’s teaching on the transmission of human life. The dignity and beauty of purity. The excellence of virginity and celibacy for love of Christ. The consequences of social justice in relation to thoughtless spending or unjust wages ... There may be occasions when out of prudence or charity we should keep quiet.”
“The prayer of the Liturgy on this day invites us to exclaim: Lord, may our voices, our spirits and the whole of our lives be a continual praise in your honour ... May our conversations be always truthful, proper to a child of God.”
“When one freely decides to follow Christ completely it takes preference over other plans: one’s father or mother, one’s boy-friend or girl-friend. God’s call comes first, and everything else has to take second place to this.”
“To follow Our Lord properly calls for a completely unfettered detachment, a freedom of heart that is not hampered by sadness or regret, which would only lead to a half-hearted self-giving; the person concerned also needs to have the necessary autonomy to fulfil God’s will. Nothing is gained by half measures, by a decision made with a divided heart.”
“Good parents always want the best for their children. Since they are capable of making great sacrifices for their material welfare, why not too in the case of their supernatural well-being? They sacrifice themselves so that their children grow up healthy, and do well at their studies, and have good friends; and likewise so that they live as God wants them to, leading a life that is Christian and honourable. This is the mission that God has called parents to in matrimony – the education of their children. It is the express will of God for them, and a consequence of the Natural Law.”
“What are the acts of penance that are pleasing to God? They are: prayer, fasting, almsgiving, small mortifications, putting up patiently with the disappointments and difficulties of life, being ready to accept the monotonous aspects of our job and the tiredness that is part and parcel of work.”
“God wants us to bear difficulties peacefully and firmly, being happy to place our trust in him. He never lets his friends down, especially when their only care is to do his will.”
“Denying oneself means refusing to be the centre of one’s own attention. The true disciple must be centred on Christ, to whom must be directed all thoughts and cares, so that our entire day truly becomes an offering to God.”
Across the 7 Volumes in this series; or 14 eBook volumes because each book is split in two there are over 450 meditations. There is a meditation for each day of the church calendar, Advent, Christmas, Ordinary Time, Lent, Eastertide and of course the 34 weeks of Ordinary time. And as mentioned this is part of 1 volume 4 dedicated to Ordinary time weeks 13 through to 18.
These books are incredible for your spiritual life. Every time I read them, every day I am challenged, challenged to become a better version of myself, challenged to live more joy, more hope, more dedication. These books will change your life, and as you read them again and again you will only grow to appreciate them more.
I had planned on reviewing each of the eBook editions as I read them but have fallen behind. As stated this is my eighth time reading this volume as an eBook. This series has been invaluable in my spiritual life. Sometimes I read it for years in a row. And every time I benefit from it. I grow, I deepen. I strive to mature.
Of all the devotionals and spiritual books, I have read over the last nearly 30 years I can recommend this series as one of the best. You can read it again and again and always get something more out of it. A few years ago I was asked to come up with my all-time Top Ten Catholic Books this series came in at number 4 but to be honest 2-5 are almost all interchangeable. This is one of my all-time top Christian reads!
Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More and reviews of other books by Francis Fernandez.
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2020 Catholic Reading Plan!
I have been reading this series for 30 years now. Since they first started being available in English. At first, I bought them in the individual vinyl covered editions. And later replaced them with the boxset, twice. And then once the eBooks were available, I grabbed them up, and after 2 years of using the eBooks I gave my physical copy to a local schoolteacher to use in his high school class. I love these books and have read them around 15 times over years. I love these newer eBook editions. And have read them every years since getting the eBook editions.
I have said it before, and will say it again, but there are a few features I love about the eBook versions that I want to highlight. First as a reader you can highlight and make notes easily in the digital editions. You can also pick colors and change your highlighting from year to year. But the best feature of the Kindle version is you can export your highlights and notes and start fresh. I also always like having all the volumes on me. As mike Aquilina stated:
“Now we can travel with more books stored in our telephones than the ancient Egyptians kept in their vast library at Alexandria.”
And I always appreciate having them all on me. I can use them to look something up, using the Subject index or index of quotations to look something up in any volume. I also love that in eBooks you can change the page color, the font, and even font size to make reading better suited to your personally with my dual form of dyslexia.
When these books were originally released in English this was the first half of the fourth volume. This volume consists of 54 meditations for Weeks 13 through to 18 of Ordinary Time. A sample of the highlights I made in this volume this year are:
“So many people have their own plans for their own well-being that only too often they look on God simply as someone who will help them to carry out those same plans. The true state of affairs is just the opposite. God has his plans for our happiness, and He is waiting for us to help him accomplish them – and let us be quite clear about it: we cannot improve on God’s plans.”
“Simplicity means having rectitude of intention and behaving with firmness and consistency. Prudence always points out to us the most appropriate means of achieving our end.”
“In the society in which we live we will have to speak out with the certainty and firmness that truth unfailingly gives. We will have to talk about many subjects which are of transcendent importance for the family, for society and for the dignity of the human person. Take the indissolubility of marriage. Freedom in education. The Church’s teaching on the transmission of human life. The dignity and beauty of purity. The excellence of virginity and celibacy for love of Christ. The consequences of social justice in relation to thoughtless spending or unjust wages ... There may be occasions when out of prudence or charity we should keep quiet.”
“The prayer of the Liturgy on this day invites us to exclaim: Lord, may our voices, our spirits and the whole of our lives be a continual praise in your honour ... May our conversations be always truthful, proper to a child of God.”
“When one freely decides to follow Christ completely it takes preference over other plans: one’s father or mother, one’s boy-friend or girl-friend. God’s call comes first, and everything else has to take second place to this.”
“To follow Our Lord properly calls for a completely unfettered detachment, a freedom of heart that is not hampered by sadness or regret, which would only lead to a half-hearted self-giving; the person concerned also needs to have the necessary autonomy to fulfil God’s will. Nothing is gained by half measures, by a decision made with a divided heart.”
“Good parents always want the best for their children. Since they are capable of making great sacrifices for their material welfare, why not too in the case of their supernatural well-being? They sacrifice themselves so that their children grow up healthy, and do well at their studies, and have good friends; and likewise so that they live as God wants them to, leading a life that is Christian and honourable. This is the mission that God has called parents to in matrimony – the education of their children. It is the express will of God for them, and a consequence of the Natural Law.”
“What are the acts of penance that are pleasing to God? They are: prayer, fasting, almsgiving, small mortifications, putting up patiently with the disappointments and difficulties of life, being ready to accept the monotonous aspects of our job and the tiredness that is part and parcel of work.”
“God wants us to bear difficulties peacefully and firmly, being happy to place our trust in him. He never lets his friends down, especially when their only care is to do his will.”
“Denying oneself means refusing to be the centre of one’s own attention. The true disciple must be centred on Christ, to whom must be directed all thoughts and cares, so that our entire day truly becomes an offering to God.”
Across the 7 Volumes in this series; or 14 eBook volumes because each book is split in two there are over 450 meditations. There is a meditation for each day of the church calendar, Advent, Christmas, Ordinary Time, Lent, Eastertide and of course the 34 weeks of Ordinary time. And as mentioned this is part of 1 volume 4 dedicated to Ordinary time weeks 13 through to 18.
These books are incredible for your spiritual life. Every time I read them, every day I am challenged, challenged to become a better version of myself, challenged to live more joy, more hope, more dedication. These books will change your life, and as you read them again and again you will only grow to appreciate them more.
I had planned on reviewing each of the eBook editions as I read them but have fallen behind. As stated this is my eighth time reading this volume as an eBook. This series has been invaluable in my spiritual life. Sometimes I read it for years in a row. And every time I benefit from it. I grow, I deepen. I strive to mature.
Of all the devotionals and spiritual books, I have read over the last nearly 30 years I can recommend this series as one of the best. You can read it again and again and always get something more out of it. A few years ago I was asked to come up with my all-time Top Ten Catholic Books this series came in at number 4 but to be honest 2-5 are almost all interchangeable. This is one of my all-time top Christian reads!
Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More and reviews of other books by Francis Fernandez.
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2020 Catholic Reading Plan!
October 21, 2015
These books have been around for years, yet continue to inspire me. The series are meant to be read over the course of the entire church year for daily supplementation of the mass readings, and are designed to do so for each church year (all cycles). I'm so happy they are finally available in Kindle format now for even greater accessibility.
They touch me, inspire me, enlighten me and soothe my soul. I highly recommend this series and the practice of daily Bible readings.
They touch me, inspire me, enlighten me and soothe my soul. I highly recommend this series and the practice of daily Bible readings.
August 10, 2015
Incrediblely insightful and impactful
This is a daily gift that continues to provide insight no matter how many time I read it. Practical and approachable this is a spiritual must read.
This is a daily gift that continues to provide insight no matter how many time I read it. Practical and approachable this is a spiritual must read.
July 31, 2016
In keeping with the catechism of the Catholic Church
Useful for 20-30 minute meditations. Timeless teachings and applicable to real life. In sync with the Mass readings and liturgical calendar.
Useful for 20-30 minute meditations. Timeless teachings and applicable to real life. In sync with the Mass readings and liturgical calendar.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews