Daniel
Together with fellow seminarian Frankie, Daniel produces the newly revamped Vocationcast: "In 2010 Pope Benedict XVI asked the young people of the UK "What kind of person do you want to be?" Vocationcast is a podcast to help you discover the answer to this question." 1st episode on WYD Madrid (30 mins) & you can listen to / subscribe here on itunes.
Daniel's recommendations:
Week of 6th February - I'd like to recommend the book "Silence" by Sushaku Endo. It's set in 17th century Japan where it is forbidden by punishment of death to be a Christian. Two Jesuit priests from Portugal travel there to minister in secret to the Catholics of Japan. The story follows their difficulties in Japan as they are hunted down by the Samauri. Sushaki Endo is a Japanese Catholic author famed for his novels about Japanese culture and Christianity. The book is currently being made into a movie by legendary movie director Martin Scorsese.
Week of 17th October - This week sees the release of the October 2011 Vocationcast, the monthly vocation podcast from me, Frankie & some other seminarians from the UK. Paschal Uche, the young man who welcomed the Pope to the UK last year on behalf of young people on the steps of Westminster Cathedral, talks about his experience of meeting the Pope & how this encounter has influenced his life. Sr Gabriel Davison OSC, featured on the BBC series 'The Convent', is interviewed about the TV show, her own vocation& the vocation of women to the religious life. Both guests are clearly following the will of God in their lives & yet are so down to earth, and this makes for inspirational listening. I hope that people of all ages and walks of life can receive some grace by listening to the podcast.
Week of 12th September - I am currently reading Born of the Eucharist: A Spirituality for Priests by Fr Stephen Rossetti. It is the best book I have read for a few years. It is helping my spirituality and understanding of the Eucharist so much while I am in my seminary training to become a priest.
This book may be aimed at priests and seminarians however I guarantee that anyone who picked it up would be filled with a lot of grace and understanding of the priests' role in the world and their interconnectedness with the Eucharist.
Week of 11th July - I would like to reccomend that if anyone gets the chance to go to the Holy Land that they go for it. I have just got back from from Israel and Palestine visiting the places where Christ was born, lived, worked, died and was risen. It is the most amazing experience to actually be in the places where Jesus walked and preached the kingdom of God. The 7 day tour opened up the scriptures and helped to deepen my faith. The rightly named Holy Land was also very familiar, even though I had never been there before, as I recognised names and places from scripture. The amazing landscape of Jerusalem and Galilee felt like home and gave me one of the best weeks I've ever had.
(You can take a look at all Dan's great photos here on Totus2us's flickr page.)
Week of 30th May - I downloaded the 'My Rosary' app for my HTC Windows Phone 7 a few weeks back. It's a great little app which makes the rosary, with all the mysteries, easily available. The graphics are pretty cool too. There are rosary apps also available for the Apple Appstore and Android Market.
Week of 9th May - I'm listening to a series of talks at the moment by Scott Hahn on the Gospel of John. It's turning out to be a really insightful scripture study series. I haven't finished yet but I would recommend it so far.
Week of 25th April - I really recommend Pope Benedict's Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation "Verbum Domini". It is like a reference book for me at the moment on scripture (it's uses, it's future and importance etc), I find myself picking it up and searching the index for every bit of work I'm doing at the moment for my M.A. in theology.
I couldn't mention work by Benedict without mentioning his latest release on Jesus of Nazareth (part 2), I haven't read it yet but have heard great things about it.
Week of 24th January - It's the video interview myself and Frankie did with Fr. Christopher Jamieson about his hit BBC series 'The Big Silence' and his new role as Director of the National Office for vocations:
Week of 17th January - a great organisation called 'Lifelines' puts people in the UK in contact with prisoners on Death Row in the U.S.A. so that they can become pen-friends.
Prisoners on Death Row are lonely and most often their families disown them. They are to live everyday being judged for their crimes in psychological torture until on a given date the wardens they live with kill them.This system provides no room for redemption or mercy, and has on many occasions sent innocent people to their death.To become a pen-friend to one of these people is to remember some of the forgotten people in our so called civilised society.So I encourage people to really consider lifelines and give hope to the hopeless.
Week of 10th January - I have a new blog ... the purpose is to have conversations about faith and culture. There will be a few main writers including myself.
2010
Week of 13th December - Advent Conspiracy's video is pretty cool:
