Eagerly reading Archbishop Chaput's book

It just arrived!

"Render unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life," by (Archbishop) Charles J. Chaput, published by Doubleday, 2008.

It is visually a lovely book, and that perfect little size that I like (octavo?) Yes, I just did a quick Google search. This size is Large Crown Octavo (5 1/4" x 8") otherwise known as LC8 ('Trade' paperback or B format). (Thanks to www.writersservices.com for jogging my memory from the days back when I had the money to collect antique books!) I find this a really nice size for hardcover books, and two of my other favorite recent purchases are this size. ("Jesus of Nazareth" by Pope Benedict XVI and Newt Gingrich's book "Rediscovering God in America," plus another book I can't put my hands on right now but is a book about one of my favorite artists Chagall's works).

I want to include a quote by Archbishop Chaput, right from the first Chapter, as a reminder of the debt that is owed to the many good priests who labor in the vineyards. He did not write this section with that intention at all (he is commenting about society) but read the statistics and think about it.

"This book will not feed anyone's nostalgia for a Catholic golden age. The past usually looks better as it fades in the rearview mirror. Art Buchwald once said that if you like nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and then go out and have a great time. I agree. After listening to some ten thousand personal confessions over thirty-seven years of priesthood, I'm very confident that the details of daily life change over time, but human nature doesn't. We've seen better and worse times to be Catholic in the United States than the present. But today is the time in which we need to work."

Wise and encouraging words and he addresses something that I keep trying to explain and often infer in my blog postings... people have always struggled with the challenges of life, and God understands that, and certainly does not expect perfection. Since my teens I have told people this quote of mine, "People are like horses; they are messy" as ways to console that it's never easy and of course God understands this. But I wanted to include this quote from Archbishop Chaput's book not only for this great social wisdom and context but also as a hat tip to him and to all the priests who labor as Confessors in the image of Christ. How many people today do not appreciate that at the same time they say, "I wish I could have known Jesus" that they can avail themselves of the sacrament of Confession and be within the reception room that Jesus established directly through Apostolic succession so that yes, people can recall the time when people could confess their sins directly to Jesus and be assured of quality "feedback" (not just kidding oneself if one is understood and forgiven or not). I worry about people who will "bounce their business ideas" off of many colleagues, yet figure that thinking to themselves "well, I sure sinned there but here, I am mentally beaming to Jesus that I'm sorry, so now I know I'm forgiven and it's all OK."

Confessor priests ARE the gift of Jesus Christ to humanity so that they can KNOW indeed in truth that "Jesus understands" and that they "are forgiven."