All about the Priesthood and Discovering Your Vocation
Discover your calling with curated books on priesthood and vocation, featuring Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI and The Diary of a Country Priest. Explore faith, discernment, and spiritual guidance in this essential reading list.
Book
Jesus of Nazareth
by Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI’s iconic life of Jesus, a rich, compelling, flesh-and-blood portrait of the central figure of the Christian faith. “This book is . . . my personal search ‘for the face of the Lord.’”—Benedict XVI In this bold, momentous work, the Pope seeks to salvage the person of Jesus from today’s “popular” depictions and to restore his true identity as discovered in the Gospels. Through his brilliance as a theologian and his personal conviction as a believer, the Pope incites us to encounter Jesus face to face. From Jesus of Nazareth: “. . . the great question that will be with us throughout this entire book: But what has Jesus really brought, then, if he has not brought world peace, universal prosperity, and a better world? What has he brought? The answer is very simple: God. He has brought God! He has brought the God who once gradually unveiled his countenance first to Abraham, then to Moses and the prophets, and then in the wisdom literature—the God who showed his face only in Israel, even though he was also honored among the pagans in various shadowy guises. It is this God, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the true God, whom he has brought to the peoples of the earth. He has brought God, and now we know his face, now we can call upon him. Now we know the path that we human beings have to take in this world. Jesus has brought God and with God the truth about where we are going and where we come from: faith, hope, and love.”
Book
The Diary of a Country Priest
by Georges Bernanos
In this classic Catholic novel, Bernanos movingly recounts the life of a young French country priest who grows to understand his provincial parish while learning spiritual humility himself. Awarded the Grand Prix for Literature by the Academie Francaise, The Diary of a Country Priest was adapted into an acclaimed film by Robert Bresson. "A book of the utmost sensitiveness and compassion...it is a work of deep, subtle and singularly encompassing art." — New York Times Book Review (front page)
