Book Review – Divine Mercy by Robert Stackpole, STD

Dr. Stackpole has written an invaluable book about the mercy of God in Divine Mercy, A Guide from Genesis to Benedict XVI.  
I’ve been reading this book a small portion at a time in order to really grasp the abundance of wisdom it contains.  In chapter one the author begins the book by talking about our “normal” definition of mercy: an act of pardon, and the cancellation of punishment.  Divine Mercy is that, but so much more too.  “Divine Mercy is God’s love reaching down to meet the needs and overcome the miseries of His creatures.” (p. 19).  It’s an active role that God plays in showing us mercy… like the shepherd who went looking for the lost sheep in order to bring him back to safety.
Part one of the book includes the characteristics of God’s Divine Mercy and helps the reader to understand, in down-to-earth terms, how much we are loved by God.  Stackpole talks about two Hebrew words used in the Old Testament to describe God’s mercy.  The first is hesed, a love that is steadfast and always giving.  A love that gives over and over again, regardless of anything the loved one does.  The second is rachamim, which is a tender and compassionate love.  The author uses the illustration of a mother who loves her child and pities him if he is hurt, and in that pity does anything and everything she can to help him and to relieve his pain, even if it was his own disobedience that brought him to it.  This really struck a chord with me, and probably will with all mothers.  I love my child that way, and to know that God loves me that much… well, it’s humbling and awe-inspiring to say the least.
Part two of the book goes through the writings of several theologians and saints and develops their viewpoints of Divine Mercy.  This was a very deep section of the book and I will be going over it a second time (and most likely a third time too) in order to get a more full sense of what these men and women contributed to the understanding of Divine Mercy.
Part three discusses how the understanding of Divine Mercy continues to deepen and grow in modern times, as well as the world’s great need to hear about, understand, and place its trust in the great mercy of God.
This is an excellent book and I highly recommend it.  It includes thoughtful study questions and discussion starters at the end of each chapter and would be a great book to study as a group.
This review was written as part of the Catholic book Reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Divine Mercy - A Guide from Genesis to Benedict XV.

Letter J j Lapbook Printables

Well.  I’ve finally gotten another letter lapbook finished up.  As much as M enjoys his cut and paste ABC pages and his ABC book, I really felt he was getting a better grasp of phonics and letter formation (etc.) from the lapbooks we had done.  He really enjoys these and they are fun for me to put together too.  They take some time, but we are in no hurry. :)

I have to admit the J lapbook was a difficult one for me… I had the toughest time coming up with good ideas.  Ah well, D is next (for dinosaurs, yay!) and I’ve already got a good hundred ideas floating around in my head.

So, here we go… our J j Lapbook: That’s the inside.  No craft on the front as of yet.

First, Things that Begin with J:This is a standard for all our letter lapbooks.  We go through the pictures and reinforce the beginning sound.  M enjoys this very much for some reason.  It kind of ends up as a chant… j-j-j-jellybeans, j-j-j-jackhammer, j-j-j-jumprope.

Next, Color Sequencing with Jellybeans:
Now, admittedly these jellybeans are a bit larger than regular jellybeans, and M did call them eggs as they were printing out, but he believed me when I told him they were jellybeans. :)  There are 5 colors and 3 jellybeans for each color.  M will sequence them from darkest to lightest or vice versa.

Number Sequencing with Jars:Pretty simple here – just sequencing the jars from 1 to 5. 

Then we’ll count our jellybeans from above onto the jars:

Jack and Jill Poem Sequencing Cards:The sequencing cards are from here.  And there are 4 of them; I was missing one when I took the picture.  I added a little card that has the poem on it too.  I printed the sequencing cards much smaller than the originals, making them each 3”x2” so they will fit into the lapbook pocket.

Big J and Little j Sorting:This is simple and pretty self-explanatory.  M loves jackhammers (and all things destructive), so I’m sure he’ll enjoy this.  In the future I may print the letters in various fonts too, but for now a simple sort seems best.

The back of the lapbook has one last pocket, Dot-to-dot J and j Letter Tracing:These are laminated so M can practice on them with a dry-erase or window marker over and over again.

All of these activities are available for downloading and  printing here.  Like I always say, you don’t have to make  lapbook!  Just use them for activity packs or whatever! ;)

Have a beautiful day! :)