A Book Review, a Book Signing, and a Giveaway
by Susan Vigilante
I have a book I think you’ll like.
Scratch that.
I think you’ll love it.
Breakfast with the Pope was written by a local author—Hi, Susan!—but it is anything but a local book. It has been called a Christian Eat, Pray, Love and it’s that—I agree—but it’s more, much more. It’s better because it has the Truth.
And I know the Truth is what you’re after.
When I heard that Susan had written this book, I was a bit surprised but not that much. I knew she was a writer but what I didn’t know was that for years she carried the cross of infertility. (This is not the sort of thing that one discusses at Doughnut Sunday.)
From the book:
“For women the pain of childlessness is never only about the babies. The truth is I was missing not only the child who was not there but the person I had failed to become. Infertility is not just a disappointment, like not getting a present you really wanted. It is a failure. Life may be a gift from God, but by God’s own design it is also something we make. We are supposed to be co-creators. I wasn’t.”
This book has been called painfully honest; it is, and that, too, makes it true. It is a book about friendship and about friendships that fail. (Haven’t we all been there?) It is about one woman’s struggles with faith despite infertility, and yes, it’s about her meeting the pope.
“John Paul II was bigger than I thought he would be. He knelt in the center of the aisle, with his shoulders hunched up and his forehead resting on his clasped hands. The white worsted wool of his cassock strained across his back, as if a hundred Italian tailors couldn’t keep up with this one Polish pope.
“I looked at that back, those shoulders, those hands. All I could think was ‘mountain.’”
Breakfast with the Pope is one of the most engaging memoirs I’ve read. I devoured it in one weekend, in part because I was asked to do a review but mostly because I could not put it down.
Adoring Husband, Author Susan Vigilante, Adoring Fan, Adoring Fan
It’s true what they say about books you can’t put down. You really cannot put them down.
“The hardest thing I ever did in my life I did for You. The world promised me what I wanted most and I turned it down, because I believed in You…
“Even when I couldn’t feel You anywhere, even when I hated it, I did what you asked. Despite all the sins and screw-ups and failures to be what You wanted me to be, however often I have buried my talents in the ground, however I have failed to be fruitful for You in other ways, at least in this one thing, this one unbearable thing, I can honestly say I was obedient at great cost.
“And if that isn’t enough for You, well, it’s all I’ve got.”
to the author’s table. (Granted, it wasn’t the book she had written,
but hey, it’s the thought that counts.)
Would you like a chance to win a signed copy of Breakfast with the Pope? I thought so! That’s why I got one! I’m going to make you work for it though, by leaving a comment about one of our beloved popes. It could be one of your favorite quotes, or perhaps a story you like to tell. Have you ever been in a papal audience–the kind where you were one of thousands but felt like you were the only one? Or perhaps you were the only one, looking the Holy Father in the eye as he imparted a papal blessing. (If so, wow. You lucky dog!)
Comments will be open until tomorrow (Wednesday) at midnight CST. I’ll announce the winner on Thursday morning.
Good luck! I hope you win but if you don’t…please consider buying this book.
And then come back here and we’ll talk about it.
Updated to Add: I would be remiss not to mention that the proceeds from this book are going toward the construction of a school in Cambodia. You can read more about it here.
Yes! I would love to read this book!
My papal story may not be very special to most, but it is very special to me. I got to see Pope John Paul II (from a distance) at WYD '93 in Denver. It was an amazing experience. I credit that weekend for my husband and I eventually getting married. We named our fourth boy after Pope JPII. 🙂
My most recent and lovable memory happened in October. Our family was blessed to travel to Europe of which four days were spent in Rome. We attended the Wednesday general audience on October 20th when the Holy Father spoke about St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Our eldest daughter recorded the English portion of the catechesis on her Ipod. I blogged about it at: http://ourfieldoflittleflowers.blogspot.com/2010/11/feast-of-st-elizabeth-of-hungary.html
I think you have to download something to hear the audio, but it's worth it just to hear the Holy Father's wonderful voice!
P.S. (Sorry to have to leave two comments.) I heard this book is very good. Thanks for the opportunity to win a copy.:)
I adore Pope John Paul II. He always emulated Christ to me and I was deeply saddened when he passed away. I was actually on retreat the weekend he died, and the entire time I was in a daze not knowing what was next. He left such a mark on my soul that I will cherish forever. I only wish I would've met him in person.
My favorite quote of his is: "Have no fear of moving into the unknown. Simply step out fearlessly knowing that I am with you, therefore no harm can befall you; all is very, very well. Do this in complete faith and confidence." I currently have it in my header on one of my blogs, and while discerning religious life, I found that quote to speak to me on so many levels. 🙂
JPII was my first Pope. I traveled to Europe for a semester and during a long weekend in Italy met up with my boyfriend and his family, who had flown (from MN!) to visit me. Little did I know that I would be engaged the next day in front of the breathtaking Pieta.
I came to find out that my engagement ring had been clasped on a necklace safely hidden around my future mother-in-laws neck and had been blessed by JPII the previous day at a Papal Audience.
The next year, JPII died on my now-husband's birthday. Where his body lay-in-state was the exact spot where my husband proposed marriage.
A very special Pope to the both of us 🙂 .
I was also at WYD in Denver (my mother made me go). As a college junior, I was not happy to be on a bus full of mostly strangers. But, mom's know best, and this event is what spurred me onto the path of practicing my faith more fully.
Would love to read the book…
Hey Margaret, I already ordered this book from Amazon based on your comments last week, but had to comment on how big George is getting. Wow, he looks like a regular big kid in this photo!
I will never forget hearing Pope Benedict XVI's voice for the first time. I was in St. Peter's square for the angelus. I had never heard Pope Benedict XVI speak, but I expected that when he would do so, a strong German voice would echo throughout the square. When this beautiful, soft voice sang through the loudspeaker, I was moved to tears. It was as if the gentleness of the Holy Father's soul permeated the air and fell upon everyone like a soft blanket. Really, it was indescribable. Pope Benedict XVI is a man close to my heart. I highly recommend his Milestones: Memoirs 1927-1977. It is my dream that he will write another memoir detailing the time after 1977 until now.
This book sounds great! I would love a chance to win, as I have been itching for a good read.
~Erin
San Clemente, CA
When I was in fourth grade, JPII came to the US and one of his stops was here in Texas. My elementary school choir was chosen to sing at the big outdoor mass in San Antonio. By the time mass started, though, I was sound asleep sitting up in my chair. We had been up at 3 am two mornings in a row and had done our singing hours before the mass started. One of the chaperons woke me in time for communion. I did get to see him drive by in the popemobile before I fell asleep at least!
I can't wait to read this book! I'll be buying myself a copy if I don't win!
Oh, boy! Okay . . . you know I love to read and I love the Truth – I need this book!
My story isn't my own, but it is a favourite of mine, because I am always telling people that God is a poet. You can see His hand in timing and all sorts of things. As with this story.
My FIL was in Rome when Pope John XXIII was there . . . he was w/in feet of the Pope. My FIL loved John XXIII – "such a holy man, such a man of love" etc.. Years later, he was one of the many parishioners of the newly built Blessed John XXIII Church in Cedar Rapids, IA. He was also BJXXIII's first funeral. My FIL was one of the happiest blokes I ever met. It wasn't until after his death that I learned he prayed the rosary every day. I wish I had more time to get to know Rick – one of the last things he ever told me was that I was doing a great job with the kids, he was glad I became Catholic, and that he loved me.
Now, you don't get a grand FIL like that often.
Would love a chance for a copy.
Pope Story: I studied over seas in Europe for a semester and got to see Pope John Paul II from a far in his little window (he was very ill at the time). I recently read what Pope Benedict said to theologians about the study of theology being a "school of sanctity." Love it!
I WISH I had a pope story! But JPII was the Pope when I was full received into the Church, and when he passed I felt a real unity with the Church world-wide as we mourned such a man.
I am really wanting to get my hands on this book, so thanks for the giveaway!
This looks like a great book!!
Before I was Catholic, a couple of my friends and I did the European backpacking thing right after college. We went to Sunday Mass at St. Peter's and sat way in the back. We joked about how funny it would be if it was actually JPII celebrating Mass, and we didn't even realize it. Well, it was. We stayed for the blessing in the square afterward. I was so touched by all the little children shouting, "Papa!!" He was obviously a beloved man. I converted a few years later.
When I was pregnant with my oldest I really wanted it to be a boy, partly because I wanted to name him after JPII while he was still alive. The week my son was born he was really ill and everyone was predicting he would die any day. Fortunately for me, I had a boy, and the pope continued to hang on for another six weeks or so. Now my son can count him among his patrons, and I think he is very lucky to be able to do so.
My husband and I attended World Youth Day in Toronto. I was wonderful to hear Pope John Paul II speak. Even though we never got very close to him, he radiated such love that you felt as though he was talking directly to you, and not just to the crowd. It was a great experience. Even camping out in the rain and mud was worth it just to be "close" to him.
I went to see John Paul II on Boston Common in 1979 – pouring rain and I was wearing a wool Irish knit sweater!! We weren't particularly close but we could see him clearly (oh those days before I needed glasses for distance and now for reading too). Saw him again at the Vatican in June 1988. An amazing man.
But I think my favorite would be his predecessor John Paul I. I was just at the age to realize what a big deal it was to have a new Pope. I liked his chosen name John Paul and think he was a beautiful man.
The book sounds great. (Also eager to find out what happened to the christening gown!)
My husband – when he was in seminary, got to kiss JPII's hand. We have enlarged photos of this and I should really get it framed. After he left the seminary, we used to go on rosary walks around town and he had a priest friend bring back 2 rose rosaries, blessed by JPII. He was so awesome!
The book sounds awesome! Love your blog and thanks for the giveaway!
This book sounds wonderfully intriguing, but…
I don't have a Pope story! Both of my oldest children have seen JPII and Benedict several times and I have blessed items from both of them…
My son was in Europe when JPII passed away, stayed in Rome to see the Holy Father lying in state, and in Venice when he called here saying "turn on the TV, Mom, fumata bianca!!"
And at his passing, I loaned my 15×19 oil painting of JPII from my living room to our small parish to display on the Altar. But I was never able to see our Blessed Father in person (yet)… I've been busy having and raising babies!
Not my pope story, but my husband's…
My husband and his dad went to see JPII when he came to Des Moines, IA in 1980 when my husband was a freshman in college. One of the most memorable moments was when the pope got off the plane onto a red carpet. It was a beautiful day for my husband and his dad. We have lot's of pictures and the photo on the mantle on our fireplace is a beautiful shot of JPII in IA that day.
Last year, when my husband had just been laid off of work, one of his buddies who is Lutheran, called him and told him he wanted to buy him lunch. His friend told my husband he had something special for him. This guy is a tech geek like my husband so he just assumed that it was some cool tech toy. His friend, also from IA, was the son of a carpet layer. His dad was responsible for putting down the red carpet the pope walked on. His dad had saved some of the red carpet. Instead of keeping it for himself, he gave it to my husband because he knew it would be meaningful to him. He had no idea what comfort and hope it gave him. It's rolled up and stored in the drawer of our prayer table along with dirt from the house Mary lived in with St. John in Turkey (a gift from a Turkish buddy of his).
I do believe many holy marriages were the fruits of WYD' 93.
I was at Mile High Stadium when his helicopter landed.
The whole stadium just roared. Everyone was so excited. There was so much joy.
A once in a lifetime moment that one never ever forgets.
PS. I would lub that book also.
I've never had the chance to see a Pope and I don't have any stories, but one of my favorite quotes from JPII is this (From WYD 2000):
"It is Jesus in fact that you seek when you dream of happiness; He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; He is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is He who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is He who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is He who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal."
I'm only a ten-year-old Catholic, but I cried when Pope John Paul II died. It was such a beautiful and holy death! And he was so well loved…and still is.
I was able to see Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to New York in Yankee Stadium. I remember him coming into the stadium in the popemobile and thinking, "there's Peter!"
Fun comments here! I'll add my little one…
I studied abroad with my beautifully Catholic university in my junior year (1996). We made a pilgrimage to Rome and had the blessing of attending a Wednesday audience with our beloved Papa. When our university was announced during the course of the audience, we responded by yelling "Coraggio!!" (Courage!)which is the message which PJPII encouraged the young people with during his pontificate.
Toward the end of the audience, PJPII came down the center aisle of the audience hall for the first time since his hip surgery. It was clearly a surprise for his security entourage as they all scrambled to position themselves. He made his way down the center aisle (our group was about a third of the way back) and he came to me. Me! Frankly, I think he was looking for our group amidst the great crowd as we know he loved our university! He took my hand and held it, looked me in the eyes and asked me where I was from. Me!
Fortunately, my friends around me yelled "Steubenville!" which was a very good thing because I was speechless. Absolutely speechless in front of the Pope! He continued to hold my hand and all I could manage to say was "I love you… I love you". He looked into my eyes again when I said it the second time, while of course still holding my hand. Then at last, he continued on down the aisle. But not without changing my life forever.
2 ladies of my prayer group were in the front row and were "breathing the same air" as B16 during the canonization celebration of Brother Andre in Rome just last month.
I just may give this book a read if I donot win it here 😉
and I must say that George is one happy looking little boy, and just as cute as his siblings.
My mom took us to see the JPII when he came to Detroit, in 1987. My grandparents spoke Polish so we made this huge sign on a white cloth with red letters written in Polish saying, "Bless us Father". I was 11 and my brother was 8. There was a group of college kids that hoisted us up on their shoulders so that we could hold up the sign. As he was blessing the crowd I was watching on binoculars, he stopped when he saw our sign and turned back and blessed us. I can still tear up – but then again I'm pregnant, I tear up at anything these days 🙂
I also got to see him at World Youth Day in Denver in 1993, I will never forget as we chanted – John Paul Two, we love you! And he said with his great accent – "John Paul Two – he loves you!" I love him so much.
I went to Rome for two weeks when my daughter was studying there. I was so excited to be in the large papal audience on Wednesday in Vatican square. We went up to one of the Swiss guards to ask the time and he said, "He exit." Turns out he was in Bulgaria…one of his last trips before he died. Sigh.
Don't need to enter me in the contest but this book looks perfect for my Mom – purchased! Thanks so much for the post.
No pope story.
A pope quote though.
I found in my parents garbage things from JPII because they no longer care for him, because they are SSPX-ers. I don't think they are allowed to like him anymore.
OK, seriously though, out of a quote book I found in their garbage dumpster a few years ago (along with a CCC and Conversations with God series)
is this quote from JPII:
Mary said: "I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be done to me as you say" (lk 1:38) And with these words, she expressed what was the fundamental attitude of her life: her faith. Mary believed! She trusted in God's promises and was faithful to His will. All her earthly life was a "pilgrimage of faith." For, like us, she walked in shadows and hoped for things unseen….
end of quote.
If I win, I will share my book with Christine!
Pope JPII was my first Pope and I loved him dearly and still do. I was blessed to attend a Papal audience and see him from a distance. From a distance, he spoke only to me.
My favorite quote from him, "…we are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father's love for us and our real capacity to become the image of His Son."
Thanks for the chance to win.
Hi Margaret,
I don't have a Pope story either, but maybe I'll pick up a favorite quote out of that book! I do have Benedict's book, Jesus of Nazareth, that I have yet to read. It was given to me as a gift by my Jewish husband, which I thought was sweet of him. But I do have trouble reading the popes' writings. I'll get to it someday I hope!
OH. I got to see the Pope in St. Louis and twice in Rome in 2001. I'd love to check this book out. Pick me!
I don't have any particularly good pope stories, but I can say it was largely a result of the death of Pope John Paul II that led me to become a daily-Mass-goer. My school had a memorial Mass in his honor shortly after he died, which I went to because I was so affected by his death, and then I just kept going after that. Which has, in turn, led to a lot of great things in my life.
(And, oh my, the excitement when they announced it was Cardinal Ratzinger who would be our next Pope! The Church has been so blessed with him. I still get goosebumps when I think about it.)
Oh, I would love a copy of this book!
My husband and I were incredibly blessed to receive a marriage blessing from John Paul II. We went to Rome in the spring of 2004, less than a year after we were married. I was pregnant with our first child and had to wear my mother's wedding dress held together with safety pins because it didn't (ahem) fit so well. We were in the first row of chairs to the side of the canopy in front of St. Peter's. I remember sobbing as I watched him being helped out of the Popemobile several yards in front of me. He was so frail… this was about a year before he died. We were able to kneel in front of him and receive a personal blessing. One of the great moments of my life.
I first fell in love with our beloved John Paul II at WYD in Denver. Little did I know that I would have several close encounters with him later whilst studying in Rome — several audiences, several Masses, a rosary. And later, after getting married, a blessing, and a visit to WYD in Toronto. I never tired of hearing his voice. I always wanted to give him a hug (but I never got THAT close — the closest was about twenty feet).
As an aside, while at a Holy Thursday Mass at the Vatican, I practically ran into then Cardinal Ratzinger getting his picture taken with some lovely young sisters! Who knew?
(By the way, I just saw this book while Christmas shopping — it looks wonderful!)
Advent blessings to you and yours!
I don't really have a papal story to tell. But one day I hope to. I do have a close friend who will be spending Christmas in Rome and watching an ordination, but that is (going to be) her story. Does that count? Because I'd really like to win this book!
I was on Boston Common in the rain in 1979 too! Love JPII and would love to win this book.
Thanks so much!!
Our VW van that recently broke down was newly purchased and used to drive to Denver for WYD "93! We called it our own "popemobile" then. (We were actually YOUNG then, too, with 4 tiny children.) Popped the top and slept in it en route to the big concluding outdoor Mass. When the Holy Father arrived in his helicopter, he buzzed around us twice before landing. Later we named our 6th baby Carl Joseph after his given name, Karol Jozef.
JPII was awesome. End of story, short but sweet. Musc like JPII.
I don't have a personal Pope story, as much as I would LOVE to!! I do have a son named for the first and the current Popes . . . does that count?? But I sure would like to win a copy of this book 🙂 It sounds fantastic!