"A breath of Christian sanity. I think we need more books like Stephen Hand's Apocalypse Nights. This collection of essays stirs the ashes of the culture of death and finds the embers of life still burning. His insights, clear and direct, perhaps even prophetic at times, help reveal the moral bankruptcy of some unchallenged assumptions of our moribund culture and bring the Gospel to bear on the purveyors of sham antidotes for the mortal illnesses of 'the nihil.'

It is fresh and balanced, and to his credit he does not descend to the mean-spiritedness of some of the anguished analysts of culture wars. Despite the darkness of the present age, one finds truth and hope popping up everywhere, like wildflowers on a barren hillside. Indeed, without a message of hope, it is fruitless to write about the evils of the age. The crucified and risen Christ is sufficient testimony to the horrors of wanton violence and godless license, and to the Easter morning that is already dawning in the hearts of those who choose to stand for truth and love, under the blessing of Him who makes all things new." -----Abbot Joseph, Mt Tabor Monastery, Redwood Valley, California

A Review by Deacon Keith Fournier

Apocalypse Nights: Catholic Hope in the Nihil, by Stephen Hand, is a treasure; the kind of book one reads, re-reads and then unpacks through prayer and thoughtful reflection. In fact, that is precisely what I have been doing with this wonderful book for two months. It is rare when one discovers a writer who is able to simultaneously bring his reader into the deep communion of authentic prayer while, at the same time, exposing the evil face of contemporary barbarism with incredible insight and stark honesty. Hand has done just that in this book. He is an artist who paints with his words. He articulates profound theological insights in simple and beautiful prose while slaying the dragon of the contemporary culture of death, abuse and materialism that has stolen the heart, and infected the lifestyle, of the West.

The book is a compilation of essays written by the pen of a man who is at once monk, mystic and missionary. One of the great monks of our age, Thomas Merton once wrote:

"Night is our diocese and silence is our ministry...We are exiles in the far end of solitude, living as listeners with hearts attending to the skies we cannot understand: Waiting upon the first far drums of Christ the conqueror, planted like sentinels upon the world's frontier."

Stephen Hand writes as a man of deep interiority and recollection. In his words one hears the drumbeats of Christ, the conqueror of hearts. Many forget that monasticism is a lay vocation. We confine its reach to those who respond to the celibate vocation and live in a monastery. Yet, there are those who live in the midst of the world and are able to embrace it with the hope borne of an intimate relationship with God. From his writings, one knows that the author is just such a man.

The Eastern Monk, Evagrius of Pontus, in his 'Mirror for Monks', wrote "The knowledge of God is the breast of Christ and whoever rests on it will be a theologian"

It is in this sense that the author lives the interior dimension of the monastic vocation. It is clear in his extraordinary writing that the author of this book rests on the breast of Christ. A married man and a father, Stephen Hand has integrated his life's experience, both good and bad, into his writings. Thus, they are infused with the kind of faith that has been tested by fire and found to be authentic. These essays are exquisite. One has only to read 'Dying Time,' a letter written to a dying woman named Karen, to experience what I mean.

I am a voracious reader. My special interests lay in theology, prayer, spirituality, public policy and Catholic social thought. Every one of these areas of interest found something of value in this compilation of essays called 'Apocalypse Nights.' It is a refreshingly eclectic mix of social and prophetic insight, theological reflection, prose and meditation. I am currently absorbed in 'On Human Being: A Spiritual Anthropology', by Olivier Clement, the great Orthodox theologian, while re-reading, for what may be the twentieth time, the ever fresh and new 'Easy Essays' of that great Catholic contemplative/ activist Peter Maurin. Stephen Hand is a blend of both of these writers; a contemplative who writes out of the reservoir that flows only from an interior life and a true activist, in the Catholic Worker tradition. In this moving and wonderful book he summons the reader to make a prophetically honest assessment of the deep corruption of the age in order to respond to it, through prayer, with a hope filled new Catholic action.

As I read these essays on prayer and faith, I wondered how he could write with such spiritual eloquence and beauty. I determined that it is because Hand is a mystic. Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, one of the great Churchmen of our age, once wrote: "...[it is] the true contemplatives who best serve her; those with the steady, generous and passionate desire of transfiguring and divinizing all creation with Christ and in Christ. It may sound paradoxical, but in the Church of Jesus Christ, the mystic is the only practical person"

In the Eastern Christian tradition, Orthodox and Catholic, theology is often undertaken by laymen. Some have formal theological education, others do not. Theology in the East has not suffered from the efforts to turn it into a 'science' that have sometimes led to a loss of authentic faith in the West. It is rooted in faith and directed through prayer.

Good theology should flow from a deeply interior and ecclesial life; and proceed from the experience of the communion of the Church which is a participation in the Trinitarian communion.It is in that sense that Hand writes like a theologian. One only has to read 'he Sacred Heart of the Universe and Healing Compassion' or 'The Beauty of the Church' to see that the author has been grasped by the One who is Himself the Ground of the Universe. There many pieces in this compilation whose sheer beauty demonstrate that they were written by a man who is 'inspired', in the etymological and classical sense of that word, meaning 'God breathed.' This is why the book has sat next to me for months now. I have been savoring it, praying through it and digesting its rich bounty.

Finally, Hand is a missionary at heart; an activist, in the best sense of that word. He has responded to the call of his beloved Pope John Paul the Great for a 'New Evangelization.' In his writings, as well as in his life of dedication to the homeless, He challenges corruption and misguided power with truth, sparing no one and nothing from the scrutiny of the Gospel. His writings, positions and insights cannot be marginalized or diminished by referring them to the cheapened discourse of the age as 'right', 'left', 'liberal', 'conservative', 'neo-conservative'. They are incapable of being lumped into any such category. They are prophetic - and they are faithful to the dynamically orthodox teaching of the Catholic Church.

Stephen Hand is pro-life, pro-family, pro-freedom, pro-poor and pro-peace. He pulls no punches in his exposure and critique of the errors of the age and its disdain for the poor in all their manifestations. He uses his words as a sword to assault the militarism, utilitarianism and nihilism of the hour. This is indeed an age that is reeling from all of the errors of post modern and neo-pagan thought, and these essays speak to all of them. Yet, after critically exposing the darkness, Hand always re-presents the hope that flows from the heart of the Gospel and breaks open the beauty and glory of the Paschal mystery. For example, after critiquing the serious errors and failures of some contemporary policy approaches, he points the reader to the truths found within the beautiful social teachings of the Catholic Church and encourages them to live, love and boldly proclaim them in word and in deed.

Finally, this well written book is true to its title. Though we may live in an 'Apocalypse Night', there is always 'Catholic Hope in the Nihil'. These may be difficult and dark times, but they are our times. We were born for these times. 'Apocalypse Nights' is a treasure to be read, re-read, lived, and given away to anyone who hungers for a deeper relationship with the Lord. The essays contained in this book will inform and inspire the reader to live a life of intimate communion, sacrificial love, service and prophetic missionary action.

Deacon Keith Fournier is a Catholic Deacon of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia. He is a graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville, the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Law and the John Paul II Institute of the Lateran University. He is currently a Doctoral student in Historical Theology at Catholic University of America. He practiced law for twenty five years, emphasizing pro-life, pro-family and human rights law. Deacon Fournier has been married for thirty years. He and his wife Laurine have five grown children and one grandson. An author, his eighth book "The Prayer of Mary: Living the Surrendered Life" is available in most bookstores.

Book details

Wars and rumors of wars, the propaganda of the media and states, scandals inside and outside the Church, secular humanist philosophies, the Gospel of Hope and peace...In this new collection, Apocalypse Nights, TCRNews.com editor takes a penetrating look at why so-called progressivist theology and post-modern philosophies have failed this generation and shows why only a faithful proclamation of the Gospel and the teachings of the Church---beyond the old theological polarities and factionalism--- can address the deepest longings of the human person---especially in this complex and very dangerous hour of earth's history. If you benefit from TCRNews.com, this is the collection for you. For it sees in the crucified and risen Christ and His teachings, the answers to man's deepest questions and existential loneliness, the quest for spiritual / temporal peace and social justice in our world and souls. It is a book which will edify all, especially serious students of theology, philosophy and popular culture. (174 pages, 6.0 x 9.0 in., Perfect-bound, 60# cream interior paper, black and white interior ink, 100# white exterior paper, full-color (CMYK) exterior)

Chapters: : 1. The Catholic Life: A life of Dialogue And Witness 2. The Age of Anxiety 3. Suffering: Breaking With Sin 4. A Long Quiet Night 5. The Joy of a Pilgrim People 6. Healing the Church 7. John Paul II and the Loss of Faith 8. The Sacred Heart of the Universe 9. Time of Mercy 10. Dying Time 11. Disarming Ourselves 12. The Beauty of the Church 13. Authority After Adolph Eichmann and the Endlsung [final solution] 14. Anne Catherine Emmerich: Sign for Our Time 15. Existence and Philosophical Chaos 16. Darwinian Power, Nietzschean Pitilessness, and Social Justice 17. The Tsunami and God 18. Christ's Victory Over Death 19. Jesus Christ, Gandhi and George Bush 20. The Progressivist Agenda 21. Lord Marchmain's Long Hate 22. Margaret Sanger and Dorothy Day 23. The City and the Cross 24. Nihilism and the Divine Pity 25. Sexuality, the Modern World, and the Catholic Church 26. Cardinal Ratzinger, Biblical Exegesis and the Church 27. The Magdelene Sisters 28. The Stunning Simplicity of the Liturgy 29. When the State is Ultimate 30. Mother Teresa in the Secular City 31. The "Compassion" of the Mystery of Iniquity 32. Terri Schiavo: Sign and Symbol 33.The Light Given To Us in John Paul II 34. Apocalypse Nights

Stephen Hand, Writings, Collections, Novels for a Postmodern World

Stephen Hand is editor of TCRNews.com. He lives and writes in Massachusetts.

Theotokos Catholic Books - Book Reviews Section - www.theotokos.org.uk