1. He Leadeth Me, Fr. Walter J. Ciszek – “The deeply moving personal story of one man’s spiritual odyssey and the unflagging faith which enabled him to survive the horrendous ordeal that wrenched his body and spirit to near collapse.”  I believe his cause has been opened.  This is a book I reread every ten years or so.  I have copied large portions into my journal.
2. Father Arseny 1893-1973, Priest, Prisoner, Spiritual Father  and  A Cloud of Witnesses, Vera Bouteneff – the story of one of my heroes–“I want to be like him when I grow up”.    The true story of a Russian Orthodox priest who was a beacon of love and light wherever he was, including years in the Soviet prison camps. Reading these books will change your life.  (I’ve read them both at least three times.)
3. J. Hudson Taylor, God’s Man in China, Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor – A Protestant missionary to China in the 19th century, a Protestant whom I find very “catholic” in his thinking.  He never fails to inspire me.
4. Solzhenitsyn, a Soul in Exile, Joseph Pearce – outstanding biography.  A man of deep, deep courage and love for his country.
5. Light Over the Scaffold, Prison Letters of Jacques Fesch and Cell 18, Unedited letters of Jacques Fesch, Augustin-Michel Lemonnier – dramatic true conversion story of a modern day good thief. 
6. A Song for Nagasaki: The Story of Takashi Nagai-Scientist, Convert, and Survivor of the Atomic Bomb, Fr. Paul Glynn — unforgettable story.
7. Evidence Not Seen, a Woman’s Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of World War II, Darlene Diebler Rose.  Darlene Diebler goes as a new bride with her husband as missionaries to Papua New Guinea just before WWII begins.  She and her husband are interred in separate concentration camps by the Japanese.  Her faith through the horrendous time is stellar.  The power of Scripture in her life during that time made reminds me of all the impressive Protestant missionaries through the ages (e.g. Hudson Taylor, C.T. Studd, etc.) and stirs up my desire to immerse myself even more in the Word.

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