Posted May 24, 2014 Book: Christ our compass: making moral choices Author: Alfred McBride, O.Praem Franciscan Media. Cincinnati, OH. 2014. Pp. 120 An Excerpt from the Jacket: Making good moral choices should not be difficult, days Fr. Alfred McBride. Scripture and the Church provide a certain compass for those seeking truth. The heart of these teachings is God's love for us. With a deep sense of joy and grace, this book covers topics such as sin and moral sense; family values; medical and moral issues; war; the death penalty; sexuality; honesty; grace and joy; the Church as teacher; and the Beatitudes. Offering contemporary examples of moral decision-making. McBride recommends the Ten Commandments as cornerstones of a moral life, while encouraging consideration of the Great Commandment as the guiding star in our choices. An Excerpt from the Book: God's Plan for Marriage and Sex Every day Miriam helps Bob up the stairs in front of their house atop a steep hill. He still does the driving around town for them, but they are getting on in years. On warm evenings they sit on their porch where they can watch neighbors mow lawns or tend children. Bob waits on Miriam, serving cold lemonade. "We didn't think about getting old when we moved into this house with all its stairs thirty-eight years ago," Miriam says. But they remain there, being together, helping each other with the little things. Somehow just being in each other's presence makes all of life's challenges seem less important. Miriam and Bob, after a lifetime together, love each other. What is Miriam and Bob's secret to happiness? They've learned and accepted that, over time, the little things add up to make a marriage. At the wedding, lofty promises are made before family and the worshiping community. Newlyweds make plans in decades. But outside of the exiting periods of transition --- moving, having children, new jobs, or whatever surprises life holds --- most married life happens in the everyday. It is in that everyday that the Church holds up the ideal of marriage, an ideal with roots in the Sixth and Ninth Commandments ("Neither shall you commit adultery . . . .Neither shall you covet your neighbor's wife." The Church, through the tradition of marriage, holds sacred the means by which most people will achieve holiness. Table of Contents: 1. Amazing grace, what joy it brings 2. Church as mother and teacher 3. Sin and moral sense 4. Love God 5. Rediscover the Christian Sabbath 6. Family values 7. Playing God with human life 8. The threat of war and the search for peace 9. God's plan for marriage and sex 10. Justice and love for all 11. Being truthful and free 12. Virtues: expressions of God's image