Adventures in the Great Mystery is exciting fiction about Catholic college students living their faith and explaining it to non-Catholic adults and families in their community. While readers enjoy the story, they are exposed to the characters’ vibrant personal faith as it is expressed in many Catholic practices. You can encourage people to read the books for individual learning or lead four meetings with the discussion questions provided in the book. A special Theology of the Body curriculum is available, and the AGM team can develop discussion questions to match the needs of specific groups (just contact us!). Each chapter ends with personal reflection questions, so individual readers can begin to apply what they learn to their own lives.
Catholic practices covered in Book I include: mental prayer, involvement in the political sphere, praising God through singing, the Anointing of the Sick, forgiveness, valuing truth, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, love as self-gift vs. use of person as an object, pursuing the vocation of marriage through courtship, imitation of Christ’s sacrificial love, allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to and through you, offering up suffering, the intercession of the saints, treating Jesus and priests as shepherds, miracles; discernment of vocation to marriage, the priesthood, and religious life; chastity, NFP, welcoming the stranger, evangelization, and accountability and confrontation in friendship.
In addition, some Catholic beliefs are explained or explored in depth. The Eucharist is explained as Christ’s perpetual offering and the Mass as our thankful connection with God through renewing a covenant with Him. One reader commented, “You boiled the topic down well enough to capture its essence but not corrupt its meaning.” The Ten Commandments are summarized and explored in modern terms. St. Francis of Assisi takes an active role in the story and St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Therese of Lisieux are mentioned several times. Discernment of vocation is the primary theme.
Footnotes refer the reader to numerous texts from Scripture, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and many Church documents. This provides a way for the reader to become familiar with the many sources of Catholic doctrine and practice. These footnotes are a wonderful tool for those using this book to teach others. Questions for group discussion take the concepts further and allow you to bring in your own knowledge and the students’ personal experiences.
At the end of Book I, many readers want to continue reading about the characters in Books II and III, where they are exposed to much more: fatherhood, sainthood, mystical prayer, abortion and excommunication, the Spousal Analogy, death, funerals, holiness and redemption of the body, adoration, corporal and spiritual works of mercy, personal use of Scripture, and prayer for others. Courtship and discernment of vocation continue to be major themes. There are detailed explanations of the Bible, the Trinity, and of Jesus and all the baptized as priest, prophet, and king, as well as of Genesis 1-3, John 1, Matthew, evangelization and the Parable of the Four Soils. Ephesians 5, married saints, repentance as thankfulness to God, and the Mass as Passover are also mentioned. (Believe it or not, all of this is so naturally woven into the story that it still reads like a novel!)
In the second trilogy, Books IV-VI, the Spousal Analogy is explored in all its ramifications and Marian theology is discussed in depth. The third trilogy explores Redemption of the Body as characters struggle to allow God to move them into new ways of living. Alcohol, drugs, divorce, extramarital sex, contraception, sterilization, pornography, and homosexuality are all treated with sensitivity while positive alternatives are presented. These two trilogies also teach about the liturgical calendar, Lenten practices, the sacraments of initiation, and RCIA.
In summary, when you introduce a friend or a group to Book I, you are starting them on the exciting adventure of learning what it really means to be Catholic in the modern world.
Adventures in the Great Mystery 