If you're searching for a book that will make you sit up and think twice then look no further because 'Catholics Awake' is a book that hits you right between the eyes.
'Catholics Awake' by Marino Restrepo is a book with profound insights about the state of the Catholic Church today and in this Book and with characteristic love, Marino calls the Church to repentance and renewal. From a personal point of view I can usually read a book in a day and take most of it in however with 'Catholics Awake' I have to put the book down on nearly every page as there is something so profound and deep that I can't take it all in at once. It's like a full meal for the soul as opposed to a quick snack which doesn't satisfy and is too superficial. That's why I'm doing this Review right now, to get the message out about how powerful and significant this Book really is for Catholics everywhere around the globe and for non Catholics to understand what's happening in the Church right now!
Marino Restrepo is a man who underwent a profound mystical experience during which he was taken to Hell, Heaven and received many revelations concerning the afterlife. During his experience Marino was literally brought to the gates of hell but his life 'was redeemed from the grave' by Jesus and he has been called to proclaim the powerful truths he was privileged to see and experience.
The potent and life changing testimony and teachings of Marino serve as a genuine warning to souls that hell exists and sin, pride and lack of love bring souls there! It's an important and instructive message for our times and one that's straight from the heart.
The insightful book 'Catholics Awake' is a fruit of Marino's jesus a gospel of love year global ministry from Australia to Venezuela to the Catholic Church where he has witnessed first hand divisions and mediocrity in the Church. He calls out in this Book for Catholics to wake up from their sleep for the night is far behind us already and to take a quantum leap back into our faith and into the light.
Marino is sounding the trumpet to Catholics everywhere in this Book telling us that, 'The time has come to go out there and preach it (the Gospel) like it is, with a non negotiable aim that only strives to glorify the Lord and to proclaim His kingdom among us' (pg 77).
'Catholics Awake' seeks to awaken in Catholics the sense of the importance and power of the Church's Sacraments which are often forgotten, denied or even abused. Marino reminds Catholics that they need to reclaim their heritage, not be ashamed of it and protect themselves from the weak forms of Christianity which are gathering in popularity these days and which ignore the cross of Calvary and are centred on a prosperity Gospel.
For example, regarding the Sacrament of Baptism, Marino reminds us in this Book of its efficacy, 'Through baptism, one is enlisted from above into the army of the Kingdom of God and is given the legitimacy of a citizenship in the City of Light, the New Jerusalem' (page 131). Baptism is a most powerful privilege which many Christians are completely unaware of and don't live upto, 'Christians, know thy dignity.'
Marino also reminds Christians that in the Sacrament of Baptism we are, 'fully exorcised from the past, from the sins of ancestors, beginning with the sin of all sins: original sin' (page 131). Baptism, becoming a member of Christ's mystical body on earth, is a high yet hidden calling and one that we need to live up to everyday of our lives.
'Catholics Awake' is a 'must read' for all those wishing to deepen their knowledge of the Christian and Catholic faith and of the power of the sacraments or even for those who wish to find out about the great depths of treasures and riches the Church has deposited within it, riches which are guarded by 'vessels of clay' but they are great truths and jewels of wisdom nonetheless