The 30 chapters of this book are really meditations which focus on a Christian life well-lived. Major chapter groupings are on Loving God: With All my Heart, With All my Soul, With All my Mind, and With All my Strength. Then the book’s final chapters are grouped and titled: Getting Practical. As the book’s sub-title indicates, this is a “how to” book. You may think that you already know about how to love God, but Fr. Bartunek doesn’t just tell you about God. If you sincerely pray and meditate on his words and reflect on his questions in this book, as the title says, you will begin to SEEK FIRST the will of God, and make Him the priority of your life.
Fr. Bartunek has a book on the four Gospels, titled The Better Part. It is an outstanding tool for reflection and group Bible study (I am a member of two groups using this book.) This latest book continues the format Fr. Bartunek used in The Better Part, providing a reading (or Bible passage) and then reflections/meditations on the words, followed by 4 personal questions to get you thinking about what you read. This latest book, however, adds a new point to your reflections, as it basically asks: “If you now understand and agree with the just-read passage on how to love God, then what commitments will you make to change your life to make this happen? (Thankfully, it offers some suggestions). This commitment to change, said aloud to a group of friends, may force you to reflect in a manner consistent with the book’s title: Seeking First the Kingdom. It causes you to ask yourself: Is God first in my life?
I think this is a book about how to love God that our culture so needs right now. If you want some outstanding reads for 2022, read this book and then next book which I will soon review, titled The Art of Living by Edward Sri. It moves from loving God to loving your neighbor; that book is sub-titled: The Cardinal Virtues and the Freedom to Love.
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