Posted July 8, 2009 Book: A Guy’s Guide to the Good Life: Virtues for Men Author: Robert P. Lockwood Servant Book, Cincinnati, OH. 2009. Pp. 145 An Excerpt from the Jacket: What if the good life has less to do with prestige and plenty and more to do with prudence, hope and faith? Would you still want a guide to get there? Maybe the idea of a life based on the virtues creates an uneasy feel ing. Too hard, you might think, too boring. Robert Lockwood weaves scripture, church teaching and everyday stories – from Babe Ruth’s funeral to the author’s doomed efforts to make the varsity basketball team-revealing the virtues for what they really are: a call to actio and our tie with the living God. An Excerpt from the Book: Saint Augustine told us that we are all pilgrims and ever restless until we’ve finished the journey. I think sometimes that the very human longing for the familiar is part of that hope. And we always find out that the familiar in this life never lasts. That’s a gift that only comes with eternal life. When Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago was dying, he wrote that people would always ask him what heaven will be like. He remembered the first time that he visited the little town where his parents came from in Italy. Because he had seen so many pictures and heard so many descriptions, it was all familiar to him when he finally saw it in person. He felt that he was home. And he believed that heaven would be like that. I try to remember Teresa of Avila’s words: “Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. All things pass. God does not change.” Table of Contents: Part One: The Cardinal Virtues 1. Prudence 2. Fortitude 3. Temperance 4. Justice Part Two: The Theological Virtues 5. Faith 6. Hope 7. Charity