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A Spiritual Odyssey

Diary of an Ordinary Catholic
Book by Brian OHare

Average: 4 (6 votes)

August 27, 2014  |  3,162 views  |  0 reviews / comments

A Spiritual Odyssey by Brian O'Hare. Book coverFrom childhood I suffered many inexplicable bouts of illness that left me in serious pain, missing school and temporarily bed-ridden.  Doctors were baffled.  In my forties it was finally discovered that I had a very rare liver disease.  I needed several operations to stay alive at a time when liver transplants were never heard of.  A brilliant surgeon kept me alive for twenty more years.  Eventually I degenerated to the point where the liver began to fail completely and I had only a few months to live.  I was saved by a liver transplant although I had to wait ten long months before the new liver became available. Virtually dying, I experienced during that trying time a strange spiritual awakening. A Spiritual Odyssey is my story.

Significant commentators had this to say about A Spiritual Odyssey:
1. "Some of the medical descriptions chill the blood but the religious explorations are heart-warming, ranging from reading theologians as different as Sean Fagan and Basil Hume, to a meeting with the sensible and down-to-earth Sister Briege McKenna, and to a pilgrimage through the holy places of France, all of which makes this a fine exposition of the riches of the Catholic tradition
[David McLaurin, The Tablet]

2...well written and should appeal to readers who draw inspiration from accounts
of others' experiences. Of interest to public libraries.
[Denise J. Stankovics, Connecticut Library Association Review, USA ]

3. Intelligent and sensitive...very moving...gives a graphic account of suffering and anguish...gives us wonderful vignettes of people he met on his journey. His
description of Lourdes is truly evocative and marvellous.
[Anthony Redmond, The Irish Catholic]

4. A courageous book, deeply fascinating. I believe it will do a lot of good.
[Sr. Louise Hume, Abbess of The Poor Clares, Australia.]

5. I read it with enjoyment and, I hope, profit. What distinguishes it from other
spiritual works is the clarity of the prose and the honesty of the author.
[Professor Art Cosgrove,Vice-Chancellor, University College, Dublin]

6. This is just a note to tell you how much I enjoyed, and was impressed by your Spiritual Odyssey. It deserves a very wide readership as it has the potential to do a lot of good for God’s holy people. I have bought extra copies for friends who will be deeply touched by it. [Fr. Sean Fagan, International Theologian, lecturer and writer.]

About Brian OHare

Brian OHare's picture
GB United Kingdom

Brian O'Hare, MA, Ph.D., is a retired assistant director of a large regional college of further and higher education. He is married, has three children, ten grandchildren, one great grandchild. He plays golf three times a week off a ten handicap and does a lot of voluntary work. Any writing he has previously done was academic. He had a liver disease since childhood which resulted in his...

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