The Hidden Stream by Ronald Knox

This is a book that has been on my bookshelf for many years, one I've always intended to read, and finally got around to actually reading it. Msgr Knox was an an Anglican convert to Catholicism in the first half of the 20th century.  This book is a compilation of a series of "conferences" (I think we would use the word "seminar" for the same thing) he gave for Catholic undergraduates at Oxford, published in 1953.

It is written in a breezy style reminiscent of Chesterton. Like Chesterton, Knox in these seminars assumes a fair amount of Catholic knowledge already resident in the reader, and his purpose is to provide a new take on or deeper understanding of that knowledge. The book is sprinkled with wonderful insights into various aspects of Catholicism:

On the nature of religion:

"Whatever else it is - let us be clear about that from the outset - religions is something we belong to, not something which belongs to us; something that has got hold of us, not something we have got hold of."

On comparing Christianity with other religions:

"When you compare Christianity with Confucianism, you are comparing two systems of personal morality. When you compare Christianity with Mahomedanism, you are comparing two forms of fighting enthusiasm. When you compare Christianity with Buddhism, you are comparing two streams of mystical tendency. And, unconsciously, you are recognized that Christianity is something greater than the other three; because each of those others corresponds to one particular need, one particular mood, of man, whereas Christianity corresponds to all three."

On the the distinction of Catholics as Christians who are not just called, but sent:

"The other denominations may claim that their ministers are called; but who sent them? Always, if you examine their lines of succession, there is a flaw in the title-deeds; a human agent has stepped in and interrupted, by his interference, the unbroken succession of sent men to whom our Lord made his promises."

On the role of priests in the sacramental economy, as a "sacrament of fatherhood":

"The sacramental system, as we know, develops the supernatural on the lines of the natural. Water washes us, oil strengthens us, bread feeds us, wine cheers us, in the supernatural as in the natural order. And in the natural order no man lives and no man dies to himself; each of us exists first and foremost as a member of a family. If you hadn't a father, you would not have been here at all. And the sacramental system is based on the idea of the family; each parish is a family, and the father is the parish priest. The priest at the [baptismal] font is the father bringing children to life, supernatural life."

These are just few of the gems in this book. Highly recommended.