For three decades, Fr. George W. Rutler has charmed and enlightened millions with his eloquent considerations of culture, politics, theology, and everyday life. His wit is outshone only by his wisdom, making him not only one of the most beloved priests of our time, but one of its most celebrated thinkers.

This coveted set features nearly four hundred of Fr. Rutler's most brilliant and cherished homilies and other writings, carefully organized to follow the liturgical year of the Catholic Church. By reading its pages, you'll come to share his layered understandings of Christmas, Epiphany, Pentecost, Michaelmas, and other major feast days, as well as his spiritual insights into national holidays such as Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, and the Fourth of July.

Like the Missal or a breviary, this collection begins at the start of the Church year, in Advent, preparing us for the birth of Jesus, and ends in the last days of autumn as we pray to God for the souls of the dead. Along the way, Fr. Rutler's clear mind, sharp wit, and often blunt truths afford a sometimes quirky - but always delightful - grand tour of Catholic theology, philosophy, history, and current events. Here you'll come to know persons, places, and things - obscure and famous - from the beginning of the world to the present day.

By means of these brilliant yet entertaining essays, Fr. Rutler illuminates the winding paths that have brought our world to where it is today; he sketches the bright future that can yet be had, if only we remain faithful to Christ and His Church; and, while doing so, he affords us countless hours of genuine reading pleasure.