Surrender: The Life-Changing Power of Doing God's Will

by Fr. Larry Richards - published by Our Sunday Visitor, 2011

A Book Review by Father John McCloskey

Fr. Larry Richards is a priest of the Diocese of Erie in New York and a very popular teacher, preacher, author and retreat master and radio talk show host. He recently published his second short book, entitled Surrender? and available from Our Sunday Visitor. Before reviewing it, I made a point of not listening to samples of his preaching, which however are widely available on CDs and elsewhere on the web.

Surrender? is aptly subtitled The Life-Changing Power of Doing God's Will. Fr. Richards has clearly taken his retreat notes and turned them in a challenging and stimulating book that employs biblical passages and quotes from both past and more contemporary saints to make the powerful and undeniable argument that only a complete surrender to God in this life can bring us relative happiness here and eternal joy in the next. In seven chapters he pounds away on this theme, including a short list of "to do's" at the end of each to help his readers take immediate action. Of course, his message is not original, but Fr. Richards masterfully and effectively marshals anecdotes from his pastoral work to make his points clear and attractive. (He has taught high school for many years and is pastor of an inner-city parish.) And he makes mention of the many missions he has preached—missions that were followed by literally hundreds of confessions of long-time lapsed Catholics.

"To surrender is to love. This is not surrender of fear or of self-interest, but a response to a loving invitation in the journey to eternal life. It is the surrender that is life giving. It is the ultimate surrender, and the only one that matters. We are going to explore this loving surrender in our seeking to know and love God's will."

Fr. Richards also uses his own struggles from childhood to the present time to allow others see that he, like all his readers, is a man who struggles to do God's Will. Speaking of his own vocation, he writes: "From all eternity God created me to be a priest. You can tell because it clicks in my life. This is what I do even though I was thrown out of seminary by the vocation director, who said, 'Larry, we are throwing you out because it is like this. It is your personality. It is like you have a cancer.'"

No, Fr. Richards is no Archbishop Sheen or Fr. George Rutler in the preaching line, nor does he come up to St. Augustine as a saint, but he does not pretend to be. However, I do believe that the Holy Spirit uses him very effectively to communicate. In particular he appeals to the millions of poorly formed and fallen away Catholics who need to hear the Good News in their own language and to be challenged to repent and find or find again Christ and his Church.

One quibble. Fr. Richards could have urged his readers to investigate the many new ecclesial realities approved by the Church that could offer them spiritual direction, formation, and fellowship.

Give the book a try and, if you like it, pass it on to someone who can use it.