This highly readable introduction to the roots of many Catholic beliefs and practices provides a sense of connection to our brothers and sisters who have gone before us and who helped shape the faith. Mike Aquilina makes it clear that as far as the essentials are concerned, a time-travel trip back to the beginning of the Church would reveal a Church familiar to Catholics today. Just as an acorn grows into a tree and yet remains the same plant, so the Catholic Church is a living organism that has grown from the faith of the earliest Christians into the Body of Christ we know today.

MIKE AQUILINA is executive vice president of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He is the author of many books on Church history, doctrine and devotion, and has hosted several series on The Eternal Word Television Network. He is past editor of New Covenant magazine. Mike's books include Angels of God: The Bible, the Church and the Heavenly Host, Love in the Little Things, Fire of God’s Love: 120 Reflections on the Eucharist (Servant Books), and The Fathers of the Church.