CBB Review – Catholics, Wake Up! Be A Spiritual Warrior

Jesse Romero is a former US kick boxing champ and Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department officer. He has seen a lot of the secular world we live in…..the good and the bad. He tells his reversion story and other personal stories in his latest book Catholics, Wake Up!: Be a Spiritual Warrior. They tell you to never judge a book by its cover…but….when the cover has a pair of boxing gloves you can pretty much be guaranteed a hard hitting book.

The material Jesse presents in this book cover a wide range of topics relevant to the Catholic faith. You will read how important teenage purity is and tips on how Jesse was able to instill this virtue in his daughter. His story on how he gave is daughter s purity ring is especially moving. You will read about the power of the rosary as he retells the story of a particularly dangerous situation he encountered during the Los Angeles Rodney King riots.

Evangelization takes center stage a number of times throughout the book. Once during a flight Jesse encounters a prostitute who, in no uncertain terms, attempted to proposition him. Faced with either avoiding the woman all together or meeting her head on with the truth of Christ, Jesse chooses to use the situation as a teaching moment. Out comes the Bible and Jesse proceeds to spend the rest of the flight revealing the truth of Christ to this suffering soul. In the end, after listening intently, the woman reveals to him that no man had ever spoken to her about Christ. This is only one of several such stories Jesse shares with us in his book.

I use this particular example from the book to establish a point as to why you should read this book. Do we not all face this same type of circumstance in our daily lives from time to time? In our workplaces or with family members there are circumstances that arise where we are faced with a decision. Either we share our faith or we can run and hide. Our society as a whole has lost its moral compass and, perhaps now more than ever, we must not run and hide. We need to share our faith. It is our duty to evangelize the de-christinised.

Upon finishing this book I believe Jesse accomplished what he set out to do. That is to offer a no holds barred wake up call to Catholics today. Using his own personal experiences he boldly lays out a path for evangelizing….something, I cannot repeat enough, we are all called to do. Evangelizing is not an easy task but when you read this book you can’t help but feel Jesse’s energy and excitement coming through the pages. His energy is a witness to us all to go out and lead a vibrant life of faith. My suggestion….after reading this book get up out of your easy chair, follow Jesse’s lead and become an on fire evangelist of the Catholic faith.

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I received a copy of the book for this review from the publisher Servant Books.