Thank God Ahead of Time: The Life and Spirituality of Solanus Casey

I took more notes on this book than any I have ever read. His simplicity of approach to God's Divine Providence inspires me daily and is a great help to me.

I bought this book because the title caught my attention. I was undergoing a very challenging time financially and was practically experiencing panic attacks several times as day when I read an introduction to this book. I bought it immediately, because I wanted to know how to Thank God Ahead of Time for what I was asking of Him. Father Solanus' advise to his petitioners and miracles God performed through him has given me spiritual peace and confidence that God has my best interests in mind and the outcome of my predicament will be positive. The book is full of accounts of people with all sorts of problems being helped by God through the intercession of Fr. Casey while on earth. Fr. Casey tells how to ask God for favors and what needs to be done immediately after asking. This lesson was the most valuable for me - a kind of cheat sheet on how to plead with God! I have also learned of the power of the Seraphic Mass Association and will use this tool too.

The book is adapted from the research Crosby did for the Vatican when it investigated Casey for sainthood. (He's now "venerable.") As such, it's thoroughly researched and footnoted, with none of the hagiographic sense of many saint-biographies. The style is balanced, almost academic but with none of the dryness. In fact, Casey's humanity comes across foremost, along with compassion for him and those to whom he ministered. The text is very readable. Although there are hundreds of footnotes, most of them are citations and not clarifications (meaning you don't have to keep flipping to the back of the book for the full story.) Crosby does not hesitate to discuss some of Casey's shortcomings, giving a well-rounded treatment to the man as a human being who lived within his culture and his time. The best part, for me, was how Crosby chronicled some of the changes made in Casey's spirituality over time. Too often we read about saints as if they were fully-formed by age twelve (unless they had a cataclysmic conversion experience) but Crosby notes at times that a certain trait was just in its beginning stages, or that such-and-such was the first notes of what would become one of the hallmarks of Casey's later ministry. This documentation of his spiritual progress should be a comfort for all of us saints-in-training who know we have a long way to travel. I highly recommend this book with five stars.

In this new biography, Fr. Crosby writes that Solanus Casey "evidenced a wonderful way of going beyond externals to get to the core of people and their basic needs." In one instance a woman called Solanus to ask if she might bring her critically ill baby to him for a blessing. The priest vetoed the idea, saying that the child was too sick to travel and the trip would be expensive. Ignoring canon law, which forbade this kind of "transmittal," Fr. Casey gave his blessing over the phone. He then urged the mother to donate the saved travel funds to the poor. The little girl recovered. This incident occurred some 20 years after Casey's 1904 ordination, which afforded him only limited powers. He was not permitted to hear confessions or to deliver homilies because his superiors deemed him "not smart enough." The author does a good job of explaining the reasons behind Casey's lifelong designation as a "Simplex" priest and its effect on his ministry. Before he entered the seminary, Casey worked as a logger, hospital orderly, street car operator, and prison guard. After ordination he was assigned administrative tasks including that of monastery "doorkeeper," first under the supervision of a friar. As he accepted these assignments with humility and good grace, his personal magnetism and gift for healing became evident. Crosby explains Solanus's theory that God's response to petitions was related, in part, to the petitioner's generosity to God in ways such as supporting the missions. Not that Casey believed that the only "successful" petitions were those that produced the requested healing. All petitions are answered according to God's plan; therefore faith and thanksgiving for God's involvement are always appropriate. Crosby reports that Solanus was "baffled' by suffering, but had a clear-cut perspective when it came to his own trials. In a letter to his sister, he mentioned his enormous workload and physical ailments as he advanced in years, then added, "What are fifty years of pain to the endless joys waiting us above?"

This book is about a way of life of gratitude, and about being open to God's will. It is an easy read, and you can't put it down. I am buying a copy for a friend who just took the bar exam.