(LifeSiteNews) — “Wake up! You don’t belong. Stop pretending that you do. You are different. You are a Catholic. Say ‘no’ to the crowd. To say ‘yes’ to Christ is to say ‘yes’ to true freedom, and eternal salvation… Model your life after Christ and be a sign of contradiction in your family, community, church, and nation. Be a non-conformist. Be a saint. Be a saint-maker. Go Against the Grain.”
This is the message of the remarkable book Against the Grain, in the words of its author, Doug Grane. The work showcases 21 saints and their shining examples of 21 virtues, including courage, humility, charity, modesty, and much more, as well as – as Archbishop Carlo Mario Viganò put it in his preface – their “friendship with God.”
Especially because the book highlights the special spiritual problems and challenges of our time, both in the world and in the Catholic Church, it has the effect of inspiring the reader to consider how they can fulfill their own unique calling from God.
“Against The Grain is a summons to heroic virtue, to sainthood, for everyone,” said Grane. “The format was designed to disarm the reader into a gentle consideration of the virtues and their own potential sainthood,” he explained, adding that the book seeks to help transform “lukewarm, comfortable” Catholics into fervent, holy Catholics.
“This story isn’t just about our Catholic forefathers. It’s about each Catholic’s personal quest to find the courage to be truly faithful in a world where Catholicism is often unwelcome,” said Grane.
Asked by LifeSiteNews what inspired him to tell the stories of saints, Grane said, “Life is short. Eternity isn’t. The only reason we exist in this life is to be a saint and merit heaven for all eternity in the next.”
The book aims to elicit the question from the reader, “Why not me?” That is, “Why can’t I respond to that situation or that call from God with heroic sanctity?”
The modern person needs encouragement to turn away from distractions and towards the spiritual life, and this is one of many things that Against the Grain provides.
Grane stressed that becoming a fervent Catholic is of the utmost importance. “Pope Saint Pius V said, ‘All the evil in the world is due to lukewarm Catholics,’” he pointed out to LifeSiteNews.
“My greatest fear, and what haunts me most, is souls lost for all eternity,” shared Grane. “As Saint Bernadette Soubirous when asked in 1870 ‘What do you fear?’ responded, ‘I only fear bad Catholics.’ So many Catholics today are steering others away from heaven. So many complacent, lukewarm, non-charitable Catholics won’t make it to heaven.”
“No more being insipid, or lukewarm. Time to turn up the heat and truly live. This is not a time for defeatist Catholicism or part-time saints,” exhorted Grane.
“Step up a bit and repeat and soon you will be living a life of greater virtue, perhaps even heroic virtue,” said Grane. “Seek out other heroic people.”
“There are so many Catholics out there who wish our Bishops would lead, that America’s culture would stop [declining,] that their kids will have as good a shot at a good life as they had growing up. Stop cursing others’ inaction and waiting for others to step up. Maybe, the calvary is you.”
Grane clarified that Against the Grain is suited for teens as well as adults. “Despite peer pressure to ‘fit in,’ teens are naturally counter-cultural,” he told LifeSiteNews. He believes they will find the book “engaging and non-traditional in its approach.”
“Adults, retirees, recent converts and those contemplating conversion also find the book a fun, interesting and motivating read,” said Grane.
This is testified to by prominent, faithful Catholics such as Father James Altman and Bishop Thomas Paprocki, lay evangelist Jesse Romero, producer and human rights champion Jason Jones, and others who have recommended the book.
“Not since G.K. Chesterton’s St. Francis of Assisi and St. Thomas Aquinas has a Catholic provided such inspiring insight into the lives of great, holy heroes of the Catholic Church’s history,” raved author and radio host Mike Church.
It has also been praised as “excellent” by Archbishop Carlo Mario Viganò and Bishop Athanasius Schneider.
In his last thoughts on this “call to arms,” Grane said:
If you want to dance with the devil, go with the flow. Compromise your values for vice and attempt to ‘fit in’ with the culture of the world. Or, if you want to follow Jesus … carry your cross, be a sign of contradiction, and go Against the Grain.
