Light on Light: Illuminations of the Gospel of Jesus Christ from the Mystical Visions of the Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich [Paperback]

Hurd Baruch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2004

The 5 volumes of the Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich are nearly 2,500 pages of her mystical visions on the life of Christ from birth to Resurrection. LIGHT ON LIGHT is a condensed version of her visions and the book is 272 pages. During the last 12 years of her life she neither ate nor drank and had the 5 wounds of Jesus on her body (stigmata). Mel Gibson based much of his movie THE PASSION on her visons. Many who read the book are brought to tears.

Product Details

• Paperback: 259 pages
• Publisher: Maxkol Communications (January 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0963430726
• ISBN-13: 978-0963430724
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #664,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

HURD BARUCH received degrees from Hamilton College, Yale Law School and Columbia University Graduate School of Business, and was elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa, Delta Sigma Rho, the Order of the Coif and Beta Gamma Sigma. He practiced law for more than forty years, in the fields of corporate and securities law and litigation, with particular emphasis on investigating corporate wrongdoing in this country and abroad. He served as an official in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (1962-1964), and at the Securities and Exchange Commission (1969-1972). He has authored Wall Street: Security Risk (Washington: Acropolis Books 1971; Baltimore: Penguin Books 1972), a book about the near collapse of the brokerage industry at that time, and Light on Light: Illuminations of the Gospel of Jesus Christ from the Mystical Visions of the Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich (Maxkol Communications 2004), a book summarizing and commenting on the detailed visions of the daily life of Christ by a stigmatic German nun, who has since been beatified. He is a frequent contributor of articles and book reviews for the New Oxford Review. Mr. Baruch lives in retirement with his wife, Mary Ellen, in Tucson, where he writes and is active in church and civic activities.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book Review--Light on Light, January 19, 2004

By 

Maria Enoe deBrey (Sterling, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Light on Light: Illuminations of the Gospel of Jesus Christ from the Mystical Visions of the Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich (Paperback)

"Light on Light" fulfills the promise of its title by using the visions of an extraordinary mystic, a stigmatic nun who lived in Germany around 1800, to illuminate many aspects of the gospels and enable us to see for the first time scenes from the life of Christ which the Evangelists did not record at all in their brief accounts.
The Church has not passed judgment on the authenticity of these visions, but it has placed its stamp of approval on the sanctity of her life, by approving her cause for beatification including a miraculous healing brought about through her posthumous intervention. Her vocation was to save the living, and the dead in purgatory, by the same sort of redemptive suffering which Christ Himself undertook on the Cross. Like Him, she bore wounds in her hands, feet and side, and an invisible crown of thorns, all of which bled profusely at times.
While suffering in a sick bed in rented lodgings, after her convent was closed, at times she was taken in spirit wherever her labors were needed by the Church, while at other times she was left to view the events of Salvation's history as they unrolled before her inward eye. What she saw was so detailed that the edition of only part of her visions, published under the title, "The Life of Jesus Christ and Biblical Revelations," runs to four volumes and 2,000 pages. That would appear to be the only explanation why they have languished unknown to most Catholics in this country, for they are truly a spiritual treasure trove. By selecting key visions and commenting upon them, Mr. Baruch has done a service in acquainting us with them and showing that they conform to the gospels and to Magisterial teachings set forth in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Papal encyclicals, Apostolic Letters, and similar orthodox pronouncements.
The book embodies both chronological and thematic approaches to the material. The former runs from the teaching of Jesus in the Temple as a 12-year-old, to the beginning of His public ministry upon the death of St. Joseph--even before His baptism--through baptism and His desert experience, to the great miracle of the Wedding at Canaa. At that point, the author deals topically with visions on all the major events and themes of His day-to-day ministry, from His healings and resurrections (yes there were more than the three recorded in the gospels!) to His pardoning of sinners, and from his calling and commissioning of the Apostles, to His teachings on marriage and divorce, on the exploitation of the poor, and on the power of the word "Amen!"
Mr. Baruch switches back to a chronological mode for the culminating events of Jesus' life on earth, beginning with His teachings in the Temple (when the voice of God was heard once again), and His triumphant entry into Jerusalem as Messiah. The event we refer to as "the Last Supper" is broken down into three separate phases: the traditional Seder meal, the foot washing ceremony, and the institution of the Holy Eucharist-which Sister Emmerich saw taking place as a separate ceremony and not as part of the Passover meal. Her description of these events, which Baruch quotes in key parts, is convincing and it is heartening to note that the way the bread and wine is consecrated today is truly the same as it was then.
The last 100 pages are devoted to Christ's Passion, Death and Resurrection. Anyone reading those chapters will understand why Mel Gibson felt compelled to make a movie of the Passion after reading Sister Emmerich's visions. None of us has ever seen a person crucified, and even the movies we have seen showing such scenes-think of Spartacus-have not dwelled sufficiently on the horrors of that form of death to really have penetrated this reviewer, at least, on an emotional level. These visions do capture the ultimate barbarity which man is capable of, capping the agonies which Jesus went through in the Garden of Olives when He took our sins upon Himself, with cruel tortures right from the moment of His arrest, through scouring, to the racking of His body with ropes so that the nails would go through the too-widely spaced nail holes in the Cross.
Fortunately for us, Sister Emmerich's visions didn't stop with the Passion, and Baruch's summary goes right through Christ's descent into Hell, His Resurrection, appearances to His followers, His Ascension, Pentecost, the early days of Christianity, and finally the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The latter is, of course an event not found in the gospels, and it is a bonus for the reader to see in Sister Emmerich's visions a possible explanation of the earliest basis for believing in Mary's assumption into heaven in body as well as soul.
A final word might be added for those concerned about hostile reviews of the Gibson movie in which the charge of anti-Semitism was raised against the movie and its sources: there is absolutely nothing anti-Semitic in the visions set forth in this book or in the commentary thereon. To the contrary, Light on Light should be helpful in the difficult dialogue between Christians and Jews, because it takes pains to point out to Christians why truly pious Jews who were unable to see that Jesus was the Messiah-such as Saul of Tarsus-could reasonably been antagonized by what Jesus said and did to the point of condemning Him in the Sanhedrin and seeking His death. Similarly, Baruch repeatedly cites the Church's teachings exonerating the Jewish people from the charge of deicide-and relates Sister Emmerich's vision of Jesus, on His knees in the Garden of Olives, contemplating His Crucifixion as being necessary to satisfy the demands of His Father with regard to justice for the sins of all mankind, including Christians of our own age.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best explanation of the gospels that I've read., November 9, 2006

By 

Sylvester G. Barnes "sylvester barnes" (suffolk, va.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Light on Light: Illuminations of the Gospel of Jesus Christ from the Mystical Visions of the Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich (Paperback)

A beautiful insight into our Lord's day. It opens up the gospel and explains them.

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome, October 28, 2011

By 

Terence "megaterang" (Albuquerque,Nm) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Light on Light: Illuminations of the Gospel of Jesus Christ from the Mystical Visions of the Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich (Paperback)

Light on Light, the revelation of Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich is the most enlightening book I have ever read about the stories in the Gospels. It fills in so many blanks about the life of Christ, Mother Mary and the Apostles. It also helps that the events and places have been consistently corroborated by archeology. I believe these revelations were a gift of love to believers who already have a strong faith but long to know more about their Savior. Like all gifts of love the stories emminate from the personal suffering and sacrifice of the stigmatist nun who receieved them. While certainly not necessary for salvation or faith, these mystic visions will help believers know more about what they already know.