Spirituality Catholicism

What does our Catholic faith teach us about eating well? Some of us eat too much food. Or we eat too little. Often, we eat without gratitude, without charity, without respect. But, as award-winning author and food-blogger Emily Stimpson Chapman explains in The Catholic Table, with a sacramental worldview, the supernatural gift of God's grace can transform and heal us through the food we make, eat, and share.

Thanks to Dan Brown's best-selling novel turned blockbuster mega-hit, The Da Vinci Code, in which audiences were introduced to Silas, the villainous, self-whipping monk, corporal mortification is now a term most often associated with Opus Dei. A creepy, deranged, and blood-thirsty albino monk, Silas is most remembered for viciously whipping himself with a nail-embedded cilice. For added suspense, various falsehoods of the real-life order have been propagated by the literary masterpiece; in fact, the character of Silas contains one of the foremost bloopers, as there were never any monks in the order.

Western civilization has no more eloquent defender than Anthony Esolen, a man who has counted the cost, and paid it, of leading the way in that defense. Following on his compelling prior volume, Defending Marriage: Twelve Arguments for Sanity, Professor Esolen returns, this time in defense of boys and an experience of boyhood that is on the wane, if not extinguished in many quarters of the modern world.

In Made for Love, Fr. Michael Schmitz presents the Catholic teachings on same-sex attraction and same-sex "sexual" relations. While this audiobook is intended primarily for those who have same-sex attraction and their family and friends, its presentation of the compassionate truth of Catholic teaching on same-sex attraction will be of great benefit to everyone in today's society.

With heart-warming reassurance, Friar Jack reminds us that God's goodness is reflected in the whole family of creation. We can be confident that our beloved animal companions will be waiting for us at the pearly gates with wagging tails, soft purrs, and enthusiastic welcomes.

In this deeply moving narrative, Thomas Howard describes his pilgrimage from Evangelicalism (which he loves and reveres as the religion of his youth) to liturgical Christianity. He soon afterward became a Roman Catholic. He describes Evangelicalism with great sympathy and then examines more formal, liturgical worship with the freshness of someone discovering for the first time what his soul had always hungered for.

True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin is one of the greatest and most celebrated books ever written about Our Lady. Unpublished during the saint's lifetime, it was discovered in 1842. The author views Mary as the essential key to the heart of Jesus and "consecration to Jesus in Mary" as a special path to being united with and consecrated to Christ.

Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953) was one of the great Catholic authors and historians of the twentieth century. Born in France, and raised in Great Britain, Belloc later became a naturalised British subject and served in Parliament from 1906 to 1910. After his brief political career Belloc continued his writing, commenting on a large variety of topics throughout his lifetime. This essay, written shortly after the outbreak of WWII (February 1940), examines the state of the war from a Catholic perspective.

In this newly updated, expanded version of his popular work of apologetics, Shea presents a lively and entertaining look at his conversion to Catholicism from Evangelicalism and his discovery of Christian tradition. As an Evangelical, Shea accepted the principle of sola scriptura (Scripture alone) as the basis of faith. Now as a Catholic convert, he skillfully explains how and why Sacred Tradition occupies a central role in Divine Revelation.

This inspiring book gives you a splendid example of how to live as a Christian in a secular environment that can be indifferent or hostile to your faith. For Elisabeth Leseur had two great loves: God, and her husband Felix. Felix loved Elisabeth as well; yet to their mutual sorrow, he couldn’t share the life of the spirit that Elisabeth cherished.

Decisions, decisions . . . life presents us with so many, big and small. How can we confidently make choices that bring us true happiness? The life of the virtues holds the key, and among those virtues, prudence holds the reins. No, this isn't your grandmother's definition of prudence. This virtue actually inspires practical wisdom, allowing us to choose well and to bring order into our lives. In Prudence: Choose Confidently, Live Boldly, Fr. Gregory Pine, OP, aims to work prudence back into the conversation and explain how it can transform us along our path toward what really matters.

This work brings together three prayer practices for each day of the year to enhance contemplative living. First, a brief 'active prayer'; second, spiritual reading; and, third, Lectio Divina. The brief introductory prayer sentences are from various sources - the Bible and traditional prayers of the church or of well-known spiritual writers. The spiritual readings come from 11 of Father Keatings' books and one audiotape, with a month's worth of readings derived from each work. Each day's entry concludes with a brief selection from the Bible, or Lectio Divina.

It has been said that John Henry Newman "stands at the threshold of the new age as a Christian Socrates, the pioneer of a new philosophy of the individual person and personal life." Newman's personalism is found in the way he contrasts the "theological intellect" and the "religious imagination."

The Catholic Faith begins and ends with Jesus Christ, culminating in the Eucharist as its source and summit. Behold, It Is I, Jesus says, and the faithful believe. Examining these words of Jesus, Fr. George Elliott and Dr. Stacy Trasancos provide some of the most convincing proofs for the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist from scripture, tradition, and the scientific investigation of Eucharistic miracles. The listener may be joyfully surprised at where the journey of this book will lead, from the burning faith of the saints all the way back to Christ in the Gospels.

When he was elected pope in the fall of 1978, few people had ever heard of the charismatic Karol Wojty³a. But in a very short time he would ignite a revolution of conscience in his native Poland that would ultimately lead to the collapse of European communism and death of the Soviet Union. What even fewer people knew was that the KGB, the Polish Secret Police, and the East German Stasi had been waging a dangerous, decades-long war against Wojty³a and the Vatican itself.

"No!" cries author Kevin Wells in this compelling audiobook that showcase how heroic priests can faithfully tread the narrow path of holy self-sacrifice first blazed by the apostles themselves. From scores of insightful interviews with modern priests, exorcists, seminary formators, and even disillusioned laity, Wells here draws forth a blueprint for priestly holiness that can once again fill our church with priests abounding with sincere, supernatural faith, on fire with God's love, and moved by the irresistible impulse to save souls, no matter the cost to themselves.

Each hour of each day you are forming habits that shape your character and will determine where you will spend eternity. When your earthly life ends, it will be too late to change your destiny. In the midst of the hectic demands, busy schedules, and countless interruptions of every day, this book gives you the surefire, divinely instituted "apps" for becoming the man God wants you to be. Use them! Your family is counting on you.

Qui était vraiment Jésus ? Quel était son message ? Et comment expliquer qu'il soit devenu une figure d'inspiration aussi largement partagée, le fondateur d'une nouvelle religion et surtout le personnage le plus connu de l'histoire universelle ? Découvrez la vie extraordinaire de Jésus et le mythe qui l'entoure à travers son enfance.

Il est presque devenu banal d'affirmer que l'Église catholique est en crise au Québec et en Occident. Lorsqu'on considère les abus sexuels sur mineurs, la baisse de la pratique, l'effondre­ment des vocations, la disparition des ordres religieux ou la place ambiguë des femmes, il peut sembler difficile d'espérer des jours meilleurs pour le corps du Christ. Serait-ce la fin de cette institution bimillénaire ? Et pourtant, des voix d'ici s'élèvent pour témoigner de leur espérance malgré les difficultés vécues par notre Église.

What does the Bible really say about the birth of Jesus? How did the celebration of Christmas become associated with things like Santa Claus and decorated trees? In The True Meaning of Christmas: The Birth of Jesus and the Origins of the Season, biblical scholar Michael Patrick Barber offers an inspiring look at the Bible's accounts of Jesus' birth and the development of the Christmas season. As Dr. Barber will show, to find our way "home" at Christmas, we need to first return to Christmas' home in the story of the Bible.