Spirituality Catholicism

In 1981, the year after Ted Turner founded CNN, a simple nun, using merely her entrepreneurial instincts and $200, launched what would become the world’s largest religious media empire in the garage of a Birmingham, Alabama, monastery. Under her guidance, the Eternal Word Television Network grew at a staggering pace, both in viewership and in influence, to where it now reaches over a hundred million viewers in hundreds of countries around the globe.

Countless Christians, including scores of saints, have suffered the profound, pervasive sorrow that modern psychiatrists call depression. Then, as now, great faith and even fervent spiritual practices have generally failed to ease this wearying desolation of the soul. Catholic psychiatrist Aaron Kheriaty reviews the effective ways that have recently been devised to deal with this grave and sometimes deadly affliction - ways that are not only consistent with the teachings of the Church but even rooted in many of those teachings.

The Glories of Mary is five complete books in one volume. The first book examines the words of the Salve Regina and shows how God has given Mary to mankind to be the Gate of Heaven. The second book explains Our Lady's principal feasts and reveals fresh truths about these mysteries. The third book explains the Seven Sorrows of Mary and why Our Lady's martyrdom was longer and greater than that of all other martyrs. The fourth book describes ten different virtues of Our Lady, and the fifth book provides dozens of famous prayers, meditations, and devotions to her.

Most Christians are familiar with the Apostle Paul's teaching that Christ is the "Bridegroom" and the Church is the "Bride." But what does this really mean? And what would ever possess Paul to compare the death of Christ to the love of a husband for his wife? If you would have been at the Crucifixion, with Jesus hanging there dying, is that how you would have described it? How could a first-century Jew like Paul, who knew how brutal Roman crucifixions were, have ever compared the execution of Jesus to a wedding?

Considered by Joseph Ratzinger devotees as his greatest work on the liturgy, this profound and beautifully written treatment of the "great prayer of the Church" will help listeners to deepen their understanding of the rites of the Church. The cardinal discusses fundamental misunderstandings of the Second Vatican Council's intentions for liturgical renewal, especially about the priest's orientation of prayer to the Father, the placement of the tabernacle in churches, and the posture of kneeling.

In Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary, Dr. Pitre takes listeners step-by-step from the Garden of Eden to the Book of Revelation to reveal how deeply biblical Catholic beliefs about Mary really are. Dr. Pitre uses the Old Testament and ancient Judaism to unlock how the Bible itself teaches that Mary is in fact the new Eve, the Mother of God, the Queen of Heaven and Earth, and the new Ark of the Covenant.

Well-known Catholic theologian Dr. Scott Hahn explains Christ's Paschal sacrifice on the cross as the fulfillment of the traditional fourth cup used in the celebration of Passover, drawing symbolic parallels to the Last Supper and Christ's death on Calvary. Through his scholarly insights and important biblical connections, Mass will come alive for you as never before!

Exorcist Msgr. Stephen Rossetti has a very active caseload of demonic possessions, and in each case two vivid lessons consistently emerge: Demons possess or harass people in a myriad of ways (even when they do not enter a body), and they are defeated decisively by the power of Christ and His Church—and especially by invocations to the Blessed Mother.

A gifted storyteller and spiritual director, Father James Martin, SJ, invites listeners to experience the stories of the Gospels in a completely new, vivid, and exciting way to gain a deeper understanding of Jesus. Moving sequentially through the Gospels, considering not only familiar passages but also the "hidden life" of Jesus, the book offers a bold retelling of the life of Christ, faithful to the Christian tradition, while meditating on parts of the narrative that have often escaped notice.

The only true and unedited telling of the life of Christ - his life and times,in historical context, but not lacking the psychology behind his physical being and spirit. Unlike other books seeking to strip Jesus' story to reveal only the human being, Romano Guardini's The Lord gives the complete story of Jesus Christ - as man, Holy Ghost, and Creator. Pope Benedict XVI lauds Guardini's work as providing a full understanding of the Son of God away from the prejudice that rationality engenders.

"Pour vous, qui suis-je ? "Cette interrogation de Jésus à ses disciples n'a rien perdu de sa force. Les Evangiles laissent planer un doute sur l'identité de cet homme hors du commun : est-il un prophète ? Le Messie attendu par les Juifs ? Le Fils de Dieu ? Comment les chrétiens des premiers siècles ont-ils progressivement été amenés à affirmer la divinité de Jésus, alors que lui-même ne s'est jamais identifié à Dieu ? Comment furent élaborés les dogmes de la Sainte Trinité et de l'Incarnation ? Quel a été le rôle du pouvoir politique dans l'élaboration du credo chrétien à partir de la conversion de l'empereur Constantin ?

Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582) is one of the most beloved of the Catholic saints. In 1562, during the era of the Spanish Inquisition, Teresa sat down to write an account of the mystical experiences for which she had become famous. The result was this book, one of the great classics of spiritual autobiography. With this fresh translation of The Book of My Life, Mirabai Starr brings the inimitable Spanish mystic to life for a new generation, with contemporary English that mirrors Teresa's own earthy, vernacular Spanish, and that presents us with someone we feel we know.

Available as an audiobook for the first time ever, Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life invites you to adopt Nouwen as your personal spiritual guide. Each session was carefully prepared by Dr. Michael Christensen, an award-winning professor of Christian ministry and practice, and Dr. Rebecca Laird, who was Nouwen’s student at Yale Divinity School. Like other volumes in The Nouwen Trilogy, this audiobook collects Nouwen’s unpublished homilies, interviews, classes, and speeches, as well as excerpts from his published writings.

Based on the popular program first used in dioceses across the United States to form the hearts and minds of Catholic clergy, Be Healed offers a trusted process for finding inner peace and healing, helping people recognize their brokenness and find hope in the risen Christ. This renowned program for spiritual restoration is steeped in scripture and the wisdom of the Catholic Church.

Advice and encouragement for lay Catholics pursuing a personal relationship with God from a Doctor of the Church. The first book of the Catholic Classics series, Introduction to the Devout Life is an updated translation of St. Francis de Sales’ original text that makes this key work of Catholic Tradition approachable to modern readers. Written as a letter to St. Francis’ lay cousin, this classic yet relevant text features advice on the questions that members of the Catholic laity often ask themselves, such as:

Before a vision of a mysterious "Lady" invited Clark Strand and Perdita Finn to pray the rosary, they were not only uninterested in becoming Catholic but finished with institutional religion altogether. Their main spiritual concerns were the fate of the planet and the future of their children and grandchildren in an age of ecological collapse. But this Lady barely even referred to the Church and its proscriptions. Instead, she spoke of the miraculous power of the rosary to transform lives and heal the planet, and revealed the secrets within the rosary’s prayers and mysteries.

Probably the finest book ever written about the rosary, The Secret of the Rosary appeals to all ages. It shows the great spiritual power of the rosary, which is appreciated by few, and tells why the rosary is the most important private prayer.

Dr. Abigail Favale provides an in-depth yet accessible account of the gender paradigm: a framework for understanding reality and identity that has recently risen to prominence. With substance, clarity, and compassion, Favale teases out the hidden assumptions of the gender paradigm and exposes its effects. Yet this book is not merely an exposé—it is also a powerful, moving articulation of a Christian understanding of reality: a holistic paradigm that proclaims the dignity of the body, the sacramental meaning of sexual difference, and the interconnectedness of all creation.

St. Francis worked hard at evangelizing Calvinist Protestants to return to the Catholic faith. However, they were afraid of the backlash, and so, St. Francis wrote pamphlets and slipped them under doors and posted them on walls. After four years of his efforts, more than 70,000 people had returned to the faith. These pamphlets were compiled into this book, which remains one of the best sources for defending the Catholic faith.

In The Bible Is a Catholic Book, Jimmy Akin shows how the Bible cannot exist apart from the church. In its origins and its formulation, in the truths it contains, in its careful preservation over the centuries, and in the prayerful study and elucidation of its mysteries, Scripture is inseparable from Catholicism. This is fitting, since both come from God for our salvation. If you're a Catholic who sometimes gets intimidated by the Bible, The Bible Is a Catholic Book will help you better understand and take pride in this gift that God gave the world through the church.