Spirituality Catholicism

Born Helena Kowalska on a clear August day in 1905, to a poor Polish family, she was the third of 10 children. When Helena turned 19, she felt called by Jesus to go to Warsaw and enter a convent. After arriving, she was turned down by convent after convent, until finally, one accepted her. She took the name Faustina and stayed in the convent until her death in 1938.

Jean Pierre de Caussade's accounts in this work present the case that the present moment is a sacrament from God and that self-abandonment to it, and its needs, is a holy state. In the theological climate of France at the time, this belief was considered close to Quietist heresy. In fact, because of this fear, the work was kept unpublished until 1861.

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.

So begins David Anders in this remarkably forthright book. In it, David reports that by the early 2000s, his marriage was so painful that he and his wife had just one thing in common: contempt for each other. Today, he and his wife are extremely happy together not because of marriage therapy, but because they came to know and fully embraced the Catholic church's teachings on marriage. Many people who encounter the church's teachings are shocked by their rigor.

At every Sunday mass, Catholics confess that Jesus came down from heaven ''for us men and for our salvation". But what does ''salvation'' mean? In this robust and accessible book, Scripture scholar and theologian Michael Patrick Barber provides a thorough, deeply Catholic, and deeply biblical answer. He deftly tackles this complex topic, unpacking what the New Testament teaches about salvation in Christ, detailing what exactly salvation is and what it is not. In easy and listenable prose, he explains what the cross, the church, and the trinity have to do with salvation.

In this second volume of the Called Out of Darkness trilogy, Father Robert Spitzer, S.J., draws together some of the best advice given by Catholic spiritual masters across the ages and brings it into harmony with modern scientific research, offering practical ways to live out the gospel in our busy days. It is a road map to a deeper relationship with the Lord and to authentic transformation through the imitation of Christ. Giving evidence that Jesus established just one Church, with Peter as its head, Spitzer shows that the Catholic Church continues to be fertile ground for conversion.

Whether you’re considering a religious vocation or simply trying to lead a Christ-centered life, Franciscan friar Casey Cole has news: Christian life doesn't end with a profession of faith or hearing of God's call. That's when it begins. Called: What Happens After Saying Yes to God reflects on realities that are common to anyone who is serious about living a sincere Christian life and trying to follow the message of Jesus in the Gospels.

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 Wrestling with God, Ronald Rolheiser offers a steady and inspiring voice to help us avow and understand our faith in a world where nothing seems solid or permanent. Drawing from his own life experience, as well as a storehouse of literary, psychological, and theological insights, the beloved author of Sacred Fire examines the fears and doubts that challenge us. It is in these struggles to find meaning, that Rolheiser lays out a path for faith in a world struggling to find faith, but perhaps more important, he helps us find our own rhythm within which to walk that path.

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.

"The dear God placed me in a position in which I had a duty to call black 'black' and white 'white'." These words were spoken by Cardinal Clemens August von Galen, the bishop of the diocese of Münster in Germany from 1933 to 1946. In so doing, he risked death at the hands of the Nazis, one Gestapo leader even urging that he be publicly hanged. Joseph Goebbels and others in the Nazi leadership, knowing the bishop's popularity, advised waiting, subscribing to the adage that revenge is a dish best served cold.

Un libro valiente, sutil y agudo sobre los milagros, la relación entre la ciencia y la fe, la redención o el destino final del hombre. Dios en el banquillo es una de las más conocidas colecciones de ensayos de Lewis, entre los que destacan El mito se hizo realidad, El gran milagro, ¿Sacerdotisas en la Iglesia? y, por supuesto Dios en el banquillo.

Over twenty years ago, in the tiny mountain village of Medjugorje, Bosnia, six young people began to report seeing visions of the Virgin Mary. Since then, the beauty of Heaven and the importance of prayer, conversion, and reconciliation have been revealed to them through Mary´s appearances. Queen of the Cosmos provides an opportunity to hear the messages of the mother of Christ through in-depth interviews with the six visionaries of Medjugorje. Their experiences have changed the lives of thousands of people who have found truth, encouragement, and solace in the words of the Blessed Mother.

Catholic Stories of Faith and Hope provides a Catholic response to the big question, "Why would a loving God allow evil, pain, and suffering?" This includes exploring why God would allow disease and natural disasters (natural evil) and evil human behavior (moral evil), as well as how suffering can help us find a deeper meaning and purpose in life. This book contains poignant and inspiring personal testimonies of present-day Catholics who have dealt positively with significant suffering. These stories provide accounts of how suffering can lead to personal and spiritual growth.

If you've tried Natural Family Planning and have discovered that your life is now awful - or if you feel judged or judgey, or if you trust NFP but your doctor doesn't, or if just you're trying to figure out how the heck to have a sex life that is holy but still human - you'll find comfort, encouragement, honesty, wit, and, most importantly, practical advice in The Sinner's Guide to NFP.

Elizabeth Klein, assistant professor of theology at the Augustine Institute, leads us through a soul-inspiring exploration of Catholic teaching on angels and saints and why they matter to us as individuals and to the Church. Throughout the book, Klein answers common questions about the angels and saints in order to give us a deeper understanding and appreciation of the role they play in our lives, the Mass, and in the life of the Church.

Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 1936, today Pope Francis is the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Francis' stewardship of the church, while perceived as a revelation by many, has provoked division throughout the world. "If a conclave were to be held today," one Roman source told The New Yorker, "Francis would be lucky to get 10 votes." In To Change the Church, Douthat explains why the particular debate Francis has opened - over communion for the divorced and the remarried - is so dangerous.

In Saints Who Raised the Dead, the listener will find stories from the lives of St. Francis Xavier, St. Patrick, St. John Bosco, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Rose of Lima, Bl. Margaret of Castello, etc., and includes the raising of persons who had died, descriptions of heaven, hell, and purgatory by temporarily dead persons and an analysis of contemporary "after death" experiences. It's fascinating.

A growing chorus of economists and politicians is demanding a new paradigm to create a global economy for the common good. In Cathonomics, Anthony M. Annett unites insights in economics with those from theology, philosophy, climate science, and psychology, exposing the failures of neoliberalism while offering us a new model rooted in the wisdom of Catholic social teaching and classical ethical traditions.

How would your life change if you were certain of your identity? If you could know that Someone loves you, sees you, and wants to be close to you - just as you are? In this weekly devotional for women, you're invited to soak in God's word to embrace your identity as a beloved woman made in God's image.