Sacraments

Winner of a 2018 Catholic Press Association Award: Sacraments. (First Place).

How can Christians grow spiritually in the midst of our sinfulness? How can we transform our lives in a way that allows us to share in the resurrection of Jesus?

God has already given us the perfect solution--the sacraments.

Whether it is the wound of past hurts, the strain in our relationships, or the stress of daily life, we all need to be comforted and made whole by Christ. In this follow-up to his bestselling Be Healed, Bob Schuchts explains how the sacraments can fuel your emotional and spiritual healing and bring you closer to God.

Based on more than thirty-five years of experience as a therapist and decades spent in parish ministry, Schuchts demonstrates how each of the seven sacraments can be a life-changing encounter with Christ, communicated through the power of the Holy Spirit. He pairs each healing sacrament with one of the seven deadly wounds that emanated from original sin in the Garden of Eden. We perpetuate and deepen those wounds each time we sin, but the sacraments are God's remedy for sin. They give us a way to restore us to wholeness in Christ.

In Be Transformed, You'll discover how each sacrament can help you heal from wounds that can impede your relationships and sense of self-worth. With Schuchts's help, you'll learn how:

Be Transformed offers all of the tools you need for a fresh understanding of the sacraments, including reflection questions, scripture meditations, prayers, and inspiring stories. You'll come away hungry for the sacraments in a way you never knew possible.

If you've been wondering how to bring the rich traditions of the Catholic Church's liturgical year into your home and into your family, this is the book for you. If you have no idea what the liturgical calendar is, this still might be the book for you, if you are looking for ways to bring your faith home from Sunday Mass, in every season, all year long.

Catholic blogger and mother of many, Kendra Tierney shares how her family incorporates traditional Catholic practices into today's family life throughout the Church year--from Advent and Christmas, through Lent and Easter, to Pentecost and beyond. She provides ideas for stories, decorations, activities, and foods that will help you to celebrate your Catholic faith with your family and friends without expertise or much advance planning. She also offers tips and tricks from her fifteen years in the Catholic mommy trenches on things like surviving bringing young children to Mass and saying a family Rosary.

Whether you're a convert or a revert, an expert theologian or a brand-new Catholic, a member of a big family or a little one, a stay-at-home or a working parent, you're sure to find ways to make your Catholic faith a memorable and meaningful part of your busy family life. And have fun doing it!

Gaze upon Christ, using a quote from a Franciscan source, primarily the letters of Clare of Assisi, but also the writings of St. Francis. Consider Christ, using a brief reflection that will inspire you to reverence the Real Presence, the Body and Blood of Christ. Contemplate Christ, by praying a few lines that help you go deeply into the spiritual experience of adoration. Imitate Christ in your daily life with a challenge to act like Christ after time spent in adoration.

But what if the problem is much more fundamental? What if the problem goes to the very foundations of who we are as human beings in relationship with God?

In The First Society: The Sacrament of Matrimony and the Restoration of the Social Order, Scott Hahn makes the startling claim that our society's ills and its cures are rooted in whether we reject or accept the divine graces made available through the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.

Man, he argues, is social in his very nature. We were created for community. As it was in the beginning, so it remains today. The family, formed through the Sacrament of Matrimony, is the most basic building block of every societywhether we like it or not. We've corrupted marriage, and so we have a corrupt society. If we get marriage right, our society, through God's grace, will flourish.

This is so because Matrimony, like all the sacraments, heals and elevates human nature. Without marriage, our ambitions toward a just social order will remain forever foolhardy. With it, the seemingly impossible, a truly peaceful and humane civilization, becomes possible.

Confession is somewhat daunting for many of us; yet Farren argues, "Our understanding of the sacrament reveals our image of God. If our image of God is one of an uncompromising judge, then the sacrament can fill us with dread." Instead of coming to confession to avoid judgment and hellfire, Father Farren paints a picture of the Sacrament of Reconciliation which presents a loving God who longs for a restored relationship with His children. It is an inspirational picture and one that is presented compellingly.

In this easy-to-read booklet, you'll gain the confidence you need to return to the Sacrament of Confession, where you will experience God's mercy and unconditional forgiveness.

Countless graces flow from the use of Holy Water when you understand its role in God's plan of salvation, and how it brings new graces into your life.

In clear, convincing language, Father Theiler lays out for Christians countless surprising, but long-forgotten truths about Holy Water, and explains the interior acts and dispositions that are necessary for this blessed gift of God to have the sanctifying effect our Lord intends for you.

Read these pages attentively; consider them thoughtfully; incorporate their truths and suggestions into your daily spiritual life. In these pages, you'll also learn: The time that God Himself commanded the use of Holy Water (Do you know where the Bible tells this story?) Why God chose water as the means to impart so many blessings even before He created man and woman! What you should and should not expect from the graces conferred by Holy Water

In today's society couched in secularism, relativism, and general moral decline, many people may have lost a sense of sin and are struggling to embrace the importance of spiritual healing. Thankfully God always welcomes us back to experience God's merciful and healing love.

In an uplifting and deeply spiritual presentation, retired priest William Kremmell underscores a basic truth of Christian faith: that our God is a God of unconditional, all-embracing love and forgiveness for all people, revealed in Jesus. Throughout his study, Father Kremmell examines why God's love is everlasting, why we are all sinners, the major reasons why Catholics do not approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and the reasons why they should return to this grace-filled experience-all while helping believers find a healthy sense of sin, a new appreciation of the God who is love, and a better understanding of the Sacrament as a sign of God's merciful presence and life-giving power in our lives.

It's All about God's Love is a retired priest's exploration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and why it needs to be renewed and restored as an integral element of the spiritual journey of today's Catholic.