Spirituality

These are difficult times for the Catholic Church and the United States of America. There is only one solution to the problems we face saints! Becoming a saint is a choice, and we must begin choosing the saint within each of us. The biggest crisis of our time is not economic, health care, or vocations, but is an identity crisis. We have forgotten our mission to become saints and forgotten our story as Catholics. We must rediscover that mission and hold each other accountable to accepting responsibility for that mission. We need heroic Catholicism. Everything we need to accomplish our mission is in the Church but the Catholic Church is a sleeping giant. It is time we wake the sleeping giant! This book is a five step guide to choosing the saint within you. The world doesn't need another John Paul II or Mother Teresa. The world needs you. Your ordinary life has an extraordinary purpose.

"It's not how you start that matters, but how you finish"

Nowhere is this more true than in our Christian faith. The ultimate goal of reaching Heaven should be the driving force in our lives. But yet, how many times do we get stuck in the minutia of daily life? How many times do we give into self-pity or a feeling of unworthiness? How many times do we simply feel like we are spinning our wheels, perhaps not going backwards, but definitely not moving forward?

Momentum makes all the difference.

By building momentum, it doesn't matter if you stumble. It doesn't matter if you fall. By building momentum, it you see the process instead of the promises. You make the important connections instead of being sidetracked by life's random events.

Here is the practical guide for developing a momentum mindset that connects your faith with real life in a way that supports, motivates, encourages and enhances your efforts along the way.

30 Days with Teresa of Avila is the third book of Dan Burke's Navigating series that brings the wisdom of the saints into your hands. These unedited letters of Teresa of Avila to her friends offer a rare window from which to gaze upon the Saint's genuine witness and pragmatic advice on pursuing an intimate friendship with God. Dan Burke and Anthony Lilles provide rich reflections to encourage a deeper and more prayerful reading of these fascinating letters to those who want to sit at the feet of this great doctor of the interior life. About the series: Dan Burke's Navigating series brings the wisdom of the saints into your hands. This series is a goldmine for Catholics to deepen your relationship with God and to grow into a deeper union with Jesus Christ. Endorsements: One of the best people to spend 30 days with is Teresa of Avila. Thanks to Dan Burke for making this possible in this valuable book for spiritual reading. -Ralph Martin, Author of The Fulfillment of All Desire Dan Burke's devotional book, 30 Days with Teresa of Avila, is a most timely resource as the Church celebrates the 500th anniversary of her birth. The selections chosen from the Saint's extensive correspondence provide spiritual and practical insight in order to love God at a deeper level, which results in a burning desire to truly love others. As Pope Francis has noted, what St. Teresa has to say through her writings has "perennial relevance" for us today, and 30 Days will help unpack previously unfamiliar writings that provide an abundant feast to nourish hungry souls. -Michael D. Wick, Executive Director for the Institute on Religious Life The Church recognizes St. Teresa as a doctor of the Church, which means that all Christians should learn from her. Thanks to Dan Burke for making such learning simple, practical, and pleasurable. Every page of this book provides profound spiritual direction. -Mike Aquilina, Author of Faith of Our Fathers and EWTN host

From Fr. Michael E. Gaitley, MIC, author of the popular book Consoling the Heart of Jesus, comes an extraordinary 33-day journey to Marian consecration with four giants of Marian spirituality: St. Louis de Montfort, St. Maximilian Kolbe, Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and Bl. Pope John Paul II. Fr. Michael masterfully summarizes their teaching, making it easy to grasp and simple enough to put into practice. More specifically, he weaves their thought into a user friendly, do-it-yourself retreat that will bless even the busiest of people. So, if you've been thinking about entrusting yourself to Mary for the first time or if you're simply looking to deepen and renew your devotion to her, 33 Days to Morning Glory is the right book to read and the perfect retreat to make.

Walk with St. Faustina through the year, guided by weekly meditations written by popular author and EWTN host Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle.

Discover and Embrace the Extravagant, Unconditional Love of the Father

How is it that so many believers get stuck when it comes to entering into a relationship with God the Father? Rather than basking in the Father's endless love, compassion, and delight, we seem to hesitate, like orphaned children unsure of a place to call home.

Neal Lozano breaks through the obstacles that keep us from growing in this pivotal relationship. He shatters fear and estrangement in his joyful exploration of Jesus's promise to show us his Father--and ours. It is a heartwarming journey, starting with the universal experience of loss and ending in the Father's welcoming arms as dearly loved children.

Four women--Hildegard of Bingen, Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila, and Therese of Lisieux--have been honored with the title "Doctor of the Church." But what does that title mean and what do these women mean for us today?

Elizabeth Dreyer examines the history-changing effect each of their unique theologies have had on our Church and our world. She explains how our understanding of the cross, the incarnation of the Holy Spirit, and the human person have been enhanced by the work of these women. They may not have planned to be thought of as theologians, but reading about their lives, teaching, and writings will have a profound effect on how you live your faith.

While the term acedia may be unfamiliar, the vice, usually translated as sloth, is all too common. Sloth is not mere laziness, however, but a disgust with reality, a loathing of our call to be friends with God, and a spiteful hatred of place and life itself. As described by Josef Pieper, the slothful person does not "want to be as God wants him to be, and that ultimately means he does not wish to be what he really, fundamentally is." Sloth is a hellish despair.

Our own culture is deeply infected, choosing a destructive freedom rather than the good work for which God created us. Acedia and Its Discontents resists despair, calling us to reconfigure our imaginations and practices in deep love of the life and work given by God. By feasting, keeping sabbath, and working well, we learn to see the world as enchanting, beautiful, and good--just as God sees it.

"In the arid wasteland that is academic writing, amid the wider desert that is modern secular thought, R. J. Snell's book on acedia is an oasis of flowers and fruit and fresh water. Professor Snell reminds us that man must never be made subordinate to work, nor even to the empty 'vacations' that are but interruptions in work. Like his great predecessors Josef Pieper, Jacques Maritain, Max Picard, Romano Guardini, and Pope John Paul II, he diagnoses the besetting disease of our time--spiritual torpor--and prescribes as a remedy the joyful celebration of the Sabbath. A stupendous book, filled with the happiness of wonder."--ANTHONY ESOLEN, author of Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child

"A whole book about just one vice, 'sloth'? Ah, but this book is different-and devastating. It exposes a deeply hidden and deeply destructive fundamental attitude that pervades our culture, an attitude that comes not just from the flesh (laziness) or from the world (world-weariness, cynicism), but from the Devil: disgust and rebellion toward Being itself, natural as well as supernatural. This is the 'noonday devil' that great saints have labelled 'sloth.' Know your enemy. Read this book!"--PETER KREEFT, author of Practical Theology: Spiritual Direction from St. Thomas Aquinas

"Acedia--the sin of sloth, so often confused with laziness--is the most overlooked but widespread illness of the modern age; the emptiness under the mask of the world's frantic activity. R.J. Snell helps us see why this is so and what Christians can do about it with elegant, penetrating insight. This is a terrific book about a badly misunderstood 'deadly sin' and its antidotes."--CHARLES J. CHAPUT, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Philadelphia

"Our modern Empire of Desire manufactures endless appetite while simultaneously denying that anything is objectively good, beautiful, or desirable. The result is not great yearning or passion, but acedia or sloth, a pervasive 'noonday demon' which prowls about our culture like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. In this learned study, R.J. Snell draws on the vast spiritual and intellectual resources of the Christian tradition to diagnose the deep structure of our contemporary nihilism, exposing this demon and its far-reaching effects with elegance and profundity and thereby providing the weapons necessary to slay it. This is a timely and important book."--MICHAEL HANBY, author of No God, No Science: Theology, Cosmology, Biology

R. J. SNELL is professor of philosophy at Eastern University in St. Davids, PA, and executive director of the Agora Institute for Civic Virtue and the Common Good. His recent books include Authentic Cosmopolitanism (with Steve Cone) and The Perspective of Love: Natural Law in a New Mode. He and his wife have four young children.

WHAT DO BUFFALO BILL, JOHN F. KENNEDY, VINCE LOMBARDI, DOROTHY DAY, FULTON SHEEN, AND ANDY WARHOL HAVE IN COMMON?

They're all Catholics who have shaped America. In this page-a-day history, 365 inspiring stories celebrate the historic contributions of American men and women shaped by their Catholic faith. From famous figures to lesser-known saints and sinners, The American Catholic Almanac tells the fascinating, funny, uplifting, and unlikely tales of Catholics' influence on American history, culture, and politics. Spanning the scope of the Revolutionary War to Notre Dame football, this unique collection of stories highlights the transformative role of the Catholic Church in American public life over the last 400 years.

Did you know...
- The first immigrant to arrive in America via Ellis Island was a 15-year-old Irish Catholic girl?
- Al Capone's tombstone reads "MY JESUS MERCY"?
- Andrew Jackson credited America's victory in the Battle of New Orleans to the prayers of the Virgin Mary and the Ursuline Sisters?
- Five Franciscans died in sixteenth-century Georgia defending the Church's teachings on marriage?
- Jack Kerouac died wanting to be known as a Catholic and not only as a beat poet?
- Catholic missionaries lived in Virginia 36 years before the English settled Jamestown?

Angels and saints. Catholics tend to think of them as different from the rest of us. They're cast in plaster or simpering on a holy card, performing miracles with superhero strength, or playing a harp in highest heaven.

Yet they are very near to us in every way. In this lively book, Scott Hahn dispels the false notions and urban legends people use to keep the saints at a safe distance. The truth is that Jesus Christ has united heaven and earth in a close communion. Drawing deeply from Scripture, Dr. Hahn shows that the hosts of heaven surround the earthly Church as a "great cloud of witnesses." The martyrs cry out from heaven's altar begging for justice on the earth. The prayers of the saints and angels rise to God, in the Book of Revelation, like the sweet aroma of incense.

Dr. Hahn tells the stories of several saints (and several angels too) in a way that's fresh and new. The saints are spiritual giants but with flesh-and-blood reality. They have strong, holy ambitions--and powerful temptations and opposition that must be overcome. Their stories are amazing and yet familiar enough to motivate us to live more beautiful lives. In this telling of their story, the saints are neither otherworldly nor this-worldly. They exemplify the integrated life that every Christian is called to live.

Still, their lives are as different from one another as human lives can be. Dr. Hahn shows the heavenly Church in all its kaleidoscopic diversity--from Moses to Mary, Augustine to Therese, and the first century to the last century.

Only saints will live in heaven. We need to be more like the saints if we want to live in heaven someday. Dr. Hahn shows us that our heavenly life can begin now.

It must.

This book shows how Christians can be good and be angry at the same time. That's possible if we let the Holy Spirit strengthen us to get angry for the right reasons and to keep anger under control.

If we are seeking a secret that will simply eliminate anger, we're pursuing a vain hope. Anger will surely be with us until we die. It may even go with us to heaven, where the Lord may allow us to share his anger at the evils that afflict his creation. But we can learn to increase good anger and to minimize the bad. That's the Christian approach summed up by Paul when he admonished the Ephesians to "Be angry, but do not sin" (Eph 4:26). If used constructively, anger can even help us live a more Christian life.

This is not a psychology or self-help book. It presents a Bible-based strategy for caring for and disciplining a valuable emotion. It describes a method that helps us use anger successfully to overcome the obstacles strewn across the path of our Christian journey. The book contains questions for discussion, personal reflection and application which make it ideal for either individual or group use.

In these pages, EWTN host and Franciscan Friar Fr Andrew Apostoli reflects on each of the questions asked by Jesus and gently guides you into a deeper understanding of the wisdom of who He is and what He is asking of you. Among the many questions you'll explore are . . .

Why were you looking for me? Learn what this answer says about the presence of Jesus in your spiritual life.

What do you seek? Discover why Holy Mass is the key to knowing this answer.

O woman, what have you to do with me? How this question tests your faith, and why the salvation of your soul may depend on how you answer it.

Why are you afraid? Have you no faith? Learn how prayer is the key to fully knowing this answer.

Who do you say the Son of Man is? Discover how this question was crucial in granting authority to Peter and the Apostles.

Who do you say that I am? Why recognizing Jesus as your Lord is in itself insufficient.

Discover the secrets to growing holier through the simple things in life work, play, and rest. Learn to avoid the distractions that trouble and weary your soul, and you'll soon be able to focus your energy simply on loving God!

This volume represents a contemporary English edition of John's rarely published work, "Ascent of Mount Carmel," a commentary on his entire spiritual vision.

Giussani argues that if we accept the hypothesis that the mystery entered the realm of human existence and spoke in human terms, the relationship between the individual and God is no longer based on a moral, imaginative, or aesthetic human effort but instead on coming upon an event in one's life. Thus the religious method is overturned by Christ: in Christianity it is no longer the person who seeks to know the mystery but the mystery that makes himself known by entering history. At the Origin of the Christian Claim presents an intriguing argument supported with ample documentation from the gospels and other theological writings.