Catholic
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John Of The Cross And Teresa Of Avila
$41.95Add to cartHalf a millennium after they lived and wrote, Teresa and John continue to inspire and confound readers: How can the turn inward to solitude and quiet also bring a person closer to creation? Howell’s shows how, for Teresa and John, the dynamic life of the Trinitarian God unites the mind within and the world outside.
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Transforming Self And Community
$26.95Add to cartBoth spiritual direction and pastoral counseling tend to be partially responsive to client needs and expectations. Many of the theories underlying the practice of spiritual direction and pastoral counseling are based more on psychology than spirituality. They minimize or exclude character and moral concerns and may even unintentionally foster individualism and spiritual narcissism. Transforming Self and Community offers an approach to spiritual direction and pastoral counseling that is holistic, that integrates spiritual and moral constructs with the psychological and emphasizes all aspects of transformation, including social transformation.
The integrative approach in Transforming Self and Community provides psychological, spiritual, and moral perspectives for understanding and assisting individuals with their spiritual journey of development. It describes and illustrates clinically useful guidelines for the practice of spiritual direction and pastoral counseling. It includes case studies as well as figures, tables, and charts that highlight and summarize main text points.
Transforming Self and Community is primarily for professionals who practice, teach, or are learning how to do spiritual direction or pastoral counseling. Nevertheless, spiritual seekers, clients, or prospective clients of spiritual direction or pastoral counseling will also find this book enlightening.
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Medieval Writings On Female Spirituality
$18.00Add to cartBiographies, poetic compositions, works that are mystical, prophetic, visionary, or meditative: the selections here reflect the developments in medieval piety, particularly in the link between female spirituality and the body. Included are the dramatic visionary writings of Hildegard of Bingen; letters and poems by Hadewijch expressing passionate love for God; and Marguerite Porete’s allegorical poem “The Mirror of Simple Souls,” a dialogue between Love and Soul that was condemned as heretical. Also included are biographies written by male ecclesiastics of women such as Christine the Astonishing, whose extraordinary behavior included being resurrected at her own funeral; revelations received by Bridget of Sweden, the first woman to found a religious order; and excerpts from The Book of Margery Kempe, in which Margery imagines herself as a servant caring for the Virgin Mary in her childhood.
This volume, edited by Elizabeth Spearing, who also prepared some of the translations, features a rich introduction to the lives and religious experiences of its subjects, as well as full explanatory notes.
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Leaving North Haven
$16.95Add to cartLike its predecessor, Good News from Haven, Leaving North Haven is a collection of related stories following one year in the life of the wise and understanding pastor of a small Presbyterian Church, Rev. David Battles. The books are set in the fictional town of North Haven, Minnesota. North Haven is a place that has seen better days and Battles is torn by his love for the rhythms and folkways of the tiny village and his longing for a more glamorous assignment. Fans of Good News from North Haven will be pleased to encounter many of the same characters in the sequel, though the two can be read independently. In Leaving North Haven, Lindvall’s storytelling is keener than ever, weaving emotion and compassion with gentle humor.
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Preaching To The Hungers Of The Heart
$24.95Add to cartPreaching to the Hungers of the Heart is about words, most particularly it is a book about the Word, the living Word of God, found in the Scriptures, and embodied once and for all in the person of Jesus, the Word made flesh.
In Preaching to the Hungers of the Heart Fr. James Wallace offers a nuanced consideration of the homily as nourishment. He focuses on three common liturgical contexts: feasts of the Lord, feasts of Mary and the saints, and the sacramental rites. He relates the preaching that occurs within each area to one of the heart’s basic hungers: for wholeness (the great feasts of the Lord), for guidance (feasts of Mary and the saints), and for meaning (various rites). He also addresses the spirituality of the preacher as it is worked out in the process of preparation.For preachers and students in schools of ministry who are preparing to preach Preaching to the Hungers of the Heart will serve as a useful tool to help satisfy the hunger to preach the Gospel. It includes homilies that provide excellent starting points for preachers looking for ideas.
Chapter one considers the image of feeding God’s people with the Word of God. Chapter two, considering the innermost hunger of the human person, looks to the preaching that takes place on the great feasts of the Lord and how such preaching can nourish the hunger for wholeness. Chapter three returns to the hunger for meaning already mentioned and extends to the other sacramental celebrations the homily’s capacity to meet this hunger, including those addressed by the various sacramental celebrations of the Church such as baptisms, wedding, funerals, rites of reconciliation, and anointing of the sick. Chapters four and five present the homily as responding to the hunger to belong. The final chapter considers one other hunger of the heart, unique to the preacher, referred to by John Paul II as a “hunger to preach the gospel” (Pastores Dabo Vobis, no. 28).
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Revised Common Lectionary Prayers (Revised)
$29.00Add to cartWhy not give your input to this ongoing task force which writes prayers that will accompany the readings of the widely used Revised Common Lectionary? While drawing heavily on the rich liturgical traditions of the past, these prayers speak in a contemporary language. Good for worship committees.
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Eucharistic Devotion : Renewing A Timeless Tradition
$9.99Add to cartIn the not-too-distant past, visits to the Blessed Sacrament and participation in Forty Hours Devotion were almost extinct practices. Yet today devotion to the Eucharist has regained its popularity as a pathway to a deep and intimate union with the Lord. A new generation of believers is longing for the richness of this tradition and the blessings attendant upon it.
Eucharistic Devotion reintroduces today’s Catholics to this time-honored spiritual tradition. Beginning with a history of Eucharistic devotion and its development, especially in times of stress and trouble, this book presents the Eucharist as the center and summit of the Christian life. A discussion of the meaning of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist and an explanation of how the Church has always fostered Eucharistic devotion adds a new perspective to those who may be unfamiliar with the long tradition of this practice. Next, the primary elements of the Eucharistic Memorial are presented and explained, and finally the third section gives prayers and formats for private visits to the Blessed Sacrament.
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Seeing With Our Souls
$16.95Add to cartAs part of her ongoing quest to break open monastic wisdom for the modern world, Sr. Joan Chittister’s latest book addresses the question: What qualities of the soul must be cultivated by each of us if we are to become a positive presence in a changing world? Rooted in the ancient tradition of lectio divina – sacred reading that connects Scripture with the pursuit of personal transformation – Seeing with Our Souls highlights a key Bible passage for each of twelve key qualities of soul and offers brief reflections that speak to the core of one’s spiritual practice. Each reflection asks us to identify the political, spiritual, economic, and cultural choices we make and to assess our aspirations for the future. Seeing with Our Souls is ideal spiritual reading for busy people interested in gleaning scriptural and monastic wisdom for everyday life.
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Upon This Rock
$24.95Add to cartA Vatican-censured former priest, tells the history of the papacy from the point of view of the women, radicals, and marginalized who have been betrayed by conservative historians. This survey of key popes documents the evolution of the papacy from its beginning to all its monarchical trappings in our own day.
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Power Of The Powerless
$19.95Add to cartChristopher De Vinck’s moving account of his life with his brother made a deep impression on the hearts and minds of Americans. Due to a tragedy at birth, Oliver de Vinck was born severely handicapped-blind, mute, crippled, helpless. Despite the doctors’ bleak prognosis, his loving parents took him home, where they and their children cared for him. He lived for thirty-three years.
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Understanding Student Affairs At Catholic Colleges And Universities
$29.95Add to cartIn response to the growing concern over nurturing Catholic identity at Catholic colleges and universities and an outcome of the Lilly-funded Institute for Student Affairs at Catholic Colleges and Universities (ISACC), this book is the first of its kind to focus not only on student affairs in Catholic higher education but on lay men and women who received training at secular institutions. An essential book for administrators, staff, and faculty at Catholic institutions of higher learning.
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Let Me Know Myself
$19.95Add to cartSoon after his conversion Augustine prayed “O God, let me know myself; let me know you.” He was convinced that the eventual discovery of God began with a discovery of one’s self. In “Let Me Know Myself . . .”, Donald Burt, O.S.A., offers reflections on what Augustine said about the nature of the “self,” obstacles standing in the way of discovery, and some of what one can learn about oneself from experience and faith.
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Reading The Bible From The Margins
$24.00Add to cartThis introduction to reading and understanding the Bible focuses on perspectives that are often ignored. Here, emphasis is placed on how issues involving race, class, and gender influence our understanding of the Bible. The author shows how “standard” readings of the Bible are not always acceptable to people or groups on the “margins.” The poor and those who are targets of discrimination because of their ethnic group or gender may have quite different insights and understandings of biblical texts that can be of value to all readers.
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Singing In The Reign
$15.95Add to cartYou’ve known the Psalms as individual pearls – but have you ever experienced them as a 150-piece necklace? Michael Barber recovers the narrative unity of the Psalms, showing how this celebrated book of the Bible brings us from suffering and pleading to triumph and praise.
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Sacraments In Scripture (Student/Study Guide)
$10.95Add to cartSacraments in Scripture: Salvation History Made Present is a Bible study on the seven sacraments, prefigured in the Old Testament and instituted by Jesus Christ in the New.
Following the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and the Catechism of the Catholic Church on Sacred Scripture, Tim Gray delves into the biblical origin for each of these masterpieces of God’s love. In this Scripture study, Tim Gray guides readers through the Gospels, showing Christ’s deliberate acts to inaugurate these sacred signs as the foundation of the New Covenant. With review questions at the end of each chapter, this study is ideal for both group and individual study, and is perfect for learning how to answer contemporary objections to the sacraments
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John Main : Essential Writings
$22.00Add to cart1. Prologue
2. Holy Mystery
3. Being With God
4. Letting Go
5. Embracing The World
6. 100 Saying On Prayer
7. Conclusion
186 PagesAdditional Info
John Main (1926-1982), an English Benedictine monk, pioneered the practice of Christian meditation. His genius was to recover a way into the contemplative experience for ordinary people within the Christian tradition. Through books and retreats he promoted the practice of meditation as a way for modern people to develop a deeper spiritual life. Hailed by Bede Griffiths as the “most important spiritual guide in the church today,” his work inspired the foundation of the World Community for Christian Meditation and a network of hundreds of meditation groups around the world. -
Ambrose Of Milans Method Of Mystagogical Preaching
$34.95Add to cartMystagogy, or sustained reflection on baptism and the Eucharist, is the method of postbaptismal catechesis used in the R.C.I.A. In Ambrose of Milan’s Method of Mystagogical Preaching, Craig Satterlee provides a method of mystagogical preaching for today’s Church by looking at the sermons of Ambrose of Milan. Confronted by a culture that increasingly cannot be counted on to reinforce the Christian faith or participate in the formation of Christians, the Church today questions the nature of the connection between Word and Sacrament, and liturgy and mission. In addressing these same questions, the catechumenate of the early Church took seriously that they lived in a culture at odds with the faith, particularly the period of mystagogy which is characterized by sermons that probe the rites of initiation. Their biblical importance for Christian life, continues to hold great potential for the Church today. However, it remains largely undefined. By asking such questions as, what did Ambrose do and how did Ambrose do it? Satterlee explains that the best way to learn to preach mystagogically is by using a fourth-century mystagogue as our guide. In chapter one Satterlee establishes the need for mystagogy. Chapter two lays out the historical context of Ambrose and his church. Chapters three through eight are a series of six historical studies on Ambrose and his church that correspond to the components of a homiletic method. Chapter nine proposes a method of mystagogy for the contemporary church based on Ambrose’s preaching. A brief biography of Saint Ambrose, history of the church of Milan, and a look at patristic exegesis are also included.
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Privilege Of Love
$29.95Add to cartUnique in the Church, the Camaldolese life is ordered to a three-fold good: solitude, community, and witness. Men and women as hermits live by a monastic rule, committed to both solitude and community life. The discipline of solitude combined with the second good, the rigors of community living are intended to widen the heart in service of the third good: bearing witness to the abundance of God’s love as the self, others, and every living creature are brought into fuller communion in the one Love.
The essays in The Privilege of Love convey the richness and the depth of the Camaldolese Benedictine spirit. Their diversity of expression is itself a manifestation of the magnitude of God’s bonding Love. This bonding is the Spirit’s own gift, weaving together the many voices found in these pages-voices of women and men, of monk, hermit, and layperson. The voices speak of historical roots, of the riches found in solitude and the grit of community life, of the psychological strength required in any pursuit of God, of the vulnerability of the human heart which is the home for wisdom’s Word, and of the privilege of being in love with Love itself.
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Life In Christ
$29.95Add to cartIn Life in Christ Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher to the papal household, presents a project of re-evangelization and spiritual renewal based on St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans. It is therefore neither an exegetical commentary nor a theological treatise, but goes straight to the heart of what animated the Apostle when he wrote this letter. His aim was not to give the Christians of Rome-and the Christians of later generations-a difficult text on which to exercise their critical wisdom but rather to impart a spiritual gift to them so that they would be strengthened and mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.
At the beginning of the third millennium a new phenomenon is spreading through the Christian Churches which can only be the work of the Holy Spirit. Up to now Christians of different denominations have proclaimed Jesus Christ mainly in competition and rivalry with one another, thus compromising our testimony in the eyes of the world. Why should we not grasp this unique occasion to start proclaiming together with brotherly love our common belief in Christ, which is far more important than what still separates us? Pope John Paul II has espoused this project and has expressed the wish that all Christians take this opportunity “for fruitful cooperation in the many areas which unite us; these are unquestionably more numerous than those which divide us.”
Life in Christ is a contribution to the realization of this project. Father Cantalamessa has made the most of the insights and riches present in each one of the three main Christian traditions: Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant, avoiding those points not commonly shared by all believers in Christ, or at least by the majority of them. The Letter to the Romans lends itself to this aim because it deals with the basics of the Christian faith, leaving all the rest aside. It is the ideal basis for that “Common Witness” which is becoming more and more central to ecumenical dialogue. This is, therefore, a first and “partial” attempt to present a spirituality and a proclamation corresponding to the new grace of understanding and unity given to the Christians in the second half of this century.
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Women And Christianity V2
$28.00Add to cartThe second volume in a major historical trilogy that documents the lives and contributions of Christian women from the beginning of Christianity to the present.
In this volume Mary Malone explores the fascinating period of the medieval world, from 1000 to 1500. She brings to life women who were mystics and doctors of the church together with those who suffered persecution for pushing boundaries that would one day become mainstream. From Hildegarde of Bingen to Catherine of Siena, from Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine to Marguerite Porete, she gives us history that inspires and values that endure. -
Edith Stein : Essential Writings
$22.00Add to cart1. In And For The Life Of The World
2. Letting God’s Plan Guide Us
3. Searching For Deep Truth
4. Woman And Women
5. Freedom At The Cross
158 PagesAdditional Info
Edith Stein (1891-1942), who was recently canonized, was one of the most intriguing Catholics of the twentieth century. A Jewish convert, an eminent philosopher, educator, and advocate for women, she became a Discalced Carmelite nun, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She was arrested by the Nazis and died in Auschwitz in 1942. This volume highlights the extraordinary features of her spirituality – a vision that integrated her philosophical training, her affinity for Carmelite mysticism, and her personal identification with the way of the Cross. Edith Stein provides a wonderful introduction to an extraordinary mind. -
Priesthood And Society (Revised)
$23.00Add to cart“This text on the nature of priesthood draws equally on scripture, tradition and the complexities of modern life to explore the ways that priests become “”walking sacraments””, acting and living out the truth they represent. Focusing on the spiritual disciplines that nurture priestly life, the wisdom of shared ministry and the value of increased lay involvement, the book presents a vision of the Christian ministry that is more concerned with serving the whole of society than in maintaining church attendence.”
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God Knows Marriage Isnt Always Easy
$14.95Add to cartAbout God Knows Marriage Isn’t Always Easy… Is there a secret to a good marriage? Lanny Law and Maureen Rogers Law don’t propose any hidden formula for success. Rather, they retrace the steps of a loving relationship that all couples pledge to at the time of their wedding and remind husbands and wives of twelve essential ways to improve their relationship. Way 1, for example, is simply “Meet and Do Things Together.” When many marriages reach a flat pitch, it is often only because wife and husband have not arranged a given amount of time to be together. The Laws propose putting work and personal interest schedules behind in order to give first priority to simply being together–whether for a walk around the neighborhood, a trip for yogurt, or a weekend getaway. The other ways are equally simple but profound:
Way 2 Accept the Similarities and Differences in Each Other
Way 3 Strive to Understand Each Other
Way 4 Choose to Feel Each Other’s Emotions
Way 5 Mindfully Nurture Your Love
Way 6 Make Your Relationship Priority Number One
Way 7 Delight One Another with Touch
Way 8 Consciously Balance Togetherness and Uniqueness
Way 9 Help One Another
Way 10 Resolve Conflicts Before They Get Worse
Way 11 Readily Forgive and Reconcile If Possible
Way 12 Share Each Other’s Joys and SorrowsThese twelve ways are all necessary elements for having a better marriage. Having a healthy marriage is one of life’s greatest blessings. In a thriving marriage, wife and husband are energized and can withstand just about any circumstances they face. These twelve ways will help you face and prosper through the challenges of marriage.
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Every Pilgrims Guide To Assisi
$20.99Add to cartAssisi, Greccio and neighbouring places associated with St Francis and St Clare are among the world’s most popular pilgrim destinations. This pocket guide is the perfect travelling companion for all visitors to this beautiful region of Italy. Written by an experienced tour leader, it includes a blend of historical and practical tourist information, illustrations, maps and street plans, to enable visitors to make the most of their stay. Festivals associated with Francis, especially the blessing of the Christmas crib, are celebrated with great gusto and this book explains what special treats visitors can experience at different times of the year.
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Here And Now
$19.95Add to cartOne thought flows into another to create a mosaic of shimmering impressions in this contemplative offering from a great Christian writer. Nouwen discusses living in the present, joy, prayer, the spiritual life, relationships, family, and other topics with his signature clarity and insight.
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Saint Patrick : The Real History Of His Amazing Life From Tragedy To Triump
$14.95Add to cartHe “found Ireland all heathen and left it all Christian.” Kidnapped as a boy, Patrick was a slave for six years in pagan, druid Ireland. He miraculously escaped, only to have a dream years later calling him back.
By his death, Patrick founded 300 churches, baptized 120,000 believers and his followers re-evangelized Europe!
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Problem With Evil Of The Western Tradition
$26.95Add to cartWhile others have contributed tomes and volumes on the history of Evil, Kelly covers much ground in much fewer pages. An ample bibliography will direct the curious to more in depth study, while readers who prefer a lighter treatment (albeit a meticulously researched and well-written one) will experience a wealth of information packed between these covers.
Delineating between “Evil” and “evils”, the author starts the tour in the Book of Job and follows literary, religious and philosophical strands through to the biotech ambiguities of the early 21st century. He draws a picture of how the ancient peoples of Mesopotamia viewed Evil by examining myths similar to biblical texts along with biblical references to Satan. And, by gleaning from both Christian and non-religious writings, he shows how these have formed the idea of Evil in the collective conscience. The final chapters illuminate modern theories and approaches to Evil, and the book culminates with the author’s own reflection on what he believes Evil to be. -
Spirituality Of The Psalms
$29.95Add to cartThe psalms offer a harmony to life and a rhythm that keeps us peacefully in tune with the intense fervor of life. In The Spirituality of the Psalms, Carroll Stuhlmueller, C.P., looks at the structure of the psalms to explain how they can have bearing in our lives today. He describes how we can apply the psalms to our spiritual lives and integrate the psalms in the Church’s prayer life and ministry.
The Spirituality of the Psalms is the last work of Stuhlmueller which was uncompleted upon his death in 1994. He had completed a first draft of all but two chapters, 12 and 13, which Timothy Lenchak, S.V.D., added from Stuhlmueller’s commentary Psalms 1 and 2. The completed text was then edited, revised, and updated by Carol Dempsey, O.P., who did so with care so as not to lose Stuhlmueller’s “voice” and “hand” in the text.
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Church According To The New Testament
$24.95Add to cartIn the last days of the twentieth century, leading New Testament scholar and popular preacher Daniel Harrington, S.J., asked himself two powerful questions: What might the church of the first century have to say to the church of the twenty-first century? And How might a brief sythesis of what the New Testament says and does not say about the church help bring greater vitality within and unity among the churches? The result of Father Harrington’s research and thinking is this timely and important book.
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Collected Poems Of Therese Of Lisieux
$19.95Add to cartThough the influence of Therese of Lisieux has spread far and wide since her canonization, her gifts as a poet have remained largely unknown to English speaking readers. Alan Bancroft’s admirable translation captures the intelligence and fervor of her fifty poems that celebrate her joyous surrender to God.
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Rufus Jones : Essential Writings
$19.00Add to cartA Quaker mystic and social activist, Rufus Jones won a Nobel Prize as co-founder of the American Friends Service Committee. Widely considered one of the most significant religious voices in America at the time of his death in 1948, his writings impart an Emersonian vision of the ever-present reality of God in our souls and in our world. Indeed, his quintessentially American “affirmative mysticism” infuses all contemporary spirituality and offers an uplifting, positive, and powerful message today.
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In Praise Of The New Knighthood
$29.95Add to cartThe monk and the knight-the two quintessentially medieval European heroes-were combined in the Knights Templar, men who took the monastic vows and defended the holy places and pilgrims. With characteristic eloquence, Bernard of Clairvaux voices the cleric’s view of the knights, warfare, and the conquest of the Holy Land in five chapters on the knight’s vocation. Then, in another eight chapters the abbot who never visited the Holy Land provides a spiritual tour of the pilgrimage sites guarded by this ‘new kind of knighthood.’
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Mystical Portrait Of Jesus
$29.95Add to cartThe poetic and symbolic nature of John’s gospel betrays the weakness of historical-critical and other “scientific” methods of scriptural exegesis: Although valuable for the insights they do provide, scientific methods are not sensitive to the spiritual dimensions of biblical revelation.
Father Dumm therefore offers something more than the traditional chapter-and-verse commentary. Understanding that all of the gospels were written after the resurrection and, consequently, that the passion narrative greatly influenced how the earlier chapters were composed, Father Dumm gives more prominence to the climax of the career of Jesus: his passion, death, and resurrection. By beginning “at the end,” Father Dumm uncovers the guiding principle of this gospel. In the process he makes some surprising discoveries about the dangers of religious ritual but finds remedy for these dangers in the importance of personal mystical experience within the context of a believing community.
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Celtic Vision : Prayers Blessings Songs And Invocations From The Gaelic Tra
$16.99Add to cartDevotees of Irish spirituality–and those interested in Irish heritage–will cherish this authentic collection of Celtic wisdom and prayer. Every aspect of daily life is sanctified with prayers for hearth, home, work and play. Blessings, invocations and good wishes catch the Celtic spirit affirming the presence and power of the Creator.
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I Believe In Love
$18.95Add to cartThis spiritual classic has long been beloved by Catholics for its wondrous distillation of the teaching of St. Therese of Lisieux into a reader-friendly set of meditations. It’s perfect as a personal retreat when you have only a few moments to spare each day – and for spiritual reading anytime and anywhere.
Fr. Jean C. J. d’Elbee, a French priest deeply imbued with St. Therese’s spirit, brings you St. Therese’s teachings on God’s love and the confidence in Him that it should inspire in your soul; humility, peace, and fraternal charity; the apostolate; the Cross; and what it means truly to abandon yourself to Divine Providence.
I Believe in Love has helped countless souls embark on the way to the Father. It will help you focus on Him throughout each day, rest in Him amid your troubles, and live joyfully with Him at every moment!
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Search And Rescue
$18.95Add to cartYou don’t have to become a biblical scholar or a theologian to be an effective spokesman for the Catholic Faith. In fact, even though you don’t know all the answers and can’t explain every aspect of the Faith, you can begin winning souls to the Church right now . . . using prayer, friendship, and common sense.
It sounds almost too good to be true, but in Search and Rescue Patrick Madrid explains why these are among the most effective, time-tested methods for bringing family and friends into or back into the Church. As the publisher of Envoy magazine, author of many apologetics books (including Surprised by Truth 2), and a veteran defender of the Faith, Madrid himself has used these methods successfully for years.
But Madrid doesn’t give you only the benefit of his own considerable experience: in Search and Rescue he also includes simple and genial advice from St. Francis of Assisi, St. Augustine, and other great lovers of God. Get Search and Rescue the book that shows you how you can start winning souls for Christ today!
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Children Of A Compassionate God
$29.95Add to cartLuke 1-6:16 forms the literary context for the Sermon on the Plain. This context grounds Jesus’ teaching authority as the Son of God. The Beatitudes and woes (6:20-26) establish a revolutionary vision of the authentic human life. The love commandment is grounded in two general ethical principles – the Golden Rule (6:31) as a maxim of general altruism and the imitatio Dei (6:36) making human conduct respond to the deepest human desires intimitated in the Rule. Consequently, Christian disciples are to avoid hostile judgement, as their master did (6:37-42); one can judge truly only by examining the fruits one produces (6:43-45). These commands, which carry human authenticity beyond its limits, are the only way to avoid total destruction (6:46-49).
