Religious Books, Liturgical Books, Oblate Talks

This book is the fruit of holy hours and meditations on the readings for Sunday Mass and Holy Days throughout the year. The author attempts to portray the humanity of the Biblical family. The Gospel of Matthew paints a portrait of Jesus which is refreshingly human. We get to experience a culture and faith journey in a way that comforts us almost 2000 years later. Our questions and issues of today do have answers and consolation from a man who was very much alive and in his divinity offered us salvation.

In 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized the great 20th century visionary of Divine Mercy, Sister Faustina Kowalska, and proclaimed the Sunday after Easter to be celebrated annually as Divine Mercy Sunday. In 2006, Pope Benedict stressed that Divine Mercy is not a secondary devotion, but an integral dimension of Christian faith and prayer. Now Pope Francis has proclaimed an extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, which will begin on December 8, 2015. These three Popes have made it very clear that Divine Mercy is a major part of the Christian faith, and now this powerful new book reveals why.

Best-selling author Vinny Flynn continues his popular 7 Secrets series with a book that brings him back to his roots. Vinny was one of the original editors of the official English edition of the actual Diary of St. Faustina, and he has written and edited a vast number of the Divine Mercy materials that are used today.

Through his secrets of Divine Mercy, Vinny shows how Divine Mercy is not just another worthy private devotion; it is the key devotion, the umbrella devotion over everything else. Every other devotion in the Church, every ritual, every activity, every teaching is under that umbrella of Divine Mercy. It's all there to help us understand and enter into Divine Mercy. He shows us how everything in our lives can become more meaningful, more powerful, more life-changing once we really embrace the gift of Divine Mercy -- the overflow of love from the Holy Trinity.

In this compelling and timely book, Flynn draws from Scripture, the teachings of the Church, and the Diary of St. Faustina to not only reveal the heart of Divine Mercy, but to offer you an invitation and a road map so that this mercy can transform your life.

If you're not yet convinced of the impact Divine Mercy can have on your life, if you've never heard of this message and devotion, or if you're curious to learn more about it, this book is perfect for you. It shows us all how to respond to the call of Pope Francis to live lives shaped by mercy, and benefit greatly from the Year of Mercy.

Hahn explores the "covenant love" God reveals to us through the Scriptures and explains how God patiently reaches out to us--despite our faults and shortcomings--to restore us into relationship with his divine family. Join Hahn as he follows the high adventure of God's plan for the ages, beginning with Adam and Eve and continuing down through the generations to the coming of Christ and the birth of the Church. You'll discover how the patient love of the Father revealed in the Bible is the same persistent love he has for you. A Servant Book.

The audio edition of this book can be downloaded via Audible.

Esther de Waal comes to the Rule of St. Benedict as a lay woman who has studied the Rule and striven to live it. Benedict has been for her both supportive and challenging, both guide and prophet. His Rule asks not for blind obedience and conformity but for personal responsibility.

While the Rule offers much to those seeking a pattern to the structure of their day-to-day, exterior" life, which de Waal's previous commentaries have addressed, this commentary focuses on what Benedict tells us about the interior life. It takes the shape of prayerful reflections on his words of wisdom regarding the disposition of the heart. It leads the reader, as the Rule was meant to lead the novice, to answer the very personal question we must all, as Christians, answer: "Am I truly seeking God?" Includes a copy of the Rule.

Esther de Waal is a well-known author whose interests lie particularly in monastic and Celtic spirituality. Her first book, Seeking God: The Way of St. Benedict (The Liturgical Press), continues to be a bestseller and has-been translated world wide. It was followed by Living with Contradiction: Further Reflections on the Rule and, most recently, A World Made Whole: Rediscovering the Celtic Tradition and A Seven Day Journey with Thomas Merton. She is married with four grown-up sons and lives in the Welsh Borders.

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This book features prayers for all of the events in a mother's life, as well as traditional Marian and Catholic prayers. The text is enhanced by masterpiece art. Softcover.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that all who die in God s grace, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation, but after death, they undergo purification so as to enter the joy of heaven (1030)
Because of the communion of Saints, the faithful, who are still pilgrims here on earth are able to help the Souls in Purgatory by offering prayers in suffrage, especially the Eucharistic Sacrifice. They also help them by almsgiving, indulgences and penance. (Taken from the Compendium of the Catholic Church # 211)
St. Pope John Paul the Great has stated that tradition, has always pointed out that those who find themselves in the state of purification are united both with the Blessed, who already enjoy the fullness of eternal life, and with us on this earth, on our way towards the Father s House (taken from cf.ccgn.1032 L Osservatore Romano & EWTN)
It is truly a wholesome thing to pray for our departed brothers and sisters in Purgatory.
Let us now pray together the Rosary for the Souls in Purgatory.

After spending decades as a highly successful football coach, Lou Holtz shares a common-sense message with teens in an easily understood game plan for life. This proven plan can help readers define and attain their goals.

In Abide in the Heart of Christ, Rev. Joe Laramie, S.J., offers accessible wisdom from the foundations of Jesuit spirituality--St. Ignatius Loyola's Spiritual Exercises--in a ten-day personal retreat that will help you encounter Christ, grow your relationship with him, and shape your heart.

Laramie is your guide through this accessible retreat into the heart of Jesus. Based on a structure and approach he developed as a retreat leader at White House Jesuit Retreat in St. Louis, Laramie introduces you to classic themes of the Christian life, including sin, forgiveness, and creation.

This book also helps you learn how to use key scripture passages to reflect on your own experiences. Each reflection includes teachings from the Spiritual Exercises and offers examples from Laramie's own life. Reflection questions and activities guide you in further contemplation to help you see what's in your heart, encounter Christ in your daily life, and live more fully in his love each day.

Addressing the hard issue of suicide honestly and pastorally, Fr. Chris Alar, MIC, draws from the teaching of the Church, the message of Divine Mercy, and his own experience of losing his grandmother to suicide in order to offer readers two key forms of hope. There's hope for the salvation of those who've died by their own hand, and there's hope for the healing of those whom they've left behind.

Open a window each day of Advent onto the natural world. Here are twenty-five fresh images of the foundational truth that lies beneath and within the Christ story. In twenty-five portraits depicting how wild animals of the northern hemisphere ingeniously adapt when darkness and cold descend, we see and hear as if for the first time the ancient wisdom of Advent: The dark is not an end but the way a new beginning comes.

Short, daily reflections that paint vivid, poetic images of familiar animals, paired with charming original wood-cuts, will engage both children and adults. Anyone who does not want to be caught, again, in the consumer hype of "the holiday season" but rather to be taken up into the eternal truth the natural world reveals will welcome this book.

Fr. Martin Shannon pulls back the veil between heaven and earth with Biblical stories, meditations and sacred art on the role of heavenly messengers and their work in our lives. Angels are servants of love, doing God's bidding with a theology of burning love. God seeks out his servants, and once he has our attention, he draws us closer, long enough for the sparks of his glory to reach us and ignite a flame in our own souls. This is the work of angels.