Long before the New Testament was a document, it was a sacrament. Jesus called the Eucharist by the name Christians subsequently gave to the latter books of the Holy Bible. It was the "New Covenant," the "New Testament," in his blood. Christians later extended the phrase to cover the books produced by the apostles and their companions; but they did so because these were the books that could be read at Mass.
Captured by a Russian army during World War II and convicted of being a “Vatican spy,” Jesuit Father Walter J. Ciszek spent twenty-three agonizing years in Soviet prisons and the labor camps of Siberia. Only through an utter reliance on God’s will did he manage to endure the extreme hardship. He tells of the courage he found in prayer—a courage that eased the loneliness, the pain, the frustration, the anguish, the fears, the despair. For, as Ciszek relates, the solace of spiritual contemplation gave him an inner serenity upon which he was able to draw amidst the “arrogance of evil” that surrounded him. Ciszek learns to accept the inhuman work in the infamous Siberian salt mines as a labor pleasing to God. And through that experience, he was able to turn the adverse forces of circumstance into a source of positive value and a means of drawing closer to the compassionate and never-forsaking Divine Spirit.
In this spiritual powerhouse of a book, Eric Sammons organizes the wisdom of St. Josemaria Escriva into an action plan for living out holiness in your everyday life. The goal: to foster God's grace within you so that you can be transformed into the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ.
In these pages, you'll discover details about his mystical experiences as well as the nitty-gritty of his daily living. What's more, you'll find out how to implement a plan based on his everyday spirituality. Specifically, you will learn:
How to be a contemplative in a noisy world
How to offer your work to God and make the secular sacred
How to be a faithful apostle, not an activist
How to use suffering to draw closer to Christ
How to incorporate spiritual disciplines into your prayer life
How to identify and overcome your chief vices and replace them with virtues
The statistics are troubling: 6.5 people leave the Catholic Church for every one that joins, and 50% of young people who were raised Catholic are no longer Catholic today. The Catholic Church is hemorrhaging young people.
Behind these statistics are countless stories of wounded families. Millions of mothers and fathers are longing for their prodigal children to come home to the Church, crying: “Where did we go wrong?”
The passive wait-and-see approach is no longer an option. We need a different strategy. We need to understand the real reasons why our young people drift away, and we need a game plan to bring them home. We need Return.
For over 1,500 years, The Rule of St. Benedict has shaped Christian monasticism, offering a profound blueprint for a life of prayer, work, and community. More than just a manual for monks, Benedict’s wisdom speaks to anyone seeking a deeper, more disciplined spiritual life.
In this Modern Saints translation, we bring St. Benedict’s words into the 21st century with language that is clear, inviting, and deeply faithful to the original. Whether you’re exploring monastic spirituality for the first time or returning to a beloved classic, this edition makes Benedict’s wisdom more compelling and applicable than ever.
In the seventeen years between her death in 1897 and the outbreak of World War I, the fame of Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face had spread widely, especially in France and its colonies: her autobiography The Story of a Soul was hugely popular, and soldiers carried around holy cards, medals, and relics. This remarkable collection of letters from (mostly French) soldiers fighting in the Great War and enduring its abysmal horrors are astonishing and moving testimonies of how Thérèse appeared to them or spoke to them when invoked—how she miraculously protected them from “showers of iron and fire,” delivered them from precipitous danger, healed them when doctors despaired, and encouraged them in the trials of battle. After all, this Carmelite—who once dressed in armor as St Joan of Arc for a convent recreational play—tells us: “Sanctity! It must be won at the point of a sword!,” and, during her final illness, “I will die with my weapons in my hands!”
Though he speaks no words in Scripture, St. Joseph's message to us is resounding: he wants to lead us to Jesus. In Through the Heart of St. Joseph, Fr. Boniface Hicks reveals the path St. Joseph has laid.
Discover how St. Joseph's vulnerability, littleness, silence, and hiddenness can transform and heal us. Fr. Hicks also looks to the saints who lived the "Joseph Option" to show how we too can embrace a life of humble trust and steadfast courage.
Through the Heart of St. Joseph proves with quiet conviction that if we entrust ourselves to the foster father of Our Lord, he will give us his love and protection―just as he gave it to Jesus.
These selections from the sermons and writings of Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador share the message of a holy prophet of modern times. Three short years transformed Archbishop Oscar Romero from a conservative defender of the status quo into one of the church's most outspoken voices of the oppressed. Though silenced by an assassin's bullet, his spirit--and the challenge of his life--lives on. He was beatified by Pope Francis in 2015.
Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist shines fresh light on the Last Supper by looking at it through Jewish eyes. Using his in-depth knowledge of the Bible and ancient Judaism, Dr. Brant Pitre answers questions such as: What was the Passover like at the time of Jesus? What were the Jewish hopes for the Messiah? What was Jesus’ purpose in instituting the Eucharist during the feast of Passover? And, most important of all, what did Jesus mean when he said, “This is my body… This is my blood”?
To answer these questions, Pitre explores ancient Jewish beliefs about the Passover of the Messiah, the miraculous Manna from heaven, and the mysterious Bread of the Presence. As he shows, these three keys—the Passover, the Manna, and the Bread of the Presence—have the power to unlock the original meaning of the Eucharistic words of Jesus. Along the way, Pitre also explains how Jesus united the Last Supper to his death on Good Friday and his Resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Ask any married couple about the challenges of sharing life together and you'll hear a litany of interpersonal issues. Communication, wounds, and hardships can weigh heavily on husbands and wives. Today, add the external pressures from living in a hostile, anti-Christian, anti-family culture. Without a firm foundation, couples can collapse under these difficulties.
The good news is that through the Sacrament of Marriage God gives husbands and wives all the grace they need to overcome even the insurmountable. Drawing from the wisdom gained from their own thirty-five years of marriage, Peter and Debra Herbeck guide couples in strengthening their bond of marriage through the limitless grace offered to all by Christ.
In Lessons from the School of Love: Cultivating a Christ-Centered Marriage, fortify your marriage with encouragement and scriptural wisdom as you learn how to approach your spouse with the love and respect that will transform their heart—and your own!