Download or read book How to Read and Write Like a Catholic written by Joshua Hren and published by . This book was released on 2021-05-04 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Love Letter to the Christic Imagination

Download or read book Hungry Souls written by Gerard J. M. van den Aardweg and published by TAN Books. This book was released on 2009-11 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After a week of hearing ghostly noises, a man is visited in his home by the spirit of his mother, dead for three decades. She reproaches him for his dissolute life and begs him to have Masses said in her name. Then she lays her hand on his sleeve, leaving an indelible burn mark, and departs... A Lutheran minister, no believer in Purgatory, is the puzzled recipient of repeated visitations from "demons" who come to him seeking prayer, consolation, and refuge in his little German church. But pity for the poor spirits overcomes the man's skepticism, and he marvels at what kind of departed souls could belong to Christ and yet suffer still... Hungry Souls recounts these stories and many others trustworthy, Church-verified accounts of earthly visitations from the dead in Purgatory. Accompanying these accounts are images from the "Museum of Purgatory" in Rome, which contains relics of encounters with the Holy Souls, including numerous evidences of hand prints burned into clothing and books; burn marks that cannot be explained by natural means or duplicated by artificial ones. Riveting!

Download or read book Help Thanks Wow written by Anne Lamott and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-11-13 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times bestseller from the author of Dusk, Night Dawn, Hallelujah Anyway, Bird by Bird, and Almost Everything. Author Anne Lamott writes about the three simple prayers essential to coming through tough times, difficult days and the hardships of daily life. Readers of all ages have followed and cherished Anne Lamott’s funny and perceptive writing about her own faith through decades of trial and error. And in her new book, Help, Thanks, Wow, she has coalesced everything she knows about prayer to these fundamentals. It is these three prayers – asking for assistance from a higher power, appreciating what we have that is good, and feeling awe at the world around us – that can get us through the day and can show us the way forward. In Help, Thanks, Wow, Lamott recounts how she came to these insights, explains what they mean to her and how they have helped, and explores how others have embraced these same ideas. Insightful and honest as only Anne Lamott can be, Help, Thanks, Wow is the everyday faith book that new Lamott readers will love and longtime Lamott fans will treasure.

Download or read book Talking with Catholics about the Gospel written by Christopher A. Castaldo and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2015-03-31 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Talking with Catholics about Jesus, author Chris Castaldo provides an easy-to-follow introduction to basic Catholic belief and practice, equipping evangelical Protestants for more fruitful spiritual conversations. Written in accessible, non-technical language, this short book offers readers: A more informed awareness of Catholicism Encouragement to move from a combative posture to a gracious one Clarification of erroneous caricatures of Catholics in favor of a more constructive understanding Based in part on Castaldo's experience as a Catholic and time spent working professionally in the Catholic Church, Talking with Catholics about Jesus gives readers a framework for recognizing where lines of similarity and difference fall between Catholics and evangelical Protestants, along with handy tips for engaging in spiritual discussions. Readers will gain encouragement and practical insights for gracious and worthwhile discussions of faith with Catholic believers.

Download or read book Contemplative Realism written by Joshua Hren and published by Benedict XVI Institute. This book was released on 2022-01-02 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As ever, but especially in our present age of raging post-truth unreality, we ought to heed Pope Benedict XVI's summons to "ask rather more carefully what 'the real' actually is." So-called "realism," when relegated to material tangibilities, can blind us-instead of binding us-to things as they are. "Are we not interested in the cosmos anymore?" Benedict asks. "Are we today really hopelessly huddled in our own little circle? Is it not important, precisely today, to pray with the whole of creation?" If this preeminent mind of our time is not wrong, and "the man who puts to one side the reality of God is a realist only in appearance," then we ought to ask with unflinching intensity and openness: what is real? Like liturgy, literature asks this question with a range of forms that answer it very differently. At times, both art and worship seem to devolve into the manners and mood of self-referential and inconsequential play, gestures without meaning, or "bank notes" (says Benedict) "without funds to cover them." These too-closed circles of communication wall off transcendence. In living cruciform liturgy-on the contrary-"the congregation does not offer its own thoughts or poetry but is taken out of itself and given the privilege of sharing in the cosmic song of praise of the cherubim and seraphim." In living contemplative literature something analogous happens: we suffer and praise with the whole of creation; the prose cultivates a grateful disposition, prompting us to yearn for a vision of the whole. But this manifesto on behalf of a "contemplative realism" makes no claims to create, ex nihilo, a new aesthetical species. Nor does it advance this rough school of literary fish as some preeminent or sole "way forward" for fiction in our time. Rather, it seeks to articulate a literary approach that exists already in diffuse books as well as in the potencies of living artists. It seeks to gather and galvanize those souls. More than anything, it yearns to quicken a contemplative realist disposition among as many comers as possible-literary chops or no. For, in a very bad way (to borrow from Josef Pieper), "man's ability to see is in decline."

Download or read book Kissing Fish written by Roger Wolsey and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2011-01-10 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christianity receives a lot of attention in the media, but the most frequently discussed version represents a type of Christianity that sometimes turns people away from the Church. Kissing Fish presents a postmodern systematic theology of progressive Christianity, a growing movement that reclaims the radical message of the Gospel. This informative, contemplative, and entertaining book will guide you through the beliefs that inspire us to love one another in the transformative way that Jesus proclaimed, including practices that will take your faith to a new level. Kissing Fish is a scholarly yet thoroughly accessible introduction to progressive Christianity. While the intended target audience for this work would seem to be those who have either left the Christian faith or never adopted it at all; the work is filled with pearls of wisdom for all of us, whether associated with Christianity or not. Kissing Fish is a truly remarkable work, serving both as a reminder of the beauty and grace that form the central tenets of the faith, while offering a graceful yet prophetic rebuttal to its more exclusionary tendencies. Kissing Fish is part theological text and part tell-all personal spiritual journey. Imagine a down-to-earth combination of the works of Marcus Borg, Anne Lamott, Jim Wallis, Rob Bell, Shane Claiborne, Diana Butler-Bass, Brian McLaren, Walter Wink, Wes Howard-Brook, and Donald Miller. A profound romp that informs and inspires.

Download or read book A Little Way of Homeschooling written by Suzie Andres and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Andres and 12 other Catholic homeschoolers describe how they implement an "unschooling" style of teaching in their homes. Drawing from St. Therese, St. John Bosco, John Holt, and ancient philosophers, the families paint a picture of authentic education without the constraints and pitfalls of typical modern education.

Download or read book Hard Sayings written by Trent Horn and published by Catholic Answers Press. This book was released on 2016-05-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Have you ever read something in the Bible and just scratched your head, or been challenged by a skeptic to explain a seemingly scandalous verse? Trent Horn can help. In Hard Sayings, Trent looks at dozens of the most confounding passages in Scripture and offers clear, reasonable, and Catholic keys to unlocking their true meaning.

Download or read book Filling Our Father s House written by Shaun McAfee and published by Sophia Institute Press. This book was released on 2015-04-06 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Converts often bring to the Catholic Church an evangelical zeal that can renew and energize even the most tired and battle weary among us. The Church is hurting for enthusiastic voices to proclaim her teachings on truth and morals. In these pages, Shaun McAfee, a convert from Evangelical Protestantism shows how we can take the best tools of evangelization and use them to reach countless souls with the fullness of the Christian Faith. With Shaun's help, you'll learn simple ways you can make the visitor in your parish more at home, how to speak compellingly about the Faith, simple ways to integrate daily Scripture reading into your life, why small groups are important for spiritual enrichment, and how to communicate with souls who have never considered joining the Catholic Church. The simple steps Shaun outlines in these pages will also show priests and lay leaders how to more effectively engage modern society with our Catholic Faith. Our society is awash in secularism. It's eating away at the sense of God, and the emptying of the pews in our own parishes is its natural effects. What we need is a renewal of enthusiasm for the battle against secularism and this book is a beginner's guide to getting us back on track.

Download or read book You Can Understand the Bible written by Peter Kreeft and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2009-09-03 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many people are often understandably intimidated or overwhelmed by the sheer size and complexity of the Bible. But now popular author and Boston University professor Peter Kreeft has written a clear road map of the Bible, focusing his keen insight and engaging wit on the core message of each book. It won't take long for you to understand why his guide to scripture has become a best-seller! Sparkling with intelligence and Kreeft's trademark humor, You Can Understand the Bible will transform dry study into spiritually satisfying adventures in God's Word. Regardless of how you approached- or didn't approach- the Bible before, you'll come away with a new appreciation of its depth and meaning. Kreeft also provides practical guidance for praying the scriptures every day, allowing the reader to delve into the messages of scripture in a manner that will surprise, delight, and reward.

Download or read book Gay and Catholic written by Eve Tushnet and published by Ave Maria Press. This book was released on 2014-10-20 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of a 2015 Catholic Press Award: Gender Issues Category (First Place). In this first book from an openly lesbian and celibate Catholic, widely published writer and blogger Eve Tushnet recounts her spiritual and intellectual journey from liberal atheism to faithful Catholicism and shows how gay Catholics can love and be loved while adhering to Church teaching. Eve Tushnet was among the unlikeliest of converts. The only child of two atheist academics, Tushnet was a typical Yale undergraduate until the day she went out to poke fun at a gathering of philosophical debaters, who happened also to be Catholic. Instead of enjoying mocking what she termed the “zoo animals,” she found herself engaged in intellectual conversation with them and, in a move that surprised even her, she soon converted to Catholicism. Already self-identifying as a lesbian, Tushnet searched for a third way in the seeming two-option system available to gay Catholics: reject Church teaching on homosexuality or reject the truth of your sexuality. Gay and Catholic: Accepting My Sexuality, Finding Community, Living My Faith is the fruit of Tushnet’s searching: what she learned in studying Christian history and theology and her articulation of how gay Catholics can pour their love and need for connection into friendships, community, service, and artistic creation.

Download or read book Everyday Meditations written by St. John Henry Newman and published by Sophia Institute Press. This book was released on 2013-06-15 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the years, the brilliant and often voluminous scholarly writings of Bl. John Henry Newman (1801-1890), have drawn into the Church thousands more converts after him. In this more modest work, his Everyday Meditations, we encounter not Newman the intellectual but Newman the simple Christian, on his knees face-to-face with God. Confident that the Church teaches us rightly but knowing as well that each of us must walk closely with God — hearing His voice not only through the Church but in the depths of our own hearts — Newman here shows us how to look to Jesus and declare: I need you to teach me day by day, according to each day's opportunities and needs. Teach me . . . to sit at your feet and to hear your word. Give me that true wisdom which seeks your will by prayer and meditation. . . . Give me the discernment to know your voice from the voice of strangers, to rest upon it, and to seek it in the first place. This was Newman's greatest desire. It awakened in him ceaseless prayer, countless good works, a profound love of the sacraments, and the habit of daily meditation which strengthened his will, deepened his understanding, and enkindled in him an ever greater love of God. For those qualities, Pope Francis will canonize Newman on October 13, 2019. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that ongoing growth in sanctity is "an uninterrupted task for the whole Church." If in recent times yours has been interrupted (or merely slowed down), let it begin anew with this modest book. To help you discern God's voice daily, rest in it, and respond to it according to each day's opportunities and needs, we have here gathered fifty of Newman's most moving Christian meditations, each guaranteed to enkindle in your soul the very same kind of love they enkindled in his. As they nurtured Newman's daily acts of conversion and finally made him worthy of the title "Saint," so will they call you to daily acts of conversion and finally lead you, as they led Newman, "to bow down in awe before the depths of God's love."

Download or read book Catholicism written by Robert Barron and published by Image. This book was released on 2011-09-06 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Catholicism takes a path less traveled in leading us to explore the faith through stories, biographies, and images.”—Timothy M. Dolan, Archbishop of New York What is Catholicism? A 2,000-year-old living tradition? A worldview? A way of life? A relationship? A mystery? In Catholicism Father Robert Barron examines all these questions and more, seeking to capture the body, heart and mind of the Catholic faith. Starting from the essential foundation of Jesus Christ’s incarnation, life, and teaching, Father Barron moves through the defining elements of Catholicism--from sacraments, worship, and prayer, to Mary, the Apostles, and Saints, to grace, salvation, heaven, and hell. Whether discussing Scripture or the rose window at Notre Dame, he uses his distinct and dynamic grasp of art, literature, architecture, personal stories, theology, philosophy, and history to present the Church to the world. Paired with his documentary film series of the same title, Catholicism is an intimate journey, capturing “The Catholic Thing” in all its depth and beauty. Eclectic, unique, and inspiring, Father Barron brings the faith to life for a new generation, in a style that is both faithful to timeless truths, while simultaneously speaking in the language of contemporary life.

Download or read book Longing for an Absent God written by Nick Ripatrazone and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2020-03-03 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Longing for an Absent God unveils the powerful role of faith and doubt in the American literary tradition. Nick Ripatrazone explores how two major strands of Catholic writers--practicing and cultural--intertwine and sustain each other. Ripatrazone explores the writings of devout American Catholic writers in the years before the Second Vatican Council through the work of Flannery O'Connor, J. F. Powers, and Walker Percy; those who were raised Catholic but drifted from the church, such as the Catholic-educated Don DeLillo and Cormac McCarthy, the convert Toni Morrison, the Mass-going Thomas Pynchon, and the ritual-driven Louise Erdrich; and a new crop of faithful American Catholic writers, including Ron Hansen, Phil Klay, and Alice McDermott, who write Catholic stories for our contemporary world. These critically acclaimed and award-winning voices illustrate that Catholic storytelling is innately powerful and appealing to both secular and religious audiences. Longing for an Absent God demonstrates the profound differences in the storytelling styles and results of these two groups of major writers--but ultimately shows how, taken together, they offer a rich and unique American literary tradition that spans the full spectrum of doubt and faith.

Download or read book Catholic Teaching on Homosexuality written by Louis J. Cameli and published by Ave Maria Press. This book was released on 2012-07-31 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Catholic Teaching on Homosexuality: New Paths to Understanding, Rev. Louis Cameli, nationally renowned pastoral leader and priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, presents the Catholic Church’s teaching on homosexuality with insight, new possibilities for spiritual care, and a vision for greater hospitality within the Church. Is the sexuality of homosexually inclined persons a blessing or a curse? Does it lead a person to God or away from God? Can a homosexual person be a good Catholic? With humility and pastoral sensitivity, Cameli offers hope to the many who feel alienated from the Church because of these questions. Taking his cue from Pope Benedict’s call to “express the teaching pastorally, theologically, and intellectually in the context of today’s studies of sexuality and anthropology,” he provides a deeper understanding of the Church’s theological language and stresses that while the Church is a teacher, it must also be a learner.

Download or read book How to Become a Heroic Catholic written by Catherine Stewart and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-10-15 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finally. Catholic apologetics written for teenagers, by a teenager! Too often my fellow Catholic teenagers and young adults struggle to explain to others why Catholicism is true. They're taught what Catholics believe, but rarely are they taught why we believe what we believe. This leaves a void, discouraging young Catholics from being bold and confident in discussing their faith with their peers, friends, and family. I take examples from the Bible and the Catechism to provide answers to some of the most questioned Catholic beliefs. I start simple with questions like "Why the Bible?" before I get into the more complex and controversial theological issues. I've taken what I know and brought it to a level that is easy, understandable, and simple for teenagers and young adults to grasp. I use quotes from the Early Church Fathers, like Sts. Athanasius, Ambrose, Ignatius, and Augustine, to reveal how Catholicism is truly the same now as it was in its first years. Once you know they "why", I teach you how to use this information. You'll know what to say, when to say it, and how to become a Heroic Catholic.

Download or read book Through the Year with Mary Ponder and Pray Together with Children written by Katherine Bogner and published by Emmaus Road Publishing. This book was released on 2022-01-10 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For two-thousand years, Christians around the world have sought the Blessed Virgin Mary as a guide to growing closer to her Son, Jesus. Through Scripture, Catholic teaching, devotions, and countless works of art, we come to see Mary as our Mother, too. Through the Year with Mary by Katherine Bogner brings together the Church’s traditions in one place and provides a year-long plan for coming to know and love the Mother of God through Weekly passages from Scripture, saints, and scholars Reflections to nurture your understanding of Marian teaching and devotion Sacred art from around the world Marian prayers to teach you to grow closer to Jesus through Mary This comprehensive resource will help adults and children alike to entrust themselves to the most loving Mother of Jesus. Through the Year with Mary has received the nihil obstat and imprimatur. Nihil obstat: Msgr. Philip D. Halfacre, V.G. Censor Librorum Imprimatur: Most Rev. Daniel R. Jenky, C.S.C. Bishop of Peoria September 15, 2021