Many people who visit communities for retreats and quiet days look for help in integrating into their daily lives some of the things they see and experience. This handbook will help people follow the Rule of Benedict as it explains the essential elements of Benedictine spirituality. It provides information on the spread of the Benedictine movement, its outstanding figures, and the main branches of the Benedictine family today. It also includes a simple version of the Daily Office and a collection of Benedictine devotions. It is a member's handbook" that deepens the sense of belonging among those who seek regular contact with a Benedictine community.The Benedictine Handbook will appeal to a broad range of readers who may or may not be familiar with Benedictine literature. The contributors to The Benedictine Handbook come from Benedictine backgrounds in the United States and Europe.Chapters and contributors include in Part One: Tools of Benedictine Spirituality *The Work of God, - by Demetrius Dumm; *Lectio Divina, - by Michal Casey; *Prayer, - by Mary Forman; *Work, - by Lauren McTaggart; *Perseverance, - by Kym Harris; *The Vows, - by Richard Yeo; and *Hospitality, - by Kathleen Norris. Part Two: The Benedictine Experience of God includes *A Simple Daily Office, - by Fr. Oswald; *Benedictine Prayers, - by Fr. Anthony; *A Benedictine Who's Who, - by Robert Atwell; and *Benedictine Holy Places, - by ColmanO'Clabaigh. Part Three: Living the Rule includes *In Community, - by Columba Stewart; *In Solitude, - by Maria Boulding; *As Oblates, - by Patrick Phelan; and *In the World, - by Esther de Wall. Part Four: The Benedictine Family includes *A Short History, - by Joe Rippinger; *Benedictine Orders, - by Dominic Milroy; and *The Cistercian Tradition, - by Nivard Kinsella. The contributors to Part Five: A Glossary of Benedictine Terms are Terrence Kardong and Jill Maria Murdy. A Benedictine Handbook also includes *Preface to the Rule, - by Patrick Barry; and *The Rule (Patrick Barry's Version). -"

    But this conventional narrative is not the full story.In Church of Spies, the intelligence expert Mark Riebling draws on a wealth of recently uncovered documents to argue that, far from being Hitler’s lackey, Pius was an active anti-Nazi spymaster. He directed a vast network of Vatican operatives—priests and laypeople alike—who partnered with the German resistance, tipped the Allies off to Hitler’s invasions of France and Russia, and involved themselves in three separate plots to assassinate Hitler.A fast-paced and gripping tale of secrecy, danger, and self-sacrifice, Church of Spies takes readers from hidden crypts beneath the Vatican to Nazi bunkers in Germany to chart the true legacy of Pius’s secret war. Although these revelations do not excuse Pius’s public silence during the war, they provide us with a deeper understanding of the man reviled by so many.

    The problem is that no one agrees on what has gone wrong or what to do about it. Some think we have too much government, some not enough; some think we have too much capitalism, some not enough; some think we have too much sexual freedom, some not enough.But what if the problem is much more fundamental? What if the problem goes to the very foundations of who we are as human beings in relationship with God?In The First Society: The Sacrament of Matrimony and the Restoration of the Social Order, Scott Hahn makes the startling claim that our society’s ills and its cures are rooted in whether we reject or accept the divine graces made available through the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.Man, he argues, is social in his very nature. We were created for community. As it was in the beginning, so it remains today. The family, formed through the Sacrament of Matrimony, is the most basic building block of every society—whether we like it or not. We’ve corrupted marriage, and so we have a corrupt society. If we get marriage right, our society, through God’s grace, will flourish.This is so because Matrimony, like all the sacraments, heals and elevates human nature. Without marriage, our ambitions toward a just social order will remain forever foolhardy. With it, the seemingly impossible, a truly peaceful and humane civilization, becomes possible.

    This is false. America is indisputably a nation, and one that desperately needs to protect its interests, its borders, and its identity. The Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump swept nationalism to the forefront of the political debate. This is a good thing. Nationalism is usually assumed to be a dirty word, but it is a foundation of democratic self-government and of international peace.National Review editor Rich Lowry refutes critics on left and the right, reclaiming the term “nationalism” from those who equate it with racism, militarism and fascism. He explains how nationalism is an American tradition, a thread that runs through such diverse leaders as Alexander Hamilton, Teddy Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Ronald Reagan.In The Case for Nationalism, Lowry explains how nationalism was central to the American Project. It fueled the American Revolution and the ratification of the Constitution. It preserved the country during the Civil War. It led to the expansion of the American nation’s territory and power, and eventually to our invaluable contribution to creating an international system of self-governing nations.It’s time to recover a healthy American nationalism, and especially a cultural nationalism that insists on the assimilation of immigrants and that protects our history, civic rituals and traditions, which are under constant threat. At a time in which our nation is plagued by self-doubt and self-criticism, The Case for Nationalism offers a path for America to regain its national self-confidence and achieve continued greatness.

    This essay is an attempt to contribute effective strategies to engage our own time and culture once more with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and – for a weary world – to awaken the Catholic imaginative vision.

    He looks outside the traditional corridors of power to find solutions. Foreword by Garry Wills; Preface by Cornel West.

    Millions have adopted Facebook, YouTube, blogs, and Twitter. What does this mean for the Church? How can Christians harness these new tools to reach out, teach, cultivate community, and change the world?Following Pope Benedict's call to evangelize the "digital continent," The Church and New Media explores the power and risks of New Media, while guiding Christians through this new environment.Foreword by Cardinal Se

    His jackets were tailored to hold his machete. His drug deals earned him thousands of pounds. Penthouse apartment, luxury cars, designer clothes and women. John Pridmore had everything he wanted. Until one night outside a London club he nearly killed a man.

    Louis de Montfort's Act of Total Consecration give a beautiful expression to the fundamental thrust of his spirituality: Christianity that is fully alive is nothing less than a radical act of total self-surrender and self-gift to the Lord Jesus Christ who, in his redemptive Incarnation, has first given himself totally over to us, and for us.Recognizing that the Lord has first consecrated, completely given, himself to us, Fr. de Montfort rightly recognizes that one truly receives this gift in its fullness only by fully giving, that is consecrating, himself to its saving power. The great Apostle of Our Lady proposed on his masterwork, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, an outline of a process by means of which one might prepare himself to make just such a total self-gift to Jesus through Mary.This book, which has been prepared by the Company of Mary, the religious community founded by Fr. de Montfort himself, is both an introduction to his spirituality of total consecration and a guide for those who would prepare themselves to make his Act of Total Consecration to Jesus Christ through Mary. It is also the fruit of this same Act of Total Consecration lived out in years of missionary service of Our Lord and Our Lady in the Roman Catholic Church which we joyfully make available to the people of God.

    Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal. As they did for so many others, these master spiritual directors can guide you gently and lovingly to Jesus, so that he can reign in your own heart. On a host of subjects—whether it be how to trust in God, accept your imperfections, deal with temptations, or serve others with love—these saints provide timeless, inspirational advice.

    

    Jerry Kroth's 50th anniversary edition presents the single, most plausible theory of the assassination. It is based on the admissions of grassy knoll gunman, James Files, the deathbed confession of CIA spymaster, E. Howard Hunt, and the most recent scholarship to appear in the last decade. Based also in part on his earlier work, Conspiracy in Camelot, Dr. Kroth proposes that Lyndon Johnson, the CIA, and Mafia, acting in concert, carried one of the greatest crimes in American history. Published by Genotype, Coup d'etat (2013) is a concise, well-documented expose of a brazen overthrow of the United States government by force of arms on November 22, 1963. Reviews (from the publisher)Coup d’etat is the definitive book on the Kennedy assassination! It should be required reading in every American high school.—Marvin Forrest, Ph.D.,Psychotherapist, Santa BarbaraDr. Kroth cuts to the heart of the matter laying out a hard to dispute argument for what actually happened that distant half century ago when everything changed for all of us. At a time when apologists have seemed to dominate the trend in regarding Kennedy assassination publishing, it is important to swing the pendulum back toward the rational conclusion that something was deliberately taken from us, the course of our future was compromised, and it was those we most trusted, not a crazed outlier, who engineered it all. This is a very important book and a must read for those of us who care.—Steve Stelle, author of On shaky ground. Coup d'etat, is a must-read for those of us who were of voting age during those turbulent times at the end of Camelot and who recall the strange goings on of the Warren Commission Hearings.  There were so many loose ends that have never been woven into a concise and believable explanation until now.—David Hall, author of The Rose

    

    Many people simply do not understand what it is, how to avoid it, and what can be done to help the holy souls there. For most Catholics, it's been years since their catechism training and they simply forgot what was taught. Purgatory 101 will bring back the knowledge that you forgot. It will show what Purgatory is and how you can help yourself and the holy souls. Armed with knowledge, you can make a positive difference for the suffering saints in Purgatory.

    In Saint Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 5, Jesus puts the solution in front of us when he says, “When you fast.” He doesn’t say “If you fast,” but “When you fast.” As Christians, we’re supposed to imitate Jesus. Jesus fasted before every major event in His life. Jesus also tells us that “nothing is impossible for us.” Fasting was so important that Jesus taught it to His disciples to be used as a special deterrent against evil. These are the same evils that plague our world today: the attack on life, the attack on the family, the attack on our religious freedoms, and the attack on Christianity as a whole. It’s especially important to recognize that our actions and our participation can change all of this evil. This is why we are being told by Jesus that “nothing is impossible for us.” In this short booklet, you’ll learn how fasting is a spiritual weapon. You’ll also learn the basics of fasting, what saints, prophets and popes have had to say about fasting, and testimonials of people whose lives have been changed through fasting. Reviews: “The power of fasting with prayer is biblical (Matthew 17:20 from the St. Joseph Bible, New Edition). Jesus said that there are certain demons that cannot be cast out but through prayer and fasting. The two are a powerful team and Andy LaVallee, through his book, provides us with means to accomplish this goal.” Jim and Kerri Caviezel "When You Fast isn’t just one of the best and most thorough books on fasting. In a word, it’s inspiring. Author Andrew LaVallee shares both the physical and spiritual benefits of fasting, from calming our own anxieties to bringing peace to our troubled world. From healing family rifts to opening another’s heart, mind, and soul to the idea of conversion. When You Fast can be a key—can be your key—to a closer relationship with God." Susan Tassone, Author of St. Faustina Prayer Book for the Conversion of Sinners “Andy LaVallee has provided the method, the motive and the means for the spiritual discipline of fasting. His book explains why fasting is important and encourages many to take part in this vital aspect of spiritual warfare in the world today.” Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Pastor, Speaker, Blogger and Author of Mystery of the Magi: the Quest to Identify the Three Wise Men