Maybe you've never heard of it until now and are asking, theology of the what? Maybe you're already familiar with the basics and are ready to incorporate this teaching on sex, love and marriage into your own life. Whatever your level of understanding, you're probably ready for some good news about sex in a culture littered with the bad news of divorce, adultery, sexually transmitted disease, heartache and loneliness. This guide is designed to help you appropriate the Pope's astonishing message: True, lasting love—that which humanity enjoyed in the beginning, before the Fall—is possible here and now. In nine straightforward lessons, Men and Women Are from Eden introduces the reader to the pope's warm, deeply biblical understanding of God's original plan for men and women, a plan that brings with it healing of mind in regard to sexuality and the body.

    People and places are broken all around us.We were made for better than this: We were made to be whole, and wholly human, to tend a world that is wholly humane. We were made in the image of God. This book is a quest to recover that image in ourselves and our neighbors, to help us all become human and humane again.For Christians who lament the brokenness in themselves, their neighbors, and the world around them, Whole offers a rallying cry to pursue wholeness together.

    Christians and non-Christians alike have joined in praising it as a notable successor in the meditative tradition of St. John of the Cross, The Cloud of Unknowing, and the medieval mystics, while others have compared Merton's reflections with those of Thoreau. New Seeds of Contemplation seeks to awaken the dormant inner depths of the spirit so long neglected by Western man, to nurture a deeply contemplative and mystical dimension in our lives. For Merton, "Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them: for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the soil of freedom, spontaneity and love."

    But she was a woman with a will whose strength has been matched by few souls in history. Mother Teresa broke death’s stranglehold on the poor of Calcutta, and she showed us how to conquer the sin and darkness in what she called the “slums of the hearts of modern man.” Part biography and part spiritual reading, these pages bring to light little-known stories from Mother Teresa’s life that will help you to grow in your love of God. You will learn her approach to reading Scripture, what enabled her to persevere through agonizing nights, and the remarkable — some would say mystical — events that led her to start the Missionaries of Charity. In considering Mother Teresa, her private visions, and her secret sufferings, David Scott has discovered scores of early episodes and chance encounters that point to later, larger meanings. These remarkable patterns, he suggests, show that Mother Teresa’s life was choreographed from above, as if a divine script had been written for her from before her birth. In these pages, you will meet for the first time the Mother Teresa who challenged the ancient Goddess of Death and became the first saint of our global village. You will read as she describes, in long-secret letters, the dark night of her soul. The woman you will meet is one that God himself sent to you as a clear sign that despite pain and suffering in our lives and in our world, God’s good love will prevail . . . beginning in the slums of our hearts. We are all called to holiness, and the saints are sent to us as “real life” examples of God’s love. With Mother Teresa as your guide, you’ll learn how to follow God’s call and find holiness in a world marked by the shadow of death and growing indifference to God. Indeed, you’ll learn how to be an everyday missionary of Christ’s love in the ordinary activities of your daily life.

    A book that has and continues to move hearts.

    In this easy to read booklet, you'll find 37 one-minute teachings on how to explain and defend Catholic teaching.

    Mitch Pacwa, SJ, tackles these and other questions in this comprehensive book on discernment. He says that first we need to believe in God and his moral laws and make a commitment to please him in all that we do. Then we need to pray so that we can experience the peace that can come only from God. Fr. Pacwa draws from St. Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises, using plenty of everyday examples as well as stories from Scripture to help clarify his points. He encourages readers to develop a rich prayer life and says we can learn to listen to God's powerful voice and hear him speaking lovingly to us even when we are suffering in some way.Confronts modern-day assumptions that can prevent us from being open to God's will for our lives.Emphasizes the many ways we can develop our prayer life to nourish an authentic relationship with the Lord.

    Beautiful, bold commissioned woodcuts by Annika Nelson and her mother Gertrud Mueller Nelson help us meditate on the passion and death of Christ and to see how Christ is among us—often in unexpected places. Also available in Spanish, the booklet is ideal for personal or parish-wide use during the Lenten observance of the Stations of the Cross.

    It describes the basic requirements for receiving the Word of God effectively in our hearts: namely, that we "become wet clay in God's hands", so that God can impress upon us any form he chooses. It also contemplates the vital position of the Mother of the Lord in the life of his disciples. The author shows that the call to discipleship is above all an invitation to intimate companionship with Jesus, as we read in Mark: "Jesus called to him those whom he desired… in order that they might be with him" (3:14-15). What we normally call the "active apostolate" can never be an end in itself, but only the fruits of a life of prayer and adoration. These are what must be at the heart of a disciple's life, which can never be swept up by mere activism.

    . . which is precisely what we are called to do in Lent!

    We bury ourselves in pursuits big and small, afraid to face the shame, unworthiness or loneliness echoing in the silence of a question unasked.Yet something in us needs to know. We long to feel that we are unconditionally, extravagantly, irresistibly loved. This book is your invitation to experience that lavish love finally and fully. In these pages you will begin a journey of discovering the good news Jesus revealed: that the Father loves you. You will uncover the lies that have kept you from Him and from His mercy. And you will sense the incredible joy of the strength, acceptance and love flowing from His heart into yours. You are loved. You are accepted. You are home. "A powerful invitation to know God as our Father, to experience His fatherly love and to witness that love to others in our everyday lives."--Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., archbishop of Philadelphia"A wonderful, enlightening and moving book."--Randy Clark, D.Min., founder and president, Global Awakening and the Apostolic Network of Global Awakening "For those who feel empty, lonely or thirsty. . . . it would be impossible to read this book and not fall more deeply in love with God."--Mary Healy, associate professor of sacred Scripture, Sacred Heart Major Seminary"This is a beautiful and hope-filled book."--from the foreword by John Eldredge, president, Ransomed Heart; bestselling author

    Becca Stevens, founder and president of Thistle Farms, shares true stories of healing and joy where brokenness is transformed into compassion. In each chapter, Stevens provides encouragement and practical steps for anyone going through a difficult season or searching for a deeper faith. Love Heals is:A gorgeous gift book with beautiful photography and inspirational calloutsFor women of any age seeking healing and hopeA gift of hope for a friend or self-purchaseAfter reading, readers will learn:Love heals by the mercy of God.Love heals with compassion.Love heals during the act of forgiving.Love heals past our fears.Love heals across the world.In Love Heals, you'll find principles that have transformed lives. Stevens has been featured in the New York Times, on ABC World News, NPR, the TODAY show, and PBS, and named a 2016 CNN Hero. In 2011, the White House named Becca a "Champion of Change."

    Says, \"Impregnate yourself with humility, and you will soon find that all other virtues will follow without any effort on your part.\" A treasure; filled with insights. Buy copies with confidence for all your friends!

     Pope Francis, beloved for his down-to-earth understanding of pastoral life, recommends that this Holy Year become a time for each person to grow rich in "living out in our daily lives the mercy" which God "constantly extends to all of us." Always the pastor of souls, he reminds us that mercy makes demands of us and offers suggestions so that everyone, lay and ordained, may give concrete expression to mercy in words and deeds. In this way we may all become "merciful like the Father," the motto of this extraordinary Holy Year. To deepen our understanding of mercy, the document develops three main themes. First, the theological understanding of mercy is accessibly explained, along with its foundational role in the lives of individuals and in the pastoral ministry of the Church. Secondly, practical suggestions for living out the Holy Year are offered, ranging from making a pilgrimage to refraining from judgment and gossip. Lastly, specific appeals for conversion and the acceptance of God's mercy are made to those involved in corruption on various levels. The Catholic Church's tradition of Holy Years dates back 700 years. Until now, the Church has celebrated 25 jubilees, but only two "extraordinary" jubilees. Pope Francis, with The Face of Mercy, has now proclaimed the third extraordinary jubilee, which will come to a close on November 20, 2016, the Solemnity of Christ the King.

    Why wouldn't she be? She made good money as a programmer at a hot tech start-up, had just married a guy with a stack of Ivy League degrees, and lived in a twenty-first-floor condo where she could sip sauvignon blanc while watching the sun set behind the hills of Austin. Raised in a happy, atheist home, Jennifer had the freedom to think for herself and play by her own rules. Yet a creeping darkness followed her all of her life. Finally, one winter night, it drove her to the edge of her balcony, making her ask once and for all why anything mattered. At that moment everything she knew and believed was shattered. Asking the unflinching questions about life and death, good and evil, led Jennifer to Christianity, the religion she had reviled since she was an awkward, sceptical child growing up in the Bible Belt. Mortified by this turn of events, she hid her quest from everyone except her husband, concealing religious books in opaque bags as if they were porn and locking herself in public bathroom stalls to read the Bible. Just when Jennifer had a profound epiphany that gave her the courage to convert, she was diagnosed with a life-threatening medical condition--and the only treatment was directly at odds with the doctrines of her new-found faith. Something Other Than God is a poignant, profound and often funny tale of one woman who set out to find the meaning of life and discovered that true happiness sometimes requires losing it all.