Scripture readings, prayers, psalms, hymnody, and writings from the Church Fathers provide everything needed for daily devotion, all in one place. Other selected resources are included to deepen meditation on God's Word. Lutheran leadership and laity appreciate the organized approach and accessibility of materials as well as the richer, more intentional life of prayer and meditation that comes from it. A bonus ribbon bookmark accompanies each book.

    In Complement, you'll learn how you can too, as they walk you through the keys to building a satisfying and lasting marriage. With funny, real-life stories and key insights from Scripture, the Iveys can help you unite with your spouse, cheer each other on, respond the right way when you fail each other, and serve one another well—even in conflict or tough times! If you want a strong marriage (or simply to be a better better-half!), the Iveys will show you the way in Complement.

    

    With the breathless excitement of a detective novel, a former Protestant fundamentalist discovers that evangelical Protestantism is itself based on shaky modern traditions.

    Discover how you can replace your frustration with joy by taking the pressure of performance and comparison off your children’s shoulders. Based in the belief that every child has God-given greatness within them, Play to Their Strengths shows you how to move with the natural momentum of your kids’ talents and make the shift to a collaborative, strengths-based, and motivational approach to parenting. You’ll see the powerful results of this shift in your children’s shining eyes—and your own. The unique Playbook in the back of the book equips you to put into practice the ideas in each chapter. Answer questions and engage in activities with your spouse and kids to uncover talent and discover greatness. The Playbook makes great advice personal as you apply it to the specific family dynamics in your home.   Now is the perfect time to experience a fresh fascination with your children and uncover the hidden gem inside each of them.

    Beginning with a detailed and practical guide to Christian meditation, there are over 300 units - each consisting of a passage from the Gospels and a four-part commentary based on common themes. All four Gospels are contained and commented on in their entirety. Small enough to be portable, The Better Part is an elegant, sturdy softcover with French folds and a ribbon marker. Truly a book for a lifetime of spiritual enrichment and growth

    From herding distracted children to managing the seemingly endless litany of prayers and devotions, our spiritual life all too often feels frantic and burdensome.This isn't the way it should be. Our prayer life, our family life, and our work life should — and can! — be in harmony. When they are, our family is a powerhouse of grace, and Our Lord transforms our home into a little Eden — a little bit of heaven on earth.With simplicity and holy wisdom, authors David Clayton and Leila Marie Lawler show you how to bring peace to your home by integrating your family into the calm, truly joyful way of Mother Church. Her feasts and seasons, prayers and devotions are gifts that draw us closer to God and unfold before us His marvelous plan of salvation.To help you live the liturgical life of the Church more fully, David and Leila reclaim here an almost lost tradition that families used for centuries to build a beautiful bridge between home and church: the little oratory. Consisting of a modest table and icons, the little oratory is a visible sign of spiritual awareness and devotion. It extends the Eucharistic worship of the Mass into the heart of your home, spiritually nourishing your family and preparing them to transform the world through prayer and charity.Building your own little oratory is simple, and in these pages you'll discover just how easy it is. In fact, you likely have most of the pieces in your home already except, perhaps, the sacred art. That's why we've included here seven full-colored icons that are ready for framing, enabling you to get started right away!By following the wise advice in this book, you'll discover the peace and love that flows from a home that is focused on Christ. You'll also learn . . .--How to use sacred art to strengthen your prayer life.--How to extend Catholic beliefs and devotions into every room of the house.--Why the Liturgy of the Hours is important and how it can make your family holy.--How to pray the Rosary with children and keep the rowdiest of them calm and reverent.--The active role children can and should play in the prayer life of the family.--What to do when only one parent takes the spiritual life seriously.--How to overcome the feeling that you're too busy to pray.--Practical ways to extend the liturgical life into your workplace.--And countless other tips to help you practice your faith in the heart of your home.

    Meditations before Mass is a wise, pastoral, and timeless classic on preparing for Mass-it is an example of twentieth-century theologian Romano Guardini at his very best. Meditations before Mass was written before Vatican II, but its relevance has endured over the past sixty years. Not a "how to" book for either the old or the new Roman Rite, it is instead a spiritual feast for the mind and heart, and a guide for modern people who wish to make sense of the Church's feasts and liturgies. Meditations before Mass has helped thousands of readers participate more fully in Christian liturgy and continues to do so today.

    Cathleen Medwick shows us a powerful daughter of the Church and her times who was a very human mass of contradictions: a practical and no-nonsense manager, and yet a flamboyant and intrepid presence who bent the rules of monastic life to accomplish her work--while managing to stay one step ahead of the Inquisition. And she exhibited a very personal brand of spirituality, often experiencing raptures of an unorthodox, arguably erotic, nature that left her frozen in one position for hours, unable to speak. Out of a concern for her soul and her reputation, her superiors insisted that she account for every voice and vision, as well as the sins that might have engendered them, thus giving us the account of her life that is now considered a literary masterpiece. Medwick makes it clear that Teresa considered her major work the reform of the Carmelites, an enterprise requiring all her considerable persuasiveness and her talent for administration. We see her moving about Spain with the assurance (if not the authority) of a man, in spite of debilitating illness, to establish communities of nuns who lived scrupulously devout lives, without luxuries. In an era when women were seldom taken seriously, she even sought and received permission to found two religious houses for men.        In this fascinating account Cathleen Medwick reveals Teresa as both more complex and more comprehensible than she has seemed in the past. She illuminates for us the devout and worldly woman behind the centuries-old iconography of the saint.From the Hardcover edition.

    Life in their home is a continuous response to the cycle and rhythm of the Church year. How this is done, how old-world customs continue to flourish in Stowe, Vermont, is related with charm, candor, and verve by the mother of the family.As so much of the Trapp family life is expressed in music, Monsignor Franz Wasner, musical director of the Trapp Family Singers, has contributed his arrangements, for voice, of some fifty songs for various seasons and occasions, secular as well as religious. Drawings help show how to carry out the many projects that mark the progress of the year: the construction of an Advent wreath, of a crib and Christmas decorations; the painting of Easter eggs; the decoration of a home altar. And scores of family recipes are shared.The key word to life with the Trapp family is "celebrating," and this extends even beyond religious feasts. Mrs. Trapp takes us into the intimate circle of her home and shows how the spirit of celebration, first roused and fostered by the Church, spreads to all events, major and minor.

    The author tells what has happened to the six apparitioners since the book was first published, and the Blessed Mother's monthly messages have been updated through 1997. There is also a new list of Marian Centers across the nation.The Visions of the Children features exclusive conversations with the six apparitioners who have been receiving, for more than fifteen years, visions and messages of the Virgin Mary, including extraordinary secrets about the final chapter in the history of the world. This book not only tells of the need for love and spiritual awakening, but casts a powerful perspective on the wholescale devastation in Bosnia during the last few years.

    She died in that city in 1510.Her fame outside her native city is connected with the publication in 1551 of the book known in English as the Life and Doctrine of Saint Catherine of Genoa.[3]She and her teaching were the subject of Baron Friedrich von Hügel's classic work The Mystical Element of Religion (1908).

    The full story of life with Bella has never been told until now. This inspiring family memoir explores what it means to embrace and celebrate the life of each person, and find hope, even in the midst of painful challenges.Bella's Gift is the story of how the entire family came together to love and care for Bella and how God strengthened them during the storms and blessed their family with grace, peace, and joy.Searchingly honest, faith filled, and surprisingly joyful, Bella's Gift is a loving, lived-out testimony to the truth that everyone counts, even the least of these.

    Here, in one of his most popular of his more than thirty books, Thomas Merton provides further meditations on the spiritual life in sixteen thoughtful essays, beginning with his classic treatise "Love Can Be Kept Only by Being Given Away." This sequel to Seeds of Contemplation provides fresh insight into Merton's favorite topics of silence and solitude, while also underscoring the importance of community and the deep connectedness to others that is the inevitable basis of the spiritual life—whether one lives in solitude or in the midst of a crowd.