Our Lady
Spiritual Reading
When we pray we speak to God; but when we read, God speaks to us. - St. Jerome
Below is included a selection of books that are inspirational or informative, as well as links to where they can be purchased. May you find nourishment in them.
A great resource for all those who wish to have a deeper understanding of the scriptures, and a great help for all those who make use of Scripture in daily prayer or in Bible study groups in schools, parishes and in small communities.
Divine Renovation: Bringing Your Parish from Maintenance to Mission
R. James Mallon
Highly acclaimed for his work with parish renewal and the New Evangelization, Fr. James Mallon shares with us the many ways for bringing our parishes to life. Through humorous and colorful stories, Mallon challenges us to rethink our models of parish life, from membership-based communities to assemblies of disciples of Jesus who proclaim and share the good news with all peoples. Accessible and engaging, Divine Renovation turns to the Churchs many writings on evangelization and mission so as to articulate practical ways for injecting new life into our parishes. Pastors and parish ministers will be inspired by this book and turn to it for many years to come."
Falling Upwards: A spirituality for the two halves of life
Richard Rohr
We grow more spiritually by doing it wrong than by doing it right.
In Falling Upward, Fr Richard Rohr offers a new understanding of one of life's most profound mysteries: how our failing can be the foundation for our ongoing spiritual growth. Drawing on the wisdom from time-honoured myths, heroic poems, great thinkers and sacred religious texts, the author explores the two halves of life to show that those who have fallen, failed, or 'gone down' are the only ones who understand 'up'. The heartbreaks, disappointments and loves of the first half of life are actually stepping stones to the spiritual joys that the second half has in store for us.
All Christians Are Monks: The Monastery, the Parish and the Renewal of the Church
George Guiver
All Christians are Monks looks at difficulties of believing and praying in the highly secular context of today, with an urge to be real, rather than fudging things.
George Guiver states The contemporary Church has much to learn from monastic communities—things it has lost and needs to rediscover, including community, mutual submission, the benefits to be gained from a repertoire of physical and other practices, the fundamental importance of a sense of the Church and the living Christian tradition, and of the Eucharist and daily prayer. Much else is revealed, as George Guiver leads his readers through a detailed repertoire of monastic life, and they will be surprised to discover how much of it belongs to all Christians.
The Day Is Now Far Spent
Cardinal Robert Sarah & Nicolas Diat
Robert Cardinal Sarah calls The Day Is Now Far Spent his most important book. He analyzes the spiritual, moral, and political collapse of the Western world and concludes that "the decadence of our time has all the faces of mortal peril."
A cultural identity crisis, he writes, is at the root of the problems facing Western societies. "The West no longer knows who it is, because it no longer knows and does not want to know who made it, who established it, as it was and as it is. Many countries today ignore their own history. This self-suffocation naturally leads to a decadence that opens the path to new, barbaric civilizations."
While making clear the gravity of the present situation, the cardinal demonstrates that it is possible to avoid the hell of a world without God, a world without hope. He calls for a renewal of devotion to Christ through prayer and the practice of virtue.
Fatima for Today: The Urgent Marian Message of Hope
Andrew Apostoli Foreword by Raymond Cardinal Burke
Though the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima took place almost a hundred years ago, Our Lady's call to prayer and penance for the salvation of souls and peace in the world is as relevant now as when first delivered to three Portuguese peasant children in 1917.
Because of the prophetic nature of her messages, Our Lady of Fatima has been the subject of much controversy and speculation. In this book, Father Andrew Apostoli carefully analyzes the events that took place in Fatima and clears up lingering questions and doubts about their meaning. He also challenges the reader to hear anew the call of Our Lady to prayer and sacrifice, for the world is ever in need of generous hearts willing to make reparation for those in danger of losing their way to God.
The Solac
e of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality
Belden C. Lane
In the tradition of Kathleen Norris, Terry Williams, and Thomas Merton, The Solace of Fierce Landscapes explores the impulse that has drawn seekers into the wilderness for centuries and offers eloquent testimony to the healing power of mountain silence and desert indifference.
Interweaving a memoir of his mother's long struggle with Alzheimer's and cancer, meditations on his own wilderness experience, and illuminating commentary on the Christian via negativa (a mystical tradition that seeks God in the silence beyond language) Lane rejects the easy affirmations of pop spirituality for the harsher but more profound truths that wilderness can teach us. "There is an unaccountable solace that fierce landscapes offer to the soul. They heal, as well as mirror, the brokeness we find within." It is this apparent paradox that lies at the heart of this remarkable book: that inhuman landscapes should be the source of spiritual comfort. Lane shows that the very indifference of the wilderness can release us from the demands of the endlessly anxious ego, teach us to ignore the inessential in our own lives, and enable us to transcend the "false self" that is ever-obsessed with managing impressions.
Help yourself during this troubled period by reading holy books. This reading provides excellent food for the soul and conduces to great progress along the path of perfection. By no means is it inferior to what we obtain through prayer and holy meditation. In prayer and meditation it is ourselves who speak to the Lord, while in holy reading it is God who speaks to us. Before beginning to read, raise your mind to the Lord and implore Him to guide your mind Himself, to speak to your heart and move your will. - St. Padre Pio