Category: Faith

Item: A Book of Uncommon Prayer
Rating: 5
Author: Amanda Marie

Review: A Book of Uncommon Prayer

Posted January 21, 2015 in Faith, Reading, Review / 0 Comments

A Book of Uncommon Prayer by Brian Doyle
Publisher: Ave Maria Press (2014)
eARC (128 pages)
Via: NetGalley
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2015 Alphabet Soup, Read 2015

Synopsis

Acclaimed, award-winning essayist and novelist Brian Doyle—whose writing, in the words of Mary Oliver, is “a gift to us all”—presents one hundred new prayers that evoke his deep Catholic belief in the mystery and miracle of the ordinary (and the whimsical) in human life.
In Brian Doyle’s newest work, A Book of Uncommon Prayer: 100 Celebrations of the Miracle & Muddle of the Ordinary, his readers will find a series of prayers unlike any of the beautiful, formal, orthodox prayers of the Catholic tradition or the warm, extemporized prayers heard from pulpits and dinner tables. Doyle’s often-dazzling, always-poignant prayers include eye-opening hymns to shoes and faith and family. In Doyle’s words, “the world is crammed with miracles, so crammed and tumultuous that if we stop, see, savor, we are agog,” and the pages of his newest book give voice and body to this credo. By focusing on experiences that may seem the most unprayerful (one prayer is titled “Prayer on Seeing Yet Another Egregious Parade of Muddy Paw Prints on the Floor”), he gives permission to discover the joys and treasures in what he often calls the muddle of everyday life.

Find the book: Goodreads, Amazon, Book Depository

Tagged as 5 star, Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge, Catholic, Catholic Book, NetGalley, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge

The Love of Jesus and the Beatitudes

Posted January 19, 2015 in Faith / 0 Comments

Sometimes with my 4th grade religious ed class we have some deep discussions. Last week was one of those.

The full group meeting (K-6) in the Church talked about “Jesus Loves You.” I had the Beatitudes planned as my lesson for the day so it all fit really nice. We get back to the classroom to begin our lesson so I hand out our books and grab a crucifix. This is part of the discussion that followed:

Me: Jesus loves you so very much. Do you all believe that?

some grumbles both of assent and dissent

Me: Look at this crucifix. Jesus loves you so much that He died for you. When Jesus was on the cross He saw each and every one of us. He knew everything we would do, all the sins we would commit.

Student 1: How?

Me: Jesus was God. He could see everything. He didn’t have to stay on the cross. He was God. He did not have to suffer and die for us. He could have saved us in a different way. But He didn’t. He loved each and every one of us so much that He gave His life so that we could live.

Student 2: So when Jesus was on the Cross He could see you explaining this right now?

Me: Yes. Time did not matter to Jesus because He was God. He could see everything.

Student 3: Jesus loves me that much? Even when I do bad things?

Me: Yes, He does. Jesus loves you so very much because He gave Himself so that you could live.

Student 4: Wow. Jesus really does love me I guess.

At the end of the class I always ask the students to tell me one thing they learned during class. This time I got responses such as “We can show Jesus that we love Him through the Beatitudes,” “My brother always told me that meek meant the same as geek. He was wrong,” and then “Jesus loves me all the time. He even loves the people I don’t love so I should be nice to everybody.”

It really made my day that my students seemed to take to heart the knowledge that Jesus really loves them. Not just because people tell them that Jesus loves them but because Jesus died for each of them even knowing all the bad things we would do.

Tagged as Religious Education

Review: Loved as I Am

Posted January 15, 2015 in Faith, Reading, Review / 0 Comments

Loved as I Am by Miriam James Heidland
Publisher: Ave Maria Press (2014)
eARC (128 pages)
Via: NetGalley
Rating:
Reading Challenges: Read 2015

Synopsis

When Sr. Miriam James Heidland’s life as a successful college athlete proved unfulfilling, she went searching for something deeper and ended up falling in love with Jesus. By charting her own journey toward wholeness, Heidland invites young Catholics to pursue their own relationship with Jesus.
Although originally full of athletic ambition and goals for a career in sports news, Heidland was transformed in a very slow but deep way during her undergraduate years, moving from party girl to bride of Christ. In Loved as I Am: An Invitation to Conversion, Healing, and Freedom through Jesus, Heidland helps readers learn from her experience of seeking love in the wrong places and instead finding it in Christ. She shares her struggles—learning she was adopted, battling alcoholism, and healing from childhood sexual abuse—as signs of hope that anyone who desires to know Christ can find him and be loved intimately by him in return. By bringing readers into Heidland’s healing process, Loved as I Am provides a gentle and subtle template for finding peace and freedom in Jesus.

Find the book: Goodreads, Amazon, Book Depository

Tagged as 5 star, Catholic, Catholic Book, NetGalley, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge

Epiphany: God Revealing Himself

Posted January 4, 2015 in Faith / 0 Comments

The word epiphany means manifestation, revelation, new insight. On the Solemnity of Epiphany we celebrate the revealing of Christ to the Magi. Epiphany is on the sixth of January, twelve days after Christmas. However, in most dioceses, Epiphany is transferred to the Second Sunday after Christmas (the First Sunday being the Solemnity of the Holy Family). In the East, Epiphany is known as Theophany, a word from Greek for God revealing Himself to humanity. At least these are the notes I have on Epiphany from one of my college theology classes.

The Solemnity of Epiphany celebrates one specific epiphany, one specific revelation of God Himself to the Magi from the East. Epiphany was when Jesus Christ was first revealed to Gentiles, non-Jews. Epiphany is when we remember that Jesus Christ came to save everyone in the world. He came for us so that we might be freed from slavery to sin.

I wish you a wonderful Epiphany!

Tagged as Christmas

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei

Posted January 1, 2015 in Faith / 0 Comments

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you

The greeting of the Archangel Gabriel calls Mary “full of grace.” Mary has been gifted with more grace than any of us could hope for. She is “full of grace,” without the stain of original sin. Mary was filled with grace so she could be the most pure Mother of the Son of God.

Tagged as Christmas, Mary