Laura is back with a review of another great book for the little ones. Angel in the Waters by Regina Doman with pictures by Ben Hatke is a best-selling book that has been in paperback since 2004. Recently, Sophia Institute Press has proudly released its hardcover 10th anniversary edition. This is a beautiful book that children will just absolutely love. They cannot help but be drawn into it because it is a story of themselves! It is the story of the... Read more
2014 was a great year for the Catholic publishing world. Many fantastic books were released, so many that at times this book reviewer had trouble keeping up! Obviously I cannot read everything but out of what I read these are my top picks for 2014 (in no particular order). These picks by no mean lessen the quality or importance of the others….they just stood out to me as the best. Click each title to see my full review of each.... Read more
Beware men of clever insincerity St. Basil uses the example of an octopus to show us what a Christian shouldn’t be like. The octopus takes on the color of the rocks it hides among, and unsuspecting fish swim by and are caught. I will not pass in silence the cunning and trickery of the octopus, which takes on the color of the rock to which it attaches itself. Most fish swim idly up to the squid as they might to... Read more
Let your life match your words Palladius of Galatia tells us what he heard from two wise desert monks. No matter how good, intelligent, or reasonable what someone tells you seems, be wary if his life doesn’t match his words. And those men told us this too: “When you see a man irregular in his life but plausible in speech, remember the demon who conversed with Christ using the words of Scripture, and the witness that says, ‘Now the serpent... Read more
Show your enthusiasm for God People go wild for shows and sports, says St. Basil, and waste all their time in frivolous things. Shouldn’t we Christians be at least as enthusiastic about the wonderful words of Scripture? There are towns where the inhabitants, from dawn to dusk, feast their eyes on the tricks of innumerable magicians. They never tire of hearing dissolute songs that cause much impurity to spring up in their souls, and they are often called happy, because... Read more
My friends over at Verbum are running a 12 days of Christmas special now through Jan. 06. There are some great resources at special discount prices including: 127 vol. Fathers of the Church series from Catholic University of America Press 48 vol. Joseph Ratzinger / Pope Benedict collection 8 vol. Letter and Spirit journals from St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology Also while you are there be sure to enter their giveaway for a chance to win an iPad mini and... Read more
Think about what your entertainment is teaching Just as in our own time, the ancient Roman public flocked to lowbrow entertainment full of dirty jokes, sex, and immorality. An early Christian writer, traditionally identified as St. Cyprian, says that what you watch will eventually affect what you do. And now on to the shameless corruption of the stage. I’m ashamed to tell you what things are said. I’m ashamed even to denounce the things that happen—the tricks of arguments, the... Read more
Be Christian in your entertainment The pagans, says Tertullian, behave one way in real life and a completely different way when they go to sports or plays. That’s because they let their feelings guide their judgment. It’s strange how the same man who can barely bring himself to lift his tunic in public, even when the call of nature urges him, takes it off in the circus, as if he longed to expose himself in front of everybody. Or how... Read more
Hate only evil There is only one thing we’re allowed to hate, says St. Gregory of Nyssa, and that is evil itself. Writing to three devout women, he tells them that to hate our neighbors is to ally ourselves with the devil. The Lawgiver of our life has commanded only one hatred to us: the hatred of the Serpent. He has not told us to use the faculty of hatred for any other purpose except as a resource against wickedness.... Read more
Only you can hurt your own salvation No one can take salvation away from you, but you can reject it, says St. John Chrysostom. If you’ve built your house on stone, no storm can blow it down. So there is no way anyone can injure you if you don’t choose to injure yourself. But if you’re not willing to be temperate and to help yourself from your own resources, then no one will ever be able to do you any... Read more
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