Learn good habits during Lent The Church requires every Christian to fast during Lent. We should take this opportunity, says St. Gregory the Great, to build up good habits of detachment that we can keep up all through the year. As the Easter festival approaches, we keep the greatest and most binding fast. The observation of it is imposed on all the faithful without exception. No one is so holy that he ought not to be holier, or so devout... Read more
This week publisher Image Books sponsors the CBB giveaway. One lucky winner will receive one copy of My Battle Against Hitler: Faith, Truth, and Defiance in the Shadow of the Third Reich (you can read my review here). I use Rafflecopter to run my giveaways which makes it simple for you and me! Enter below. The contest starts at midnight tonight EST and will end 12AM EST Friday 11/21 with a winner being announced later that day. Good Luck! a Rafflecopter... Read more
Be like steel, not like wax St. John Cassian remembers the wise comparison of the abbot Theodore. Your mind, he says, should be like the steel that stamps, not the wax that is stamped. The mind of the upright man ought not to be like wax, or any other soft material, which always yields to the shape of what presses on it, and is stamped with its form and impress and keeps it until it takes another shape by having... Read more
Laura is back with another kids corner review! Prayers for Young Catholics published by Pauline Press is a wonderful little prayer book compiled by the Daughters of St. Paul. It is packed with prayers of all kinds including: -Basic Prayers – Prayers to Mary – Prayers to the Saints – Prayers from the Bible – Prayers for Various Needs – Praying the Rosary – Praying the Stations of the Cross – Prayers of the Catholic Faith – Prayers for Seasons... Read more
Love virtue for its own sake The Syrian abbot Chaeremon, as St. John Cassian remembers, explained that it’s far better to avoid sin from love of virtue than from fear of punishment. The one who loves virtue is constant; the one who fears punishment goes back to sin as soon as the fear is removed. There is a great difference between one who puts out the inner fire of sin by fear of hell or hope of future reward, and... Read more
Trust God to bring good even from the wicked The devil stirs up heretics to attack the Church, says St. Augustine, but God turns those attacks into good. When we Christians are attacked, we have the opportunity to exercise our Christian virtue. But the devil, seeing that the temples of the demons are deserted, and humanity is running to the name of the liberating Mediator, has incited the heretics to resist the Christian teaching while keeping the Christian name. Even... Read more
Welcome back to “The Clergy Speaks”, a recurring feature here at The Catholic Book Blogger. “The Clergy Speaks” is a column focusing on one question I have asked various members of the clergy. That question is: What five books would you recommend as must-reads for Catholics today? I left the responses open to current or classic books with the only restriction being that the Bible and the Catechism could not be used as they are a given. This week we... Read more
This week I invite you to check out the newest release from Lighthouse Catholic Media. Click the cover image above to purchase this talk as either a CD or MP3. Dr. Thomas Madden is a professor of History at St. Louis University and has appeared in such venues as the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and The History Channel. In this eye-opening presentation, Dr. Madden debunks popular myths surrounding the crusades and shows us how the different... Read more
Never despair of God’s help When barbarians sacked Rome in the year 410, some pagans argued that the Christian God had been no help to his followers. St. Augustine says that no one can take a Christian anyplace where God’s help won’t follow. But (they say) many Christians were even taken away as captives. Yes, this would certainly be a pitiable fate, if they could be taken away to some place where they could not find their God. But sacred... Read more
Admittedly this is a bit of departure from my norm, but I received an item I just HAD to share with you, my readers. Two years ago I had the pleasure of attending a retreat at a local parish here in Hanover, PA. The retreat leader that day was Father Mich Pacwa. His talks were great and focused on our modern secular world and how to combat the notions it tries to force on God following individuals. At one point... Read more
The Catholic Book Blogger
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In