Get rid of your anger before you pray Tertullian reminds us how important it is not to be angry with our neighbors when we approach God. How can we ask for forgiveness when we ourselves have not forgiven? Remembering the Lord’s commandments paves the road to heaven for our prayers. And the chief commandment is that we should not go up to God’s altar before we make up whatever argument or offense we’ve got into with our brothers. What do... Read more
Look for quiet when you pray St. Basil tells us that a quiet heart will help us overcome our passions and our temptations. We have to break our bad habits and start new good habits, and a little solitude will help a lot. We must work to have a quiet mind. You can’t see an object right in front of you if your eye is moving restlessly up and down and sideways; you have to look at it steadily. In... Read more
This week publisher Lighthouse Catholic Media sponsors their first CBB giveaway. One lucky winner will receive one copy of Saint John Paul The Great: His Five Loves by Jason Evert(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 9/19 with a winner being announced later that day. Good Luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway Read more
Expect Satan’s attack when you pray Satan knows how much we gain by praying, says St. John Chrysostom, so that’s when he attacks us the most. We need to be on our guard and not let in the stray thoughts the devil suggests. We talked yesterday about the power of prayer. I pointed out how the devil, that deceiver, lies in wait when we pray. For he sees how much we gain from prayer, so that’s when he attacks us... Read more
“They try to understand me from outside. But I can only be understood from inside.” These words were spoken by Saint John Paul II in regards to the multiple attempts made to write his biography. In his book Saint John Paul the Great: His Five Loves, Jason Evert attempts to take a look inside this beloved Pope….and pulls it off quite well. As Jason states in the introduction “the aim of this work is to paint a portrait of the... Read more
Lead us not into temptation When we pray “Lead us not into temptation,” are we praying that we should never be tempted at all? No, says St. Cyril of Jerusalem—temptation is always there. But, like St. Peter, we can get over it and come through the other side. “And lead us not into temptation.” So is the Lord teaching us to pray that we should not be tempted at all? Then why would it be said elsewhere that “a man... Read more
In the coming weeks here at The Catholic Book Blogger I will be featuring some guest posts from Pauline Books and Media authors as they conduct a Back to School Blog Tour. Today’s guest author is Nicole Lataif author of the books I Forgive You: Love We Can Hear, Ask For, and Give and Forever You: A Book about Your Soul and Body. Here’s where I will step aside and Nicole takes over……welcome Nicole! 5 Tips for Teaching Kids to... Read more
Our daily bread is the Word of God and the Mass “Give us this day our daily bread”: we pray these words even if we have plenty of bread in the pantry. Why? St. Augustine says it’s because we need something more than ordinary bread. When you say, “Give us this day our daily bread,” you admit that you’re God’s beggar. But don’t be ashamed of that. No matter how rich you are on earth, you’re still God’s beggar. And... 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 I... Read more
Dare to call God Father The atonement of Christ changes everything, says St. Leo the Great. We were miserable outcasts, but now we’re children of God. Whoever you are, if you devoutly and faithfully boast of the name of Christian, value this atonement rightly. You were a castaway, banished from the realms of paradise, dying of your weary exile, reduced to dust and ashes, with no more hope of living. But by the incarnation of the Word, you were given... Read more
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