Showing titles in Catholicism

It was Blessed John Paul II's greatest gift to the Church: the theology of the body. A window into who we are, the theology of the body is a theology for the rooms where we make love. But it's also a theology for the rooms where we work, where we eat, where we laugh, and where we pray. These Beautiful Bones takes you on a walk through those rooms. With both humor and practical wisdom, it sheds light on what the theology of the body has to say about life.

Jesuit priest John Gerard hid from English authorities for eight years before his eventual capture and torture in the Tower of London. Risking everything to preserve Catholicism in Tudor England, Gerard moved from house to house, converting many people and evading capture by mere seconds. Following a hair's-breadth escape from the Tower to the continent, he survived to tell his tale and pass on his experience to future missionaries and martyrs in The Autobiography of a Hunted Priest, a fascinating tale of espionage, disguise, priest hunters, and brilliantly designed hideouts.

In Calming the Storm: Navigating the Crises Facing the Catholic Church and Society, experienced Vatican journalist Diane Montagna conducts a wide-ranging and trenchant interview with Fr. Gerald E. Murray that examines the root causes, and potential solutions, to the many challenges the church faces today.

Probably the finest book ever written about the rosary, The Secret of the Rosary appeals to all ages. It shows the great spiritual power of the rosary, which is appreciated by few, and tells why the rosary is the most important private prayer.

This work of spiritual rediscovery casts light on six women mystics who teach us that "the experience with God is inexhaustible". Extensively researched, Enduring Grace draws from actual letters, teachings, and sacred poetry of these real historical figures to portray how God can enter the life of anyone and help create divinity in flesh and blood form. Author Carol Flinders combs rare archival sources and recently discovered documents to take us to the very heart of feminine mystical experience.

Drawing from his extensive experience in assisting with cases of demonic oppression and possession, in The Exorcism Files, Adam Blai presents listeners with enlightening true stories and traces their causation. Whether people provided a gateway through Ouija boards or tarot cards, Blai reports from firsthand observation how they were lured into the occult.

For more than half a century, the question of extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) has been widely dismissed in our culture. That wasn’t always the case. Some of the best minds of the last 25 centuries in Western civilization have grappled with this mystery. In Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the Catholic Faith, best-selling author Paul Thigpen begins with a fascinating historical survey of the public conversation about ETI, tracing the thought of prominent Catholics and others. This is a thorough guide to navigating the conversation from a faithful Catholic perspective.

With silence increasingly becoming a stranger to us, one man set out to become its intimate: Pablo d'Ors, a Catholic priest whose life was changed by Zen meditation. With disarming honesty and directness, as well as a striking clarity of language, d'Ors shares his struggles as a beginning meditator: the tedium, restlessness, and distraction. But, persevering, the author discovers not only a deep peace and understanding of his true nature, but also that silence, rather than being a retreat from life, offers us an intense engagement with life just as it is.

How can Christianity touch the imagination of our contemporaries when ever fewer people in the West identify as religious? Timothy Radcliffe argues we must show how everything we believe is an invitation to live fully. God says, ‘I put before you life and death: choose life’. Anyone who understands the beauty and messiness of human life - novelists, poets, filmmakers and so on - can be our allies, whether they believe or not. The challenge is not today’s secularism but its banality.

St. Louis de Montfort’s classic Total Consecration to Mary has seen a strong resurgence in recent years, with Catholics around the world consecrating themselves to Our Lady. Building off this momentum, we wanted to encourage this closeness to Jesus through Mary, but with a preparation that reflected the Church’s love for St. Thomas Aquinas. In Aquinas’s writings, we found ample resources for the task. Especially in his preaching, we discovered passages detailing the graces bestowed on Mary and the role afforded her in leading us to Christ.

The Art of Dying Well gives a rough sketch of how to live life well, so that one can die well, and have confidence before the judgment seat of Christ. It is a timeless classic of the Catholic world, and the advice St. Bellarmine gives rings as true now as it did 400 years ago.

In this powerful book, the renowned exorcist of Rome tells of his many experiences in his ministry as an exorcist doing battle with Satan to relieve the great suffering of people in the grip of evil. The importance of the ministry to "expel demons" is clearly seen in the Gospels, from the actions of the Apostles, and from Church history. Fr. Amorth allows the listener to witness the activities of the exorcist, to experience what an exorcist sees and does.

This audio version of The Imitation of Christ from Catholic Book Publishing is a wonderful new edition of the original, deeply spiritual book by Thomas à Kempis. From this audiobook, listeners will experience the peace and wisdom that has comforted Catholics from around the world. The Imitation of Christ tells us how to better live the life of a Christian by closely following Christ's example. The Imitation of Christ will bless all who want to respond to the call to follow Jesus.

The Seven Storey Mountain is the extraordinary spiritual testament of Thomas Merton (1915-1968), a man who experienced life to its fullest in the world before entering a Trappist monastery. By the end of his life, he had become one of the 20th century's best-known and beloved Christian voices. This autobiography deals...not with what happens to a man, but what happens inside his soul.

The enduring influence of the Catholic Church has many sources, but in the first half of the 19th century, the foundations upon which the church had rested were shaken. For many people, liberalism in the guise of liberty, equality, and fraternity was the quintessence of the evils that shook those foundations. At the Vatican Council of 1869-1870, the church made an effort to set things right by defining the doctrine of papal infallibility. Author John W. O'Malley draws us into the bitter controversies over papal infallibility that at one point seemed destined to rend the church in two.

Women have been shamans since time immemorial, not only because women have innate intuitive gifts, but also because the female body is wired to more easily experience altered states, such as during the process of birth. Whether female or male, the altered states produced by psychedelics and ecstatic trance expand our minds to tap into and enhance our feminine states of consciousness as well as reconnect us to the web of life.

In My Battle against Hitler, von Hildebrand tells of the scorn and ridicule he endured for sounding the alarm when many still viewed Hitler as a positive and inevitable force. He tells how he defiantly challenged Nazism in the public square, prompting the German ambassador in Vienna to describe him to Hitler as "the architect of the intellectual resistance."

Pope Benedict XVI will go down in Church history as one of the greatest popes. In this heartfelt defense of Pope Benedict’s words and works, a tribute to his life and legacy and an homage to his sanity and sanctity, Joseph Pearce’s biography provides an unforgettable encounter with this great historical figure.

Filled with reflections and brief imaginative sequences, Come to Mary's House invites you to imagine you are with the Blessed Virgin-visiting in her living room, working in her garden, or catching up over coffee. The goal is to encourage your encounter with Mary as a friend, sister, and mother-in a comfortable, gentle way. By developing a personal relationship with her, you'll let her lead you closer to Jesus.

In honor of his canonization, this volume draws together Newman’s Marian writings into an anthology of this new saint’s profound writings on our Lady. Some are doctrinal or apologetic, while others are deeply devotional meditations. These two approaches, not only show two sides of Saint John Henry Newman’s character; they will increase your own love and devotion to our Lady. They illuminate the great depths of Marian doctrine from the Church’s treasury with which Newman has so powerfully permeated his own writings and cause us to go to her for aid.