Selling All
Selling All

Author: Sandra Marie Schneiders

Publisher: Paulist Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 504

ISBN-13: 9780809139736

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An examination of the internal reality of contemporary religious life, particularly that of ministerial women religious in the first world setting, through the focusing lenses of commitment, consecrated celibacy, and community.

Remembering a Dream
Remembering a Dream

Author: Francis J. Moloney

Publisher: ATF Press

Published: 2024-04-01

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 1923006754

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In order to mark the bicentenary of the foundational dream that Saint John Bosco experienced when only nine years of age (1824), this book offers readers reflections on a number of biblical and theological themes that emerge from the simplicity yet depth of that dream. In the first place, certain elements from the life and person of Jesus are presented as the model for a so-called 'Salesian' spirituality and life-style. Those elements are outlined as an awareness that Jesus never abandons his fragile disciples, and that a genuinely Christian education writes on the hearts of the young. They are never abandoned in the challenging all-pervasive secularity of contemporary society. It closes with a summons to a deeper awareness of the universal possibility of 'the perfection of love' as Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622) taught, well before his fellow Savoyard, John Bosco (1815-1888).

Three Secrets to Holiness in Marriage
Three Secrets to Holiness in Marriage

Author: Dan DeMatte

Publisher: Ave Maria Press

Published: 2018-03-16

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 1594718008

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The ultimate goal for the Christian life is heaven, but what path should a couple take to get there? Dan and Amber DeMatte, who have worked together in youth and family ministry for more than fifteen years, believe it’s holiness—living as Jesus did. Giving and receiving love and living for the sake of others—especially your spouse and children—will help you achieve holiness, the DeMattes say. You can even find holiness in the everyday tasks of marriage and family life such as doing the dishes, changing diapers, and cleaning up messes. In The Three Secrets to Holiness in Marriage, the DeMattes walk you through a thirty-three -day retreat that culminates in consecrating your marriage to Christ. They will help you achieve perfect love for each other, your family, and God by incorporating the virtues of poverty, chastity, and obedience into your life. This retreat will help you fall deeper in love with Christ, your spouse and children, and the world God calls you to serve. Each chapter includes discussion questions and a prayer for couples.

Vocation to Virtue
Vocation to Virtue

Author: Kent Lasnoski

Publisher: CUA Press

Published: 2022-08-05

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0813236460

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Vocation to Virtue seeks to answer a perennial difficulty in the Catholic theology of marriage: how do the practice and bond of marriage lead to Christian perfection in spouses and their children? If the Second Vatican Council is correct in saying that all in the church are called to Christian perfection, we need an account of how those consecrated in the sacrament of marriage can fulfill that vocation. If the perfection of charity consists in Christ himself, then couples must imitate Christ. But how? If Christ is the poor, chaste, and obedient bridegroom of the church, then spouses achieve holiness inasmuch as they participate in Christ's own virtues: poverty, chastity, and obedience. The thesis is that the language of the evangelical virtues (poverty, chastity, and obedience), a rule of life, and robust preparation (maybe a novitiate) belongs as properly to marriage as to consecrated religious life. Both states are specifications of a common baptismal consecration to Christ himself. Lasnoski seeks to establish this fact and constructively apply this language to conjugal life. The book begins by explaining our marriage crisis and theological paradigms for speaking about Christian marriage as "relationship" or as "practice," and considers modern scholarly attempts to relate conjugal life and consecrated religious life. The book then offers a theological groundwork in Christ and the Trinity for a deeper, noncompetitive relationship between the consecrated religious life and married life. It offers an Augustinian account of the relationship between marriage and consecrated life, and develops the ecclesial connection between the states with recourse to John's Gospel, which sees Christian life in terms of "householding." The church's tradition has a dialogical relationship between the consecrated and married - a mutual sharing of both "monastic" and "domestic" language. The final chapter develops practices of Christian householding for conjugal life using the language of poverty, chastity, and obedience, a rule of life, and a kind of novitiate preparation.