Consecration to Christ the Bridegroom
Consecration to Christ the Bridegroom

Author: Laura Ercolino

Publisher:

Published: 2020-10-27

Total Pages: 53

ISBN-13:

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Are you, like so many, seeking refreshment and restoration for your soul, as you walk through the desert of our present culture? Have you found only mirages and "false loves" as your soul thirsts for Living Water? Perhaps you already know Jesus and you recognize that He is exactly Whom your heart has been seeking. This book opens the pathway for a deeply personal and unique heart-to-heart relationship with Jesus. God tells us throughout the scriptures that His love for us is the love of a husband for his wife, spousal love. God desires to enter a marriage covenant with each and every human person. This short yet profound book, "Consecration to Christ the Bridegroom," leads the reader to a deep understanding of God's spousal love by describing, through Scriptures, art, and teachings of the saints including St. John Paul II, how the sacrificial life-giving love of Christ is spousal love in its purest form. This book contains 9 days of prayers and reflections leading up to your consecration and enthronement of Christ the Bridegroom as King and Spouse of your heart. Each of the 9 days includes a scripture reading and a reflection from the book, The Cantata of Love, a Verse by Verse Reading of The Song of Songs, by Ignatius Press. Thought-provoking questions invite the reader to meditate upon each day's content and apply to his/her own life. Through the 9-days of prayer and reflection, our hope is for the reader to foster a new relationship with Jesus; begin to develop heart to heart conversation and spousal prayer with Christ; and to respond to the Bridegroom's invitation to enter into a more personal and intimate spousal relationship. This consecration is a call to be set apart and made holy for Christ. As you grow in love of Him and drink deeply of His life-giving Love, you will realize that your emptiness is filled, your thirst is quenched, your aching heart is soothed and the spousal love you share with Him is overflowing into your relationships, your vocation, and your life.

Jesus the Bridegroom
Jesus the Bridegroom

Author: Brant James Pitre

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 0770435459

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In Jesus the Bridegroom, Brant Pitre once again taps into the wells of Jewish Scripture and tradition, and unlocks the secrets of what is arguably the most well-known symbol of the Christian faith: the cross of Christ. In this thrilling exploration, Pitre shows how the suffering and death of Jesus was far more than a tragic Roman execution. Instead, the Passion of Christ was the fulfillment of ancient Jewish prophecies of a wedding, when the God of the universe would wed himself to humankind in an everlasting nuptial covenant. To be sure, most Christians are familiar with the apostle Paul's teaching that Christ is the 'Bridegroom' and the Church is the 'Bride'. But what does this really mean? And what would ever possess Paul to compare the death of Christ to the love of a husband for his wife? If you would have been at the Crucifixion, with Jesus hanging there dying, is that how you would have described it? How could a first-century Jew like Paul, who knew how brutal Roman crucifixions were, have ever compared the execution of Jesus to a wedding? And why does he refer to this as the "great mystery" (Ephesians 5:32)? As Pitre shows, the key to unlocking this mystery can be found by going back to Jewish Scripture and tradition and seeing the entire history of salvation, from Mount Sinai to Mount Calvary, as a divine love story between Creator and creature, between God and Israel, between Christ and his bride--a story that comes to its climax on the wood of a Roman cross. In the pages of Jesus the Bridegroom, dozens of familiar passages in the Bible--the Exodus, the Song of Songs, the Wedding at Cana, the Woman at the Well, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and even the Second Coming at the End of Time--are suddenly transformed before our eyes. Indeed, when seen in the light of Jewish Scripture and tradition, the life of Christ is nothing less than the greatest love story ever told.

The Bride of Christ Goes to Hell
The Bride of Christ Goes to Hell

Author: Dyan Elliott

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 2011-11-16

Total Pages: 477

ISBN-13: 0812206932

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The early Christian writer Tertullian first applied the epithet "bride of Christ" to the uppity virgins of Carthage as a means of enforcing female obedience. Henceforth, the virgin as Christ's spouse was expected to manifest matronly modesty and due submission, hobbling virginity's ancient capacity to destabilize gender roles. In the early Middle Ages, the focus on virginity and the attendant anxiety over its possible loss reinforced the emphasis on claustration in female religious communities, while also profoundly disparaging the nonvirginal members of a given community. With the rising importance of intentionality in determining a person's spiritual profile in the high Middle Ages, the title of bride could be applied and appropriated to laywomen who were nonvirgins as well. Such instances of democratization coincided with the rise of bridal mysticism and a progressive somatization of female spirituality. These factors helped cultivate an increasingly literal and eroticized discourse: women began to undergo mystical enactments of their union with Christ, including ecstatic consummations and vivid phantom pregnancies. Female mystics also became increasingly intimate with their confessors and other clerical confidants, who were sometimes represented as stand-ins for the celestial bridegroom. The dramatic merging of the spiritual and physical in female expressions of religiosity made church authorities fearful, an anxiety that would coalesce around the figure of the witch and her carnal induction into the Sabbath.

The Reed of God
The Reed of God

Author: Caryll Houselander

Publisher: DigiCat

Published: 2023-11-26

Total Pages: 126

ISBN-13:

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The Reed of God is an inspirational classic written by a British Roman Catholic ecclesiastical artist, Caryll Houselander. This book contains a beautiful meditation on Mary, Mother of God and so much more. Reading this book will bring you closer to Our Blessed Mother, and hence, to Christ Himself. Filled with lyrical prose and touching analogies, the author shows how Mary was the "Reed of God" and that we are all vessels waiting to do God's work, and carrying Christ within us.

Single for a Greater Purpose
Single for a Greater Purpose

Author: Luanne Zurlo

Publisher: Sophia Institute Press

Published: 2019-11-19

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 1622826574

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In these fascinating pages, author Luanne Zurlo shows that, contrary to popular opinion, single life is often a holy, joyful vocation lived out, sometimes in a hidden way, by souls who have had an authentic encounter with Christ. Here she sheds light on this little-understood vocation discerned and embraced by a growing number of single persons who neither marry nor enter religious life. These souls are joyfully single for a greater purpose, nourishing both the world and the Church with the unique spiritual strengths and graces that God gives to souls who deliberately remain single for Him — in the world but not of it. Read these pages to learn: Why dedicated single life is uniquely suited to our times How it builds on our baptismal vocations The special role that dedicated singles have in the Church How the dedicated-single vocation complements marriage and religious life How celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom yields a fruitful spousal relationship with Christ How dedicated singles can follow the evangelical counsels of obedience and poverty without the structured life of a religious community The vows that singles can take to dedicate themselves to such service of God within the world In the face of mounting difficulties within our world and our Church, God is now calling for an army of dedicated singles — laymen for the Kingdom of God — nourished from within and empowered by an authentic, personal encounter with Him alone.

Jesus the Bridegroom
Jesus the Bridegroom

Author: Brant Pitre

Publisher: Image

Published: 2018-02-13

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 0770435475

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The bestselling follow-up to Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist. Includes a reader's guide and an excerpt from Pitre's The Case for Jesus. In Jesus the Bridegroom, Brant Pitre once again taps into the wells of Jewish Scripture and tradition, and unlocks the secrets of what is arguably the most well-known symbol of the Christian faith: the cross of Christ. In this thrilling exploration, Pitre shows how the suffering and death of Jesus was far more than a tragic Roman execution. Instead, the Passion of Christ was the fulfillment of ancient Jewish prophecies of a wedding, when the God of the universe would wed himself to humankind in an everlasting nuptial covenant. To be sure, most Christians are familiar with the apostle Paul’s teaching that Christ is the ‘Bridegroom’ and the Church is the ‘Bride’. But what does this really mean? And what would ever possess Paul to compare the death of Christ to the love of a husband for his wife? If you would have been at the Crucifixion, with Jesus hanging there dying, is that how you would have described it? How could a first-century Jew like Paul, who knew how brutal Roman crucifixions were, have ever compared the execution of Jesus to a wedding? And why does he refer to this as the “great mystery” (Ephesians 5:32)? As Pitre shows, the key to unlocking this mystery can be found by going back to Jewish Scripture and tradition and seeing the entire history of salvation, from Mount Sinai to Mount Calvary, as a divine love story between Creator and creature, between God and Israel, between Christ and his bride—a story that comes to its climax on the wood of a Roman cross. In the pages of Jesus the Bridegroom, dozens of familiar passages in the Bible—the Exodus, the Song of Songs, the Wedding at Cana, the Woman at the Well, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and even the Second Coming at the End of Time—are suddenly transformed before our eyes. Indeed, when seen in the light of Jewish Scripture and tradition, the life of Christ is nothing less than the greatest love story ever told.

The Cantata of Love
The Cantata of Love

Author: Blaise Arminjon

Publisher: Ignatius Press

Published: 2014-09-17

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 1681494671

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What book of the Old or New Testament has generated the most commentaries in the history of the Church? Not John?s Gospel, not Paul?s letter to the Romans, not the prophet Isaiah, no, it is the Song of Songs. It is a book that is unknown to many Catholics, and shocking to those who discover it for the first time because of its descriptions of a lover and his beloved God is only mentioned once and that is at the very end. And yet the greatest of the Fathers have commented on it. Origen?s is the classic and St. Jerome says of it: ?Origen, having surpassed all of the interpreters of all the books of Scripture, surpassed himself in this interpretation of the Canticle.? St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Francis de Sales, St. John of the Cross, all have added to the great tradition of interpreting this book for they see it as God?s love for Israel and the Church, Christ?s love for Mary, for the Church, and for each of us. The author draws on all these classics of Catholic tradition to give us a verse by verse reading of the Song of Songs which will deepen the spiritual lives of all of us a deepening rooted in God?s word and the most profound Catholic tradition.

The Fourth Cup
The Fourth Cup

Author: Scott Hahn

Publisher: Image

Published: 2018-02-20

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1524758795

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From the bestselling author of The Lamb's Supper comes an illuminating work on the Catholic Eucharist and its link to the Jewish Passover meal. “Read this book. And don’t just read it. Pray about it. Reflect on it. And share it with others.”—Brant Pitre, author of The Case for Jesus In this brilliant book—part memoir, part detective story, and part biblical study—Scott Hahn opens up new vistas on ancient landscapes while shedding light on his own enduring faith journey. The Fourth Cup not only tracks the author’s gradual conversion along the path of Evangelicalism to the doorsteps of the Catholic faith, but also explores the often obscure and misunderstood rituals of Passover and their importance in foreshadowing salvation in Jesus Christ. Revealing the story of his formative years as an often hot-headed student and earnest seeker in search of answers to great biblical mysteries, Hahn shows how his ardent exploration of the Bible’s Old Testament turned up intriguing clues connecting the Last Supper and Christ’s death on Calvary. As Hahn tells the story of his discovery of the supreme importance of the Passover in God’s plan of salvation, we too experience often-overlooked relationships between Abel, Abraham, and the Hebrews’ liberation from slavery in Egypt. Along the way, Hahn reveals how the traditional fourth cup of wine used in the concluding celebration of Passover explains in astonishing ways Christ’s paschal sacrifice. Rooted in Scripture and ingrained with lively history, The Fourth Cup delivers a fascinating view of the bridges that span old and new covenants, and celebrates the importance of the Jewish faith in understanding more fully Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.