Practical tips and inspiring thoughts for living a life of abundance and spirit-filled generosity. Giving of your resources is a profound act that can change your life and the lives of those around you. With gentleness and wisdom, this practical guide outlines the ways in which cultivating a lifestyle of generosity can be a source of personal transformation, spiritual renewal and deep joy. You will learn about: Giving as Worship—how the major faith traditions offer reverence through giving Giving as Stewardship—managing resources for maximum benefit Giving as Charity—providing for others out of a sense of compassion Giving as Justice—creating righteous equality in our world
With gentleness and wisdom, this practical guide outlines the ways in which cultivating a lifestyle of generosity can be a source of personal transformation, spiritual renewal, and deep joy.
In The Way of Beauty, David Clayton describes how a true Catholic education is both a program of liturgical catechesis and an inculturation that aims for the supernatural transformation of the person so that he can in turn transfigure the whole culture through the divine beauty of his daily action. There is no human activity, no matter how mundane, that cannot be enhanced by this formation in beauty. Such enhanced activity then resonates in harmony with the common good and, through its beauty, draws all people to the Church--and ultimately to the worship of God in the Sacred Liturgy. The Way of Beauty will be of profound interest not only to artists, architects, and composers, but also to educators, who can apply its principles in home and classroom for the formation and education of children and students of all ages and at all levels--family, homeschooling, high school, college, and university. "Since the good, the true, and the beautiful are a manifestation of the Trinity, it is always a grievous fault to leave beauty out of any discussion of the relationship between faith and reason. This being so, I am thrilled at the way David Clayton illustrates how beauty stands in eternal communion with the good and the true."--JOSEPH PEARCE, Aquinas College "In spite of the great proclamation that the sacred liturgy is the font and apex of all we are about as Catholics, fifty years after the Council we still seem far from seeing and living this truth in all its fullness. Drawing upon years of experience as artist and teacher, David Clayton thoroughly unpacks this truth and shows, with an impressive range of examples, how it can and should play out every day in our schools, academic curricula, cultural endeavors, and practice of the fine arts. His treatment of the ways in which architecture, liturgy, and music reflect the mathematical ordering of the cosmos and the hierarchy of created being is illuminating and exciting. The Way of Beauty is a manifesto for the re-integration of the truth laid hold of in intellectual disciplines, the beauty aspired to in art and worship, and the good embodied in morals and manners. Ambitiously integrative yet highly practical, this book ought to be in the hands of every Catholic educator, pastor, and artist."--PETER KWASNIEWSKI, Wyoming Catholic College "In The Way of Beauty, David Clayton offers us a mini-liberal arts education. The book is a counter-offensive against a culture that so often seems to have capitulated to a 'will to ugliness.' He shows us the power in beauty not just where we might expect it--in the visual arts and music--but in domains as diverse as math, theology, morality, physics, astronomy, cosmology, and liturgy. But more than that, his study of beauty makes clear the connection between liturgy, culture, and evangelization, and offers a way to reinvigorate our commitment to the Good, the True, and the Beautiful in the twenty-first century. I am grateful for this book and hope many will take its lessons to heart."--JAY W. RICHARDS, Catholic University of America "Every pope who has promoted the new evangelization has spoken about how essential 'the way of beauty' is in engaging the modern world with the Gospel. What is it about the experience of beauty that can arrest the heart, crack it open, and stir its deepest longings, leading us on a pilgrimage to God? David Clayton's book provides compelling answers."--CHRISTOPHER WEST, Founder and President of The Cor Project DAVID CLAYTON is an internationally acclaimed Catholic artist, teacher, and published writer on sacred art, liturgy, and culture. He was Fellow and Artist in Residence at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in New Hampshire from 2009 until May 2015 and is the founder of the Way of Beauty program, which has been taught for college credit, featured on television, and is now presented in this book.
Josef Pieper claims, "The ultimate fulfillment, the absolute meaningful activity, the most perfect expression of being alive, the deepest satisfaction, and the fullest achievement of human existence must needs happen in an instance of beholding." He adds, "A particularly venerable form, particularly neglected as well, is religious meditation, the contemplative immersion of the self into the divine mysteries."But, we say, our attention spans are but seconds. We live in a fast paced world. It's static. There's noise pollution. How can we ever foster an attitude of contemplation? We close our eyes during the homilies, determined to listen without much gain. We kneel, opening our hearts to hear the Lord, and then our phone buzzes, breaking that fragile peace. We buckle down, eliminating the noise from our instagram accounts to only fill it with beauty, yet overexposure dulls our sense of wonder and awe. We are a visual generation, and we're lightning. But there is a yet. It looks like this: yet, there is a new way to draw us back to our Holy. And it is called Visio Divina.Visio Divina: Praying With Sacred Art is a compilation of nearly one hundred paintings with corresponding scripture passages and reflections to guide oneself into deeper prayer through focused meditation.This book can be used privately or within a group setting and is available in both soft and hardcover, as well as an electronic version.
A Creative Journey for CaregiversHave you ever had one of those days when the fabric of your life, everything around you, seems to be in pieces?Your heart breaking, stressed, torn apart, caring for a loved one who doesn't even remember you as daughter or son, much less remember your name? Sometimes, you forget who you are! Your creativity is stifled!I know that when you assume the duties of care giving, as you may have experienced, you realize it is a full-time job. It's a whirl-pool requiring special effort to juggle business, family, the many doctor appointments, scheduling home-care personnel, plus managing the day-to-day activities. It's a special effort for you to stay afloat!I'm experiencing the upsets of being a caregiver. I'm familiar with the many challenges of a care givers life. I'm an artist, and a caregiver. I work from home creating Shimoda Accessories - Art for the Soul. I use the ancient art and craft traditions of hand stringing and knotting beads and semi-precious stones into fine jewelry and textile art; connecting cloth together by hand-stitching pieces of fabric into a whole cloth. I live with my husband and we take care of my 95 year-old mother. Mom has Alzheimer's disease. In addition, I also care for another family member who lives elsewhere. Thankfully, she is a breast-cancer survivor. However, she is now experiencing memory lapses.
Every few weeks a politician, pundit or soap star causes a media storm by making a gaffe or tweeting a joke that some people do not find funny. Comedy is very hard to get right and yet we think it’s important to have a sense of humour and not take yourself too seriously. On the other hand, a sense of humour failure can lead to losing your friends, your twitter account, your job, your career and, in some cases, your life. James Cary knows about this. He is a sitcom writer who’s written jokes about bomb disposal in Afghanistan (Bluestone 42), defended comments about Islam by Ben Elton on Newsnight, been on a panel with radical Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary, sits on the General Synod of the Church of England and somehow managed to co-write episodes of Miranda. An odd mix, but one that makes him very readable. This entertaining, breezy book, explains how comedy works (with jokes and quotes) and gives much-needed insights into the controversy surrounding humour.
For most people, the thought of dying or caring for a terminally ill friend or family member raises fears and questions as old as humanity: What is a “good death”? What appropriate preparations should be made? How do we best support our loved ones as life draws to its close? In this nondenominational handbook, Richard F. Groves and Henriette Anne Klauser provide comfort, direction, and hope to the dying and their caregivers through nine archetypal stories that illustrate the most common end-of-life concerns. Drawing from personal experiences, the authors offer invaluable guidance on easing emotional pain and navigating this difficult final passage. With a compelling new preface, this edition also features an overview of the hospice movement; a survey of Celtic, Tibetan, Egyptian, and other historic perspectives on the sacred art of dying; as well as various therapies, techniques, and rituals to alleviate suffering, stimulate reflection, and strengthen interpersonal bonds. The American Book of Living and Dying gives us courage to trust our deepest instincts, and reminds us that by telling the stories of those who have passed, we remember, honor, and continue to learn from them.
The concept of a completely profane world -- of a cosmos wholly desacralized -- is a fairly recent invention of the Western mind, and only now are we beginning to realize the appalling consequences of trying to order and mold our social, personal, and creative life in obedience to its dictates. This book attempts to clarify what is demanded of us if we are to have any chance of avoiding the impending catastrophe. It examines the nature and significance of the sacred itself and focuses on the ever-present, timeless qualities of beauty, love, and miracle through which we can be renewed and transformed whatever the condition of the world in which we live.
#1 New York Times Bestseller Over 10 million copies sold In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be "positive" all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people. For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F**k positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected American society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up. Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited—"not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault." Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek. There are only so many things we can give a f**k about so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.
