Messages of Light for Advent and Christmas 2022
Messages of Light for Advent and Christmas 2022

Author: Michael White

Publisher: Ave Maria Press

Published: 2022-08-05

Total Pages: 64

ISBN-13: 164680175X

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Three minutes is all it takes to change your day for the better. The rich yet uncomplicated daily reflections in Messages of Light for Advent and Christmas 2022 will guide you from the first Sunday of Advent through Epiphany. With practical, everyday wisdom, Fr. Michael White and Tom Corcoran—authors of the bestselling and award-winning Rebuilt—will help you focus on the season of light in the darkest days of winter. You will learn to accept Christ’s light in your own life by embracing the truth and peace he offers, sharing his light with others, and preparing yourself to celebrate the great feast of Christmas. Each day you’ll read a verse or two of scripture, a short reflection, and a simple prayer prompt that will help you draw closer to God. While each devotion can be completed in about three minutes, you’ll reap the comfort and inspiration they bring throughout the day. The book is affordably priced for bulk purchases by Catholic parishes, schools, and other institutions.

Hidden Christmas
Hidden Christmas

Author: Timothy Keller

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2016-10-25

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 0735222029

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From pastor and New York Times bestselling author Timothy Keller comes the perfect gift for the Christmas holiday—a profoundly moving and intellectually provocative examination of the nativity story Even people who are not practicing Christians think they are familiar with the story of the nativity. Every Christmas displays of Baby Jesus resting in a manger decorate lawns and churchyards, and songs about shepherds and angels fill the air. Yet despite the abundance of these Christian references in popular culture, how many of us have examined the hard edges of this biblical story? In his new book Timothy Keller takes readers on an illuminating journey into the surprising background of the nativity. By understanding the message of hope and salvation within the Bible’s account of Jesus’ birth, readers will experience the redeeming power of God’s grace in a deeper and more meaningful way.

50 Women Every Christian Should Know
50 Women Every Christian Should Know

Author: Michelle DeRusha

Publisher: Baker Books

Published: 2014-09-09

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13: 1441220623

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Throughout history, countless women have boldly stepped out in faith and courage, leaving their indelible mark on those around them and on the kingdom of God. In lively prose Michelle DeRusha tells their stories, bringing into focus fifty incredible heroines of the faith. From Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila, and Anne Hutchison to Susanna Wesley, Harriet Tubman, and Corrie ten Boom, women both famous and admirable live again under DeRusha's expert pen. These engaging narratives are a potent reminder to readers that we are not alone, the battles we face today are not new, and God is always with us in the midst of the struggle.

The Christmas We Didn't Expect
The Christmas We Didn't Expect

Author: David Mathis

Publisher: The Good Book Company

Published: 2020-10-01

Total Pages: 129

ISBN-13: 1784985546

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Life is full of unexpected twists and turns and this has been particularly so in 2020. But the most unexpected and significant event in the history of the world actually happened over 2000 years ago when God himself became one of us in the person of Jesus Christ. These Advent reflections, written by David Mathis, help us to lift our eyes to wonder of the incarnation and worship the one who came to save us and make our futures certain. Be amazed once more by the unexpected details of Jesus' unique birth and saving work with these short daily devotions and prayers, and renew your worship of our humble, generous and loving Savior.

Shadow and Light
Shadow and Light

Author: Tsh Oxenreider

Publisher: Harvest House Publishers

Published: 2020-09-01

Total Pages: 151

ISBN-13: 073698061X

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Celebrate a Season of Wonder and Waiting Though the holidays are often jam-packed with busyness, the weeks leading up to Yuletide are still a time to reflect on the miracle of Jesus’s birth. Shadow and Light is a concise and customizable guide for the Advent season to help you rediscover your childlike wonder and contemplate the sacred gift we celebrate in the Christmas season. From bestselling author Tsh Oxenreider, Shadow and Light is a rich yet approachable experience that invites you to explore the historical meaning of Advent. Drawing from liturgical tradition, Tsh provides fresh insights for new and longtime believers alike. Each day includes Scripture, a reflection, a question, and a simple activity to engage the senses, such as lighting candles, listening to music, and viewing artwork both old and new. Let yourself break away from the hustle and bustle of crafts, cookies, and Christmas parties, and receive your invitation to remember the quiet focus of our celebration. Shadow and Light will help you reclaim the holiday season as a time to remember Jesus’s first coming, and to long for his one-day return.

Idol and Grace
Idol and Grace

Author: Orlando E. Espin

Publisher: Orbis Books

Published: 2013-12-13

Total Pages: 174

ISBN-13: 1608334309

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Proposes a theology that draws out the subversive hope of the gospels and the role of the marginalized in passing along the Christian message.

Faith at Home
Faith at Home

Author: Wendy Claire Barrie

Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.

Published: 2016-10-01

Total Pages: 123

ISBN-13: 0819232777

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Add depth and meaning your family's traditions with these basic Christian practices that nurture and enrich everyone’s faith at home. Home and parents are the key mechanisms by which religious faith and practice are transmitted inter-generationally. Recent studies indicate that the single most important factor in youth becoming committed and engaged in their religious faith as young adults is that the family talks about religion at home. However, for many parents in the United States, religious language is a foreign language. Faith at Home helps parents learn this "second language" and introduce it to their children in simple, meaningful, concrete ways. Parents often ask: How do we introduce prayer to our children if we do not necessarily believe prayer changes outcomes? How do we approach reading the Bible with our children when our own relationship with it is mixed or complicated? How do we talk about difficult things and where do we find God in the midst of them? How do we teach our children to make a difference in the world? How do we connect what happens at church to what happens at home? These questions and many more are addressed with talking points, practices, and resources provided for each subject.

Advent with Our Lady of Fatima
Advent with Our Lady of Fatima

Author: Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

Publisher: Sophia Institute Press

Published: 2018-10-18

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 1622826507

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Spend this Advent with Our Lady of Fatima and with six saintly souls who were particularly devoted to her: St. Teresa of Calcutta, St. John Paul II, Fr. Andrew Apostoli, and the Three Shepherd Children to whom Mary appeared in 1917! In these spiritually-rich pages, award-winning Catholic author Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle brings you powerful prayers and readings guaranteed to shield you from the annual holiday sales frenzy that, during the holy season of Advent, distracts even sincere believers from preparation for the coming of the Christ Child. These wise pages are sure to draw you closer to Our Lady of Fatima and her gracious messages of peace and hope. For these Advent prayers and readings are all rooted in Mary’s 1917 messages to Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia (the three young Fatima visionaries); and in the personal Fatima devotions of three of our holy contemporaries, St. Teresa of Calcutta, St. John Paul II, and the late Fr. Andrew Apostoli. Reflecting on Advent through their lives and words, you will also learn: The prayers of adoration the Angel taught Jacinta, Francisco, and LuciaWhat Fr. Andrew considered the most important of Our Lady’s Fatima requestsHow St. John Paul II fulfilled the Third Secret of Fatima — and why he credits Our Lady with saving his life!How, in his final months, Fr. Andrew radically fulfilled Our Lady’s Fatima requestsThe role Mother Teresa secretly played in the consecration of RussiaWhy, particularly in Advent, you must pray for Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart to triumphAnd much more to help you grow closer to Our Lady and keep your Advent frenzy-free. With the sure guidance of Our Lady of Fatima and these six saintly souls who loved her intensely, the frustrations of our modern Christmas seasons will soon melt away. Advent will become for you a period of expectant waiting and a time of joy and hope, as you experience within you an ever-growing desire for the coming celebration of the birth of Jesus.

An Advent Book of Days
An Advent Book of Days

Author: Gregory K. Cameron

Publisher: Canterbury Press

Published: 2021-08-20

Total Pages: 84

ISBN-13: 178622268X

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An Advent Book of Days tells the stories of all the characters and creatures that make up the Christmas story, with daily prayers and reflections based on their experiences. Fully illustrated in colour, this rich seasonal companion combines the bible, history, art and legend to explore the story of the incarnation. For each day of Advent, we meet a character caught up in the drama of the nativity, from the archangel Gabriel to the ox and ass in the stable. We discover what their portrayal in scripture reveals about them, how they have been understood in history, what folk legends have accrued around them, and what their stories offer for faith and devotion today. This is a book to engage all the senses and the imagination, to be enjoyed slowly and to shed new light on the most famous and familiar story of all.

Fearing Bravely
Fearing Bravely

Author: Catherine McNiel

Publisher: NavPress

Published: 2022-02

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 1641583266

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Jesus commands us to love our neighbors. So why are so many Christians taught to fear their neighbors? The American church is known as a people who are afraid, who have been nurtured through fear into hatred, and who have moved from hatred to violence--or at least to neglect. This fear, too often lived out boldly in the name of Jesus, is a false religion. God instructs us to welcome strangers. We are not to withhold hospitality or help from anyone in need. So why do we fear strangers, especially those needing hospitality, afraid that their presence may threaten what we have? Jesus taught us to love our enemies. We are to pray for those who actively harm us. Instead, we create enemies in our minds, seeing anyone who thinks, believes, looks, or lives differently from us as dangerous, a threat to our way of living. The Christian community exists to declare and demonstrate God's love and to follow Jesus in practicing love over fear, even in unsafe times and places. It's time to reclaim our brave fear of God and risk transformative love for the sake of our neighbors, the strangers among us, and our enemies. We are people of the Kingdom. Fearing Bravely teaches us that we have nothing to fear. Instead, we can respond to our fear problem with a brave love that emerges from choosing to let our fear of God overcome our fear of everything else. Catherine McNiel writes with conviction, wisely guiding us to recognize our fear and, with God's help, not let it limit us to love courageously all who are among us.