About the Book This is Ron Wood’s second book. It is the story of his four-times Great Grandfather, who came to the Americas in 1806. He was a Franciscan Priest assigned to the Alta California mission system owned by the Catholic Church. This book was developed through family stories passed down through many generations. Fr. Blas Ordaz was born in 1792 and passed away in 1850, in the same year that California became the 31st state of The United States. Blas is buried underneath the floor of the San Gabriel Mission, located in San Gabriel, California.
If you could sit down with St. Thomas Aquinas over a pint of beer and ask him any one question, what would it be? Pints With Aquinas contains over 50 deep thoughts from the Angelic doctor on subjects such as God, virtue, the sacraments, happiness, alcohol, and more. If you've always wanted to read St. Thomas but have been too intimidated to try, this book is for you.So, get your geek on, pull up a bar stool and grab a cold one, here we go!""He alone enlightened the Church more than all other doctors; a man can derive more profit in a year from his books than from pondering all his life the teaching of others." - Pope John XXII
To celebrate the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Franciscan Order, Franciscan scholar and historian Dominic Monti tells us the beautiful and inspirational story of Francis of Assisi and his followers—the Order of Friars Minor, or the Lesser Brothers—from its beginnings to current times. This history emphasizes not only the medieval developments of the world's most beloved band of men but also the internal evolution and mission efforts of the friars during the modern period, from the sixteenth century to the present. Monti gives particular emphasis to the history of the order in the English-speaking world: first England and Ireland and then North America and the twentieth-century expansion of the order to other English-speaking countries. Chapter topics include: medieval Christian society; the First Lesser Brothers; expansion and transformation of the Order; the Franciscan mission; internal crisis in the Order; Observants and Conventuals; friars during the Reformation and Baroque Eras; mission to the world; the challenges of modernity; Franciscans in the United States, Canada and Australia; rebuilding the Order in Europe; and recovering a charism.
The world came to know the Franciscan priest Mychal Judge through the bravery and self-sacrifice he displayed during the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001. But long before his lifeless body was carried out of the rubble (a moment captured in a photograph that became immediately famous), and before he was officially designated “Victim 0001” of that day’s attacks, Fr. Judge was, to a great many people, a beloved priest known for his compassion and faith. In Mychal Judge, Francis DeBernardo offers a spiritual biography that will move and fascinate readers. It details the personal history and experiences—including his Irish-American upbringing, his struggles with alcoholism, his care for the marginalized, and his ministry to firefighters—that formed the man who ultimately died running into the North Tower to try to save and minister to the terrified and the dying. Whether meeting him in these pages for the first time or getting to know him better, readers will encounter in Fr. Judge a figure they will not soon forget.
Following up on Francis: The Journey and the Dream, Murray Bodo offers a maturing of his own friar's spirituality in this dramatic storytelling of Francis' close connection and relationship with Jesus. Here we see a multi-dimensional, yet internal Francis as the ultimate disciple of Jesus: Francis as sufferer, in the wilderness, as itinerant, as misunderstood, in prayer, as teacher, as lover and protector of the poor, in authority while subject to God's authority, in community, as healer, as wounded.
The Way of St. Francis challenges the reader with a renewed understanding of the saint: a Francis who shows us a way of life both stimulating and troubling, who asks us to look again at the possibilities within us and around us, and to whom we turn repeatedly in interpreting our own human experience of God. The Franciscan way helps, transforms and renews us. The book is composed of chapters on ways of letting go, of achieving poverty, simplicity and nonviolence.
“Order, by itself, normally wants to eliminate any disorder and diversity creating a narrow and cognitive rigidity in both people and systems. Disorder, by itself, closes us off from any primal union, meaning, and eventually even sanity in people and systems. Reorder, or transformation of people and systems, happens when both are seen to work together” – from the preface. Through time, a universal pattern can be found in all societies, spiritualities, and philosophies. We see it in the changing seasons, the stories of Scripture in the Bible, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the rise and fall of civilizations, and even personally in our lives. In this updated version of one of his earliest books, Father Richard Rohr clearly illuminates how understanding and embracing this pattern can give us hope in difficult times and the courage to push through disorganization and even great chaos to find a new way of being in the world. “We are indeed 'saved' by knowing and surrendering to this universal pattern of reality. Knowing the full pattern allows us to let go of our first order, trust the disorder, and, sometimes even hardest of all—to trust the new reorder. Three big leaps of faith for all of us, and each of a different character.” —from the introduction.
Champions of the Rosary, by bestselling author Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, tells the powerful story of the history of the Rosary and the champions of this devotion. The Rosary is a spiritual sword with the power to conquer sin, defeat evil, and bring about peace. Read this book to deepen your understanding and love for praying the Rosary. Endorsed by 30 bishops from around the world!
The ideal of holiness can seem impossible as we find ourselves busier and more distracted in our increasingly complicated world. Yet the witness of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (CFRs) offers us hope that it is possible to become a saint while living in the world. In fact, it is by opening ourselves up to others and making time for prayer and sacrifices in our daily lives that we can bring God's love to the world. Then we will be transformed ourselves. Join Fr. Mark-Mary Ames, CFR, as he guides you with small, practical steps that will lead you-poco apoco, little by little-on the journey to holiness. Book jacket.
