Prepare for the coming of Christ with this popular and inviting annual guide. During the especially busy Advent and Christmas seasons, this book offers brief, down-to-earth reflections that bring prayer and Scripture into everyday life in a thought-provoking and lasting way. Through Susan Swetnam's reflections on lectionary readings from the weekday and Sunday Masses, readers will grow in their understanding of the word of God. This book will help busy people achieve their goal of enriching their prayer life during the seasons of Advent and Christmas.
Prepare for the coming of Christ with this popular and inviting annual guide. During the especially busy Advent and Christmas seasons, this book offers brief, down-to-earth reflections that bring prayer and Scripture into everyday life in a thought-provoking and lasting way. Through Susan Swetnam's reflections on lectionary readings from the weekday and Sunday Masses, readers will grow in their understanding of the word of God. This book will help busy people achieve their goal of enriching their prayer life during the seasons of Advent and Christmas.
In this moving, personal work, Levy tells of the painful circumstances she endured with her young daughter's illness, how they grew together, and ultimately how much Levy learned from her daughter's example.
The celebration of the Liturgy of the Word with children is a liturgical experience that opens young people to hear and respond to God’s Word in ways that enable them to be nurtured and challenged by its power, and to experience the grace of ongoing conversion to the vision and values of the Word of God. Children's Liturgy of the Word 2023–2024 enables prayer leaders to confidently lead children through the Liturgy of the Word. Each liturgy guide offers: -An overview of the season -Weekly guides for leading and preparing the liturgy -Suggestions for the liturgical environment -Weekly Scripture citations and commentary on all three readings and the responsorial psalm -Weekly Scriptural connections to Church teaching and tradition -Weekly reflections for the children's Liturgy of the Word The liturgy guides in this resource will enable prayer leaders to facilitate the Liturgy of the Word with children in a prayerful way, allowing each child to deepen and explore his or her relationship with God.
Waiting Here for You helps us anticipate rather than dread the busy season of Advent and Christmas. Life is full of waiting – we can’t escape it. We find ourselves in the middle of it every day – waiting on a prognosis to be given…a verdict to be reached…a promotion to be announced. And in these seasons of waiting that anxiety, desperation and hopelessness creep in. Waiting Here For You takes us through the advent – the season of waiting. In it we see the story of the coming of Jesus. It teaches us that waiting is the means God often uses to carry his plans in our lives. And it brings us back to the truth that our waiting is never wasted when we are waiting on God. Join pastor and author Louie Giglio and take hold of the chance to uncover the vast hope offered through the journey of Advent. Find peace and encouragement for your soul as anticipation leads toward celebration! Waiting is not wasted when it is waiting with the Lord.
Easter is the high point of the church year and the very heart of Christian hope, and yet sometimes we are tempted to simply move on once Easter Sunday is over. Easter, Season of Realized Hope invites us to linger a bit. Join the women who visit the tomb of Jesus in the early morning and encounter the risen Lord. Travel with the disciples walking to Emmaus and let your heart burn with recognition. Learn from Paul what a difference it makes that Christ is risen. Let your deepest hopes be realized.
Prayer and Anticipation are Now in Season: 25 Devotions for Advent Beginning on December 1, this Once-A-Day Christmastime devotional booklet takes you through the entire Advent season with thoughts on the person of Jesus: his involvement at the creation of the world, his life in the Gospel accounts, and who he is today. Along the way you will meet and examine the lives of various individuals involved in the incarnation, and during the week of Christmas examine the response to this miraculous and gracious event, both in heaven and on earth. Written by Dr. Kenneth Boa, president of Reflections Ministries, these 25 devotions offer select Scripture passages that allow readers to gain a fuller perspective on Jesus' presence throughout the Bible. In addition, each devotion provides thoughts and questions for meditation, along with a prayer for each day, making them perfect for your own personal, family, or small-group use. The 25 days of reading are broken out as follows: • The Old Testament presence of Jesus: who He was at creation, where He shows up in other parts of the Old Testament, and more • The people associated with the Nativity: Zechariah and Elisabeth, Mary and Joseph, John the Baptist, Herod, and the Magi • The specifics and the people directly involved in the nativity: the shepherds, the angels, and the baby Jesus himself • A Christmas reading that points ahead to his ministry, his passion and his rule as King
Those who prepare the liturgy are entrusted with a very important task—helping our assemblies to encounter the real presence of Christ and to be transformed and strengthened for discipleship. Good celebrations of the liturgy help foster and nourish the faith of our parishioners. Sourcebook for Sundays, Seasons, and Weekdays is a trusted annual publication providing insightful, concise, and detailed suggestions for preparing the Mass each day of the liturgical year. With its focus on celebrating the liturgy well, this resource will guide parish teams in making “the liturgical prayers of the Christian community more alive” (On Sacred Music, 31). It includes: -Preaching points -Additional Scripture insights for the Proper of Saints -Music preparation guidance and song suggestions -Ways to connect the liturgy to the Christian life -Original Mass texts for Sundays, solemnities, and feasts of the Lord -Seasonal worship committee agendas -Ideas for celebrating other rites and customs -An online supplement for preparing the sacramental rites -Seasonal introductions -Daily calendar preparation guides -Dated entries with liturgical titles, lectionary citations, and vestment colors -Scripture insights -Brief biographies of the saints and blesseds -Guidance for choosing among the options provided in the ritual texts
The Living Word™ helps youth ministers, parish catechists, and high school religion teachers meet teens where they are and guide them to a deeper understanding of the Gospel’s role in their lives. This model of liturgical catechesis through lectionary readings enhances the liturgical preparation, liturgical participation, and liturgical living of teens. Each session can be easily incorporated into lessons or group activities that have already been planned. This resource includes materials for each Sunday and holyday of obligation from the first Sunday of August through the last Sunday in July. Additionally, The Living Word™ includes digital resources to help teens reflect on and act on the Sunday Gospel throughout the week. The Living Word™ includes the following: -Complete and flexible 15-minute sessions to complement your current teen programs -Connections to the liturgical calendar and to Catholic teachings -Ritual with the proclamation of the Gospel -Reflections to help teens understand the Gospel in the context of their own experiences and concerns -Useful tools for integrating the New Evangelization in your teen ministry -Digital reproducibles (in PDF and JPG format) for teens that can be printed, emailed, and shared via social media Authors include Kate Cousino, Julie Dienno-Demarest, Aires Patulot, and Liza N. Peters.
An instant New York Times bestseller. Over 1 million copies sold! Two spiritual giants. Five days. One timeless question. Nobel Peace Prize Laureates His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have survived more than fifty years of exile and the soul-crushing violence of oppression. Despite their hardships—or, as they would say, because of them—they are two of the most joyful people on the planet. In April 2015, Archbishop Tutu traveled to the Dalai Lama's home in Dharamsala, India, to celebrate His Holiness's eightieth birthday and to create what they hoped would be a gift for others. They looked back on their long lives to answer a single burning question: How do we find joy in the face of life's inevitable suffering? They traded intimate stories, teased each other continually, and shared their spiritual practices. By the end of a week filled with laughter and punctuated with tears, these two global heroes had stared into the abyss and despair of our time and revealed how to live a life brimming with joy. This book offers us a rare opportunity to experience their astonishing and unprecedented week together, from the first embrace to the final good-bye. We get to listen as they explore the Nature of True Joy and confront each of the Obstacles of Joy—from fear, stress, and anger to grief, illness, and death. They then offer us the Eight Pillars of Joy, which provide the foundation for lasting happiness. Throughout, they include stories, wisdom, and science. Finally, they share their daily Joy Practices that anchor their own emotional and spiritual lives. The Archbishop has never claimed sainthood, and the Dalai Lama considers himself a simple monk. In this unique collaboration, they offer us the reflection of real lives filled with pain and turmoil in the midst of which they have been able to discover a level of peace, of courage, and of joy to which we can all aspire in our own lives.
