The women in Acts of Contrition face society's devaluation, from parents, from elders, from all who assume authority over them. They battle oppressions as simple as gender stereotyping, as complex as prerequisites to friendship or love. Some can look back and laugh, some find luck in their escape from harm, some engineer their own good fortune, all the while riding a wave of dark humor. What all the characters come to understand is that silence places them at greater risk than speaking out. They progress toward freedom through the telling of their stories.
Act of Contrition focuses on the intimate relationship between Regina, a widow, and Michael, a young doctor whose wife left him for another man. Having found happiness in one another, they desire nothing more than to be together. Yet in the eyes of the Catholic Church, Michael is not free to divorce his wife and marry Regina. In an emotional climax Regina must decide if she loves Michael enough to give him up or if she'll force him to choose between her and God. By modern standards, Giles's love scenes are tasteful, and the general atmosphere of ecumenism within today's Catholic Church renders moot many of the tensions in the novel. Yet in 1957 Giles's agent and publisher feared the work would cause "irreparable harm" to her reputation. As late as 1972 Giles was revising in the hopes of seeing the novel published. Finally her wish is fulfilled. Janice Holt Giles (1905-1979), author of nineteen books, lived and wrote near Knifley, Kentucky, for thirty-four years. Her biography is Janice Holt Giles: A Writer's Life.
World War II was over, and it was a time when Southern California enjoyed prosperity. Lynn Horvath was ten-years-old. But in spite of movies, parties, and good friends, she must confront the brutal death of a woman she and her friends had loved. The novel, Acts of Kindness, Acts of Contrition, begins with the murder of Jeanne French in 1947 and describes the long-lasting effects of that murder on ten-year-old Lynn Horvath as she becomes an adult. As Lynn and her friends become women, the novel reveals the quiet heroism in ordinary lives and explores the radical changes that took place in American society between the 1940s and the present time.
A New York Times bestseller from the author of Dusk, Night Dawn, Hallelujah Anyway, Bird by Bird, and Almost Everything. Author Anne Lamott writes about the three simple prayers essential to coming through tough times, difficult days and the hardships of daily life. Readers of all ages have followed and cherished Anne Lamott’s funny and perceptive writing about her own faith through decades of trial and error. And in her new book, Help, Thanks, Wow, she has coalesced everything she knows about prayer to these fundamentals. It is these three prayers – asking for assistance from a higher power, appreciating what we have that is good, and feeling awe at the world around us – that can get us through the day and can show us the way forward. In Help, Thanks, Wow, Lamott recounts how she came to these insights, explains what they mean to her and how they have helped, and explores how others have embraced these same ideas. Insightful and honest as only Anne Lamott can be, Help, Thanks, Wow is the everyday faith book that new Lamott readers will love and longtime Lamott fans will treasure.
Love and Care for the Marginalized is a 40-day meditational for Catholics based on reflections from popes, saints, religious leaders, movie quotes, and others on how God speaks to each of us about the importance of outreaching to those who have been hurt, rejected, and marginalized. Whether you are on the giving or receiving end in terms of marginalization, we have all experienced the world's treatment of those who are uncared for and unloved. Each meditation includes a quote, reflection, a prayer, and a call to action. The book is based on the command of Christ in the Biblical book of Matthew 25 where Jesus talks about the importance of loving and caring for those in greatest need and acting on their behalf. This book will help the reader to reflect upon the importance of making a difference for those who are alone, rejected and forgotten. The book was born out of much reflection, thought and most of all, prayer.
This little book is as valuable as lengthy treatises,as much for the sovereign importance of thesubject that it discusses (a subject, sadly, very littleknown by most Christians) as for the abundance ofdoctrines and the interest of its practical applications."The Great Means of Salvation," such is thetitle that St. Alphonsus de' Liguori gave to a tract onprayer published with many other works from hispen. And so great was his confidence in the efficacyand the power of prayer to assure the salvation ofsouls, that he would have wished, said he, to see hislittle book in the hands of everyone. About the exerciseof the love of God and of perfect contrition,we can say, with just as much truth, that they are "thegreat means of salvation," because between an act ofcharity or perfect contrition and the acquisition ofeternal life, the connection is more intimate and evencloser than between prayer and salvation.Consequently, I would like to see this little work,like St. Alphonsus' own, in the hands of everyone,convinced as I am that the careful reading of it andputting into practice its teachings would open thegates of heaven to a multitude of souls in danger ofeternal damnation without it, and it would increase,in a marvelous way, the grace of God in those whohave been faithful since their baptism.Every Christian ought to be soundly instructedabout the capital importance of the act of perfectcontrition and of charity on account of the inestimableservices that such knowledge can render usat the hour of our death and allow us to render atthe deathbed of a dying person, to whom Providencemight lead us. No one, even in good heath, shouldforget this truth. But it is desirable overall that everyonecherish it deeply engraved in his heart for thehours of infirmity and the perils of death.May it please God that this pamphlet be distributedas far and wide as possible. There is no doubt thatits reading will be accompanied by abundant blessings.--Father Augustine Lehmkuhl, S.J.
This revised, expanded edition of the Common Worship President’s Edition contains everything to celebrate Holy Communion Order One throughout the church year. It combines relevant material from the original President’s Edition with Eucharistic material from Times and Seasons, Festivals and Pastoral Services, and the Additional Collects.
"A woman raised by her older sister adopts a child to start a family of her own, but her joy is short-lived when her sister is diagnosed with life-threatening cancer"--
