Bøger af Stephen Joseph Wolf

The Resurrection in the Great Story of Jesus is a parish-tested resource by a former Catholic priest. If you are a baptized disciple of Jesus, you are already an apostle in the world, a witness to the resurrection (see Acts 1:27). The great story of Jesus is part of your story, part of who you are, for the preaching of the good news began with the Easter story. This little book sets the four gospel accounts side-by-side as the story unfolds, with notes and some questions for pondering: The Empty Tomb, Mary Magdalene, Road to Emmaus, Upper Room, Seashore Breakfast, Commission & Ascension. Invite the original witnesses of the story to sit with some of your curious friends, or with a spouse or best friend, or in your personal time with God, who creating you in God's own image and knowing you better than you know yourself is loving you right now completely.

31 Days of Jesus Sayings is a collection of 180 fragments attributed to Jesus of Nazareth in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, that one former parish priest still finds helpful in praying in the woods, on a treadmill, or in a chair.

This is the POCKET EDITION. What do you hear when you read God's word in the Bible? I hear a very long love letter. The Bible as a whole can be read in this simple message from God: "I made you, I know you, and I love you." This can be a message of great consolation. If I am aware of not living as if God loves me, it can nudge as a challenge, not to be better to earn God's love, but a reminder of my desire to live a fidelity response to God's complete love for me. It has been an honor to journey with many good folks in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola in At-Home Retreats and in spiritual direction. The first part of the exercises is to sit with intention in the reality of God's provision and love. This means letting God say and repeat, I love you. These 31 "Old Testament" passages rendered here without commentary can help let this message sink into one's being. Though most of them are psalms and canticles to sing to God, as scripture they are also meant to be read as part of God's revelation; so whether the words are addressed to God, to someone else, or to the reader, we can hear them as God's love letter to us. The ancient way of listening to God in lectio divina can be as simple as choosing a word or phrase or image from the passage, sitting with it perhaps without thinking about it, and breathing to listen. All God's Blessings, Rev. Steve Wolf

99 Poems, a bunch of odd pictures, and 3 downside-up songs. These twenty years of lines tell of one vocation in progress still by the grace of our patient God. Except for random thoughts while running, really jogging, I rarely thought of poetry and put not a poem on paper since some Christmas lines in the second grade. Introduced to journaling, and asked to write a psalm, "a song to God" a habit settled in and then a second. When a writer advised that a poem is a thing that ought be read out loud, editing became intense joy. A seminary teacher more than once described a priest's life as being with people in the sacred moments of life. In a very odd way, these poems have been with me in the sacred moments of my own life. They have helped me to remember what I believe God is saying to each of us every moment of every day and night: "I made you, I know you, and I love you." - Steve Wolf

A Simple Family Breviary is a modern version of the Little Office of Saint Francis of Assisi by a parish priest trying to help families pray together. Each prayer session includes a traditional song, a psalm of the season, either a psalm of Saint Francis or a psalm from the commons of Mary and the Saints, and closing praises. The order of prayer is easy to follow and offers variety day to day and month to month, and includes a calendar of major feasts of the church year. This simple once-daily prayer is suitable for a family, the classroom, midday at work, and with co-workers. Stephen Joseph Wolf is a retired and now former parish priest of the diocese of Nashville, and Angie Bosio is Director of Youth Ministry at St. Stephen Catholic Community in Old Hickory, Tennessee.

Tree of Life: Incarnation, Passion & Glory, Saint Bonaventure on the Christ Story. This is Saint Bonaventure's 13th Century collection of fifty meditations on the Incarnation, Passion, and Glory of Jesus Christ. Following the 1978 translation by Dr. Ewert Cousins, parish priest of 22 years and spiritual director Stephen Joseph Wolf offers a paraphrase with brush-ink drawings.

Rev. Steve Wolf, a former parish priest, seeks in this essay connections of the faith tradition, scripture, theology, some LGBTQI realities, and a history of some church teachings being both correct and still incomplete. He draws on Pope Francis (Who am I to judge?); that a minority of humans discover themselves to be LGBTQ; religious freedom; the right to act in conscience; and the Church's call to treat people who discover that their reality includes deep-seated same-sex attraction with respect, compassion, and sensitivity; to suggest some ways to deal with all this.

Forty Spiritual Exercises: lifegiving penances in the great gift of mercy, is a collection of popular penances arranged by a former parish priest for faith-sharing groups meeting over six weeks, or for an individual reader seeking more creative ways to pray. They include 10 psalms, 22 other scripture passages, a walk to search for beauty, un-telling a lie, remembering one's baptism, a freely done tithe, the immensity and absurdity of sin, 72 tools of the spiritual craft, naming my cross, what's missing, anger the Jesus way, Saint Benedict's 12 steps to humility, the song that makes me say "yes!", the at-hand stretch, the greatest command, to bed one hour early, four or five toward intimacy, the breath of the Risen Lord, and claiming apostleship.(previously published as Forty Penances for Spiritual Exercise)

Pondering Our Faith is revised with the New Creed and offers a six-week review of Catholic faith basics for followers of Jesus the Christ to learn, teach and pray: The New Evangelization, The Church, Sacraments, Vocation, Moral Formation In Christ, and The Sacred. Compiled by retired and now former parish priest and spiritual director Stephen Joseph Wolf, here too are a handful of traditional songs, pastoral notes, and questions for reflection and story telling for each week. Pondering Our Faith is for adults, parents and catechists, and helpful for individual study or for groups of 5 to 15 people. Any attempt to articulate the faith will be imperfect, because we are trying to speak about our God. The narrative of Pondering Our Faith is excerpted with permission from the 2005 document of the U.S. Bishops, National Directory of Catechesis, which drew on input from countless faithful, clergy and lay, in a brave attempt of this generation to articulate the Christian faith.

A Simple Family Breviary is a modern version of the Little Office of Saint Francis of Assisi by a parish priest trying to help families pray together. Each prayer session includes a traditional song, a psalm of the season, either a psalm of Saint Francis or a psalm from the commons of Mary and the Saints, and closing praises. The order of prayer is easy to follow and offers variety day to day and month to month, and includes a calendar of major feasts of the church year. This simple once-daily prayer is suitable for a family, the classroom, midday at work, and with co-workers. Stephen Joseph Wolf is a retired and now former parish priest of the diocese of Nashville, and Angie Bosio is Director of Youth Ministry at St. Stephen Catholic Community in Old Hickory, Tennessee.

Here are 144 Hymns for Daily Prayer arranged by the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Ordinary Time with Ukulele Chords using three fingers: Index, Middle, and Ring. 93 traditional melodies, most from the public domain plus 10 by the author.How it happened (A Different Kind of Twelve Steps): 1. Got an ukulele that will stay in tune ($50+). 2. Got one of those electronic tuners (

Twelve Step Spirituality For Christians is a parish-tested introduction to a vibrant spirituality of honesty, perhaps the greatest American contribution to spirituality. It is designed for personal exploration or in groups of 5 to 15 people. The main goal of this little book is to expose 12 step spirituality to Christians who may not be familiar with it. Behind this is a conviction that our culture, leaning to addiction, is called to be a culture of life, vocation, and freedom. Some familiarity with these 12 steps will most certainly enrich the life and prayer of every woman and man on any faith journey. Stephen Joseph Wolf, the compiler, is a former parish priest and spiritual director. The six chapters are When I Am Weak, Let Go And Let God, Sick As Our Secrets, Progress Not Perfection, Let It Begin With Me, and One Day At A Time.

Planning My Own Funeral? offers a four-week process for planning one's own funeral, ideally in a group of 5 to 15 people. Designed by a former parish priest who still considers funerals one of the best ways to evangelize families, this little book helps an adult Christian of any age to pray with courage about his or her eventual human death, and how to be more fully alive now. The book can, of course, be used by an individual. But experience suggests that it is much more fun in a group. The consensus of those in one parish after the four weeks was "We never laughed so much while sharing our faith!" Planning My Own Funeral? can also help the faithful Christian to follow the spiritual advice of St. Benedict: "Keep daily your death before you." It may not be appropriate for those under the age of 25, and those who struggle with conditions such as depression are especially advised to use the book in a group. Enjoy this little immersion in the paschal mystery of Jesus our Christ.

God's Money is written for everyone who has from time to time been consumed with either a lack or an excess of money, for all who seek to better understand why we do what we do with money, and how life can be simpler and more real. With 14 years experience as an accountant and 22 years as a parish priest, the author is a "retired" CPA and Personal Financial Specialist with an MBA and a former pastor with a Masters of Divinity. God's Money is the fruit of praying over, wrestling with, and preaching on countless passages on good use and misuse of money in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. He translates Deuteronomy 10:14 ("Think! The heavens, even the highest heavens, belong to the Lord, your God, as well as the earth and everything on it") as simply "It is all God's Money." The second of eight sons of Nashville's best TV repairman and church secretary, the author also draws on the blessed experience of growing up in a household with limited finances. God's Money is designed for faith sharing groups and for individual readers. With Being Spouses, it was one of the resources the author gave to engaged couples preparing for marriage.