Bøger udgivet af Sophia Institute Press

Age Range: 4 and up. Initially written for children, but a delight for grownups as well, these pages show the beauty and holiness that belonged especially to Saint Thomas Aquinas.

An inspiring story of risk and sacrifice, The Beggar and the Bluebird teaches children the true meaning of gift-giving and demonstrates that great love is always rewarded by God-though often not in ways we can predict.

Eric Sammons, a former diocesan director of evangelization and now the editor-in-chief of Crisis Magazine, pulls the curtain back on the rise of religious indifference, uncovering a wealth of fascinating particulars about what made the "old" Church work, and what is causing the "new" to collapse. He identifies the most damaging distortions of the Faith, presented as progress, and explains why Church leaders felt compelled to upend traditional Catholic life.

Our Lord is constantly pouring out graces upon mankind, yet only a few "€" those closest to His heart "€" know how to receive them. Sadly, countless graces are left unclaimed (likely many by you!) and are thus never allowed to further God's will on earth. How different our lives would be if we accessed God's grace more intentionally! Thankfully, God in His compassion gave us a perfect model for disposing ourselves to His graces and responding to them: the Blessed Virgin Mary. In The Imitation of Mary, Fr. Quan Tran shows you how to imitate the twelve essential qualities of Mary in order to unleash a torrent of graces in your life. He explains that, like any gift, grace must be received, opened, and used. As you learn how, you'll begin to acquire the temperaments, dispositions, and qualities that are most pleasing to God "€" and you'll serve as a channel of God's grace for others. You'll also learn: [€[ The three major obstacles to living a life of faith [€[ What to do if you experience a crisis of faith [€[ The four levels of happiness "€" and how to acquire them [€[ How it's possible for you to merit an increase in graces [€[ Seven ways you can cultivate a rich devotion to Our Lady [€[ The difference between sanctifying grace and actual grace [€[ The four effects that grace will have on your soul

Fr. Dailey's brilliant combination of Salesian spirituality and meditative devotion will enable you to respond to Christ's "divine affection" and experience God's love as never before.

It's July 1941 in the Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. Franciscan priest Maximilian Kolbe steps forward. "Let me take this man's place," he says, thereby volunteering to die in the place of a stranger who had just been condemned to death by his Nazi captors. By means of this singular deed, Fr. Kolbe laid down his life not for his friends "€" as some might do "€" but for a complete stranger. Those who know little of Fr. Kolbe may dismiss this as an impulsive act, soon regretted. On the contrary "€" and as these moving pages show "€" his voluntary sacrifice of his life was, in fact, the crowning achievement of nearly forty years of Christian love, devotion, and, yes, even martyrdom that he had freely and deliberately agreed to accept when he was only twelve years old. In the decades leading up to his generous self-sacrifice in Auschwitz, Fr. Kolbe became a monk; earned a doctorate in Rome; taught seminarians in college; established what soon became a thriving religious order (the Militia Immaculatae); founded a popular religious magazine, a monastery (where, before his arrest, he hid thousands of Jews from the Nazis), a religious radio station, and a wartime hospital; and even created and served as publisher of the largest religious newspaper in Europe, whose many issues opposed Nazi evil and were circulated to readers throughout the Continent. Not satisfied with all that, Fr. Kolbe traveled with a few companions to Nagasaki, where he set up a monastery to serve the Japanese people. All that in a brief life of forty-seven years! A rich, holy life told in vivid images and exciting details in this page-turner of a biography.

With this penetrating prequel to Fr. Sertillanges's bestselling book, What Jesus Saw from the Cross, you'll go behind the Gospels to experience a richly textured, moment-by-moment account of the incredible events of Christ's life, from the Nativity to Golgotha.In a style that has won praise and admiration from Catholics for nearly a century, Fr. Sertillanges masterfully unites the familiar stories of the Gospels to the peculiar circumstances and geographical surroundings of Christ's life. These stories, combined with his lyrical descriptions of the Holy Land, bring vividly to life those secret and holy places sanctified by our Lord, and will deepen your prayerful meditations and enrich your spiritual reading.Happy are those who have stood in the cave in Bethlehem, walked in prayer the roads that Jesus walked, and knelt at the tomb of our Redeemer. Now the rest of us who have never visited Israel can open the rich pages of 33 Years in the Holy Land and gaze in silence at the crib in Bethlehem, hear Jesus say to the dismayed fishermen, "Follow me!," and feel the chill of Golgotha as it looms ever larger in His mind.Take up these pages. Let these reflections deepen your meditations on the life of Christ and fill you with gratitude for His tremendous love for you. Your faith will grow stronger, your meditations richer, and your prayers more fervent and more frequent.

In this handsome graphic novel, you'll join some of the world's greatest saints in their inspiring "¬‚¬" and often exciting and even dangerous "¬‚¬" quests for holiness. These thrilling stories and stunning images found here will captivate you and fascinate readers of all ages.Here you'll meet:St. Nicholas, the orphaned boy who generously ministered to the sick and the poor, and eventually became the wise and just bishop of Myra.St. Francis of Assisi, the rough soldier who put down his weapons, renounced his possessions, and went on to establish two great religious orders.St. Brigid of Ireland, the young girl who fled from an impending, arranged marriage to become a nun, and devote her life completely to the Lord.St. Pachomius, the Roman soldier who became a Christian and ventured into the Egyptian desert to pray, establishing there numerous monasteries.St. Anne Line, the gentle Catholic convert in the Protestant England who was arrested and cruelly executed for hiding fellow Catholics from murderous anti-Catholic government agents.Embark here on great adventures of the Christian Life! These gripping stories of Catholic heroes call on each of us to follow bodly God's unique plan for our lives, and, as did the saints, to reach the very heights of holiness.

In these fascinating pages, popular author and speaker Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers tells the gripping story of Augustine Tolton, who valiantly overcame a series of seemingly insurmountable challenges - birth into slavery, his father's death, abject poverty, and even being denied acceptance by every Catholic seminary in America - to become the first black American priest.Despite the hardships placed on Fr. Tolton by a culture rooted in racial hatred, he became a tireless messenger of the Gospel, plunging into the Deep South where segregation was decreed by harsh laws, penetrating even the hardest of hearts with the richness, beauty, and truth of the Catholic Faith.He was a beacon of hope to black Catholics in the 19th Century who were trying to find a home in the American Church. He was a visionary who saw beyond race and politics, teaching that the Catholic Church wants to free us not just from slavery, but from slavery to sin.Amidst great persecution, Fr. Tolton showed us that being configured to Christ means emptying ourselves so that God can fill us, exposing the weakest parts of who we are so that God can make us strong, becoming blind to the ways of this world so Christ can lead us, and dying to ourselves so we can rise with Christ.All who seek to be formed more perfectly to Christ have a role model in Fr. Tolton, a persevering and holy man who sought above all the salvation of souls.

"I am not afraid . . . I was born to do this." -St. Joan of Arc She is not the typical saint. Born and baptized in Domremy in 1412, Joan of Arc was thirteen when the Archangel Michael appeared and exhorted her to safeguard her virginity. Two more heavenly voices later spoke to this daughter of God and revealed the divine Will for her to unify and liberate France from the English invaders. With God's grace in her soul and in her soldiers, the seventeen year old Joan valiantly led battlefield operations to defeat the siege of Orleans and see the king anointed and crowned at Reims. Captured as a prisoner of war, Joan of Arc was sold to the English in Rouen, brutally mistreated, then unjustly condemned by a corrupt church court as a heretic, apostate, and witch. While being burned at the stake, she forgave her enemies and invoked the help of God and his saints. The Catholic Church, with the authority of the pope in Rome, nullified her previous conviction and canonized Joan of Arc as a Saint of God in 1920. In these pages you will discover the true character and accomplishments of Saint Joan of Arc, and be led to meditate on her profound legacy of virtue. You will be inspired by her heroic love of God and Country and will understand how prayer and the Church's sacramental life of grace gave her strength to overcome all obstacles in achieving her mission. You will be amazed at the enduring impact of this soldier saint and virgin martyr on the rebirth of the nation of France and on the renewal of the Catholic Church, even six centuries after her birth.

This book is profitable for young adults, casual Catholics, and those more advanced in the spiritual life. Drawing from the wisdom of the Carmelite saints, St. Benedict, St. John Cassian, and other spiritual masters, The Way of the Wilderness Warrior opens the treasure house of Catholic spirituality in a creative, positive, and engaging way.

Drawing from his extensive experience in assisting with cases of demonic oppression and possession, in The Exorcism Files, Adam Blai presents readers with enlightening true stories and traces their causation. Whether people provided a gateway through Ouija boards, tarot cards, Reiki, Yoga, or martial arts, Blai reports from firsthand observation how they were lured into the occult. Blai also recounts shocking cases of participation in covens and cults under the guise of knowledge, empowerment, and liberation. This is sometimes accompanied by crimes and hauntings, which Blai also documents. An essential guide for our time, The Exorcism Files reveals numerous striking truths about the supernatural, including: The key signs of diabolic possession -- and how they differ from those of oppression How dabbling in the occult opens the door to evil Why the devil most intently attacks priestly and religious vocations How evil can manifest itself in physical objects or symptoms Why only priests, with their bishops' permission, should perform the old solemn rite of exorcism How engaging in mind control and ghost hunting is flirting with evil Blai demonstrates that there is a supernatural enemy in this world who is trying to destroy us. Our defenses are the Precious Blood of Jesus, the sacraments of the Catholic Church, Holy Scripture, and Church Tradition.

Lent calls us to ponder the reality of Jesus Christ and the salvation He offers.In these compelling pages, EWTN host Fr. Bill Casey turns our attention to Jesus in brief reflections on topics ranging from the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist to the role that the Blessed Virgin Mary plays in every healthy prayer life.Drawing on years of experience as a retreat master and as a regular EWTN host, Father Casey leavens each of these holy topics with a refreshing dose of common sense. Not only is this book perfectly suited for your Lenten devotions; you will find yourself turning to it many times during the year to remind you of the ever-urgent need for repentance and rebirth.Now is the right time for Making a Holy Lent.Reading and praying over just one chapter a week will take you from the winter of Ash Wednesday to the spring of Easter, making this coming Lent the holiest you've ever experienced.

Keep Christ in Christmas this year by turning to this slim volume of daily Advent meditations by Bishop Jacques-Benigne Bossuet, one of the greatest homilists in the history of the Church. Carefully selected to lift your soul to God in those hectic days that stretch from Thanksgiving to Christmas, these forty daily meditations will keep you mindful of the real meaning of Christmas while affording you an admirable distillation of the doctrines and piety of our Holy Catholic Church. With the help of Bishop Bossuet and the sense of God's grandeur and love that permeates his every word all through the rush toward Christmas you'll stay mindful of the holy words of Isaiah foretelling the birth of our savior; you'll find yourself marveling at the Annunciation and the Visitation; you'll rejoice in anticipation of the coming birth of Jesus; and, finally, you ll look forward to kneeling with St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin in silent adoration of the incarnate Son of God. This year, you won't (as so often happens) arrive at Midnight Mass distracted, exhausted, and frazzled, having neglected your Advent devotions and your ordinary prayers, too. Instead, you'll find yourself stepping lightly into church, ready and eager to adore the newborn King, your soul what it should be: a fit dwelling place for the Redeemer. Don't waste another Advent! Let Meditations for Advent keep you prayerful amidst the worst distractions of the holiday season. Let it draw you daily closer to Jesus, whose birth the season celebrates, and whose birth your soul yearns to celebrate, too.

Join in the adventures of young Catholics Hannah and Andy as they learn that a good life requires a solid faith and that God has given us the sacraments to guide and sustain us along the way.This graphic novel's vivid images and engaging stories will captivate you even as you learn along the way, and without effort, about Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Communion.Activities at the end of each story will help fix in your mind and heart the meanings of these three powerful sacraments.Along with Hannah and Andy, you'll learn:How Baptism frees us from sinWhy babies wear white baptismal gownsThe vital role of godparentsWhy water, chrism, and candles are used during a BaptismHow Confirmation prepares us to share our faith with othersWhat the Holy Spirit has to do with ConfirmationHow Confirmation helps us to serve God with our actionsWhy we have Confirmation sponsorsWhy we receive the Eucharist at MassHow we are empowered by Christ in the EucharistHow the bread and wine are transformed into Christ's Body and Blood at MassWhat it means to be a part of the Body of ChristHow good friendships help us grow in love of GodAnd much more to ignite your faith and bring it vividly to life!

These pages show you how to trust God even when He seems unresponsive and remote even when, as in the famous incident in the Gospels, He seems to sleep while you are buffeted by the storms of life. Author Luis Martinez shows how you can make better sense of your life once you realize that God has actually been closest to you when He seemed farthest away; and once you learn why He often speaks to you only in silence. Best of all, Martinez teaches you the secret of true happiness, which you can achieve even amid the troubles that are inescapable elements of every human life. With sober realism and simple faith, this book will show you how to discover and then to take refuge in the comfort our Lord offers you, even when He seems to sleep. Learn to get through the times when God seems distant, as you discover: Silence: why it's essential for all real growth in the spiritual life Why Jesus must seem to sleep in order to refine your love and purify your soul Jesus' thirty "hidden years": the important lessons they hold for your life today The characteristics of the peace of Christ: do you know how to tell it from the fleeting peace that the world gives? Why worry? Two common reasons that people do worry and remedies for each A simple, effective, and gentle procedure for becoming holy in your daily life Prudence: why it's one of the most difficult and most important virtues that you must acquire while Jesus sleeps The three paths to spiritual peace: are you taking them? Do you know what they are? Two times that Jesus grieved and what He meant to teach you in each Humility: why it's so important and how the spiritual tempests of your life help you to develop it True repentance and its counterfeits: three ways you can find the genuine article How the presence of Jesus in your life can transform your experience of suffering The medicine of the spiritual life: why it must often be bitter

This rich and beautifully illustrated book will be a source of stirring entertainment for children, who will fall in love with the strong, dignified, humble, hardworking donkey.

In this pivotal book, Dr. Peter Kwasniewski offers an essential treatise on the question of obedience in the Church-whence it derives and how it is to be properly and prudently understood and lived.

In what is sure to be seen as one of the most impressive and authoritative books ever written on the Catholic Mass, Bishop Schneider reestablishes what Catholics have known for centuries but have largely forgotten today: that the Mass is the highest form of Christian prayer, which enables us to express with exterior worship our interior belief.

The horrific 1915 earthquake that levelled tiny Manoppello, Italy, brought forth from the local church's rubble one of Christendom's long-lost, but most precious relics: the small cloth that lay on Jesus's face in the tomb. Saint John speaks of it in his Gospel: "When Peter went into the tomb, he saw linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself." Tradition says that Our Lady herself laid this cloth on His face before He was wrapped in His shroud for burial. This small veil, now known as the Holy Face of Manoppello, absorbed the very first new breath of the Risen Christ . . . and at that same instant had imprinted on itself, miraculously, a vivid image of the now-resurrected Jesus. Modern scholars have confirmed that this image corresponds perfectly in all its measurements to the face of the dead Christ on the more famous Shroud of Turin. Unlike the Shroud, however, the Holy Face of Manoppello shows not the grim visage of a dead man with eyes closed, but the lively face of the living Christ, His eyes wide open, piercing us with their gaze. In 2006, Pope Benedict made a pilgrimage to Manoppello to pray before this image. In the decade since then, tens of thousands of other pilgrims have followed in the Pope's footsteps, making the trek to central Italy to meet Jesus face-to-face. Now, thanks to author Paul Badde you can learn of the loss and recovery of this precious relic. Better yet, by means of the dozens of color pictures in this book, you, too, can encounter this miraculous cloth, and finally gaze reverently on the face of the living Christ Himself!

For the first time, EWTN Publishing has compiled and made available to you the beautiful meditations on the Stations of the Cross, collected and edited by Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe - longtime chaplain at EWTN.

There is a fierce battle happening between Our Lord and Satan for the Soul of your daughter. If God is to win, you must do your part as a man, leading her as the Good Shepherd leads us all. You've got to stop being an overworked, out-of-touch father, and become the firm but gentle leader of your home.In these honest and insightful pages "¬‚¬" based on decades of his own experiences with his three daughters "¬‚¬" author Alan Migliorato admits that it takes sustained efforts to learn the manly art of raising a daughter. But the reward is great, yielding just the kind of father-daughter relationship your daughter needs if she is to grow into a strong, well-balanced woman of faith.Among other things you'll learn here are:How to repair a damaged relationship with your daughter "¬‚¬" and even your wifeWhy it's important to know your daughter's friends "¬‚¬" and how to do itHow to teach your daughter to put God first in her lifeThe three things you must know about dealing with your daughter's boyfriendHow to teach your daughter to defend herself physically, emotionally, and spirituallyThe five signs your daughter is addicted to social media "¬‚¬" and what to do about itThe seven things you must do to be a manly manWith the help of the wise advice in these pages, your daughter will grow holier, your marriage better, and your family happier "¬‚¬" all because you've mastered the manly art of raising a daughter!