Posts Tagged ‘books’
A Catholic Mother’s Companion to Pregnancy
Drawing on the example of Mary and the saints, the author offers helpful guidance for pregnancy, childbirth and baptism. She reflects on the mysteries of the rosary, offers simple faith practices, and explains an element of Catholic belief related to each chapter’s theme. A perfect gift for a newly pregnant friend or family member!
Prayers for the Domestic Church: A Handbook for Worship in the Home
Do you ever find yourself at a loss for words when the moment arrives to pray during a family gathering, for example, at Christmas or Easter dinner, after a child’s baptism or during an engagement party? If so, “Prayers for the Domestic Church” may be the resource you need.
Cave Refectory Road
The author writes,“I sense that there’s a deep stream of possibility in the monastic way that can help us in the 21st century to find new ways to live.” The monastic rhythm, he says, suggests that “most of our hurrying is unnecessary and perhaps even harmful.”
The Pornography Epidemic: A Catholic Approach
Pornography has become a major issue for many couples. This small, highly readable book offers information and guidance to men who use pornography, their wives and loved ones, and parents who want to protect their children from its tragic effects.
Why Children Matter
This book by a Bruderhof pastor has “the tenor of wise counsel,” says our reviewer. It’s “full of advice for cherishing, guiding and nurturing children, and it is realistic about the challenges of parenting.”
Cravings: A Catholic Wrestles With Food, Self-Image and God
Is there such a thing as a spirituality of food? The author says that family mealtimes and slower eating are key to a “saner and healthier diet.” She makes a persuasive case for “more mindful eating” and ways to “reframe our food-focused thinking.”
My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds With the Help of the Saints
The author, an abuse survivor, offers helps for those who experienced childhood sexual abuse. She draws on the wisdom of the saints, such as Ignatius of Loyola and Theresa of Lisieux, to guide the sufferer through difficult periods.
Spicing Up Married Life: Satisfying Couples’ Hunger for True Love
Will a wife and husband who together create a meal for the two of them not only stay together but enrich their relationship in ways that contribute to their long-term happiness? This priest/chef/author offers tempting recipes plus discussion-starters to help spouses rekindle their marriage.
The Infertility Companion for Catholics
Subtitled “Spiritual and Practical Support for Couples,” this book delivers what it promises. It offers a comprehensive look at infertility from many perspectives, including possible treatments in light of Church teaching.
Discerning the Will of God: An Ignatian Guide to Christian Decision Making
Here’s a book for anyone who faces important decisions, whether related to marriage and family or not. The author explains how to discern God’s will when we are faced with two good possibilities.
The Busy Family’s Guide to Spirituality
How can parents encourage each family member “to grow in faith, hope and love”? Drawing on the wisdom of St. Benedict, the author offers practical guidance for dealing with the difficult tasks of family life.
Saints on Call: Everyday Devotions for Moms
When we need help or encouragement, it’s nice to know that we can turn to those special friends of God–the saints. These short biographies of 50 female saints will delight and inspire the reader.
Help Your Child Make Friends and Be a Friend: Nurturing Lifetime Relationships
Most parents would agree that communicating with teenagers about relationships and love is anything but easy. The book will “help parents teach their children to deal with all aspects of the relationships they’ll form throughout their lives.”
Catholic & Newly Married: 5 Challenges and 5 Opportunities
Here’s an ideal book for couples who want to strengthen their marriage from the outset. It outlines five challenges couples will experience as they begin to build their own marriage, and it directly relates each challenge to an opportunity flowing from it.
Embracing Motherhood
For the faithful Catholic mother who seeks to raise her children in a devout household, the author offers support and ideas. Motherhood, she says, is not a condition to be endured but a vocation to be embraced.
God Is Love: The Heart of Christian Faith
Here’s an excellent choice for your summer spiritual reading. Fr. Kelly’s new book offers “a meditation on what it means to identify God as love.” He hopes it will encourage readers to contemplate God’s “awe-inspiring transcendence” and the transforming reality of divine love.
Blessed Is Marriage: A Guide to the Beatitudes for Catholic Couples
Even though married life is challenging, couples can still aspire to holiness. This new book shows how couples can use the Beatitudes to develop a more loving attitude.
Gifts From Heaven: Providence in Our Family
Is God always present and active in family life? The authors believe so. Their many stories reaffirm their belief that only the hand of God explains the outcome of key events in their lives.
Grow Old Along With Me: Marriage in the Later Years
Based on interviews with successful, long-married couples, the authors offer insights for those who want to make the most of the later years of marriage. This enjoyable, easy-to-read book includes stories and questions for reflection.
Blessings and Prayers for New Parents
“This short book–”for imperfect parents”–includes prayers for all kinds of occasions in family life, along with observations and suggestions for parents. There’s a prayer for letting go, and another when a child is in the emergency room. It’s a great book to keep close at hand and to use often.
Your Time-Starved Marriage
“In these hectic, hurry-up, stressful times, every couple we know – including ourselves – is rushing around to get more done in less time,” say the authors. “Life in the fast lane inevitably means less time with the one you love.” Read how couples can maximize their time together.
A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms
Are you looking for a little inspiration from a canonized saint or blessed? This book makes it easy to choose a saint for a short period of prayer or to find weekly models over the course of a year.
The Christian Way to Be Happily Married
“We do not need to retreat to a monastery, convent or mountain cabin for prayer, fasting and a traditional contemplative life in order to become increasingly virtuous, Christ-like persons,” says the author, David Sanderlin. “We can become increasingly virtuous, Christ-like persons in our own home by acting with love, wisdom and other Christian virtues in our busy marriage and family life.”
The Catholic Marriage Wisdom Book
Several hundred brief and not-quite-so-brief quotations on marriage, family life and parenthood make up “The Catholic Marriage Wisdom Book” compiled by Donna Marie Cedar-Southworth. There is advice here – from Scripture, novelists, theologians, famous individuals and ordinary married couples — for making marriage work, along with reflections on the meaning of marriage and the personal growth of spouses.
Remarriage in the Catholic Church: A Couple’s Guide
Remarriage following a death or divorce raises difficult issues, some of which are unique to second marriages. This small book covers everything from dealing with loss and guilt to creating a blended family.
