In Pleading, Cursing, Praising, the renowned scholar, spiritual guide, and teacher Irene Nowell brings together her many gifts to offer Christians today a remarkable guide to praying with the psalms. Nowell maintains that the psalms teach us to tell our story, to cry out our pain, and to give praise to God. They also teach us to listen-to the voice of God, the voice of Christ, the voices of the people around us, and the voice of all creation. This book includes questions and exercises for personal reflection, brief prayers for praying along the way, and suggestions for composing one's own psalmprayers. It promises to enrich the spiritual life of everyone who reads it.

Cardinal Walter Kasper has written, "It is time, it is the right time, to speak of God." In this book, readers are invited to explore the Hebrew Bible and use their God-given ability to work through important questions about God, including: Why is God so angry in the Bible? Is the biblical God male or female (or what)? Who is Satan? Why do people suffer? By exploring the Bible's answers to these and other biblical questions, Smith offers readers encouragement to "think from the heart"-that is, "intellectual exploration that is touched by the heart and also touches on matters of the heart"-about the nature of God. Readers are further invited to nourish their vision of God in order to better know and serve God and humanity.

Many have called the psalms a ‘school of prayer’ and indeed St. Augustine in his Confessions wrote that the psalms could be a stepping stone to deeper conversation with God. These ancient words from Scripture mirror our own thoughts and emotions—celebration and praise, suffering and lament, gratitude and asking for help—as relevant today as when they were first sung in the Temple. Fr. Martin Shannon brings deep teaching as well as the personal encounter of someone who has chanted and studied the Psalms for years. Each reflection is on one psalm, offering a meditation on its meaning and how it connects to our lives, followed by a word from one of the ancient church fathers and a prayer. There is a reflection for each of the forty-seven days from Ash Wednesday to Easter that reflect the various twists and turns on the Lenten journey. Readers will discover the power of the psalms to inspire their own Lenten journey towards Easter.

What are believers to do when belief and lived experience collide? Must the experience of suffering be hidden or pushed aside in favor of only “positive” expressions of praise during corporate worship? Focusing on the premise that “worship is not pain denial,” this book seeks to reveal the dearth of soul care within modern corporate worship, and the multidisciplinary approach needed to build and implement a more thorough approach that calls and enables believers to weep with those who weep, to bear one another’s burdens, and continue Christ’s ministry of reconciliation.

Apart from the work of God in creation, it’s notoriously difficult to explain the presence of beauty in the world and man’s appreciation for it. Indeed, the aesthetic realm (with its array of phenomena which engage the senses, the mind, and the heart) not only suits the biblical account of the universe, but also points toward it. In making this case, sixteen writers address the shortcomings of naturalistic narratives, the virtues of theistic accounts (particularly those grounded in Christ), and the manner in which the various arts resonate with Scripture. Along the way, readers will encounter the peacock’s tail and Farnsworth House; a Schubert piano sonata and “chopsticks”; Kintsugi and Kitsch; Hugh of St. Victor and Hans Urs von Balthasar; Kandinsky and Eisenstein; the Lydian and Phrygian modes; eucatastrophe and liminal space; McDonald’s and Don Quixote; Sméagol and the Blobfish; Stockhausen and Begbie; Adorno and Kinkade; Mount Auburn Cemetery and Narnia; Fujimura and Schopenhauer.

This six-part study introduces participants to foundational spiritual practices. It is structured to cultivate Christian covenant community, encouraging participants to build relationships with one another as they deepen their relationship with God. The introduction encourages participants to view discipleship as a lifelong journey, not merely a static set of beliefs. Using the journey of Abraham as an example, it provides an opportunity for participants to outline significant “stops” along their life’s journey. The five practices include Scripture, prayer, generosity, evangelism (or witness), and service. In the Scripture session, participants read covenants from the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures as relational documents that deepen our understanding of the relationship God desires with us. The prayer session outlines types of prayer, discusses obstacles to prayer, and introduces classic prayer forms. The generosity session highlights an ancient understanding of grace, encouraging participants to understand giving as an expression of their trust in God. The evangelism session encourages participants to view their lives as compelling narrative and provides a structure for crafting their spiritual autobiography. The final session, service, considers our role within the church and the world, providing a process for discernment by evaluating skills and passions in light of the needs around us.

The Ministry of Cantors has long been a valuable resource for music ministry formation. This new edition includes valuable insights from Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship. The revised edition addresses more fully the distinction between the roles of psalmist and cantor, suggests further concrete ways a paschal mystery spirituality must undergird both roles, and offers practical insights for helping one discern the call to be a cantor. New content also explores the power of the psalms to transform those singing into the kind of persons God is calling them to be. As with the first edition, this new book does not present the "how-tos" of vocal technique, warm-up exercises, diction principles, etc. Instead, The Ministry of Cantors focuses on what the cantor is doing beneath vocal technique: surrendering self to the dying and rising of the paschal mystery. The aim of the book is to help cantors delve more deeply into who they are and who they are becoming through their ministry: the Body of Christ pouring self out in voice, breath, and prayer for the life of the world.

To take a journey, travelers must know where they are, where they are going, and how to get there. Moral theology examines the same three truths. The Christian Moral Life is a handbook for moral theology that uses the theme of a journey to explain its key ethical concepts. First, humans begin with their creation in the image of God. Secondly, the goal of the journey is explained as a loving union with God, to achieve a share in his eternal happiness. Third and finally, the majority of the book examines how to attain this goal. Within the journey motif, the book covers the moral principles essential for attaining true happiness. Based on an examination of the moral methodology in the bible, the book discusses the importance of participating in divine nature through grace in order to attain eternal happiness. It further notes the role of law, virtue, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit in guiding and transforming humans into friends of God, who participate in his happiness. Following this section on moral theology in general, the book analyzes the individual virtues to give more concrete guidance. The entire project builds upon the insights of great Christian thinkers, such as Thomas Aquinas, Thérèse of Lisieux, and John Paul II, to uncover the moral wisdom in scripture and to show people how to be truly happy both in this life and the next. This book will be of great interest to undergraduate students of moral theology, priests and seminarians, parents and teachers seeking to raise and to form happy children, and anyone interested in discovering the meaning of true happiness.

Born and raised in the Midwest to a low-income family, Martin was raised in a racially diverse culture in the unforgiving and yet unbreakable town of Flint, Michigan. Having never met his biological father and having been adopted at a young age, Martin grew up in a religious family that often failed to practice what they heard preached on Sunday. Journey into Love chronicles Martin's journey through adolescence, marrying, having children at a young age, and the lessons learned throughout his life. Along the way, Martin experienced many teaching moments that, while not evident to him at the time, formed him and fermented in his subconscious as he continued to make choices, some wise and some poor, based upon his need for immediate gratification. Though unique in his specific experiences and the depth to which he took his studies to learn and grow, many of the challenges that Martin struggled with and describes in this book are common to many individuals, men and women, in today's society. As a Benedictine oblate, Martin developed close relationships with many priests, monks, nuns, and spiritual directors of different faiths. These relationships and the wisdom gained from these mentors and spiritual guides are woven into both sobering and humorous anecdotes throughout this book. In addition, Martin shares his experiences leaving the corporate world to pursue a path of service to others and personal exploration. The steps he took to divest himself of the material possessions he had acquired and begin this monumental shift in lifestyle is chronicled in detail for those also considering this path.

The completion of all thirty-seven volumes of the New Collegeville Bible Commentary means an important new resource is fully available to all who wish to delve more deeply into the word of God. Now the one-volume, hardcover edition brings together every volume into a single, accessible guide to the entire Bible in a convenient and attractive format. This comprehensive resource contains the same expert commentary that characterizes the complete series of individual books. Contributors include some of today's most highly regarded Scripture scholars, as well as some of the freshest young voices in the field. The commentaries, while reflecting the latest in biblical scholarship and study, are written in easy-to-understand language and bring expert insight into the Old and New Testament to Bible study participants, teachers, students, preachers, and all readers of the Bible. Includes full-color maps.