A celebration of seven different winter holidays observed in the US and the traditions that unite them all. Diwali, Solstice, Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Bodhi Day, and Lunar New Year are visually depicted in turn, accompanying a stunning, read-aloud text that speaks of the traditions that link them all together. The warm yet accurate imagery is explained in simple secondary text on each spread, and further in the backmatter. Beloved author Jane Yolen and daughter, author Heidi Stemple, have crafted a loving and poignant story with true reverence for our shared traditions of celebrating light, love, food, and family. An empowering, informative, and inclusive holiday book for families of all traditions.

2023 Catholic Media Association First Place Award, Church Professional The eucharistic celebration is a vital part of the life and ministry of every priest and deacon. At the same time, the Eucharist is also a compelling narrative of all that Christ is for the people of God. In this book, Fr. Scott Detisch explores a spirituality of holy orders through the eucharistic actions of Christ: take, bless, break, and give. These are more than ritual actions the deacon or priest performs within the liturgy. As they did for Jesus Christ, these eucharistic words define who a priest or deacon is for God’s people.

“Honor thy father and thy mother.” This is the fourth commandment from the ten God gave us through Moses in the Bible. This fourth follows the initial three signifying our duties to the Supreme Being. After God, our next obligation is to our parents. This shows the importance of parents. Notice the word is “honor.” It does not say “obey”; but “honor” certainly includes “obedience.” Furthermore, this commandment does not end when we each reach maturity. The commandment of honor signifies we must respect our parents all their lives. Our mother was Norah Attracta Cusack. Our father was Joseph Charles Meissner. By the usual social standards, they were very ordinary people on this planet. However, they possessed their own wonderful beauty and intelligence. They were most extraordinary parents who welcomed us to life, took care of our needs, ensured we received great educations, and devoted their lives unselfishly to us for decades. But they gave us much more than our mere bodies. They gave us faith, hope, and love during their long lives. They showed us how to live as God urges us to live. They continuously nourished us spiritually from our mother’s nightly “demands” to kneel in the living room praying the rosary to our Blessed Virgin to our father who drove us even in the blinding snow, freezing cold, and storms to church every week, ensuring we arrived on time. Here are words from my brother Robert for our parents: “As for our son, Scott, [who suffering from severe PTSD, ended his life], I agree he is somewhere around and still present in the universe. So are our mom and dad. I think after we die, we will learn how all this is done—you know Mom and Dad are the greatest proof of God, religion, and an afterlife. They were so good and worked tirelessly for our family. If you asked them about religion, the church, and faith, they might say it really doesn’t matter, except you treat your fellow human beings with dignity and acknowledge God as Father. The rest of the argument really doesn’t mean that much.” So to Mom and Dad, we celebrate your lives and say an enormous thank-you.

In this third volume of papers from Thomas Merton’s conferences during his decade (1955-1965) as novice master at the Cistercian Abbey of Gethsemani, his insight into the liturgical pattern of the Christian year and beyond is presented in fresh detail. Merton’s own commitment to this central dimension of Christian life is clear, and nowhere more so than in his work introducing students to the patterns that would mark their lives as monks. Though dating from the period just before the liturgical reforms of Vatican II, Merton's commentaries remain pertinent. The thoroughly annotated text is preceded by an extensive introduction situating this material in the context of Merton's lifelong writing on liturgy. Moreover, as his former student Br. Paul Quenon notes in his foreword, this context is one deeply rooted in Merton’s understanding of Scripture. ‘These notes . . . take us into one man's lifetime of reflection and seasoned experience of the Church Year.’

Pain, betrayal and death, especially love and beliefs, experiencing the magic, confused by the past, Sarah and Adriel try to save the door to heaven, facing his own father, a war among men and faith in Gad. Heaven and earth "An endless day or many with you and I smiled"

Although he had no father figure in his life, he had someone to listen to him, answer him when he had questions about anything that came to mind. He had his grandparents that taught him that self-acceptance was vital to his existence. They knew his mother would have a hard time accepting him in the first place. Of all the things in his life he thought he needed... it was him that needed guidance to himself. Until he became a father, was when it would become more difficult because he thought, he didn’t have the right tools to be the father he needed to be. The story begins when he was able to see that his daughters were teaching him without him even knowing it, he slowly began to realize.

The pursuit of our God-given destiny is often a struggle of yearning-a yearning to walk in our God-given destiny that is fueled by a burning desire to walk in the fullness of all that God has spoken to us about us. Yet with every step that we attempt, we appear to be more clueless as to where our journey leads, where we thought this yearning was leading us and what we thought we knew is often shrouded in a cloud of uncertainty. Did we really hear God? Did He really assign this Kingdom Destiny to me, and is it too big for me? It is this yearning and grasping for certainty and understanding amid this burning desire to walk in our God-given destiny that just will not allow us to quit even when uncertainty continually beckons us to throw in the towel. I have been right there just like many of you. I have and continue to walk along this journey, yearning and grasping to fully understand the vast complexity of God's plan for my life, driven through the vehicle of FAITH undergirded in the power of PRAYER. Therefore, I encourage us all to pray continually for understanding and guidance, as we press ever forward to the fulfillment of all that God has said to us about us, that is yet to be seen ALL BY FAITH! A Journey to Kingdom Destiny is a collection of my prayers and inspirational thoughts in pursuit of my God-given destiny that has encouraged me to keep pressing forward even after I have thrown in the towel and God has given it back to me. It is a collection of prayers and inspirational thoughts shared with others who likewise believe in the power of prayer. These shared prayers and inspirational thoughts have empowered this Abiding Faith Ministries collective prayer fellowship, and likewise, I bet you too will be encouraged to be steadfast through every challenge, issue, and struggle as your vision of destiny continues to burst forth on the horizon of your life, believing that no matter what it may look like or feel like right now, one prayer can change everything ALL BY FAITH!

Volume three in a three-part series that functions as a pastoral tool for sharing the word of God; focuses on Cycle C and emphasizes using the lectionary in catechesis throughout the year.

The Digha Nikaya or the collection of long doctrinary lectures of the Buddha is one of the five Nikayas or collections belonging to the Suttapitaka or the basket of (Buddha`s) discourses which is one of the three majorr collections of Pali Buddhist texts, the other two being Vinayapitaka and Abhidhammapitaka. It consists of 34 long suttas of which each individual one treats intensively some particular point or points of the doctrine. The Buddha, like other Indian teachers of his time, taught by conversation. He followed the literary habit of his time by embodying his doctrine in set phrases, sutras, on which he enlarged on different occasiions in different ways. When the Buddha died these sayings (suttas) were collected together by his disciples into the great Nikayas of which the present one is the first.

Devotional time is usually “quiet time”—a moment to sit and reflect on Scripture and connect with God. Hands-On Bible: 365 Devotions for Kids will reignite and energize your family devotions. Your kids will be giggling, singing, dancing, creating, and getting excited about the Bible all while praising God and growing closer to Him. Each of the 365 action-filled devotions comes to life with fun activities and games using regular household items. No need to run out and buy extra supplies! With Hands-On Bible: 365 Devotions for Kids, your children will get into the Bible, and the Bible will get into their hearts, giving them a priceless foundation of faith in God.