Lenten items
The Sermons of St. Francis de Sales for Lent
Given in the Year 1622
by St Francis de Sales
One of the most profoundly influential and deeply inspirational saints in the last five centuries of the Church, St. Francis de Sales is famous for his personality and writings, which have earned him, respectively, the appellation "The Gentleman Saint" and the designation Doctor of the Church.
De Sales’s tempered and gentle yet firm and determined approach to spiritual direction made him a true pearl of great price in the Church’s spiritual patrimony. No one ever mastered the doctoring of souls quite like this gentle Doctor of the Church—as countless saints formed by his legacy will attest. His Marian devotion and dedication to educating the laity by means of modern communication (at that time, leaflets) placed him ahead of his time, and his erudition combined with his sweetness mark him as a highly unusual man in the story of the Church, particularly during his time.
As a bishop of the Church, St. Francis was emboldened by the charism of preaching the Word of God in a truly apostolic manner. In this volume of The Sermons of St. Francis de Sales: For Lent, the Gentle Saint preaches twelve sermons, given during Lent 1622, on key aspects of the Christian life. Chief is St. Francis's treatment of the virtue of mortification: Through fasting, abstinence, and almsgiving, we can learn to resist temptation, avoid losing our souls, live the faith, approach death with a Christian attitude, conduct ourselves properly in illness, and live in mutual charity. In addition, of special interest is the master of meditation's exposition on Our Lord's Passion. Let St. Francis teach you the way to eternal happiness through the toils and labors of Lent, which can be all joy if done for love of God.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 256 pages
First, The Thirty Day’s Prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary in honour of the Sacred Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. “By the devout recital of this prayer, for the above space of time, we may mercifully hope to obtain our lawful request. It is particularly recommended as a proper devotion for every day in Lent, and all the Fridays throughout the year.”
Also included in this booklet is The Thirty Days’ Prayer to St. Joseph, Litany of St. Joseph, and The Thirty Days’ Prayer to Our Blessed Redeemer in honour of His Bitter Passion, the Litany of the Sacred Heart and Short Method of The Way of the Cross
Booklet, size 8.5" x 5.3", 47 pages, Impr 1924
Joseph Studio
RENAISSANCE COLLECTION CRUCIFIX - 13"
From the Renaissance Collection, this crucifix is made of a resin-stone mix and was hand-painted. It measures 33cm.
by Fr Francis X. Weiser, S.J.
If you enjoyed learning about holiday traditions in The Christmas Book, you are sure to love its sequel, The Easter Book. Father Weiser has here applied his winning formula to an explanation of the fasts and feasts of the Lenten and Easter seasons with equally fascinating results.
Paperback, size 5.5" x 8.5", 226 pages
Stations of the Cross, The
by St. Alphonsus Liguori
When my children were young, during Lent we would try to pray the Stations of the Cross at home as a family, but we only had a little pocket-sized book, and the images were nice, but were too small for all the kids to see them. How I wished for a book like this one!
With beautiful full-color images of each Station, along with the traditional prayers of the Stations of the Cross by St. Alphonsus Liguori, this book has everything you need to pray the Stations at home, except for the crucifix.
Hardcover, size 11" x 8", 32 pages
Evangelist Crucifix 10"
by Joseph's Studio
- Material: Resin, Stone Mix
- Dimensions: 10.25"H x 7.5"W x 1"D
- Four Evangelists Wood Like Crucifix
- Elegantly detailed
The evangelists are symbolically detailed on the ends of the four arms of this Crucifix. Inspired by the prophecy of Ezekiel, Matthew is the winged man whose lineage dates back to David, John is the soaring spiritual eagle, Mark is the brave and bold lion and Luke is represented by the ox as a symbol of strength.
by St Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, O.F.M. Cap.
A true treasure of spiritual insights, this little booklet contains the remarkable meditations on the Agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane by Blessed Padre Pio, the stigmatist priest. One of his few writings, the booklet also includes many pictures of Blessed Padre Pio from throughout his ministry. Padre Pio's beautiful and descriptive manner of writing provide a wonderful spiritual insight into that last night of Jesus' human life.
Excerpt: "Jesus has returned to His place of prayer, and another picture, more terrible than the first, presents itself to Him. All our sins with their entire ugliness parade before Him in every detail. He must clothe Himself with this entire unclean mass of human corruption and present Himself before the sanctity of His Father, to expiate everything with individual pains, to render Him all that glory of which they have robbed Him, to cleanse that human cesspool in which man wallows with contemptible indifference. And all this does not make Him retreat. As a raging sea this mass inundates Him, enfolds Him, oppresses Him. Behold Him before His Father the God of Justice, facing the full penalty of divine justice. He, the essence of purity, sanctity by nature, in contact with sin, indeed, as if He Himself had become a sinner! Who can fathom the disgust that He feels in His innermost spirit? The horror He feels? The nausea, the contempt He senses so vividly? And having taken all upon Himself, nothing excepted, He is crushed by this immense weight, oppressed, thrown down, prostrated. Exhausted, He groans beneath the weight of Divine Justice, before His Father, Who has permitted His Son to offer Himself as a Victim for sin, as one accursed."
Booklet, 42 pages
240mm x 200mm
A beautiful dual image of the Shroud of Turin and the face of Our Lord. The images change when viewed from different directions.
Sturdy thick plastic, size 24cm x 20cm
40 Days with the Angelic Doctor
by St Thomas Aquinas
There’s a multitude of Lenten meditation books but only one that’s packed with the wisdom of St. Thomas Aquinas. Journey through Lent with the Church’s greatest philosopher-theologian. This unrivaled spiritual master will guide you in encountering Our Lord and experiencing the type of fruitful Lent that he often experienced.
You will relish this magnificent treasury of sixty-three of Aquinas’s Scripture-based sermons specially selected for the holy season. From Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, you’ll learn how to deepen your prayer life, conquer temptation, resist the evils incurred by sin, and equip yourself for spiritual battle.
In the straightforward, logical language for which he is famous, Aquinas shows you how to detach yourself from the things of this world and refocus on the things above, reflecting on Our Lord and Our Lady as models.
You will learn the importance of fasting to the preservation of chastity and how to perform acts that will increase your humility and purity. As you contemplate the example of Our Lord on the Cross, Aquinas will help you weed out vices and cultivate virtues to prepare for the joys of Heaven.
Let the Angelic Doctor assist you in overcoming idleness and fostering a deeper devotion with stirring reflections on:
- Ways in which the Blood of Jesus is precious and salvific
- The confidence we should place in Our Divine Friend, even in sickness, suffering, and pain
- How Our Lady suffered and how she personifies charity, patience, humility, obedience, and detachment
- Why the pain suffered by Our Lord was the greatest pain possible in this life
- Jesus’ fourfold humiliation on the Cross - and the fourfold exaltation it merited Him
- How Christ manifested all virtues on the Cross, the "pulpit from which He taught all mankind"
Also included are forgotten or little-known traditional feast days, such as the feast of the Holy Lance and the Nails of Our Lord and the feast of the Holy Winding Sheet.
You will find rich meditations on Christ’s Passion and reflections for each day of Holy Week. Best of all, you will discover the greatest love story of all time: the Father who offered His only Son, and the Son who underwent every suffering and sacrificed His life for our redemption.
Paperback, 210 pages
by Bishop Jacques-Benigne Bossuet
Even three hundred years ago, believers found it difficult to sustain for forty days the proper Lenten spirit. That's why even then, countless Christians turned to the writings of Bishop Jacques-Benigne Bossuet (1627-1704), whose great piety and simple eloquence won him renown as one of the greatest preachers of his time.
There is no better time to begin—or to renew—the habit of meditation than during the penitential season of Lent.
If you want to combine the spiritual benefits of a holy Lent with the supernatural harvest that regular mental prayer brings, then you stand to profit from Bossuet’s Meditations for Lent.
These brief but powerful meditations have been collected from the voluminous writings of the great 17th Century Bishop Jacques-Benigne Bossuet, a close follower of St. Vincent de Paul and considered to be among the greatest homilists in Catholic history.
In these pages, Bishop Bossuet will bring you on a stunning inner pilgrimage to encounter Our Lord’s divine charity for souls, as He freely gives His life for you on the Cross. “The whole of Christian life consists in making this journey well,” says the author. “Why do I hesitate to leave?”
Read Meditations for Lent and avoid arriving at Easter Mass distracted and exhausted, having neglected your sacrifices and even ordinary prayers.
Instead, find yourself coming joyfully unto the altar of God, ready and eager to adore the Risen King, with your soul prepared as a worthy dwelling place for the Redeemer.
Paperback, size 7" x 5", 225 pages
by Chrissi Hart
From the Garden of Eden to Golgotha-the myth retold for young audiences.
Discover the legend of the tree that would become the Cross of Christ. Grown from seeds gifted from the heavens, a magnificent tree participates in ancient history before becoming the crowning symbol of Christianity.
With lush illustrations and poetic text, The Legend of the Cross adds a new dimension to the story of Easter and is sure to become a Christian classic for children everywhere.
Also available in hardcover.
Paperback, size 11" x 8.5", 32 pages
Thoughts on the Passion
for Each Day in Lent
As the title suggests, there is a thought or meditation for each day of Lent. Each thought is short - a minute or two - so that even the busiest followers of Christ will find the time.
The meditations end with a short petition, like "O Strength of the Weak! help me to find comfort in Thy sorrows!" (Second Day), or, words from Christ, like " Lose not this precious blood which is shed for you! Let it purify your souls, strengthen your wills, regulate your passions, heal all your wounds." (Third Day).
When Lent arrives, this booklet will provide a quick and easy way to remember the reason for the season.
Booklet, size 8" x 5", 31 pages, Impr 1887
A Thought a Day
by a Religious of the Cenacle
From the Foreword:
"Christ wishes us to remain as little children. Does that mean we must never grow up: never get taller and stronger: never stop going to school? No; it means we must go to Him always as children, in innocence, in confidence, in love. He knows each one of us, knows our faults, knows each things we do and each thought we have. But He not only knows us; He loves us, and because of that love He can understand whatever we may say to Him. He is eager that we go to Him, little children that we are: and the author of this booklet shows us how we may do so particularly during the Holy Season of Lent."
Booklet, size 7.5" x 5.1", 64 pages, Impr 1931
by Marigold Hunt
Dear Children:
"The Gospels are four very short books that tell you about our Lord's life. You can read them quite fast. The reason the same story takes so much longer to tell in this book is that the men who wrote the Gospels just went straight on and hardly even stopped to explain anything. They couldn't be expected to know how we would live, and that we would have forgotten how people dressed and spoke and built houses, and the other customs they had in those days. So in this book, I have to stop and explain all the time, but after you've read it, the explaining will have been done, and you can start reading the Gospels yourself any time you want."
So says the author of this rich retelling of the life of Christ, a tale that possesses the interest, lucidity, and dignity that marks the best of books for children.
Marigold Hunt begins with Adam and Eve and goes quickly through the Old Testament to Jesus, whom she presents simply but not trivially, so children encounter Him in His goodness, His suffering, and His majesty.
Hunt speaks in words and phrases that young children understand and explains terms they may not know. She includes devotions from the Bible (such as the Magnificat, the Beatitudes, and the Canticle of Zachary) along with many of Christ's parables (which she explains).
A Life of Our Lord for Children will make sense of Scripture for your children and help them be more attentive during Mass when they hear the same tales directly from the Gospels.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 189 pages
Revelations of St. Bridget
on the Life and Passion of Our Lord and the Life of His Blessed Mother
by St. Bridget of Sweden
Saint Bridget of Sweden was one of the most privileged mystics in the history of the Church. Born to a wealthy family, she was given in marriage to a pious and good-hearted nobleman, with whom she raised eight children, including the future Saint Catherine of Sweden. When her husband died, Bridget founded an order of nuns, the Order of the Most Holy Savior, more commonly called the Bridgettines. She laboured until her death to spread her order and boost morality and devotion in the decadent 14th century Church. She also labored to bring the papacy back to Rome from Avignon. In all her efforts, she was wise, charitable, and outstanding in sanctity.
Devout from a young age, Saint Bridget also received numerous visions of Our Lord and Our Lady, including intimate details of Our Lady's early life, the Holy Family in Nazareth, and the Passion, first recorded in 1492. Revelations of St. Bridget provides excerpts from these eye-opening visions, which bring into focus many unknown facets of the hidden life of Our Lord and His Mother. These visions have been approved as orthodox and worthy of pious belief by the Holy See. The insights received by Saint Bridget are matched by very few other mystics', showing her privileges before the Throne of God. This volume also includes the famous 15 Prayers attributed to her, popular devotions in the late Middle Ages and our own era.
Do not miss these stirring and vivid accounts from one of the greatest foundresses of the Church's history. Imbued throughout her visions is the undeniable spirit of piety, devotion, and saintliness that characterized St. Bridget's earthly life—and by which she merited to become privy to such sublime mysteries.
Paperback, size 6" x 4", 96 pages
A Contemplative Journey to Calvary
by E. Mary Christie
Follow Christ’s Footsteps from the time of His unjust sentencing by Pilate to His Crucifixion, Death, and burial on Calvary. Vivid portrayal of the Fourteen Stations of the Cross, written in a way that fires the imagination and inspires the soul to a greater love of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 93 pages
With the Church, Volume 1
Advent to the Ascension
by Mother Mary Loyola
Now for the first time in nearly a century, this classic set of meditations on the Liturgical Year are back in print! Written while Mother Loyola was bedridden with a hip fracture, these devotions bring us the urgency of living our life With the Church, for we "know not the day nor the hour."
The Irish Monthly back in 1924 had this to say about With the Church: “Father Thurston tells us that forty years ago Mother Loyola, when bringing out anonymously her first book on Holy Communion, and being anxious to get ecclesiastical recommendation for it, asked him to write a short preface. The favourable reception accorded by the Catholic public to the numerous books which she has brought out since that time has amply justified Fr. Thurston’s judgment in recommending the authoress’s work. This latest book of hers consists of a series of reflections on the feasts of the year from Advent to the Ascension. Her thoughts are always well-grounded and ingenious, and their expression is clear and graceful, with a strong personal charm. They are musings jotted down just as they occur to her devotional spirit and not simply as dictated by a resolution to follow a certain line.”
Paperback, size 5.5" x 8.5", 380 pages
With considerations on the Passion.
Translated from the Italian of St. Alphonsus Liguori by a Catholic Clergyman.
Described in simple language, according to the narration of the Holy Evangelist. This book is filled with the events of Christ’s crucifixion with bible verses placed in appropriate areas for explanation. Also, has many prayers. As you read this unusual book you will feel that you are right there with our Lord and follow Him all the way.
Paperback, size 8" x 5.25", 256 pages