Spiritual Life
by Fr. Paul O'Sullivan, EDM OP, STL
Everyone wants to be happy. While not everyone wants to be holy, we all should—especially because this is the surest way to become happy. Christ Himself gave us very clear directions on how to be happy when He sat down and pronounced the Beatitudes. Since then, all the Saints have sought to follow the advice of their Divine Creator and Redeemer in the way of true joy.
In How to Be Happy; How to Be Holy, Fr. Paul O'Sullivan offers guidance on how to achieve both sanctity and happiness, showing how the two go hand in hand. Providing lovely anecdotes from the lives of the Saints, Fr. O'Sullivan shows us in a warm, encouraging, and inspiring way the importance of prayer and the ease with which we can all derive great benefits therefrom. While not yet Saints ourselves, we will surely make it there following the advice of this little book. Among the contents are expositions on all the major prayers (and some lesser-known ones), explanations of the Mass, meditations on the mysteries of the Rosary, and more. This book is a pocket method for approaching heaven and thus true happiness.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 234 pages
by Bishop Fulton Sheen
"The search for pleasure is a sign of emptiness which the Divine alone can fill." - Bishop Fulton Sheen
In one of his most popular and best-selling books, the beloved Catholic prelate deftly strikes at the very heart and soul of humanity's universal predicament: overcoming roadblocks to genuine spiritual peace and union with God.
Lift Up Your Heart was written to help all those who struggle to ascend beyond the mere human (ego) level and I-level of existence to reach the supernatural or Divine-level. With clarity, logic, and unshakable faith, Sheen provides guidance in solving the problems caused by the tensions and stresses of living in a troubled modern world.
This treasured classic contains simple, practical advice on identifying and overcoming conflicts associated with empty pleasure, character weakness, self-discipline, false beliefs, and the fear of "letting go."
Above all, the book offers enduring words of wisdom on grace, prayer and meditation, sanctifying the present moment, and making up for the past.
Paperback, 280 pages
The secret of peace and happiness
by Fr. Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure and St. Claude de la Colombière
To trust in God’s will is the “secret of happiness and content,” the one sure-fire way to attain serenity in this world and salvation in the next. Trustful Surrender simply and clearly answers questions that many Christians have regarding God’s will, the existence of evil, and the practice of trustful surrender, such as:
- How can God will or allow evil?
- Why does God allow bad things to happen to innocent people?
- Why does God appear not to answer our prayers?
- What is Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence?
This enriching classic will lay to rest many doubts and fears and open the door to peace and acceptance of God’s will. TAN’s pocket-sized edition helps you to carry it wherever you go, to constantly remind yourself that God is guarding you. He does not send you any joy too great to bear or any trial too difficult to overcome.
Paperback, size 6" x 4", 140 pages
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
by Fr Denis Fahey, C.S.Sp
Mental prayer is, in a certain sense, the most important exercise of the spiritual life. Fidelity to it (saints tell us) will ensure salvation; its complete abandonment may lead to perdition; progress therein means a corresponding progress in the interior life of union with God. Hence, the special value of books which treat of mental prayer. The excellence of the present work lies in the source from which it is drawn. St. Thomas Aquinas holds a unique place among the Doctors of the Church. He has become the official theologian of Christ s Mystical Spouse, her Universal Doctor. She has canonized his teaching, making it her own in all its essential elements.
This is the first of Fr. Fahey's books to be published, and it remains one of his most important for it presents the foundation of his spiritual life of prayer that was so fruitful.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 58 pages
And Other Working Women
by Hubert Van Zeller
This unique spiritual guide will help you grow holier and more prayerful as you perform the most menial household chores -- not in spite of those chores, but in the midst of them.
Written especially for women in charge of households, Holiness for Housewives will help you better understand and respect your vocation as a housewife -- and discover in it your own God-given path to sanctity.
This handy guide will show you how to:
- Find meaning in even the most boring work
- Pray in the midst of a bustling household
- Bear the stress of those long days in which the work never seems to end
- Develop a greater awareness of God's presence -- even amid the diapers and the dirty dishes
- Learn to rely more on your will and less on emotions, when life seems to be an endless round of drudgery
- Handle your burdens and sorrows with prayers that are especially fashioned for housewives
Let Holiness for Housewives show you how to find and savor the lasting pleasures that await you in your noble, God-given vocation as a housewife!
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 104 pages
by Rev. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.
Catholic doctrine on the interior life of Christ as it relates to our own interior life. The profound explanation meaning of Our Lord's words and actions in a manner understandable by all, yet to a depth few doctors of theology would even guess was there! Each chapter is virtually a glorious essay that can stand alone.
Paperback, size 9" x 6", 398 pages, Impr.
by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Way to Inner Peace, was first published in 1954, in this book Bishop Sheen describes the path to inner peace. He begins with humility, then goodness, happiness, virtue, learning, wisdom, and faith. Along the way he expounds on the essential truths that guide the path and help bring about the inner peace many of us seek. A useful guide for those seeking change in their life.
Paperback, size 9.25" x 6.15", 100 pages
by Msgr Robert Hugh Benson
Paperback, size 9.5" x 7.5", 100 pages
Victory Over Vice
by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Fulton Sheen claims that since all seven deadly sins led Christ's enemies to nail Him to the Cross, we can find in the example of His suffering and death sure means to overcome each of those sins, plus the key to understanding — and to nurturing in our own soul — each corresponding virtue.
So, for example, in these pages filled with wisdom and hope, Blessed Sheen teaches us not only how to conquer our gluttony; he shows us how to satisfy our spiritual hunger. We learn not merely how to overcome pride; we discover what we must do to grow humble. From Christ's holy response to each of the seven deadly sins that led to His Crucifixion, Blessed Sheen draws a lesson in how you and I must deal with those same sins, whether we meet them in others or in ourselves.
Day after day, Christians struggle to do good, to avoid evil, and to take up with patience and love the crosses that threaten to crush them. For those of us who still know more of sin than sanctity, Fulton Sheen's revelation of the light that vice sheds on virtue affords a way to understand even better, and a means to attain it. If you abide by the holy counsel of these pages, enduring virtue will soon be yours: you will have achieved your own long-sought-after victory over vice.
Paperback, size 7" x 5", 128 pages
A Handbook for Christians
by Fr William Ullathorne
Find lasting happiness through the two virtues that lead to all others: patience and humility.
Heroism, self-denial, and even martyrdom are worthless without humility and patience. This book shows you how to develop these two key virtues, no matter how difficult your circumstances may be.
You’ll learn why Jesus said that to save your life, you must first lose it, and you’ll come to see how the self-surrender in humility and patience is guaranteed to bring you lasting peace and happiness.
From this simple book you’ll learn many things:
- Ten ways you can start acquiring patience today
- Why God’s patience is the guarantee of your salvation
- Humility: why it’s the foundation of our Christian Faith
- The startling reason why God rejects the proud
- The four ways that patience heals the soul
- Easily hurt or disappointed? Learn the Lord’s antidote!
- How to avoid all spiritual injury – forever!
- Why humility is the very core of holiness
- The battle for your soul: do you know who’s winning?
- God’s own humility: it’s a searing lesson for the proud
- Minor troubles: how to keep them from overwhelming you
- The secret rewards of humility that only the humble know
- Five obstacles to virtue: how to overcome them
- Why troubles may be your most valuable possessions
- How faith depends on the virtue of humility
- Three obstacles to prayer: a simple way to wipe them out
- Six conditions for making your prayer more effective
- Spiritual problems: how to gain strength to overcome them
- And many other truths to make your life happier and holier
Paperback, size 7" x 5", 144 pages
by Canon Alfred Weber
“His Holiness Pope Pius X desires me to send you His thanks … for having raised an outstanding monument of sacred literature on the foundation of the Holy Gospels.” (Letter of Cardinal Merry del Val to Canon Weber.)
Have you ever wished you could read all four Gospels in one single, unbroken narrative? Canon Alfred Weber allows you to do just that thanks to his outstanding work The Four Gospels in One.
Using the words of the Evangelists themselves and relying on the harmonization of the best Scriptural scholars, Weber weaves the four Gospel texts into one seamless account, allowing us to accompany Our Lord Jesus Christ at every step of His earthly life, from the Incarnation right through to the Ascension.
Illustrated by the beautiful engravings of Gustave Doré, supplemented by copious and informative notes from the Fathers and great Ecclesiastical writers, as well as by maps and plans of Palestine and Jerusalem in the first century, this wonderful book deserves a place in every Catholic home.
Features of this book:
- Douay-Rheims text
- Detailed introduction on the importance of the Gospels in the mind of the Church
- Reader’s layout (no columns or verse numbers)
- Comprehensive notes giving important doctrinal, historical and geographical explanations
- Special sections on Our Lord’s journeys during His Public Life, the layout of the Temple, the city of Jerusalem
- Appendix on the foretold destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
- Maps of Palestine and Galilee, model of the Temple of Herod and plan of the city of Jerusalem
- Synoptic table of the main events of Our Lord’s life and the places and times they occurred
- Table referencing Gospel excerpts for every Sunday and major feast days
- Beautiful illustrations by Gustave Doré
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 490 pages
Crown of the Virgin
An Ancient Meditation on Mary's Beauty, Virtue and Sanctity
by St Ildephonsus of Toledo
In this book, St. Ildephonsus of Toledo provides a powerful, imaginative and lyrical set of meditations on the Immaculate Mother of God, reflecting on her splendour, beauty and sanctity.
This publication is the first translation into English of a Latin work, entitled Libellus de Corona Virginis, or “The Little Book on the Crown of the Virgin.” Traditionally, it has been ascribed to St. Ildephonsus of Toledo, a great monk, abbot and bishop of the 7th century. St. Ildephonsus contributed powerfully to the dissemination of the doctrine of the Perpetual Virginity of Our Lady in Western Europe, and to the popularization of fervent Marian devotion in Spain. In this beautiful, moving and ornate literary portrait, the author imaginatively and lyrically fashions a magnificent crown for the Blessed Virgin Mary, decorated with twelve radiant jewels, six brilliant stars and six fragrant flower blossoms. Each of these is interpreted as representing a particular aspect of the beauty, beneficence, virtue or sanctity of the Blessed Virgin.
A perfect companion for guiding daily devotion to the Mother of Mercy and the Queen of Heaven, each chapter reveals a new and scintillating glimpse into the glories of Mary, sure to inspire the heart of the reader with ever more ardent devotion to the Mother of God, the vessel of all graces and the paradigm and perfection of every virtue. As a guide to meditation and a catalyst for prayer, the Crown of the Virgin is an illuminating mirror of the beauty and splendour of the one who is herself the refulgent and immaculate image of her Divine Son.
Hardcover, size 7.25" x 5.25", 144 pages
by unknown
The Thoughts of the Cure D'Ars is the most beautiful, simple, and inspiring statement of practical Catholic wisdom that most of us will likely ever read. Consisting of short, profound sayings, almost comparable to the proverbs in the Bible, this little book reflects perfectly its simple but holy author, St. John Vianney.
Jean-Marie Baptiste Vianney (1786-1859) was popularly known as the Cure of Ars, or the parish priest of Ars, which is a small farmer's village north of Lyons, France. Though of poor education, the Cure of Ars was very intelligent and well versed in the Faith. He rose to great sanctity, converted thousands of souls to Christ, became famous throughout the Catholic world, and in 1929 Pope Pius XI proclaimed him "Patron Saint of Parish Priests" worldwide! This little book is a sample of his sanctity and wisdom.
Booklet, size 6" x 3.75", 80 pages
We are all so apt to idealise the Saints whom we love to study and honour, and strive to imitate, that we are in danger of forgetting that they possessed a human nature like our own, subject to many trials, weaknesses and frailties. They had to struggle as we have to struggle. In the case of some of the Saints we are able to come nearer to the reality by reading the letters which have been preserved, in which in their own handwriting they have set down, without thought of those who in later days might read their words, the details of their daily life and struggle. Thus in the few selected Letters of the holy foundress of the Visitation which are now being published in an English translation we get glimpses of her real character and spiritual growth which may be more helpful to us than many pages of formal biography.
Paperback, size 8" x 5", 255 pages, Impr 1917.
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
by the Very Rev. Dean A.A. Longs.
Originally published by Benziger Bros. in 1899.
41 short, enjoyable chapters covering the life of the Divine Child starting with "Necessity of a Divine Redeemer", to "The Birth of the Blessed Virgin", and continuing with "The Nativity of Our Lord, etc.
This book teaches many examples to be applied in life for the younger generation. Example: chapters on humility, obedience, mortification, charity and "Jesus the model of Industry."
Paperback, size 6" x 5", 256 pages, Impr.
by Fr. Raoul Plus, S.J.
Simplicity: the sure path to God!
The saints assure us that simplicity is the virtue most likely to draw us closer to God and make us more like Him.
No wonder Jesus praised the little children and the pure of heart! In them, He recognized the goodness that arises from an untroubled simplicity of life, a simplicity which in the saints is completely focused on its true center, God.
That's easy to know, simple to say, but hard to achieve.
For our lives are complicated and our personalities too. (We even make our prayers and devotions more complicated than they need be!)
In these pages, Fr. Raoul Plus provides a remedy for the even the most tangled lives.
Relying on the words of Jesus and the lives of the saints, Fr. Plus maps out a sure path to the simplicity which Jesus praised, a simplicity that bestows on all of us who seek it happiness, courage, and inner peace, no matter how complicated our circumstances may be or how crowded our days.
Holy simplicity.
With the wise help of Fr. Plus, you will soon savor the strength that simplicity brings . . . and the abiding joy. With his help, you can attain it.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 96 pages
How the journey of self-denial leads to perfect union with God.
by St John of the Cross
In Dark Night of the Soul, Saint John of the Cross presents for us a portrait painted from his own experience of one who advances successfully through the struggles of the spiritual life. The dark night that St John describes is not abandonment by God but special consideration from Him for those who desire to purify and perfect their souls.
With a soul purified from earthly attachments, we can advance through the much quoted but oft misunderstood dark night of the soul into unity with God. By accepting the desolation and difficulty of this process, the soul cooperates with God and opens herself to receiving and revealing more perfectly God's glory.
Be not afraid: Dark Night of the Soul, though austere and exacting in its instructions for holy living, is laced with St. John's charity and kindness, his love of all things beautiful and sacred -including you.
Also available in Hardcover.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 218 pages