National Catholic Register Saturday Book Pick: Mike Aquilina\'s "A Year With the Church Fathers" (June 4, 2011)
Times change, but human nature does not. Neither do the daily struggles that all Christians experience in their walk with the Lord. Today as two thousand years ago we fight anger, pride, lust, spiritual sloth. Now as then we strive to be more diligent in prayer, more faithful to the commandments, more patient and charitable toward others. And in our time, no less than in the earliest centuries of Christianity, we need wise guidance to direct us on the road to holiness.
In "A Year with the Church Fathers," popular Patristics expert Mike Aquilina gathers the wisest, most practical teachings and exhortations from the Fathers of the Church, and presents them in a format perfect for daily meditation and inspiration. The Fathers were the immediate inheritors of the riches of the Apostolic Age, and their intimacy with the revelation of Jesus Christ is beautifully evident throughout their theological and pastoral writings: a profound patrimony that is ours to read and cherish and profit from.
Learn to humbly accept correction from St. Clement of Rome. Let Tertullian teach you how to clear your mind before prayer. Read St. Gregory the Great and deepen your love for the Eucharist. Do you suffer from pain or illness? St. John Chrysostom\'s counsels will refresh you. Do you have trouble curbing your appetite for food and other fleshly things? St. John Cassian will teach you the true way to moderation and self-control.
" A Year with the Church Fathers " is different from a study guide, and more than a collection of pious passages. It is a year-long retreat that in just a few minutes every day will lead you on a cycle of contemplation, prayer, resolution, and spiritual growth that is guaranteed to bring you closer to God and His truth. From the Church Fathers we should expect nothing less.
Beautiful gift edition, with two- tone ultra soft cover, ribbon marker, and designed interior pages.

Living the Mysteries is a daily devotional--and more--for the period from Easter to Pentecost. Each day features: a brief meditation; a short passage from that day's Mass readings; a reflection on the reading adapted from the writings of the Fathers of the Church; a particular focusing on a relevant point of the mystical or moral life; and a plan with practical applications for everyday prayer and living. This is a thoughtful, practical, and sure-to-be appreciated gift for any new Catholic! (And a great choice for longtime Catholics, too.)

The Seven Deadly Sins: Sayings of the Fathers of the Church is the inaugural volume in a new series from The Catholic University of America Press. This series will feature a wide range of scholars compiling material from the Fathers of the Church series to focus on a specific area of theology. Forthcoming titles will focus on Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell, and Angels and Demons, with others to be announced shortly. Sacred Scripture did not neatly list the seven deadly sins, so where did this tradition come from? Unsurprisingly, it can be traced back to the Church Fathers. But were there eight or seven? In a sense, the answer is “both.” The tradition of the capital sins has a rich development in the patristic era, not only in the presentation of the list of vices but in the preaching and teaching of the early shepherds of the Church. So how do the capital sins spawn other vices in the soul? How does one cultivate the virtues that heal the soul from those vices? How are gluttony and lust related? Is sadness really a vice? How is vainglory different from pride? What role does almsgiving have in soothing the passion of anger? The Fathers of the Church answer these questions and more in this volume. The capital vices are the gateway drugs to countless sins. The path of the book descends through the vices, culminating with their queen ruler, pride. The words of the Fathers will assist the reader in being more realistic about the attacks upon the soul. The text should also be edifying and medicinal. Since each chapter begins with vice and ends with virtue, one’s path through the chapters represents a sort of ascent out of vice and into the freedom of the virtues. The text gives special attention throughout to the thought of Augustine of Hippo, Evagrius of Pontus, John Cassian, Gregory the Great, and Maximus the Confessor.

This little book easily fits in your pocket, but it answers all the important questions about what we believe. A bestseller since it was introduced, it also includes a treasury of prayers, a closer look at the Mass, and a brief manual for confession. Makes a perfect gift for a new convert.

"Lord, teach us to pray"--the petition of the most intimate followers of Jesus--remains the heartfelt petition of every Christian disciple down to the present day.

The divine gift of the Our Father is the foundation of our life of prayer, but it is only the beginning of how Jesus leads us through himself to the Father: then as now, he teaches the Church to pray, and he does the same for us in our individual prayer lives. Shane Kapler's Through, With, and In Him offers practical ways to open up this vital dimension of our spiritual lives, instructing us in how the Church's sacraments and private devotions unite us to the prayer continually issuing forth from the heart of Christ.

Jesus will continue to teach us if only we open our ears and eyes to his words and example. In this, as in all things, Christ is the Door. This new book by the author of The God Who is Love brings us to the threshold of that Door, and beyond. Open this book, and learn to pray anew.

Explore the impact of each of the early Christian women on the Church, then and now. Their stories will enthrall you. Their writings will inspire you. Their witness will empower you.