Forty Penances for Spiritual Exercise: Living the Great Gift of Mercy, is a collection of popular penances arranged by a parish priest for faith-sharing groups meeting over six weeks, or for an individual reader seeking more creative ways to pray. They include 10 psalms, 22 other scripture passages, a walk to search for beauty, un-telling a lie, remembering one's baptism, a freely done tithe, the immensity and absurdity of sin, 72 tools of the spiritual craft, naming my cross, what's missing, anger the Jesus way, Saint Benedict's 12 steps to humility, the song that makes me say "yes ," the at-hand stretch, the greatest command, to bed one hour early, four or five toward intimacy, the breath of the Risen Lord, and claiming apostleship. Stephen Joseph Wolf is a parish priest in Nashville who spends most Mondays in silence and solitude writing for faith-sharing groups and spiritual direction. Visit idjc.org.

99 Poems, a bunch of odd pictures, and 3 downside-up songs. These twenty years of lines tell of one vocation in progress still by the grace of our patient God. Except for random thoughts while running, really jogging, I rarely thought of poetry and put not a poem on paper since some Christmas lines in the second grade. Introduced to journaling, and asked to write a psalm, "a song to God" a habit settled in and then a second. When a writer advised that a poem is a thing that ought be read out loud, editing became intense joy. A seminary teacher more than once described a priest's life as being with people in the sacred moments of life. In a very odd way, these poems have been with me in the sacred moments of my own life. They have helped me to remember what I believe God is saying to each of us every moment of every day and night: "I made you, I know you, and I love you." - Rev. Steve Wolf

Pondering Our Faith is revised with the New Creed and offers a six-week review of Catholic faith basics for followers of Jesus the Christ to learn, teach and pray: The New Evangelization, The Church, Sacraments, Vocation, Moral Formation In Christ, and The Sacred. Compiled by Nashville parish priest and spiritual director Stephen Joseph Wolf, here too are a handful of traditional songs, pastoral notes, and questions for reflection and story telling for each week. Pondering Our Faith is for adults, parents and catechists, and helpful for individual study or for groups of 5 to 15 people. Any attempt to articulate the faith will be imperfect, because we are trying to speak about our God. The narrative of Pondering Our Faith is excerpted with permission from the 2005 document of the U.S. Bishops, National Directory of Catechesis, which drew on input from countless faithful, clergy and lay, in a brave attempt of this generation to articulate the Christian faith.

Psalter of Lectio is a revised guide to using your Bible to pray the way a monk might pray outside of the monastery. "Psalter" means the collection of psalms and canticles (poems and songs embedded in scripture) used by the early hermits, a collection developed by St. Benedict and the entire monastic tradition, which is always in a state of reform. "Lectio" is shorthand for "lectio divina," which means literally "sacred reading." Psalter of Lectio allows a pray-er to review the antiphons of all of the psalms and canticles prayed by the Church on a particular day of the week, choose an antiphon that seems to speak to him or her, and then go to the related psalm or canticle to listen to what the Lord might want to say on a particular day. The introduction includes concise and descriptive paragraphs on ways to use the book, the traditional four-step process of lectio divina (read, meditate, dialogue, and sitting open to contemplation), brief summaries of what some of today's teachers of praying are saying, and an invitation into "lectio continua," or continuous day-to-day reading in prayer of the Bible in its entirety, as one abbot says, "omitting nothing, doing honor to the integrity of revelation." Psalms for Night Prayer are also offered, as are simple charts comparing Psalter of Lectio with the Four-Week Psalter used by most priests and religious, and a chapter-a-day reading plan for praying the entire Catholic Bible over 44 months. Most significant are the three blank lines following each psalm antiphon to allow the pray-er to enter the psalm verses prayed, and so build his or her own Personal Psalter for those times when prayer is difficult. Compiled by a parish priest who loves praying the Psalms and the Gospels, Psalter of Lectio may be the best answer to the oft-repeated question of believers: I want to pray with my Bible; how do I begin?

Tree of Life: Incarnation, Passion & Glory, Saint Bonaventure on the Christ Story. This is Saint Bonaventure's 13th Century collection of fifty meditations on the Incarnation, Passion, and Glory of Jesus Christ. Following the 1978 translation by Dr. Ewert Cousins, parish priest and spiritual director Stephen Joseph Wolf offers a paraphrase with brush-ink drawings.

A Simple Family Breviary is a modern version of the Little Office of Saint Francis of Assisi by a parish priest trying to help families pray together. Each prayer session includes a traditional song, a psalm of the season, either a psalm of Saint Francis or a psalm from the commons of Mary and the Saints, and closing praises. The order of prayer is easy to follow and offers variety day to day and month to month, and includes a calendar of major feasts of the church year. This simple once-daily prayer is suitable for a family, the classroom, midday at work, and with co-workers. Stephen Joseph Wolf is a parish priest of the diocese of Nashville, and Angie Bosio is Director of Youth Ministry at St. Stephen Catholic Community in Old Hickory, Tennessee.

A Simple Family Breviary is a modern version of the Little Office of Saint Francis of Assisi by a parish priest trying to help families pray together. Each prayer session includes a traditional song, a psalm of the season, either a psalm of Saint Francis or a psalm from the commons of Mary and the Saints, and closing praises. The order of prayer is easy to follow and offers variety day to day and month to month, and includes a calendar of major feasts of the church year. This simple once-daily prayer is suitable for a family, the classroom, midday at work, and with co-workers. Stephen Joseph Wolf is a parish priest of the diocese of Nashville, and Angie Bosio is Director of Youth Ministry at St. Stephen Catholic Community in Old Hickory, Tennessee.

Twelve Step Spirituality For Christians is a parish-tested introduction to a vibrant spirituality of honesty, designed for personal exploration or in groups of 5 to 15 people. The main goal of this little book is to expose 12 step spirituality to Christians who may not be familiar with it. Behind this is a conviction that our culture, leaning to addiction, is called to be a culture of life, vocation, and freedom. Some familiarity with these 12 steps will most certainly enrich the life and prayer of every woman and man on any faith journey. Stephen Joseph Wolf, the compiler, is a parish priest and spiritual director in Nashville, Tennessee. The six chapters are When I Am Weak, Let Go And Let God, Sick As Our Secrets, Progress Not Perfection, Let It Begin With Me, and One Day At A Time.

God's Money is written for everyone who has from time to time been consumed with either a lack or an excess of money, for all who seek to better understand why we do what we do with money, and how life can be simpler and more real. Drawing on 14 years experience as an accountant and 12 years as a parish priest, the author is a "retired" CPA and Personal Financial Specialist with an MBA and a pastor of 1,300 families with a Masters of Divinity. God's Money is the fruit of praying over, wrestling with, and preaching on countless passages on good use and misuse of money in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. He translates Deuteronomy 10:14 ("Think! The heavens, even the highest heavens, belong to the Lord, your God, as well as the earth and everything on it") as simply "It is all God's Money." The second of eight sons of Nashville's best TV repairman and church secretary, the author also draws on the blessed experience of growing up in a household with limited finances. God's Money is designed for faith sharing groups and for individual readers.

Planning My Own Funeral? offers a four-week process for planning one's own funeral, ideally in a group of 5 to 15 people. Designed by a parish priest who considers funerals one of the best ways to evangelize families, this little book helps an adult Christian of any age to pray with courage about his or her eventual human death, and how to be more fully alive now. The book can, of course, be used by an individual. But experience suggests that it is much more fun in a group. The concensus of those in one suburban parish after the four weeks was "We never laughed so much while sharing our faith!" Planning My Own Funeral? can also help the faithful Christian to follow the spiritual advice of St. Benedict: "Keep daily your death before you." It may not be appropriate for those under the age of 25, and those who struggle with conditions such as depression are especially advised to use the book in a group. Enjoy this little immersion in the paschal mystery of Jesus our Christ.