Do this for me, O dearest Lord. Praise does not come easily to these lips of mine. The cares of life, and its failures, and its pains; heaviness of soul, and the weight of the corruptible body, with all the engrossingness of self, wring my heart dry of praise.
A list of great spiritual reading books that will inspire Catholic children from preschool through high school.
The custom of honouring the Eucharistic presence of Christ our Lord by paying “Visits” to the Blessed Sacrament may be quoted as one of the most conspicuous examples of development in the devotional practice of the Catholic Church.
As you make preparations for Lent, perhaps you plan to carve out some time for Eucharistic Adoration. If so, we invite you to join us in reading a wonderful book by Mother Mary Loyola.
Most of us are looking for spiritual reading suggestions that will serve us well during the Lenten season. Of course, there are the tried and true recommendations – Story of a Soul by St. Therese of Lisieux, Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales and others are amazing choices, and can certainly be read over and over again. But if you’re looking for something a little different this year, I have just the thing.
This world is a battleground, and we, the Church Militant, are called to fight evil – whether on a societal level or in the deepest recesses of our own souls – that we might grow in union with God and join Him for all eternity in heaven.
Lord, take my energies, fears and delights
Swaddled as gifts for this holiest night
Find in me merit to offer as well
May all my actions of You always tell
Expectancy of holy heart, in quiet moments set apart,
makes room for Him who came for all as tiny babe in manger stall.
With my hands still burning, and wanting only to erase that awful image from my mind, I turned and walked quickly back to Sarah, who had busied herself staring at some unremarkable section of books as she made the sign of the cross yet again. I know she would have given anything to have holy water in that moment.
In truth, the relationship between religion and spirituality is not unlike the relationship shared between body and soul. To posit, then, that one could be spiritual without being religious would be like saying that one could possess a soul and yet have no need for a body.
