Grieving With Grace: A Woman's Perspective by Dolores R. Leckey
“This is a book about grieving; about Tom Leckey; about a marriage; about change and new life; about women. It is the story of a journey undertaken after a spouse’s death, a journey, however, viewed in light of the couple’s long journey together over the course of many years.”— read more at the For Your Marriage website

Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk of Cincinnati was affiliated with the Franciscans of St. John the Baptist Province on Monday, Feb. 9. During the affiliation ceremony held at the provincial headquarters in Cincinnati, Provincial Minister Jeffrey Scheeler, O.F.M., recognized the archbishop’s steady support for the Franciscans since 1982 and called Archbishop Pilarczyk “a friend, a brother with an admitted ‘soft spot’ for the friars.”

About fifty friars and local Poor Clares gathered for the ceremony that presented the archbishop, long an author of St. Anthony Messenger Press, a certificate and statue of the province’s namesake, Saint John the Baptist. In accepting the honor of affiliation, Archbishop Pilarczyk described why the friars are so special to him: “When I think of Franciscans, I think of a smile. Keep smiling, brothers. The Lord is with us.”

With the spring equinox and blessed Easter right around the corner, it’s time for spring cleaning, not only of our spaces but also our spirits.

Let Susan Rowland help you. In Make Room for God: Clearing Out the Clutter, she shares with us her time- and experienced-tested methods that will help us simplify and unclutter not only our lives, but most importantly, our spirits. She tackles everything from how to let go of the extra stuff we just can’t seem to live without to the feelings of discontent, disconnect, anger, jealousy, abandonment and bitterness that can seem to possess us.

In five comprehensive sections Rowland takes us on her own journey of self-discovery and self-simplifying. She reveals how she disengaged from the societal pressure to do constantly and to have insatiably, and most importantly, how, in the process of letting go of so much “clutter,” she became stronger, healthier and more spiritually cleansed—with plenty of room for God.

This spring, begin making room for God with this book--check it out here.

Newly released by St. Anthony Messenger Press is The Simple Way: Meditations on the Words of Saint Francis,  by Murray Bodo, O.F.M. According to Bodo, this gift-sized book “is meant as a help to meditation, as a book to pray with, and as a personal notebook.”

Each quotation from Francis is accompanied by the author’s reflections and space to record your own meditation or prayer. Section titles include "A Simple Way to Love God," "A Simple Way of Living," "A Simple Way to Love One’s Neighbor," "A Simple Way of Prayer" and "A Simple Way to Love God’s Creatures."

Teresa V. Baker, author, Franciscan Way of the Cross: The Peace Prayer, writes, “Whether reading Francis’ words for the first time or reading them with a renewed vigor, these reflections offer all people the opportunity to interface with the world in the manner of the Poverello.”  Go here to order this book.