All too often, a married person may find himself or herself in the following scenario: “When one person wants God at the center of life and the other is ambivalent, a self-proclaimed agnostic or atheist, a conflict exists that can make communication challenging. Unfortunately, many couples allow these tensions to tear them apart.”

Rather than losing hope and communication in your marriage and falling into divorce, try following the sage advice given in Donna Erickson Couch’s new book, Together But Alone: When God Means Something Different to Your Spouse. Couch, a veteran of such a situation, offers wise, practical help for those who do not want their own spiritual quest to become a divisive factor in their marriages. She points out that people “must renegotiate the ‘rules’ of intimate relationships when a calling for God echoes within....”

Chapters deal with such issues as: • Growth and Stagnation • Longing, Loneliness and Love • Solitude and Community • Mystery and Relationships • Children and Family • Friends and Guides • The Journey Ahead

Gentle words and advice on following one’s own spiritual path form the heart of this book. Ronald Rolheiser writes, “Together But Alone is a needed book, balm and guidance for anyone suffering from moral loneliness....I heartily recommend this book.”

Is there a spirituality inherent in our relationship with the earth? Is our planet more than a commodity, to be used and abused and discarded by human beings? How can we develop a holy relationship with the earth and its creatures? How does our view of our planet home relate to our Christian faith? What can Francis teach us about personally responding to the earth?

These are the questions addressed by Care for Creation: A Franciscan Spirituality of the Earth by Ilia Delio, O.S.F., Keith Douglass Warner, O.F.M., and Pamela Wood. Care for Creation provides a comprehensive view of creation and the environment and the Christian place within creation through the lens of Franciscan spiritual values. The authors contribute from their areas of expertise: environmental science, Franciscan spirituality and reflective action. These three perspectives on care for creation show that living interdependently and cooperatively underlies a rich unfolding of life in unity and harmony.

If you are concerned about the survival of our ecosystem, Care for Creation can guide you on the Franciscan path toward caring for the earth. Combining good science with solid theology and practical applications, this book displays the genius of the Franciscan tradition in confronting today’s environmental crisis. The authors show how a contemporary Franciscan spirituality of creation, following the footprints of Jesus with the guidance of Saint Francis of Assisi, can help renew the face of the earth in our own time. Care for Creation includes steps for individuals and churches to take to reduce their impact on the environment.

Like the author of Saints Off the Pedestal: Real Saints for Real People, you might wonder what model of holy living the saints can provide besides “be good, don’t stray, keep your eyes on the life beyond.”  We assume that spending time learning about these saints will teach us nothing, in our twenty-first-century sophistication, but there’s much more than you think, as Amanda Roberts discovered while writing this book.

Roberts takes a close look at saints like Peter, who failed so utterly as to do exactly what he had earlier said was impossible–betraying Jesus. Roberts points out that it is in these moments that we fallible human beings are touched by the living God who is ready to forgive and grace us with more love than we imagined possible. Reflections and reflection questions bring the lessons from each saint’s story into present-day struggles and concerns. As an example, Peter’s story is followed by such insightful questions as: How do you deal with your own failures and disappointments? How do you experience God’s abundant grace? Roberts also casts a discerning eye at the stories of Augustine of Hippo, Francis of Assisi, Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila, Aloysius Gonzaga, Martin de Porres, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Katherine Drexel, and Therese of Lisieux. In all of these stories she finds the details and specific struggles that make the saint “real” to us,  that can touch, inform and inspire us on our own path to holiness and God.

"Of course!" average cradle Catholic women would say. They’ve been hearing about Mary for their entire lives. But, do you really know Mary? Is Mary the frozen beatific figurine on your living room mantle or spotlighted in your front yard grotto? Or can she be more?

That’s the question Ginny Kubitz Moyer asked readers of her blog at BustedHalo.com. The answers, from women readers aged 30 to 40 years, intrigued her, so she cast a wider net to include women of all ages. Her new book, Mary and Me, describes what she discovered about Mary from the many responses she received. The answers are as varied as the women themselves. As she writes in the introduction to this book, “Their stories form the heart of this book. Woven together, they create a tapestry of ways that Mary speaks to women’s lives, a gathering of remembrances and reflections and insight.”

Mary is a source of help and inspiration to these women in varied and often surprising ways. Whatever you think you know about Mary, Mary and Me will expand your vision of the Mother of God.

February 11, 2008, marks the beginning of a worldwide celebration of the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France. In his just-released book, The Miracle of Lourdes: A Message of Hope and Healing, John Lochran writes: “At the heart of Lourdes stands an encounter of love between a child and a Mother, a child called Bernadette Soubirous and Mary, Mother of God and our Mother. That meeting happened a long time ago in 1858. It was a sacred and special moment that would forever change the face of a small French village, reach way beyond the Pyrenees, reawaken the spiritual yearnings of people from every corner of the earth and make Lourdes what it is today, a worldwide center of pilgrimage.”

Lochran knows firsthand what inspires people to journey to Lourdes: He was chaplain for more than ten years to English-speaking pilgrims there. His book recounts not only the story of Lourdes but offers his insights and spiritual reflections on what is the true message of the miracle of Lourdes.

Lochran says, “To serve as a chaplain of Our Lady of Lourdes is always an honor for any priest. To me it meant much more. It was a gracious gift of a merciful and loving God, who, in bringing me to Lourdes, gave me new life, new hope and a new mission.”

One hundred and fifty years after the appearance of Our Lady to Bernadette, the message of this remarkable and moving story is as valid today as it was then. It has touched the hearts and shaped the lives of countless people and continues to do so today. “Lourdes is a message,” writes Lochran, “not just for a past time. It is for our time, for every time.”

The Miracle of Lourdes is a perfect companion for an armchair or personal pilgrimage to one of the world’s most visited shrines.

Enjoy some time in the presence of a spiritual master with Song of the Sparrow: New Poems and Meditations by Fr. Murray Bodo. Every page of this beautifully written book offers spiritual food for thought. Bodo’s journey of 50 years as a Franciscan and talent at expressing the inexpressible enable him to share his profound insights with us. Bodo contemplates "Rainfall and Night Thoughts," "The Silence Inside," "Gray Days," "Open Spaces," and topics such as trusting, listening, letting God be God, being and doing, and much more. In the chapter on trusting, he writes, “More valuable than any logic or proof for God’s existence demonstrated in books is personal experience of God. People of prayer and interiority know God mainly through God’s working in their lives. They have known God in the prayers that were answered, in problems and in difficulties overcome that only the power of God’s Spirit can explain, and above all in the charity of their lives that transcends human patience and love and reaches a new level of selflessness that faith alone makes possible.”

This Lent, spend some time with a master who’s found the joy of God over his many years of prayer and contemplation and shares it in this very readable book.

If your parish has not yet explored the rewarding idea of “twinning” with another, possibly less-advantaged parish in another city, region or country, a new book, Bridges of Faith: Building a Relationship with a Sister Parish, can show you how to do it, step-by-step. “Twinning” parishes are given an opportunity to share the blessings they have received with a “twin” parish that might have more pressing needs and issues. As the United States Bishops’ Pastoral Letter, Called to Global Solidarity, instructed: “We are members of a universal Church that transcends national boundaries and calls us to live in solidarity and justice with the peoples of the world....[P]arishes need to be more Catholic and less parochial.” The letter continued, “[M]ore than 1,700 parishes in the United States have connected in special relationships with Catholic communities in Central and South America....These bridges of faith offer as much to U.S. parishes as their partners. We are evangelized and changed as we help other communities of faith.”

Bridges of Faith: Building a Relationship with a Sister Parish is an excellent tool for the manager of the twinning process. A companion book, Bridges of Faith: A Personal Journal, provides participants with an active, hands-on opportunity to record their dreams and experiences of the twinning process, as well as practical tips for better approaching and appreciating cultural differences.

Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, a new book from best-selling author Richard Rohr, takes us deeply into the underlying themes of Scripture, from Old Testament to New. Rohr finds patterns that move us beyond a surface understanding of what God is telling us there about himself, his world and his Incarnation in Jesus Christ. In this insightful and often surprising book, Rohr traces the texts and subtexts of Scripture, finding fertile ground to explore such themes as forgiveness, grace, the fullness of God, intimacy, humility, and more.

Rohr speaks to both the head and the heart in the book, and we emerge at once more knowledgeable and more compassionate. As he states in chapter one, “This marvelous anthology of books and letters called the Bible is for the sake of astonishment! It’s for divine transformation (theosis), not for intellectual or ‘small-self’ coziness.” Take time with Richard Rohr to go deeper into Scripture. You won’t be the same after reading Things Hidden.

Arriving just in time for Christmas, God and Country: Reflections for Catholics in the Military makes a perfect gift for any Catholic serving in the military, whether at home or abroad. Military personnel are familiar with the field manual, the basic military how-to book. A retired Army colonel who served as chaplain in the Vietnam, Panama and Desert Storm military actions, author Rev. Michael Ortiz calls God and Country a field manual for Catholics because “its intent is to offer Catholics serving in the army, air force, navy, marines or coast guard a refresher course on the basic tenets of their faith.”

Especially designed for use in the field, God and Country has a camouflage-design cover of heavy stock with rounded edges to facilitate durability and and is pocket-sized to make it easy to carry. Catholics in the military will find comfort as this booklet reminds them of their faithful God. 

“Over two thousand years after his death, Jesus of Nazareth continues to be the object of fascination, devotion and controversy....” So begins Daniel J. Harrington’s new book, Jesus: A Historical Portrait. The popularity of recent movies such as The Passion of the Christ and The Da Vinci Code demonstrates people’s intense interest in Jesus’ life and times, but without the time and academic credentials to examine ancient sources, it can be difficult for a layperson to glean truth from all the speculation.

Fr. Harrington has done this and presents it in this book, based on the popular newsletter series of the same title recently published by St. Anthony Messenger Press. He discusses the world of Jesus, Jesus the teacher, Jesus the miracle worker, Jesus and politics, Jesus and women, and other aspects of Jesus' life and ministry. John P. Meier, professor of theology at Notre Dame University, commented on this book: “One is astonished that anyone could condense so much learning and insight into so few pages.”

If you’ve ever wondered how mystics experience God, Murray Bodo, O.F.M., tells you in his new book, Mystics: Ten Who Show Us the Ways of God. Best-selling author of Francis: The Journey and the Dream and numerous other books, Fr. Bodo introduces his book by describing the mystic’s experience: “The moment of ecstasy for all mystics is the moment of God’s entrance into their lives, an experience so intense that they are aware of nothing except the infinity of God’s love, and they want nothing but to submit themselves to the will of that love—the source of all bliss, of all fulfillment and enlightenment and peace.”

Fr. Bodo chose to study mystics such as Mary, the mother of God, Francis of Assisi, Jacopone da Todi, Julian of Norwich, Catherine of Siena, John of the Cross, Therese of Lisieux, and Gerard Manley Hopkins for this book. In the Introduction he writes, “The mystics have been touched by God in an extraordinary way and in some cases have written extraordinarily well of the inner journey. Every mystical text is the story of an individual’s encounter with God. In those words we can find inspiration and motivation to seek, with the same single-minded perseverance, to be open to God’s voice.” This book shows us, too, how to be open to God’s voice.

Are you or a loved one glued to the screen?  A new book from St. Anthony Messenger Press can help. Breaking Free of the Web: Catholics and Internet Addiction by Kimberly Young, Psy.D. and Patrice Klausing, O.S.F., offers clinical and spiritual guidance to Catholics wishing to break free of addiction and return to health.

Kimberly Young is an associate professor of management sciences at St. Bonaventure University. A licensed psychologist, her work on Internet addiction has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and ABC’s World News Tonight. She has written two other books on Internet addiction, Caught in the Net and Tangled in the Web, but this is the first to add the crucial spiritual component.

“My previous books focused much more on clinical intervention and techniques. In Breaking Free of the Web, Scripture and reflection pieces are added to make the book the first faith-based perspective on Internet addiction,” says Dr. Young. “We focus on the main aspects of Internet addiction – cyber-sex addiction, infidelity online, vocational problems related to Internet addiction, parenting issues related to Internet addiction, stages of Internet addiction – and explore in depth each subtype of abuse mentioned." Sr Patrice Klausing, a teacher at St. Clare College and formerly a counselor at The Counseling Center in Wellsville, New York, adds, “There are relational, psychological, physical, spiritual and economic consequences that are affecting multitudes of people, many of whom have not yet sought help or admitted they have a problem.”

For those who have not yet recognized their addiction, or concerned family members or friends of the addicted, this book can begin the process of healing.

Two new books from St. Anthony Messenger Press invite you to deeply experience the spiritual call and life of two radically different saints: St. Paul and St. Joan of Arc.

In St. Paul: Called to Conversion, Ronald D. Witherup introduces us to a Paul influenced by the diverging characteristics of the world he lived in, yet deeply committed to what he had seen and heard of the Lord he encountered so abruptly on the road to Damascus. Witherup introduces his retreat by recognizing that “Paul wrote to real people with real problems and questions....We are in the same boat. We also have our troubles and our questions. We also seek guidance in our lives. We make a retreat precisely so that we can step back, take a larger view of life, listen more intently for God’s Word, and return with a renewed sense of purpose and direction.” For this, Witherup offers Paul as an excellent spiritual guide.

St. Joan: God’s Warrior by Barbara Beckwith, managing editor of St. Anthony Messenger magazine, invites us to retreat with one whose life has inspired innumerable plays, films and even operas. A retreat with Joan invites us to step outside our ordinary boundaries, as she did hers, commenting at one point about “women’s work,” “There are plenty of other women to do it.” Joan’s hair, cut short to fit her battle helmet, was but one of the outward signs of her commitment to what she heard God telling her to do. Following Joan, above all, teaches us to learn to trust when God calls us to reach beyond ourselves, to take a risk. “Trust is accepting the loving embrace of God and realizing we are always standing on large shoulders,” Beckwith writes.  Join Joan on a life-changing journey.