Bøger udgivet af Ave Maria Press

In Just Married: The Catholic Guide to Surviving and Thriving in the First Five Years of Marriage, nationally syndicated radio hosts and international family life speakers Greg and Lisa Popcak combine decades of counseling, the latest findings in marriage research, more than twenty years of marriage, and the wisdom of Catholic teaching to offer couples the most up-to-date look at what it takes to create and sustain an incredible Catholic marriage that will last a lifetime. Recent research indicates that now more than ever couples report feeling insecure about their ability to create a marriage that will withstand the test of time. In Just Married, Catholic therapist Greg Popcak and family life coach Lisa Popcak offer newlyweds a master plan for growing a strong bond in the first five years of marriage. Through the Popcak's experience of a rocky start to their own marriage and their expertise in marriage counseling, readers will learn that despite the odds, every couple has the capacity to live happily ever after. Couples will discover that they need only commit to learning the critical skills of the first five years of marriage, including: praying together, conflict resolution, stress management, and holy sex.

Acclaimed, award-winning essayist and novelist Brian Doyle (1956-2017)--whose writing, in the words of Mary Oliver, is a gift to us all--presents one hundred original prayers that evoke his deep Catholic belief in the mystery and miracle of the ordinary (and the whimsical) in human life. In, A Book of Uncommon Prayer: 100 Celebrations of the Miracle & Muddle of the Ordinary, which was named A Best Spiritual Book of the Year by Spirituality & Practice, you will find a series of prayers unlike any of the beautiful, formal, orthodox prayers of the Catholic tradition or the warm, extemporized prayers heard from pulpits and dinner tables. Doyles often-dazzling, always-poignant prayers include eye-opening hymns to shoes and faith and family. In Doyles words, the world is crammed with miracles, so crammed and tumultuous that if we stop, see, savor, we are agog, and the pages of his newest book give voice and body to this credo. By focusing on experiences that may seem the most unprayerful (one prayer is titled Prayer on Seeing Yet Another Egregious Parade of Muddy Paw Prints on the Floor), he gives permission to discover the joys and treasures in what he often calls the muddle of everyday life.

When Sr. Miriam James Heidland's life as a successful college athlete proved unfulfilling, she went searching for something deeper and ended up falling in love with Jesus. By charting her own journey toward wholeness, Heidland invites young Catholics to pursue their own relationship with Jesus. Although originally full of athletic ambition and goals for a career in sports news, Heidland was transformed in a very slow but deep way during her undergraduate years, moving from party girl to bride of Christ. In Loved as I Am:An Invitation to Conversion, Healing, and Freedom through Jesus,Heidland helps readers learn from her experience of seeking love in the wrong places and instead finding it in Christ.She shares her struggleslearning she was adopted, battling alcoholism, and healing from childhood sexual abuseas signs of hope that anyone who desires to know Christ can find him and be loved intimately by him in return. By bringing readers into Heidland's healing process,Loved as I Am provides a gentle and subtle template for finding peace and freedom in Jesus.

In this first book from an openly lesbian and celibate Catholic, widely published writer and blogger Eve Tushnet recounts her spiritual and intellectual journey from liberal atheism to faithful Catholicism and shows how gay Catholics can love and be loved while adhering to Church teaching. Eve Tushnet was among the unlikeliest of converts. The only child of two atheist academics, Tushnet was a typical Yale undergraduate until the day she went out to poke fun at a gathering of political conservatives, who happened also to be Catholic. Instead of enjoying mocking what she termed the "e;zoo animals,"e; she found herself engaged in intellectual conversation with them and, in a move that surprised even her, she soon converted to Catholicism. Already self-identifying as a lesbian, Tushnet searched for a third way in the seeming two-option system available to gay Catholics: reject Church teaching on homosexuality or reject the truth of your sexuality. Gay and Catholic: Accepting My Sexuality, Finding Community, Living My Faith is the fruit of Tushnet's searching: what she learned in studying Christian history and theology and her articulation of how gay Catholics can pour their love and need for connection into friendships, community, service, and artistic creation.

Greg and Lisa Popcakpopular Catholic authors, radio hosts, and marriage and family expertspresent this unique guide to caring for one's baby, self, marriage, and spiritual life in the first three years of parenthood. InThen Comes Baby:The Catholic Guide to Surviving and Thriving in the First Three Years of Parenthood,Greg and Lisa Popcak lend readers the benefit of their twenty-five years' experience in parenting and marriage and family counseling to help them navigate the earliest years of parenthood. They recommend rituals, routines, and tips on how to manage feeding, fatigue, and finances and how also to prioritize marital bonding and faith life, suggesting that setting the pattern early will pay dividends later. The Popcaks coach Catholic couples as they become first-time parents as they adjust to their new identities and help them face the inevitable challenges of parenthood with ideas for bonding with babies and getting sufficient sleep and nutritionall while seeing these everyday experiences through the lens of Catholic teaching on the purpose of family life.

In this comprehensive manual, a radically new way to make the Spiritual Exercises is presented to retreat directors, spiritual guides, parish leaders, and other pastoral ministers. Michael Hansen, S.J., provides vast background and wise counsel in showing leaders how to direct The First Spiritual Exercises.

Invites priests to recognize the dignity of their calling through honest and psychologically based self-assessment because happiness in the priesthood flows from both wholeness and holiness. The author stresses that psychology can be effective in improving the lives of priests, and the priesthood itself, if it works with a basis of spirituality.

This creative prayer compendium invites readers to spend an hour in eucharistic adoration while meditating on the seven last words of Jesus. Charles Murphy includes a simple how-to guide for making a holy hour as well as profiles of seven contemporary figures such as Edith Stein and John Paul II who are models of eucharistic devotion and whose lives bear witness to Jesus final words.

In A Catholic Mothers Companion to Pregnancy: Walking with Mary from Conception to Baptism popular Catholic blogger and speaker Sarah A. Reinhard presents the first book to accompany expectant mothers from conception to baptism. This book includes weekly reflections and prayers rooted in the mysteries of the Rosary and related to the baby's physical development. Designed to help expectant mothers embrace pregnancy as an opportunity for spiritual growth, A Catholic Mother's Companion to Pregnancy prepares mothers for the trials and joys of pregnancy, childbirth, baptism, and, ultimately, motherhood. Each week of pregnancy is paired with a mystery of the Rosary, a personal, down-to-earth reflection from Reinhard, advice for living the sacramental life, and a prayer to help the reader grow in faith as she bonds with her unborn child.

In this first book to explore photography as a spiritual practice from a Christian perspective, Christine Valters Paintner builds on the process of contemplative creativity she introduced online at Abbey of the Arts and in her book The Artists Rule. She considers how a camera can help readers open the eyes of the heart. More than a book on photographic technique, Eyes of the Heart is about cultivating photography as a spiritual practice. Adapting the monastic practice of lectio divina (sacred reading) into a form of visio divina (sacred seeing), spiritual director and Benedictine oblate Christine Valters Paintner invites readers to a new way of viewing the world--through the lens of a camera. Paintner guides readers through six themes connecting the medium of photography with the Christian spiritual life. Each theme provides a photographic journey in which the reader does not simply take images, but receives images and learns to see with the eyes of the heart (Eph 1:18). Photos by the author are included.

For almost five hundred years, the Spiritual Exercises have been available only to priests and religious who could spend thirty days in silence under the guidance of a spiritual director. Now they are available as four retreats on inner peace to people in every stage of spiritual growth.

From biblical scholar John Bergsma, two-time teacher of the year at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, comes this fresh, creative, and authentically Catholic introduction to the big picture of salvation history.

In Real Men Pray the Rosary: A Practical Guide to a Powerful Prayer, a powerful story of a vital prayer movement that is igniting men's hearts, David N. Calvillo narrates his own life-changing experience of the Rosary, presents a comprehensive guide to the Rosary, and offers a 33-Day Rosary Challenge. ';The Rosary is for old ladies and funerals.' Or is it? In David N. Calvillo's debut book, he reveals how each week, thousands of men of all ages and backgrounds join together in the Real Men Pray the Rosary movement and are seeing the fruit of this spiritual discipline in their lives and families. Destined to become a new centerpiece of Catholic men's spirituality, this dynamic book and movement bring men together, deepening their devotion to Christ through Mary. Often surprising and always inspiring, Calvillo combines storytelling with a profound, inviting guide and convincingly shows how the Rosary is alive and well today—for men. Real Men Pray the Rosary is also an ideal gift to men from the women in their lives.

These booklets provide the basis for small-group dialogue, leading participants progressively deeper into spiritual reflection and contemplative living. Each contains an introduction with a brief biography of Thomas Merton and information on how to use the booklet. Eight weekly sessions each include an opening Psalm reading, an introduction to the session theme, readings from Merton and one other spiritual writer, and questions for contemplative dialogue. Sessions are designed to last between ninety minutes and two hours with weekly themes becoming progressively more probing. Request a free introductory DVD and download a leaders guide at avemariapress.com.

Joyce Rupps bestselling contemporary classic has sold more than 200,000 copies. This new edition continues a fifteen-year tradition of helping individuals and groups pray. Now with a new preface and fresh design, The Cup of Our Life is available to anyone seeking a more intimate and disciplined life of prayer. Joyce Rupp, the bestselling Catholic woman writer today, illustrates how the ordinary cups used each day can become sacred vessels that connect readers with life and bring them into closer union with the Divine. She explores how the cup is a rich symbol of life, with its emptiness and fullness, its brokenness and flaws, and its many blessings. With daily devotions for six weeks, this book is ideal for individual usage as well as group usage in parish settings, religious communities, and small Christian communities.

With over one million books sold in her career, Joyce Rupp presents her newest undertaking: a unique collection of daily meditations that draw from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and other sources, offering wisdom and insight about the God who is beyond all names. Bestselling author Joyce Rupp once again proves herself a wise and gentle spiritual midwife, drawing forth 365 names of God from the world's spiritual treasury. Fragments of Your Ancient Name-whose title comes from a poem by German mystic Rainer Maria Rilke-assembles a remarkable collection of reflections for each day of the year. This unique and profound devotional will heighten awareness of the many names by which God is known around the world. Whether drawing from the Psalms, Sufi saints, Hindu poets, Native American rituals, contemporary writers, or the Christian gospels, Rupp stirs the imagination and the heart to discover a new dimension of God. Each name is explored in a ten-line poetic meditation and is complemented by a simple sentence that serves as a reminder of the name of God throughout the day.

Joyce Rupps characteristic creativity and reverence for the Divine are on full display in this collection of prayer resources for birthdays, holidays, holy days, transitions, and many other occasions, helping readers enter more deeply and reflectively into the liturgical and seasonal celebrations of their lives. Ideal for personal use, or as a gift for loved ones celebrating a landmark occasion, this enduring spiritual classic is an invaluable resource for ministers, spiritual directors, and lay leaders alike, who turn to its prayers, reflections, and rituals for personal and communal occasions both ordinary and profound.

With over 25,000 copies sold of the hardcover version, this paperback edition of Macrina Wiederkehr's bestselling book, Seven Sacred Pauses: Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day , invites readers to learn how to pray the hours through the practice of consciously pausing at the seven sacred moments of each day, making their daily passage through time a more sacred pilgrimage. Using scripture, poetry, reflections, personal stories, and quotes from a rich array of spiritual teachers for many religions, Wiederkehr helps readers become more attuned to living in the present moment and develop a kindred spirit with the rich tradition of the sacred hours. Seven Sacred Pauses is a wonderful gift to those who seek to find balance in their busy days and to bring the practice of the Divine Hours home to their own hearts

In Experiencing God, Thomas H. Green, S.J., presents a brief and accessible guide to prayer. Green reminds readers that prayer life is, above all, a relationship with God and a deepening of our experience of God. Fr. Green, who died in 2009, spent a lifetime teaching fellow Christians to pray. Experiencing God is a treasury of his best insights. Drawn from lectures given by Fr. Green, Experiencing God is now in print for the first timean appropriate commemoration of the faithful life and work of this beloved teacher and author. Ideally suited to faith sharing groups, parish retreats, and ministry formation workshops.

For his 2009 Lenten message, Pope Benedict XVI chose"the value and meaning of fasting" as the theme, observing that "this practice needs to be rediscovered and encouraged again in our day." In timely response, "The Spirituality of Fasting" draws on sources ancient and current--from Augustine to Michael Pollan--to consider anew how fasting informs the relationships between creator/creature, body/soul, and rich/poor. Murphy's extensive theological background, pastoral experience, and personal devotion to his topic come through, inspiring readers to explore what it means to be fully engaged in worship through fasting.

The best-selling author of Radical Amazement articulates a transforming vision of spirituality that examines the intricate connectedness of the physical and spiritual worlds, a phenomenon she calls the field of compassion. In the tradition of Teilhard de Chardin and Thomas Berry, Judy Cannato invites spiritual seekers to embrace the way in which an understanding of religion and the spiritual path is informed and illumined by cutting-edge science. Cannatos newest book is a must-read for those interested in how the new cosmology and the Christian story can be understood in harmony with one another. She shows how modern scientific discoveries demonstrate that at the most fundamental of levels all life is connected and that humankind participates in the unfolding of the universe. This books compelling and radical call to transformation will inspire readers to choose collaboration and peace over competition and conflict.

One in every six United States couples experiences infertility but Catholic couples face additional confusion, worry, and frustration as they explore the medical options available to them. Filling a major void in Catholic resources, The Infertility Companion for Catholics describes the Church's teaching on reproductive technologies and provides a rich spiritual perspective on the emotions and faith involved in embracing the cross of infertility. The authors both experienced periods of being unable to conceive and they walk in solidarity with readers, compassionately coaching them through the challenging landscape of infertility. Includes a variety of spiritual resources: prayers, devotions,wisdom of the saints Chapter designed for friends and family of infertile couples, with tips on how to relate to the couple with compassion and sensitivity Appendixes include suggested further reading, reference materials, Catholic documents, and Catholic blogs about infertility

Each book in the Thirty Days with a Great Spiritual Teacher series provides a month of daily readings from one of Christianity's most beloved spiritual guides.

Thomas Merton was the most popular proponent of the Christian contemplative tradition in the twentieth century. Now, for the first time, some of his most lyrical and prayerful writings have been arranged into A Book of Hours, a rich resource for daily prayer and contemplation that imitates the increasingly popular ancient monastic practice of praying the hours. Editor Kathleen Deignan mined Mertons voluminous writings, arranging prayers for Dawn, Day, Dusk, and Dark for each of the days of the week. A Book of Hours allows for a slice of monastic contemplation in the midst of hectic modern life, with psalms, prayers, readings, and reflections.

Rupp extends a unique invitation to join with God in the dance of life, an invitation to experience God in the daily and seasonal rhythms of life.