Wife, Mother and Mystic


Book Description

"When people come to examine your conduct closely, every individual must be able to convince himself that it is possible to serve God in all states and conditions of life without the performance of great exterior penances, provided only one fight vigorously against one's passions and conforms oneself in all things to the holy will of God." These words of Our Lady to Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi convey the fundamental import of this book. Wife, Mother and Mystic is the story of Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi, a woman singled out at the age of twenty-one, to receive revelations from Our Lord and the Blessed Mother, which continued until her death. Despite these miraculous gifts, she was content to fulfill her station in life as a wife, and mother of seven children. Though her spiritual wisdom was sought after by the most prominent figures, she sought first to expiate the sins of her fellow men by performing her domestic duties with the utmost love and sacrifice. Wife, Mother and Mystic chronicles the events of an extraordinary life and yet, the great lesson of this biography is not found in the extraordinary, but in this modest woman's constant, hidden striving after holiness in her most ordinary tasks.




The Feminine Mystique


Book Description

The book that changed the consciousness of a country—and the world. Landmark, groundbreaking, classic—these adjectives barely describe the earthshaking and long-lasting effects of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique. This is the book that defined "the problem that has no name," that launched the Second Wave of the feminist movement, and has been awakening women and men with its insights into social relations, which still remain fresh, ever since. A national bestseller, with over 1 million copies sold.







The Life of Mary As Seen by the Mystics


Book Description

A masterpiece that combines the visions of four great Catholic mystics into one coherent story on the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Based primarily on the famous revelations of Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich and Ven. Mary of Agreda, it also includes many episodes described in the writings of St. Bridget of Sweden and St. Elizabeth of Schenau. To read this book, therefore, is to share in the magnificent visions granted to four of the most priviledged souls in the history of the Church. In complete harmony with the Gospel story, this book reads like a masterfully written novel. It includes such fascinating details as the birth and infancy of Mary, her espousal to St. Joseph and her Assumption into Heaven where she was crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth. For young and old alike, The Life of Mary As Seen by the Mystics will forever impress the reader with an inspiring and truly unforgettable understanding of the otherwise unknown facts concerning Mary and the Holy Family.




On Mystic Lake


Book Description

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A poignant and tender story of love, loss, passion, and the fragile threads that bind families together from the author of The Nightingale. “A beautifully simple, deeply compassionate story.”—Diana Gabaldon Annie Colwater's only child has just left home for school abroad. On that same day, her husband of twenty years confesses that he's in love with a younger woman. Alone in the house that is no longer a home, Annie comes to the painful realization that for years she has been slowly disappearing. Lonely and afraid, she retreats to Mystic, the small Washington town where she grew up, hoping that there she can reclaim the woman she once was—the woman she is now desperate to become again. In Mystic, she is reunited with her first love, Nick Delacroix, a recent widower unable to cope with his grieving, too-silent six-year-old daughter, Izzie. Together, the three of them begin to heal, and, at last, Annie learns that she can love without losing herself. But just when she has found a second chance at happiness, her life is turned upside down again, and Annie must make a choice no woman should have to make. . . . Praise for On Mystic Lake “Marvelous . . . a touching love story . . . You know a book is a winner when you devour it in one evening and hope there’s a sequel. . . . This page-turner has enough twists and turns to keep the reader up until the wee hours of the morning.”—USA Today “Superb . . . I’ll heartily recommend On Mystic Lake to any woman . . . who demands that a story leave her in a satisfied glow.”—The Washington Post Book World “A luminescent story . . . Kristin Hannah touches the deepest, most tender corners of our hearts.”—Tami Hoag “Excellent . . . On Mystic Lake is an emotional experience you won’t soon forget.”—Rocky Mountain News “Propels readers forward to the final chapter.”—The Seattle Times




A Year With the Mystics


Book Description

There's so much noise. Everything can seem like a distraction. Distraction, in fact, seems our oxygen. When was the last time you saw people talking on an elevator? We seem to plug in everywhere. We have earphones and screens and don't evenlook up, never mind find time for silence. Our hearts need quiet. How are we ever going to pray otherwise? How could we ever possibly know God's love and will, and the truth about ourselves and the world without resting in Him? Resting in Him. What does that even mean? In A Year with the Mystics, popular National Review journalist and commentator Kathryn Jean Lopez, who writes and speaks frequently about faith and public life, and prayer and the Church, offers readers a tour of the magnificent variety of mystical writing in the heart of the Church. Featuring reflections from both household and contemporary names like Saint John Paul II, Mother Teresa and Edith Stein, as well as titanic historic figures such as St. Catherine of Siena and John of the Cross. The words of these holy men and women of prayer are presented in accessible doses ideal for daily prayer amidst the seemingly all-consuming busy-ness of life. Each page is an invitation to enter more deeply into the life of faith. What does the road to union with God look like? What is a dark night? What is true love of the Trinity? What is this Church as bridegroom business? Mysticism is not some foreign and remote life of prayer for poets and saints in heaven; rather, it is the call for every Christian to draw more deeply and profoundly from the heart of Christ in prayer. A Year with the Mystics is a tour, a retreat, and a love story in which God seeks you out. With the small commitment of a few minutes a day to prayer with mystic saints and other holy ones, you will be making time for communication and peace in the heart of the Trinity. Your faith will grow and you will see that the life of a contemplative in the world can be yours; it can become for you the air you breathe and a wellspring of renewal in your life as a Catholic, rooted in the sacraments. This beautiful Premium UltraSoft gift edition features two-tone sewn binding, ribbon marker, gold edges, and designed interior pages.




Blessed Art Thou


Book Description

Paperback edition of the Winner of three 2005 Catholic Press Association Books Awards! Design and Production First Place. As the Mother of God, Mary surpasses all other humans and yet is united with all who are to be saved. Here you will find a magnificent and inspiring collection of colorful images, meditations, and prayers about and for Mary, both painted and written.Many of McGraths paintings in this collection are the result of his loving fascination with Black Madonnas, which have inspired pilgrims, saints, and sin-sick souls for centuries. Combined with Richard Fragomenis poetic and candid prayers, these images of Mary speak directly to all people who struggle to find meaning and joy in a world filled with crisis, divisiveness, and insecurity. They speak, too, to the artistic, creative soul in all of us, which longs to see things in new and challenging ways while holding on to the history and traditions of our Catholic heritage.




The Mystic Marriage


Book Description

Antuniet Chazillen lost everything the night her brother was executed. In exile, she swore that treason would not be the final chapter of the Chazillen legacy in Alpennia’s history. A long- hidden book of alchemical secrets provides the first hope of success, but her return to the capital is haunted by an enemy who wants those secrets for himself. Jeanne, Vicomtesse de Cherdillac is bored. The Rotenek season is flat, her latest lover has grown tediously jealous and her usual crowd of friends fails to amuse. When Antuniet turns up on her doorstep seeking patronage for her alchemy experiments, what begins as amusement turns to interest, then something deeper. But Antuniet’s work draws danger that threatens even the crown of Alpennia. The alchemy of precious gems throws two women into a crucible of adversity, but it is the alchemy of the human heart that transforms them both in this breathtaking follow-up to the widely acclaimed Daughter of Mystery.




Mary Magdalene


Book Description

After 2,000 years of flawed history, here at last is a magnificent new biography of Mary Magdalene that draws her out of the shadows of history and restores her to her rightful place of importance in Christianity. Throughout history, Mary Magdalene has been both revered and reviled, a woman who has taken on many forms—witch, whore, the incarnation of the eternal feminine, the devoted companion (and perhaps even the wife) of Jesus. In this brilliant new biography, Bruce Chilton, a renowned biblical scholar, offers the first complete and authoritative portrait of this fascinating woman. Through groundbreaking interpretations of ancient texts, Chilton shows that Mary played a central role in Jesus’ ministry and was a seminal figure in the creation of Christianity. Chilton traces the evolving images of Mary Magdalene and the legends surrounding her. He explains why, despite her prominence, the Gospels actually say so little about her and why the Catholic Church for thousands of years has sought to marginalize her importance. In a probing look at the Church’s attitudes toward women, he investigates Christian misogyny in the ancient world, including the suppression of women priests who patterned their activities on Mary’s; explores the impact of Gnostic ambivalence toward women on its depictions of Mary; and shows that these traditions still influence modern portrayals of her. Chilton’s descriptions of who Mary Magdalene was and what she did challenge the male-dominated history of Christianity familiar to most readers. Placing Mary within the traditions of Jewish female savants, Chilton presents a visionary figure who was fully immersed in the mystical teachings that shaped Jesus’ own teachings and a woman who was a religious master in her own right.




Blessed Elizabeth Canori Mora


Book Description

Elizabeth Canori Mora was born in 1774, in Rome. Raised in a devout but poor household, she was given an excellent education by religious sisters. Her life changed dramatically when she was married to Christopher Mora, a local lawyer and son of a famous doctor. The marriage began happy but turned sour as her husband changed from becoming possessive of her to the point of preventing her communication with her relatives, to abandoning her and taking up a mistress. Yet Elizabeth turned to God and prayed for his conversion, taking solace in her two surviving daughters and raising them in the faith. The story of Elizabeth Canori Mora is one both familiar, and unique. The story of a wronged wife, celebrated on her wedding day but whom we ought rather to mourn for if we could foresee the great sufferings she will undergo in wedlock; and unique in that her heroic virtue, fidelity and love excels that of so many that end up in this all too familiar state. For her fidelity and love of Christ, Elizabeth received many revelations from God, and merited that her husband would turn from his wicked ways and become again devout-to the point that after her death he became a Franciscan cleric. In this work, you will discover what you rarely see in so many lives of monks, abbots and missionaries, a married saint, a wife who should be the patron of wronged and long-suffering wives. The reprinted work of Mary Elizabeth Herbert has been revised for modern English and has pictures added for the benefit of the reader, with new typesetting in an easy to read font.