Hail, Holy Queen

My first impression was to wonder why was this book recommended to me, when she has nothing in common with my life, at a time when I didnt known how I would pay the bills and was not sure what God wanted form me in terms of a vocation. True, her health was poor and she suffered the loss of her mother early in her life, so her life was not without sorrow. But she also seemed to have security, love, and an incredible sense of direction, which made me question what I could learn from her life, when these qualities were so missing in my own. Furthermore, I questioned whether some one who lived so holy a life, could be a realistic role model for me; as I have made some pretty unholy decisions in my past.

The book quickly grew on me and eradicated my concerns about it being an inaccessible guide for spirituality. The beauty of the writing is her approach to spirituality, which is accessible to any one in any walk of life. She describes souls as similar to different types of flowers. Some are roses, others lilies, and some like orchids, for example. And all can be equally pleasing to God in their own way, when seeking his role for them. People have different talents and different struggles, but these characteristics do not mean that any type is more valued than the other.

She writes that if the Christian Church is one body, than she wants to be the heart that loves, which I thought was a beautiful sentiment and a much needed philosophy in the world today. When I look on mistakes Ive made in my own life, I realized that it is easiest to succumb to temptation when one feels alone and unloved, and I believe that people would make less such mistakes if they had the support of Gods love through others. She writes frequently of the many ways that God is love. She believed that heaven for her would be to be able to help people on earth after she died. Many remarkable stories have been published in books about people who claim to have been helped when having asked Therese to pray for their needs. She is one of the most common saints that people claim to have seen an apparition of during their times of trouble.

She writes that any sacrifice in daily life can be offered to God, for the conversion of souls, or help of others, whether it is the suffering of an illness or loss, or the performance of a mundane daily chore. This is a practice also advocated by saints like Gertrude of Helfta, Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila, and Francis of Assisi, but it is a way of holy living that any one can practice, in any station of life, at any level of health. Therese also writes much about the prayer, and how her preferred method of praying rather than to memorize long formal prayers, is to speak directly to God as a child, or her struggles and requests.

The Confessions of St Augustine (AD 401) is an autobiography of St Augustine. It consists of thirteen books and essentially outlines his deep regret in living an immoral youth and how he converted to Christianity. The book was also considered to be written as prayers to “God”.

Mermaids Classics, an imprint of Mermaids Publishing brings the very best of old book classics to a modern era of digital reading.

A practicing Catholic defends the faith and offers a passionate response to current anti-Catholic opinion.
 
In Why Catholics Are Right, author, columnist, and practicing Catholic Michael Coren examines four main aspects of Catholicism as they are encountered, understood, and more importantly, misunderstood today. Beginning with a frank examination of the tragedy of the Catholic clergy abuse scandal, Coren addresses some of them most common attacks on Catholics and Catholicism. Tracing Catholic history, he deconstructs popular and frequent anti-Catholic arguments regarding the Church and the Crusades, the Inquisition, Galileo, and the Holocaust. He examines Catholic theology and central pillars of Catholic belief, explaining why Catholics believe what they do: papal infallibility, immaculate conception, the Church rather than Bible alone. Finally, he explores the dignity of life argument and why it is so important to Catholicism.
 
In this challenging and thought-provoking book, Michael Coren demolishes often propagated myths about the Church's beliefs and teachings, and in doing so, opens a window onto Catholicism, which, he writes, "is as important now as it ever was and perhaps even more necessary."