Little Flower Catholic Church Rugby, ND

Book Reviews

By Love Refined - Letters to a Young Bride

Alice von Hildebrand

Publisher:  Sophia Institute Press

306.8 Hil

What to do when the honeymoon is over!  Because of human imperfections, difficulties crop up in marriage, even between people who love each other deeply.  You’ll soon find that for this reason, although love is a gift, it must also be learned. 

This is a book of letters to Julie, a young bride - letters that reveal the beauty and importance of high ideals in marriage while teaching you practical tips to help you live up to those ideals daily.

You’ll learn how to grow in wisdom and in love as you encounter the unglamorous, everyday problems that threaten all marriages.  This remarkable book will show you how to start weaving love into the tapestry of your marriage today, as it leads you more deeply into the joys of love.

Thy Will Be Done - Letters to Persons in the World

St. Francis de Sales

Publisher:  Sophia Institute Press

282 Fra

St. Francis de Sales can help you with exhaustion, sickness, anger, impatience, the death of loved ones, family strife, difficulties in praying, and other problems.  No matter what your situation may be, you’ll find help here: simple, practical, holy advice that shows you how God wants you to deal with your troubles . . . and how you can develop the patience and strength to do so.

From the correspondence of St. Francis de Sales with persons in many countries three centuries ago, letters have been selected that will be most helpful to you today.  Each is a hand-written response from this wise saint, a letter sent to someone like you seeking help with an actual problem.  You’ll be consoled by the warmth, the wisdom, and the holy sympathy you’ll find in these pages as the love of this great saint reaches out to you from across the centuries.

Young And Catholic - the Face of Tomorrow’s Church

Time Drake

Publisher:  Sophia Institute Press

282 Dra

Catholicism reborn!  In your parish, the Church may be graying a the temples, but elsewhere - across America and around the world - young Catholics are ushering in a new springtime of faith and vitality for the Church you and I love.  Here, Tim Drake introduces you to some of the surprising ways in which the Holy Spirit is working in the hearts of these Catholic young people today.  Young and Catholic demonstrates that for the Church, the future is bright.  These young people are one of the many reasons that’s so.

Charles de Foucauld

Jean-Jacques Antier

Publisher:  Ignatius Press

271 Ant

The popularity of Charles de Foucauld continues to spread around the globe as the radiance and meaning of his life continues to be revealed.  Unknown during his lifetime as a solitary monk in the Sahara Desert, and assassinated by bandits in 1916, this former French playboy had a radical conversion to Christ that compelled him to live a deeply ascetical religious life that has had a great impact on the world since his death. 

In the light of the fact that during his lifetime he had founded nothing and converted no one, his life would seem to have been a failure.  But his spiritual writings and the greatness of his example were to have an enormous influence on men and women from all corners of the world.  Since his death 340 fraternities of the Little Brothers and Little Sisters of Jesus have been formed.  This biography is the story of  “a great man of God who sought to show the Gospel in a hidden, laborious way, in the silence which God signifies his presence as if it were a gentle breeze.” 

John Paul II

Six Lessons For Life From the School of the Cross

John A. Kane

Publisher:  Sophia Institute Press

248 Kan

The wise pages of this book give you six ways to reap all the spiritual fruit that Christ’s Cross offers you, even in the midst of life’s troubles.  From the Cross, you’ll learn: how to triumph over your self-will; develop true sorrow for your sins; surrender yourself completely to God’s will; bear your sufferings in a truly Christian way; recognize the depths of Christ’s love in His passion; perfect your love by uniting your sufferings with Christ’s.  You’ll improve your understanding of Christ’s sufferings and death, and you’ll find help for ordering your life so you can bear well the crosses that are sure to come your way.

A Mother’s Rule of Life - How to Bring Order to Your Home and Peace to Your Soul

Holly Pierlot

Publisher:  Sophia Institute Press

248 Pie

Do you want to be a better wife and mother? To have more order in your life?  To grow in union with God?  Holly Pierlot brought about these changes in her own life with what she calls her Mother’s Rule of Life, a pattern for living that combines the spiritual wisdom of the monastery with the practical wisdom of motherhood.  Holly will show you how to craft your own Mother’s Rule of Life and help you transform motherhood and its burdens into the joyful vocation it’s meant to be.  Then you can use that Rule to help God draw you, your husband, and each of your children into Heaven!

He Is My Heaven - The Life of Elizabeth of the Trinity

Jennifer Moorcroft

Publisher:  ISC Publications

921 Eli

A modern mystic, Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity was a Discalced Carmelite nun who died in 1906 in the Dijon Carmel of France at the young age of twenty-one and was beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 25, 1984.  Elizabeth attributes her biblical spirituality to her “dear Saint Paul”; her name, “Elizabeth,” which literally means “House of God,” captured her ongoing theology of the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity, found in the silence of prayer, transforming the very one who prays into a “Praise of Glory” (Eph. 1:6, 12).

Catholic Truths For Our Children - A Guide For Parents

Patti Maguire Armstrong

Publisher:  St. Michael’s Communications

248.8 Arm

We don’t send our children down the street for meals.  It is our responsibility to feed them.  Likewise we should be the ones to feed their souls.  Outside religious education should be in addition to the main course we provide at home.  But how do we teach our children to be good Catholics?  The best way to raise good Catholics is to know and love the faith we want to hand down.  Catholic Truths For Our Children helps parents accomplish just that.

Catholic Truths For Our Children is written directly to parents, the primary educators of their children.  Using compelling arguments, Scripture and personal insight, this book guides parents through the nuts and bolts of Catholicism.  The book is presented on an adult level with suggestions for teaching children.  It encourages families to fully embrace and understand the Catholic faith they share.

My Cup of Tea - Musings of a Catholic Mom

Danielle Bean

Publisher:  Pauline Books & Media

248.8 Bea

Share the happiness - as well as the challenges - of Danielle Bean’s sometimes chaotic, often inspiring, always blessed life as the mother of six young children.  In an essay collection that takes us from the aisles of the local grocery store to the beauty of a memorable Christmas midnight Mass, Danielle joyously welcomes us into her home and her family.

The Strength Within

Barbara Hansen

Publisher:  Hidden Spring

170 Han

The Strength Within is a treasury of wisdom hard-won.  It describes Hansen’s deep personal struggle for life and meaning after a tragic accident.  Convinced that what we have matters much less than what we are, she has developed a program leading to the discovery of our deepest selves, our true values, and the virtues needed to live life as fully as possible no matter what our circumstances.  Sharing personal stories from those she has helped as teacher and friend, she lays out sound principles for survival and growth, giving us a moving and motivating guidebook.