Catholic Fire

With Lent beginning tomorrow, February 9, on Ash Wednesday, it's time to take a look at some inspiring reading material to help us grow in holiness. Here are some suggestions: 1. The Kiss of Jesus: How Mother Teresa and the Saints Helped Me to Discover the Beauty of the Cross by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle This book is ideal for Lent as it teaches us about suffering, God’s grace, and living a holy life. It also touches on God’s great love and mercy in this Jubilee Year of Mercy. In this candid, astonishing autobiographical account, this soft-spoken, delicate, and devout Catholic media celebrity reveals the shocking struggles she has tackled in life. She became engaged to a drug addict who held her against her will, threatening harm to her family. She faced miscarriages, abuse, serious illness, divorce, financial difficulties, custody battles, and single motherhood – all with great inner strength and tremendous courage. Through God’s providence, she met Mother Teresa,...

Advent is only one week away! Are you ready? Have you purchased your Advent Magnificat Companion? Starting today and running through next Thursday-Thanksgiving Day- I will be running a drawing for a giveaway of three electronic Magnificats for use on your computer, cell phone,or Ipad. To enter, just send your name and address to jean.heimann@gmail.com with the subject title Advent Magnificat Companion.  Winners will be notified on Friday, November 28. Description A perfect way to live Advent to the full this year. This Companion features original meditations on the Gospel reading of each day by nineteen gifted authors. Each issue of the Advent Companion is never the same as the last and contains these one-of-a-kind extras that you won’t find anywhere else: - a variety of beautiful blessings and essays - an Advent Penance Service - specially-commissioned poetry - a unique feature: the Advent Stations

Lent is a season of spiritual renewal, a time of quiet contemplation on the Passion and death of Jesus Christ, a period of 40 days in which we enter into the desert to give our lives to the Lord to be transformed, just as He gave His own for us. Lent at Ephesus , the latest album by the monastic Benedictines of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, certainly does inspire me to open up my heart to receive all the graces of this holy season. The heavenly voices of the Sisters and the words of their poignant chants and inspiring hymns of glory and redemption lift up the soul, promoting contemplation, as well as the peace and joy that accompany it. The 23-tract CD contains both English and Latin chants and hymns. My favorites include: “Jesus, My Love,” composed by Richard Rolle, a 14th century hermit; “God of Mercy and Compassion,” composed by Fr. Edmund Vaughn, a 19th century Redemptorist missionary, “Divine Physician,” a hymn written in 2012 by the Benedictines of Mary, and “Mother of Sor...

Independence Day is a holiday that unites us as we celebrate our freedom and independence as “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” It also is the final day of a “Fortnight for Freedom ,” a two-week period of prayer and action called by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to address many current challenges to religious liberty, including the HHS mandate and attempts to redefine marriage. It’s a time to honor the men and women who have courageously fought, and continue to fight, for our religious freedom, as well, including the late military chaplain Fr. Emil Kapaun. Kapaun posthumously received the Medal of Honor from President Barack Obama in April, nearly 60 years after he heroically gave his life as a POW in the Korean War. The Vatican is also considering him a possible candidate for Sainthood. His life, service and hero’s death is the subject of an incredible new book, THE MIRACLE OF FATHER KAPAUN , co-written by Roz Wenzl and Travis Heying, and published ...