Tuesday, November 8, 2011

The perfect daily meditations book for Advent!


From Season of Promises by Mitch Finley (Wipf & Stock):

We alerted you to this book last year, but just in case you didn't get your copy in time for Advent 2010, we thought we'd do so again:

Advent is a lonely step-child of a season; it does not get the respect it deserves. Too often Advent gets lost in our wild dash toward Christmas. But look. Advent is the season of promises, filled with spiritual riches for those ready to accept its blessings. Advent is a season of promises.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

In his song, "The Boxer," singer-song writer Paul Simon croons about "a pocket full of mumbles, such are promises." But not in this case. Advent is loaded with promises for a future we already have. It's a mystical season, full of promises already kept, promises from God to be Emmanuel, "God with us," always. Always. No pocket full of mumbles here. Only promises fulfilled, promises kept.

To learn more about this book, or to order a copy, click here: Season of Promises

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Delightful, challenging reflections on virtue


From The Catholic Virtues: Seven Pillars of a Good Life by Mitch Finley (Liguori Publications):

Mae West was one of the most popular movie stars of the 1930s and a flamboyant sex symbol. She was famous for her come-hither
remark to various men, “Come on up and see me sometime.” There are many amusing anecdotes about Mae West, for example:
“Goodness, Mae,” said a friend, on greeting her, “where did you get
those beautiful pearls?”
“Never mind,” said Mae, “but you can take it from me goodness had nothing to do with it.”
The character Mae West played, even in her private life, wanted nothing to do with virtue because when she talked about virtue it was always virtue in the worst sense of the word. A virtuous person was, for the melodramatic Mae, automatically a puritanical person, a party pooper and a spoil sport. On the contrary, by a virtuous person I mean one who is capable of embracing life and living it to the full. Indeed, we will insist that only the genuinely good person is capable of enjoying life because the virtuous person finds the mystery of joy and love in all created things.


To learn more about this book and/or to order a copy, click here: Virtues

To visit our website where you can browse all of our books, learn more about us, and even hear a sound clip of Mitch playing the banjo, click here: Finleys

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

The ideal book for Catholic seekers!


From The Seeker's Guide to Being Catholic by Mitch Finley (Wipf & Stock):

If you are uncomfortable with the popular perspective which requires you to have no faith or think of religion as a mere hobby that has nothing to do with the real world; if you are dissatisfied with fashioning a private, "mixed bag" spirituality designed to satisfy personal needs but make few demands; if you cannot agree with the sectarian Christian perspective which requires you to turn off your intellect and embrace "blind faith" in exchange for absolute certainty; if you believe that Catholicism, the oldest institution in the western world, is not perfect, but it may have something to offer all the same--this book is for you.
The purpose of this small book is to offer some tips, some guidelines, on being a Catholic seeker. Perhaps you are curious about Catholicism, or you are thinking of becoming a Catholic. Maybe you were raised in Catholicism and want to know if it fits into your future or not. Or maybe you are Catholic and simply want to know more about what that means in today's complex, sometimes confusing world. This book will not answer all your questions, but it will join you in asking those questions and thinking about some possible responses. Think of this book as a literary companion on your quest.


To learn more about this book, or to order a copy, click here: Seeker's Guide

Sunday, June 5, 2011

How to build a Christian family...


From Building Christian Families by Mitch & Kathy Finley (ASJA Press):

Virtually every major theologian whose subject is the theology of the church has neglected an important insight in the teachings of the Second Vatican Council. There is little evidence in their writings that according to Vatican II the family is the "domestic church." Theologians either ignore this insight or mention it only in passing and show a limited understanding of its implications for both families and the church as a whole....
Those who belong to families intuitively realize that their faith makes little sense apart from what goes on in the daily experience of family relationships. Together with those who work closely with families, they know that the family--in its various forms--is "the foundational church."


To learn more about this book, or to order a copy, click here: Building Christian Families

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Celebrate Mary's Month of May with "Surprising Mary"!


From Surprising Mary by Mitch Finley (Resurrection Press/Catholic Book Publishing):

We turn to you for protection, holy Mother of God. Listen to our prayers and help us in our needs. Save us from every danger, glorious and blessed Virgin. - The Oldest Known Prayer to Mary

Notice, this ancient prayer is not a private prayer, it does not begin with "I," it begins with "We." This is a prayer prayed together by a faith community, probably in a liturgical context. The feast of Mary we observe on January 1 brings her before the whole church, the whole people of God, and we recall that she is what the early church called her, in Greek Theotokos, which literally means something like "Birth-Giver of God," or "God-bearer," or "Bringer-forth-of-God."


It you would like to learn more about this book and/or order a copy, click here: Surprising Mary

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Two books now available for Kindle readers!



Recently, Mitch Finley's two most recently published books became available in Kindle editions, on amazon.com. Here are brief excerpts from The Rosary Handbook and The Patron Saints Handbook (The Word Among Us Press):

From The Rosary Handbook:

The Rosary is simple, and the Rosary is deep. It is so simple that the humblest believers love the Rosary. It is so deep that many of the greatest thinkers and mystics down through the centuries have loved the Rosary. Indeed, the simplicity and depth of the Rosary are the simplicity and depth of the gospel itself, the good news of God's love and forgiveness for all in Christ.


From The Patron Saints Handbook:

The Catholic affection for saints was what led to the tradition of adopting saints as patrons of particular causes, groups, or regions. In The Patron Saints Handbook, you’ll learn about one hundred such saints. You’ll find out, for example, who St. Genesius was and why he is the patron saint of actors. You’ll discover why St. Thérèse of Lisieux, who spent her life in a cloistered French convent, is the patron saint of missionaries. You’ll meet the patron saint of firefighters, songwriters—and even astronauts.

To learn more about The Rosary Handbook, or to purchase a Kindle or regular copy, click here: Rosary

To learn more about The Patron Saints Handbook, or to purchase a Kindle or regular copy, click here: Saints

Saturday, March 5, 2011

One great book on marriage!


Here's an excerpt from Building a Christian Marriage: Eleven Essential Skills, by Kathleen Finley (Wipf & Stock):

Let’s begin with some assumptions that underlie the way
I think about marriage. I have many convictions about marriage, most of which I will share with you in the course
of this book, but these four assumptions flow through everything else I will say.
1. Marriage is much more a process than a state of being. It makes more sense to think about marrying your spouse than being married. In many ways a marriage license
is a learner’s permit to keep learning about one another. And the many elements of your married life are interconnected. Change in one area affects all the others. Sensitivity to these interconnections, as well as patience and continual attention to your marriage, yields great rewards.
2. Marriages need support. It’s not your spouse and you against the world. Married couples need support from others in order to be strong. This support can come from other couples, from your extended family, from your church and community, from mentors and counselors. You will need to look for that support; it won’t just happen.
3. Married people need skills — today more than ever. Married couples today face challenges that previous generations seldom had to cope with. These include the flux in gender roles, intense economic pressures, the need for extended periods of education, rapid social change, and expectations for marriage and relationships heavily influenced by a ubiquitous, secular mass media. We need a tool kit of skills to cope with all this, tools our parents and grandparents didn’t need as urgently.
4. A Christian approach to marriage can make all the difference. In my view, the Catholic Christian way of thinking about and living out marriage embodies powerful wisdom about married life. It also makes available the best source of strength — the grace of God.


To learn more about this book, or to order a copy, click here: Marriage

Friday, February 4, 2011

An ideal book for Lent this year!


From The Corporal & Spiritual Works of Mercy by Mitch Finley (Liguori Publications):

. . .it is important to notice that the corporal and spiritual works of mercy are deeply rooted in Scripture and Sacred Tradition. As we get into our discussion of each of the works of mercy, these connections will become clear. To turn our attention to these two traditional lists of ways to be merciful is to zero in on the heart and soul of a practical Christian spirituality and way of life. This is a spirituality for regular folks who live in the real, everyday world. It's a spirituality and a practical program of faith for the home and the workplace and all the ordinary places in-between that we all inhabit on a daily basis. It's a nitty-gritty spirituality, and there is nothing ethereal about it. So, spiritually speaking, pull on your bib overalls, strap on your boots, and don your construction site helmet, because we're about to explore Catholic spirituality as it take shape in its most knockabout ways.

To learn more about this book, or to order a copy, click here: Works of Mercy

If you don't yet have a copy of Mitch's little Lenten classic, Season of New Beginnings, click here to learn more or order a copy: Season

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Revitalize your prayer life in 2011!


This month’s Book of the Month excerpt is a little different; you get some fragments from a meditation on ribbons and bows–like the ones you may have received on Christmas gifts. This meditation invites you to use all your senses. Although this meditation isn’t in Kathy’s book, Savoring God: Praying With All Our Senses, the book does include about 30 other meditations based on daily objects such as a hand, a mirror, or an address book. Each meditation uses each of our senses to explore an everyday object, several Scripture passages which apply to the object, and information we take for granted about the object. Each meditation then invites you to respond to the rest of your life in light of this meditation. Here’s a short sample of this approach to prayer:

“What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?” - 1 Cor 4:7

. . . . . .

In most situations, giving a gift is an attempt to say the unsayable, to express oneself through an object, the thought that went into its choosing or making, and what the one receiving the gift means to the gift giver.
For a person of faith, all of life is a gift, filled with many signs of God’s goodness and love.

. . . . . .

God of all gifts in my life, thank you for the gift of life and for the many gifts I don’t recognize, including my health. Bless those who make and sell gifts, those celebrating birthdays or other holidays today, and all those talented with many gifts from You.
Please help me to take another look at all the gifts You give me; help me to even envision them with invisible bows and tags that say, “To you with great love,God.” Your love is truly the greatest gift I could ever imagine. Amen.


To learn more about this book, or to order a copy, click here: Savoring God