Blessed Among Us

Since the early centuries, Christians have held up the saints as models of living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. While the church officially recognizes a relatively small number of saints, the actual roster is infinitely wider. Blessed Among Us explores this eclectic “cloud of witnesses”—lay and religious, single and married, canonized and not, and even non-Christians whose faith and wisdom may illuminate our path. Brought to life in the evocative storytelling of Robert Ellsberg, they inspire the moral imagination and give witness to the myriad ways of holiness. In two stories per day for a full calendar year, Ellsberg sketches figures from biblical times to the present age and from all corners of this world—ordinary figures whose extraordinary lives point to the new age in the world to come. Blessed Among Us is drawn from Ellsberg’s acclaimed column of the same name in Give Us This Day, a monthly resource for daily prayer published by Liturgical Press.

Ellsberg offers devotional sketches on history's greatest women and gives insight into the way that women of all faiths and backgrounds have lived out the lives of sanctity, mysticism, social justice, and world reform.

"While the Church officially recognizes a relatively small number of saints, the actual roster is infinitely wider. Blessed among us explores this eclectic "Cloud of witnesses"--Lay and religious, single and married, canonized and not, and even non-Christians whose faith and wisdom illuminate our path. ... Two stories per day for a full calendar year"--Jacket.

Since it was first published in 1967, Anthony Wilhelm’s Christ Among Us has become America’s most popular guide to modern Catholicism. This classic text presents a clear and accessible picture of Catholicism and its development in a post-Vatican II world. Perfect for both new Catholics and those returning to the faith, Christ Among Us provides a thorough, up-to-date discussion of Catholic theology, traditions, and practices and examines Church teachings since the time of Vatican II. Including excerpts from the new Catechism of the Catholic Church, discussion questions, and suggestions for personal reflection, Christ Among Us is the ideal handbook for anyone interested in the practice of Catholicism today. Anthony Wilhelm, a religious educator, has taught theology and directed religious education programs for adults across America. “The nation’s most widely used introduction to Catholicism.” - New York Times

Collects stories from around the world of poor people whose lives have been transformed by God's grace and the love of Jesus Christ.

Nineteenth-century globalization made America exceptional. On the back of European money and immigration, America became an empire with considerable skill at conquest but little experience administering other people's, or its own, affairs, which it preferred to leave to the energies of private enterprise. The nation's resulting state institutions and traditions left America immune to the trends of national development and ever after unable to persuade other peoples to follow its example. In this concise, argumentative book, Eric Rauchway traces how, from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, the world allowed the United States to become unique and the consequent dangers we face to this very day.

From the author of the bestselling Anam Cara comes a beautiful collection of blessings to help readers through both the everyday and the extraordinary events of their lives. John O’Donohue, Irish teacher and poet, has been widely praised for his gift of drawing on Celtic spiritual traditions to create words of inspiration and wisdom for today. In To Bless the Space Between Us, his compelling blend of elegant, poetic language and spiritual insight offers readers comfort and encouragement on their journeys through life. O’Donohue looks at life’s thresholds—getting married, having children, starting a new job—and offers invaluable guidelines for making the transition from a known, familiar world into a new, unmapped territory. Most profoundly, however, O’Donohue explains “blessing” as a way of life, as a lens through which the whole world is transformed. O’Donohue awakens readers to timeless truths and shows the power they have to answer contemporary dilemmas and ease us through periods of change.

More than a million tourists visit religious landmarks in San Antonio, Texas, each year, observing and sometimes participating in religious activities there. The San Antonio Missions National Historical Park--managed by the National Park Service, in cooperation with the Catholic Church--is one of hundreds of religious places in America and around the world where tourists have become a familiar presence. In Blessed with Tourists, Thomas S. Bremer explores the intersection of tourism and commerce with religion in American, using the missions and other San Antonio sites as prime examples. Bremer recounts the history of San Antonio, from its Native American roots to its development as a religious center with the growth of the Spanish colonial missions, to the modern transformation of San Antonio into a tourist destination. Employing both ethnographic and historical approaches, Bremer examines the concepts of place, identity, aesthetics, and commercialization, demonstrating numerous ways that modern market forces affect religious communities. By identifying important connections between religious and touristic practices, Bremer establishes San Antonio as a distinctive source for anyone seeking to understand the interplay between the religious and the secular, the traditional and the modern.

Mothers appear throughout the New Testament. Called "blessed among women" by Elizabeth in the Gospel of Luke, Mary, the mother of Jesus, is the most obvious example. But she is far from the only mother in this canon. She is joined by Elizabeth, a chorus of unnamed mothers seeking healing or promotions for their children, as well as male mothers, including Paul (Gal 4:19-20) and Jesus. Although interpreters of the New Testament have explored these maternal characters and metaphors, many have only recently begun to take seriously their theological aspects. This book builds on previous studies by arguing maternal language is not only theological, but also indebted to ancient gender constructions and their reshaping by early Christians. Especially significant are the physiological, anatomical, and social constructions of female bodies that permeate the ancient world where ancient Christianity was birthed. This book examines ancient generative theories, physiological understandings of breast milk and breastfeeding, and presentations of prominent mothers in literature and art to analyze the use of these themes in the New Testament and several, additional early Christian writings. In a context that aligned perfection with "masculinity," motherhood was the ideal goal for women-a justification for deficient, female existence. Proclaiming a new age ushered in by God's Christ, however, ancient Christians debated the place of women, mothers, and motherhood as a part of their reframing of gender expectations. Rather than a homogenous approval of literal motherhood, ancient Christian writings depict a spectrum of ideals for women disciples even as they retain the assumption of masculine superiority. Identifying themselves as members of God's household, ancient Christians utilized motherhood as a theological category and a contested ideal for women disciples.

Daily reflections on Saints, Prophets, and witnesses for our time.