Books published by publisher Franciscan Media

Two cousins, Gianna and Lorenzo, are left in the care of their great uncle, Brother Antonio, a Franciscan friar living in Assisi, for the day while their parents visit a winery. Neither cousin wants to be with the other, and the day threatens to turn into a fiasco until Brother Antonio comes up with a game for them to play: They will discover the places where St. Francis lived and worked.Children will learn about both St. Francis and Assisi in this lovely tale for children ages 5-8, illustrated with the warmth and colors of the Italian countryside. As Gianna and Lorenzo lose themselves in the game, they come to better understand the qualities that marked St. Francis: humility, gentleness, kindness, simplicity, and love. In turn, the cousin’ s relationship is mended as they come to see the good in each other.

With humor and a prayerful spirit, Jeanne Hunt taps into her experience and creativity as mother, grandmother, catechist, artist, and writer to show us in easy and practical ways how to look deeper at these ordinary things surrounding us in order to enter into the sacred way. She encourages parents and grandparents, teachers, and religious educators to use this as a handy resource for celebrating in your home and classroom settings the seasons and special people of the calendar year and the church's liturgical year. She offers hundreds of activities, rituals, and prayers to make living our faith tangible, spiritually enriching—and fun! Activities include a New Year's campout, morning prayer for Christian Unity week, a Lent poor box, an Emmaus walk, a Pentecost meal, an All Saints' festival, a St. John the Baptist Advent wreath—and many more.

During her lifelong service to the poorest of the poor, Mother Teresa became an icon of compassion for people of all religions; her extraordinary contributions to the care of the sick, the dying, and thousands of others nobody else was prepared to look after has been recognized and acclaimed throughout the world. Little is known, however, about her own spiritual heights or her struggles. This correspondence, from her early years in religious life through her years as foundress of a new religious community, reveals the inner spiritual life of one of the most beloved and influential religious figures of our time. These writings and reflections, almost all of which made public here for the first time, reveal her struggles and even her sense of abandonment by God. Yet these revelations encourage and strengthen us as they shed light on Mother Teresa’s interior life in a way that shows the depth and intensity of her faith and holiness. Published to coincide with the tenth anniversary of her death, Come Be My Light is an intimate portrait of a woman whose life and work continue to be admired by millions of people.

This powerful meditation illuminates the parable of the prodigal son found in Luke's Gospel. Nouwen discovers anew the reality that God's love is unconditional and shares his own spiritual journey with us. After an exhausting lecture circuit, Nouwen says he felt "anxious, lonely, restless and very needy." When he chanced upon a reproduction of Rembrandt's Return of the Prodigal Son, the masterpiece was so powerful that he felt embraced by God's love as if he had "come home." He traveled to see the original painting in Russia and was profoundly inspired by the encounter. In this audiobook, Nouwen shares his own experience as the wayward son as well as the vengeful older brother and the compassionate father. He speaks to all who have known loneliness, dejection, jealousy or anger, and invites us to homecoming, affirmation and reconciliation.

After 95 A.D. the Apostles are gone; the Church is in the hands of people who never knew Jesus personally. How can an "apostolic" Church function without Apostles? How will the gospel survive confrontations with pagan thinkers as well as with opponents who call themselves Christian? Something more than the emerging New Testament is needed because learned and holy men can--and--do give the same Scripture passage diametrically opposed meanings. And something more than episcopal authority is needed because bishops can--and do--disagree. The search for this "something more" is the fascinating story behind the early Church. And the benchmarks of this unique tale are the great Creeds of Nicaea. Constantinople and Chalcedon. From the early second century "rules of faith" to the late sixth century Apostle's Creed, the author describes the creative interplay between the simple faith of ordinary believers and the lofty theological debates o the great names of Church history. This is the 500 year story of "people like you and me who tried to express in their ordinary lives the gospel's central teaching. "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." Fully indexed, with map, clear and comprehensive timelines and a glossary of terms.