The Feasts (Image Books) Review and Giveaway

It's been a few months since the last blog tour I participated in, but I am participating in two this month. The first one is sponsored by Image Books and is spotlighting their latest book The Feasts by Cardinal Donald Wuerl and Mike Aquilina. Those involved in the blog tour will provide you with a review of the book and a personal reflection on the Feast or Season. My season is Advent. There will also be a giveaway at the end of this post open to all in the U.S., so read all the way through and don't just skip to the bottom. Finally, you might see #TheFeasts on Facebook or Twitter, if you click on it, it should take you to other people's reviews, thoughts, and reflections. Without further ado, here is my review!

The Feasts is the third, and most likely final, book in a series of books written by Cardinal Wuerl and Mike Aquilina, which are designed to instruct Catholics and non-Catholics on important aspects of the Catholic Church. The first two books in this series are entitled The Mass and The Church. In The Feasts, the authors begin by explaining the value and importance that man places in calendars and tracking of time. They use the example of fishermen using the lunar calendar and farmers the solar calendar to grow rich, and state that if we follow the Church Calendar, we can grow spiritually rich. They then walk us through the Jewish feasts that Jesus celebrated when he walked this earth. Following this a whole chapter is dedicated to defining terms like Memorial, Solemnity, Season, and Octave.

The book then gets to the heart of the matter with the remaining chapters. The authors first start by talking about the importance of Sunday and then there are individual chapters dedicated to Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. Next, they dedicate individual chapters to important solemnities of Jesus, including Epiphany, Ascension, Corpus Christi, and Christ the King. Unfortunately, the Annunciation and Presentation of Jesus in the Temple got lumped in with Christ the King. These are two important feast days, and considered part of the Twelve Great Feasts in Eastern Christianity. Next, we are treated to various other feasts and seasons, including Holy Trinity, Marian feasts (which could have easily taken up more than one chapter), and the Holy Angels.

I was very pleased that they devoted a chapter to Advent, as it is my favorite liturgical season. In this chapter, the authors discuss the beauty of Advent. Advent is a time of waiting and preparation, not a spend four weeks shopping season. In this season, we are preparing for the two-fold coming of Christ, both at Christmas and again at the end of the age. They also explain that the Eastern Christians view this as a season for purification and penance. I particularly enjoy Advent, because it is the start of a new Church year. It is a time to start over, begin again, and grow closer to God.

Overall, this was a good book with a lot of great information. I appreciate that the Eastern Catholics were not ignored in this book. However, there are a few things I would have changed. As I said earlier, I wish there had been more focus given to some of the particular feasts. I also think the book could have been a bit better organized. Since there was a great bit of focus on the importance of calendars and seasons, I think the book should have been arranged in the order the seasons and feasts appear on the calendar, starting with Advent and ending with Christ the King. Those complaints aside, this was still a good book that can teach both converts and cradle Catholics a lot.



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Angels and Saints Review and Giveaway (Image Books)

Scott Hahn is one of the greatest converts to Catholicism in modern history. His conversion story Rome Sweet Home alone has led many to the Faith and many more back to the Faith they left. This work alone would be enough to cement his legacy, but he has written a great many other notable works, including The Lamb's Supper and A Father Who Keeps His Promises, to further expound on the faith and teach converts, cradles, and reverts alike. Lately, Dr. Hahn has been publishing high theology works, which challenge us to grow in our faith and progress from spiritual milk to spiritual meat. Dr. Hahn has returned with a new work entitled Angels and Saints, which is a return to his way of writing that helped so many of us grow in the faith so many years ago.

Angels and Saints begins with a personal story of Dr. Hahn and his family travelling in Assisi when he and his children were younger. One of his children had just had an emergency appendectomy, but the doctor said he would be okay to go on the pilgrimage. Predictably, the child was fine at first but had complications while in Assisi, and his condition became life-threatening. Doing the only thing he knew how to do, Dr. Hahn prayed all night and thankfully the child recovered miraculously. The remainder of Part I of the book explains what saints are, titles the Church bestows on holy men and women on the path to sainthood, what saints do, and a brief description of what angels are and names for the different types on angels.

In Part II, we are treated to twelve chapters with each one focusing on a specific individual in Heaven. We see great men and women like St. Michael the Archangel; Mary, Queen of Heaven; and even Old Testament great, Moses. I will be focusing on one of my favorite saints, St. Jerome. Dr. Hahn begins with a brief description of St. Jerome's early life, his genius at an early age, and his places of study. He then details the path that led him to the priesthood and eventual composition/translation of the Vulgate. The most fascinating part of this chapter discussed St. Jerome's circle of friends/students. They were mostly women, but he taught them the Bible, Biblical languages, and Biblical exegesis that some even surpassed him in some of these categories. He challenged them and they challenged him, and all grew in their wisdom and love of Christ. It was a perfect example of steel sharpening steel and proof that saints don't get to Heaven alone, but with the help of others. The chapter closes with a passage from "Against Vigilantius" and has the brilliance and sharp tongue St. Jerome was famous for.

The other eleven chapters focusing on specific holy individuals are just as brilliant as the one on St. Jerome. Dr. Hahn then closes the book by bringing us back to Assisi to discuss family and salvation and calling us all to be saints. I can't imagine how tough it was for Dr. Hahn to narrow down his choice of saints for this book. He picked some big names in the Western Church, like St. Augustine, St. Aquinas, and St. Thérèse of Lisieux. I wish there would have been a few more Eastern saints, aside from St. Irenaeus of Lyons. It would have been great to read about St. John Chrysostom, St. Athanasius of Alexandria, or one of the Cappadocian Fathers. This does not lower my review of the book though. It is still a 5-star book, and a welcome addition to any Catholics library. If you are interested in obtaining a copy of this book, please enter the giveaway below. To read an interview with Scott Hahn by my friend Sarah Reinhard click here.

This book was provided to me for free by Image Books. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!
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Tiny Saints Product Review and GIVEAWAY

A little over one month ago, I was looking to buy a birthday present for a friend's four year old girl. As a little background, I like to give religious gifts. I refer to them as gifts for the soul. The practice isn't always popular, but this gift was going to a good Catholic family, so I knew it would be appreciated. I just had to find the perfect gift! So I racked my brain, and I scoured the Catholic stores on the Internet to no avail. About to give up, I decided to try to start Googling for gift ideas, and while I don't remember what I exactly typed in, my search led me to Tiny Saints!

You might be asking yourself, "what are Tiny Saints?" Tiny Saints are THE coolest charm/necklace/gift/invention ever! At the time that I placed my order, you paid $9.95 (no shipping and handling) and you received a charm of a saint, a cord on which to wear them, and an ID tag that told you all about the saint. I ordered Rose of Lima for my friend's daughter, and let Tiny Saint founder, Joe, know that I run a Catholic review blog and would post a review of Tiny Rose of Lima after the party. He was gracious enough to send me a few extra saints, but he asked me to hold my review  until he released the new line of Tiny Saints   I am not a patient person, and I have been biding my time since June to sing the praises of these products, but upon seeing the new line of products, I now know why he wanted me to wait!

Tiny Saints have recently added a slew of products to their collection. They now offer charms for the Virgin Mary, Sts. Joseph, Patrick, Jude, Christopher, Blesseds John Paul II and Teresa of Calcutta, and perhaps one of the coolest...Pope Francis! However, they also have products other than charms; you can get a Saint Bracelet (also comes in all girl variety) or a Rosary in black or full-color. In addition to adding these great new products, they have also managed to make their products more affordable! Now, you can buy the charm and cord separately; that way you don't end up with 50 cords if you're like me and plan on collecting them all. So what was originally a $9.95 product is now a $5 if you just buy the charm. This just went from being a bargain to a STEAL!

Besides the price and selection, another great thing about Tiny Saints  is the versatility they offer. Don't get me wrong, I love my Tiny Saint Paul necklace and have been faithfully wearing him since I received him, using him as both a conversation piece and witnessing tool. However, you can put the Tiny Saints around more than just your neck. With the wholesale option, the Principal or Director of Religious Education can order the school's Patron Saint, and distribute them to the children to hang on their backpacks. You could put Tiny Saint Francis around your pet's collar or hang Tiny Saint Christopher in your cars for safe travels. The possibilities are really endless. I even saw one lady replace her Monopoly tokens with Tiny Saints, and that got me to thinking...

When I was little, I played chess in tournaments, and you always had to bring your own chess board and chess pieces. How cool would it be for the men on your chess board to be Tiny Saints? Jesus would be the King, of course. Mary would be the Queen. For Bishops, you could have Pope Francis (the Bishop of Rome) and/or St. Nicholas (the bishop who slapped Arius!). For Knights, I was thinking two Tiny Saint Georges. I haven't figured out who to use for the Castles/Rooks yet, and Pawns could be any of the Tiny Saints really.

I really, really, REALLY LOVE this product.  The only disappointment I have is that I wasn't creative enough to come up with it first. :) Tiny Saints are high quality products, and the customer service is second-to-none. Two things impress me most about the company. 1. They pulled one of the Tiny Saints because its quality wasn't up to their standards, and they didn't want to ship an inferior product. 2. They are making it a goal to produce every suggested/requested saint by customers. I'm still holding out hope for St. Dismas. :) For a full line of products (coming in October), click here. To show my love for this product and to share some of the wealth, I am giving one of my readers a Tiny Saint Rosary (pictured to the left). Use the Rafflecopter entry form below, and you could be the winner. Winner must live in the United States and will be notified August 29th (The Feast of the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist).

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Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary and Giveaway Winner

Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary in which the Church celebrates Mary being spared from the stain of Original Sin. It is also a Holy Day of Obligation. I'm not sure how they do it in other countries, but in the U.S. we have gotten lazy, and transfer Holy Days of Obligation to Sunday to make things easier for us. Needless, to say I was pleasantly surprised to see that we didn't transfer this one to Sunday.

Since I was giving away a book for moms, I thought it would be appropriate to pick the winner on one of the important Feast Days of Christ's Mother and ours. There were only 32 entries. Who knew giving away something free would be so hard? I also was going to go to the trouble of cutting up sheets of paper to draw the winner, but Rafflecopter does a random number generator to pick the winner. Isn't technology great? So without further ado, the results are below:

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Congratulations to Mary! I have sent you an email to get your mailing address. Also I would like to give a special thanks once again to the people at Catholic Family Gifts for providing me not just a book to review, but one to giveaway as well. They have a great selection of books and other Catholic treasures for you and your whole family. I hope to be able to do more giveaways in the future, but I have no timetable on when or if that will happen.

Well, I'm off to church. Don't forget to go people! Have a blessed day.

Book Review and Giveaway: A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms: 52 Companions for Your Heart, Mind, Body, and Soul

Welcome back to Stuart's Study. Today I am reviewing the book A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms: 52 Companions for Your Heart, Mind, Body, and Soul  by Lisa Hendey. Catholic Family Gifts was kind enough to send me a free copy to review, and agreed to let me give away one copy to one of my readers. I picked this book to review and give away, because my wife and I recently found out that we are having our first child, a boy. The giveaway will run through December 7th, with the winner being announce on December 8th to tie in with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Also, the winner must live in the continental United States.

Lisa Hendey is the creator of the website Catholic Mom, a go to source for moms (and even dads) looking for great advice on parenting, Catholic family life, and Catholic cultural topics. She also wrote perhaps one of the greatest book for Catholic moms, The Handbook for Catholic Moms: Nurturing Your Heart, Mind, Body, and Soul.

As you can probably guess from the title, there are 52 chapters, one saint for each week of the year. Each chapter begins with a brief blurb telling you the specific saint's feast day(s) and what (s)he is the patron saint of, i.e., St. Mary is the patron saint of mothers. The chapter then gives a few pages of biography, lessons we can learn from each saint, and traditions associated with the saint.

This book is chock full of positives. I loved the saint inspired activities for moms and to do with children. They are not only activities that are each beautiful, but they are practical and easy to accomplish, like visiting someone in a nursing home or parishioner who is confined to their home and bringing them a warm meal. I also liked that there is a prayer in each chapter for the saint of the week. The icing on the cake is that all the saints in here aren't just female. There are male saints too, which means dads can read this book as well as moms.

The only negative I could find in this book was the daily reading. Each reading is only one to two verses, with a very brief prayer. I understand that you can spend a lot of time meditating on a brief reading, but I wish the readings were at least a little bit longer. In spite of this one negative, I still give this book 5 out of 5 stars. It is a beautiful book for moms or dads.

So, I encourage you to enter my contest to win this awesome book. Husbands, it would make a great Christmas gift for your wife. Wives, it would also make a great gift to yourself for Christmas. Also, stop by Catholic Family Gifts for other faith-filled items for you and your whole family!

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