A Year with Mary (Saint Benedict Press)

A Year with Mary: Daily Meditations on the Mother of God is the fifth and latest daily devotional available from Saint Benedict Press. The other four are A Year with the Bible, A Year with the Saints, A Year with the Angels, and A Year with the Church Fathers. Like the other volumes in this series, this book has gilded pages and is Premium UltraSoft leather, making it perfect for presentation or gifting. The book itself is blue, which is fitting as that is the color we most associate with Mary. Despite the impressiveness of this book, I was a little skeptical to review this book. I personally am not a fan of the daily devotional, which is strange even to me seeing that I came from a Protestant background. However, I decided to give it a shot.

The first thing that I noticed about this book is the numbering of the devotions. Most daily devotionals give you a specific date, i.e., January 1. This book instead labels the devotions as Day 1, Day 2, etc. This means that you don't have to wait until January 1 to start this book, which is the fatal flaw of daily devotionals. Also, in case you are wondering, there is a ribbon bookmark, so you won't have to remember which day you are on. The next thing I noticed about this book was that St. Louis de Montfort and St. Alphonsus Liguori were the bulk of the readings. Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with this. They wrote two of the best books on Mary with de Montfort pinning "True Devotion to Mary," and Liguori "The Glories of Mary." I was just expecting a little more variety in reading selections. The last thing that I noticed was the brief section at the end of every day entitled, "In God's Presence Consider." This makes the devotional more than just something to do everyday, but something which you need to ponder, study, and mediate on. Each day then ends with a closing prayer.

Overall, this is an impressive book in both presentation and content. The devotions are each one page long, making them just short enough that you don't feel overwhelmed and just long enough that it requires you to put forth a bit of effort in your journey with and toward God. It didn't turn me into a devotional fan, but it did provide me with some sources and texts on Mary to read that I had not heard of before. For example, St. John of Eudes' work "The Admirable Heart of Mary" is a work that I now want to read after the excerpt I read in this book. So whether you are a Mary novice or an expert on Mary, there is enough wisdom in this book that will enrich your life every time you read it.

This book was provided to me for free by Saint Benedict Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this book helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

Manual for Spiritual Warfare (TAN Books)

The Manual for Spiritual Warfare has been one of the most popular Catholic books in recent memory. It seems like as soon as TAN Books ships them out to various retailers, they fly off the shelf before the dust ever settles. Now, I for one, don't normally fall prey to popular books. I like to think I look for the less known and less popular books, but when I was offered a chance to review this book, I figured I'd see what all the hype was about. Boy, was I glad that I did!

The Manual for Spiritual Warfare begins with a guide on how to use this manual. It tells us that we are in an ongoing battle against the world, the flesh, and the Devil. This book focuses on our war against the Devil! Part One "lays out the biblical and theological foundations for our warfare with the Devil," and Part Two gives us help for the battle, i.e., hymns, Scripture, and prayers. Part One was easily my favorite part. It was divided into six chapters that are as follows:

1. Know Your Enemy
2. Know Your Battle
3. Know Your Commander and Comrades
4. Know Your Weapons
5. Know Your Armor
6. Keep the Enemy out of the Camp

Keeping the enemy out seems like the most obvious of advice, but as easy as it sounds, he still finds a way in our camp. One way Satan ends up in our camp is through "Trojan horses," like Ouija boards or fortunetelling. "Poisonous reptiles" are another way Satan sneaks into our camp. St. Teresa of Avila referred to "little" sins that we don't think are important or significant are poisonous reptiles.  The last bit of advice is to "fight the good fight," which leads into Part Two that provides us with methods of fighting.

I also enjoyed reading about spiritual warfare in the lives of the saints. Here we see examples from St. Anthony the Great, St Benedict, and lots from the Desert Fathers, I love the Desert Fathers, so any book that promotes reading them gets a good mark in my book! Obviously, I am going to recommend you buy this book, but buying it is not enough. Carry it with you everywhere you go. Read it. Study it. Memorize the Scriptures. Engrave the prayers on your heart. This is one of the best books on spiritual warfare since Lorenzo Scupoli's The Spiritual Combat! Bound in premium ultra-soft leather, this makes a beautiful gift for Confirmations, graduations, birthdays. or even weddings. Don't buy just one of these. Buy two, because you won't want to give up your copy when a friend asks to borrow yours!

This book was provided to me for free by TAN Books in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!