Saint Mary's Press: Good News! Card Game

Today at Stuart's Study, we are taking a break from books to review a deck of cards published by St. Mary's Press called Good News! Card Game. Even I need a break from books and reading every now and then. And I like to keep things interesting on my blog; I am always looking for different types of products to review. It's like I tell people all the time, "If it's Catholic, I'll review it."

Good News! Card Game is a deck of 92 cards divided into nine different categories:

• Apostles
• Gifts of the Spirit
• Fruits of the Spirit
• Corporal Works of Mercy
• Sacraments
• Parables
• Beatitudes
• Miracles
• Woman Disciples

On each card is description of the person or item and where it is found in the Bible, as shown in the picture to your left. There are several games you can play with this deck, but the main one is called "Proclaimer of the Good News!" Each player is dealt 9 cards, and the rest of the cards are put in a draw pile. The objective is to be the first one to collect one card from each of the above categories.

Overall, the concept of this deck of cards is awesome! Your kids get to learn about important people in the Bible and different aspects of their faith all while having fun! With the Scripture references on each card, the winner can pick a card from their winning hand, break open the Bible, and read the passage on the card to deepen their faith. The possibilities to learn with this game are numerous.

However, there is one BIG negative associated with this game that I must warn you about. The paper quality the cards are printed on is really bad. It's super thin and not like your traditional deck of cards. This makes shuffling the cards a challenge because they will bend or tear in no time. You would think a product designed for kids would be more durable, but this game will not survive one child, let alone multiple.

Unfortunately, I have to give this product 3 out of 5 stars. The idea and concept is top notch, but the execution of the idea was lacking and made me wish the product quality had been better. If the games sounds too appealing to you to pass up, I would recommend you gain access to an inexpensive place to laminate the cards, as that will be the only way to keep the game intact for more than one child.

Conciliar Press: Words for our Time

Another month is ending, and it's time for an Orthodox book review. I know I say this every month, but this will be my last Orthodox book review for a while. No, I mean it this time! I do have a couple of Orthodox books that might make it into the "Children's Corner" section of this blog, but for now consider this my final Orthodox book review. With that in mind, I can't think of a better title to review than Words for Our Time by Matthew the Poor, so thank you Conciliar Press for making it possible for me to review this work.

The back of this book starts by saying "Abba Matta of Egypt, known in the West as Matthew the Poor, is widely regarded as the greatest Egyptian elder since St. Antony the Great." Let that sink in for a minute. This is not a statement you make haphazardly. St. Antony the Great is regarded as the Father of All Monks, and it was his biography (written by St. Athanasius) that helped spread the idea of monasticism. To compare a 20th century monk to arguably the greatest of all monks is high praise! You can learn more about him in the introduction, but Matthew the Poor was also a prolific writer, who is credited with authoring 181 books in Arabic. Sadly, very few of them have been translated into English. However, Words for Our Time is not one of his books. It is instead a selection of his informal talks to monks and visitors.

This book is not presented chronologically, but is instead divided into four sections: 1. Spirituality, 2. Christian Living, 3. On Scripture, and 4. On Feasts and Fasts. Most of the talks in this book are from 1973 to 1979, but one was in 1987. I'm not sure why this decade was chosen to highlight, but it stood out to me, so I felt it was worth mentioning. Topics touched on are love, the Resurrection, the Epistle of Romans, etc. Looking at the Table of Contents, I honestly thought that I would be drawn to the section on Scripture. However, Abba Matta surprised me and instead fascinated me with his talks on Christian Living.

The talk/chapter that most spoke to me was called, "A Word to Married Couples." In this talk, there is much discussion about how a husband and wife become one. He states, "This union continues in Heaven," and, "The bond that links spouses is spiritual and eternal." That was very beautiful to read and made me appreciate my wife all the more. Later in this talk, he also tells us that we must give up our "self" to love our spouse more and that we are responsible for the salvation of our spouse and children. For someone who was never married, Matthew the Poor was spot on with his advice. I hope to take it to heart and practice it better with each passing day.

This is a 5-star book and a great introduction to Matthew the Poor. I look forward to seeing what future titles Conciliar Press will release, and if there will be any others by Matthew the Poor. If you would like to read more of Matthew the Poor, you could check out works such as "The Titles of Christ," or "Orthodox Prayer Life: The Interior Way."

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Pauline Books and Media - Padre Pio: Glimpse into the Miraculous

The Catholic Church has thousands upon thousands of saints in her rich history. Most of them are only known in specific regions, because there are more saints than days on the calendar, i.e., St. Eulalia. (By the way, St. Eulalia has a fascinating story that you should check out here. Thanks to my friends for naming their future daughter after her and introducing me to a saint I didn't know.) Other saints are considered giants of the faith that everybody knows, like St. Peter or St. Paul. Today, I am reviewing a book about one of these spiritual giants - Padre Pio.

Padre Pio: Glimpse into the Miraculous isn't your typical biography of a saint. The author, Fr. Pascal Cataneo, assumes you already know the basics of Padre Pio, such as when and where he was born, educated, lived, died, etc. This book is more of a spiritual biography of Padre Pio, which focuses on his many gifts and charisms. Believe me. There are TONS of accounts of the miraculous deeds that Padre Pio performed, and this book covers over 100 of them. I imagine that would be considered only a drop in the well; there are probably thousands more stories just like the ones in this book.

Fr. Cataneo organizes Padre Pio's gifts/charisms into chapters to make for easier reading. Chapter 2 addresses when he received the stigmata. Chapter 4 recounts dozen of stories where Padre Pio would gaze into people's souls and be able to tell stunning revelations about them and their sins. Chapter 5 talks about his instances of bilocation, especially with regards to the Marchioness Rizzani Boschi, who was a spiritual daughter of Padre Pio's. Chapter 6 contains accounts of the healings people received when people sought the prayers of this great man. I could go on and tell you what every chapter is about, but you get the idea.

There are many parts in this book that I would say amazed me while I was reading. Several stories in the book involve people going to Confession with Padre Pio and him listing every sin they had ever committed. They then received absolution. This was both scary and awesome to me. I couldn't help but wish that I had a chance to visit Padre Pio for the sole purpose of going to Confession with him. I can't imagine how astonishing this must have been to experience, but I bet it felt even more liberating.

Another story that was scary and sad to me was Padre Pio's conversation with Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. In this conversation, Padre Pio told Lefebvre to "Never cause discord among your brothers, and always practice the rule of obedience." Lefebvre said he would follow this advice, but Padre Pio retorted that he would not. He also said he would tear apart the Church and damage the whole Church. Lefebvre ended up doing just this when he formed the Society of St. Pius X and was removed from office by Pope Paul VI.

There are many amazing stories in this book related to the wonders deeds and gifts of Padre Pio. Some you will recognize, and others you will not. Each will leave you astonished, though. In fact, the hair on my arms were standing up for most of my reading of this book. You would be considered blessed if you had just one of Padre Pio's many charisms. He was truly an amazing man who was close to God from an early age, and this 5-star book provided me with more than a glimpse of how saintly he really was. May we all strive to be saintly like him.

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