Beautiful Leatherette Volumes from TAN Books

TAN Books has been on a tear publishing beautiful leatherette books for people from all walks of life. Today, I would like to tell you about two of the more recent works - 100 Holy Hours for Women and Manual for Conquering Deadly Sin.

100 Holy Hours for Women is a small (about 6.5" x 4") blue leatherette volume with gold-edged pages that is approximately 500 pages long. The blue binding gives it a distinct Marian feel to it. It was originally published in 1985 and was composed by Mother Mary Raphael Lubowidzka. "The book was originally written as a religious sister's guide for daily adoration." Each meditation is approximately five pages long and begins with a single verse. This then leads to a two-part meditation with the first part containing profound bits of spiritual wisdom, and the second part being a personal reflection of hers and a prayer we could all emulate. For example, her first meditation explains that the angels are pure spiritual beings and were the first beings to show Jesus love and adoration. They also implore us to do the same. She then calls on the help of the angels to make her time in front of the Eucharist more focused on Christ, instead of worldly distractions.

Reading through this book was beautiful and doing so in front of the Eucharist makes it all the more special. with 100 reflections, if you went to Adoration once a week, you'd have almost enough to get you through two years. Also, don't let the name fool you, this work is spiritually beneficial for men and women alike. I plan on giving my copy to my wife for Christmas and think it would make a perfect gift for the special women in your life. Highly recommended!

Manual for Conquering Deadly Sin is a small (about 7" x 4.5") black leatherette volume with silver-edged pages that is approximately 300 pages long. The black binding gives it a serious and somber tone, and you know what you are about to read is a matter of life and death. It was written by Fr. Dennis Kolinski and two parts - The Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies and Prayers and Words of Wisdom, Warning and Encouragement in the Struggle Against Deadly Sin.

The first part begins by explaining the two types of sin - mortal and venial. It then goes on to define the seven deadly sins and their opposing virtues. These are as follows - lust:chastity, gluttony:temperance, avarice:generosity, sloth:diligence, anger:meekness, envy:generosity/kindness, and pride:humility. This essay then breaks apart each sin by giving us a reference in the Catechism on the sin and Scripture and magisterial teachings on it. Lastly, there are remedies for each sin to help us combat them. For example, with the sin of lust, he recommends guarding our eyes to what we see, prayer, daily examination of conscience, regular confession, and Eucharistic adoration. In Part Two, each sin is given copious amounts of quotes from both Scripture and the Church Fathers on fighting these sins.

This is a beautiful volume filled with great spiritual wisdom. Given the presentation, you would think it is more geared towards men than women, but I promise you every Christian would benefit from reading this work. I would go so far as to say that you should pair it with the Manual for Spiritual Warfare and fully equip yourself for the battle you will constantly be facing on your spiritual journey!

These volumes were provided to me for free by TAN Books in exchange for honest reviews.