Current Reading and a Project

 I just wanted to share the books I am currently reading.  I have a habit of reading multiple books at the same time, so usually it takes me awhile to get through them.  It seems to work well for me though.

Each morning I open the book on my nightstand.  It is titled Small Steps for Catholic Moms by Danielle Bean, Elizabeth Foss, and Lisa Hendey.  This book provides a daily meditation, prayer, and item to work on that day.  It is grouped by a new topic/virtue for each month of the year.  For me, the greatest thing about this book is that it helps me stay focused; it gives me one thing to try to improve each day, rather than trying to tackle all of my weak areas at once.  One page per day to read...I can handle that.

Danielle Bean, editor of Catholic Digest, and Elizabeth Foss, an award-winning blogger, team up to offer daily doses of inspiration, wisdom, and hope for Catholic moms. Now back in print in response to high demand, Small Steps for Catholic Moms gives busy mothers a year's worth of sustenance, in the form of brief daily challenges about which to think, pray, and act. 
Small Steps for Catholic Moms offers daily prompts and suggestions--small steps--for every day of the year to encourage Catholic moms to attain that elusive balance between action and contemplation in everyday life. Each day's entry includes a short prayer from a saint, a personal prayer composed from the hearts of two mothers, and a small call to action, making this the perfect prayer companion for the busy mom looking for bite-sized spiritual nourishment.

• Explanation of the Holy Mass by Dom Prosper Gueranger  

I have been slowly working my way through this book, and it is excellent.  The explanations are based on the Traditional Mass, but many of them also pertain to the Novus Ordo Mass.  I have already learned much about the Mass that I did not realize before.

There has never been a book that so well elucidates how the active participation in the Holy Sacrifice, which is the duty of all the laity, can best be accomplished. This was written after the Liturgical Year and was the last book translated by Dom Laurence Shepard, Guéranger s disciple, before his own death.

• The Virtues by Pope Benedict XVI  is a book I have just begun, but it seems like it will be a great read.

One of the greatest teachers of our day, Pope Benedict XVI has frequently spoken about the pursuit of virtue. In these selections from homilies and addresses, the Holy Father draws on the lives of saints, the Catechism, and common experiences to bring us into a deeper understanding of the virtues and how to cultivate them in our own lives so that we can grow closer to the Lord.
Allow Pope Benedict XVI to instruct you on nurturing all the basic Christian virtues: Faith, Hope, and Charity, called the Theological Virtues and Prudence, Fortitude, Justice, and Temperance the Cardinal Virtues.

• Blessed are they that Mourn by Mother Mary Loyola  is a book I was introduced to from Jessica at Shower of Roses.  I ordered it shortly after my miscarriage, and so far I am impressed.
  

***By the early years of the twentieth century, Mother Mary Loyola had cemented her reputation as one of the best Catholic writers of her generation, but the First World War prompted her to write a book of consolation for the innumerable mothers, wives and others who had lost loved ones to its ravages. Her intimate knowledge of the subject matter gave her unique insight, for she had lost so many in the course of her long life, beginning with both of her parents and two siblings when she was just nine years old, and recently including several of her own beloved students who were fighting in the trenches of the Great War. She knew only too well the need for a strong faith in these times of intense suffering and loss, and this she amply illustrates in Blessed are they that Mourn.

I also wanted to tell you that I am working on a homeschool project.  When it is finished, I will give you all the details about it.  At that point, it will be available for purchase to anyone interested.  I am very excited about using it in my own homeschool and offering it to all of you.

Coming soon...
Meanwhile, God bless!