Feast Days Books

I still use this every morning to center myself and have a positive G-d centered thought for the day. I think it was specifically created for Jews in recovery but all of us have demons and can utilize this tiny and fat source of wisdom. Everything Olitz touches turns to gold...really, buy this book.

As the author, I found it to be a blessing not only to write this book but also to share it with others. And I continue to read it, as if it were written by another since the Jewish wisdom that it contains continues to inspire me.

The collaborative work of author Kathy DellaTorre O'Keefe and illustrator Anne Catharine Blake, the "Child's Guide To The Holy Days" was published by the Paulist Press to teach children ages 5 to 9 about the meaning and significance of special and recurring occasions within the Catholic Church to commemorate and celebrate of 'Holy Days of Obligation in reference to the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, the Ascension, All Saint's Day, Christmas, and the Virgin Mary. Young readers will be able to learn about the special obligations associated with each significant day, the religious legacy of Catholic traditions, and the differences among dioceses that can occur in each holy day's observance. Thoroughly 'kid friendly', the "Child's Guide To The Holy Days" is especially recommended for family, parochial school, and parish library collections for young children.

Author Kathy DellaTorre O'Keefe has given parents and teachers a wonderful resource for teaching our children about the Holy Days that highlight the liturgical calender of our Catholic Church.

In simple language, O'Keefe orients the reader to the meaning of "holy day of obligation" and "diocese", explaining the sometimes shifting nature of our celebration of the six Holy Days currently celebrated in the United States. In story form, she weaves descriptions and dates for each of the Holy Days, relating them to their scriptural roots.

Wonderful illustrations by Anne Catharine Blake compliment O'Keefe's uplifting tone. This book, aimed at readers ages five through nine, reads more like a storybook than a textbook. It is a wonderful way to share our Catholic traditions with any child and should be a resource in every Catholic family and school library.

I am looking forward to using Daily Prayer 2002 which I received as a gift. Just by browing through it, I can see the effort and creative thinking that went into this well-written guide for your prayerful walk with God.

Daily Prayer 2002 contains an order of prayer for each day of the Catholic liturgical year, from the First Sunday of Advent, December 1, 2001, to November 30, 2002. Each day includes a psalm, scripture reading, reflection and prayers. Each page is dated and includes the particular day's observance (weekdays, Sundays, feasts of saints, and so forth). It is inspired by the Roman Catholic tradition of daily prayer, including the liturgy of the hours and the monastic practice of "lectio divina," or holy reading, and tries to make those traditions accessible today.

It has taken me awhile to complete my set of this 7 volume set of daily meditations. But, it is well worth the time it has taken me to acquire and learn how to use this set of Daily Meditations......As a set of Daily Meditations, the idea is to read one Meditation for each day and thus, one does not read these books through at a few sittings, but, rather, one day at a time. The readings put one into their own Conversation with God and thus help one to spend some time with God.


The important thing to know about this set is that it is tied to the daily liturgy, specifically, the Daily Mass Readings. Therefore, one can get a lot more out of reading these under a couple of sets of circumstances or preconditions. Firstly, one must familiarize oneself with the liturgical year of the Church. There is a chart inside the volume that helps you to do this. For Example, is the Church in Year A, B, or C? Is it the 14th week in Ordinary Time or is it the Eastertide? One MUST be aware of the ebb and flow of the Liturgical year which is different than the calendar year to maximize the power of your Conversation with God. Secondly, if you are not a daily Mass attendee, you may want to learn how to ascertain the daily scriptural readings for the weekdays when you may not frequent Mass. The reason for knowing or prereading the Mass reading for any specific day is that these Meditations refer to the Mass readings for any given day and therefore, it helps if one has read the Mass readings for the day or alternatively, knows how to find them. One way of finding the Mass readings for the day is through a Sunday Bulletin of a Catholic Church. Most parishes list in their weekly Bulletin the Mass readings for each day of the week. If this doesn't work for you, the daily Mass readings are easily found on line in a number of locations including the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops web site or EWTN's (Eternal World Television Network) web site.

One can use the book without the daily Mass readings of course. The volumes are footnoted and referenced. Thus, a footnote can refer to a specific scripture in the Bible and one can refer to that Biblical location.

OTHER SOURCES: In addition to the Bible, the daily commentary includes many other sources that are footnoted including writing of JOSEMARIE Escriva, like the "FORGE", "FURROW" and "Friends of God". Also, many writings of the SAINTS are referred to in the footnotes. One does not need to pursue the footnote references however to obtain value from the volume. I mention the footnote references only because you can see that the commentary is grounded in the teachings and Tradition of the Magisterium.

Thus, your daily Conversation with God takes the Scripture reading for the day and EXPANDS upon it, and helps you to meditate upon its meaning for your life. This practice of "lectio divina" - reading, praying/conversing with our Lord will heighten your intimacy with Our Lord and bring you closer to Him. We are the ones, after all, who bear responsibility for our distance from Him. To draw closer is not all that difficult and before long, you will find, that you will thirst for the Living Water. If you miss a day or two of this practice for a while, a consciousness will come to you and you will seek to restore the practice to again drink of the living water. [...]

Wow, this 7 volume set is a must have for anyone looking for a daily scriptural based meditation book. Fernandez does an excellent job of hitting the reader with real to life spirituality topics ranging anywhere from the sacraments and virtues to family interaction and friendship. Also, each spiritual reading ties in with the daily Gospel reading, which is very beneficial for meditating on the Mass. Overall, this is the best spiritual reading I have found and it is geared to anyone, whether religous, single, married, or just someone looking for a little spiritual guidance. Worth the money!

This book offers both Jews & non-Jews a basic understanding of the Jewish calendar & life-cycle events which go hand-in-hand. A wonderful gift for any Jewsih occasion

A lucid introduction to Jewish laws, traditions and customs, this book is an esthetiic delight as well. Fine paper, elegant text and attractive graphics add up to a book that is a pleasure to mind, hand and eye. The author,s love of the faith of her mothers and fathers enlightens every page. You don't have to be Jewish to enjoy it and profit by it

These reflections from author and retreat leader Megan McKenna are designed to help transform our lives through the seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. "This is the time of God coming to us, and it is the time for us to come home to one another and to God together," she writes. She begins by enumerating the many "comings" represented in the seasons, including God among us as a human being in the mystery of the incarnation, Christ in glory at the end of time, and God as King of glory and Judge of the universe.

She points out that we live between two Advents that are "our meaning and source, our horizon and shadow." The first Advent, the incarnation, Christmas and Epiphany, focused on the mystery of God's presence among us in "the vale of tears where people dwell in joy and tears, in mildness and violence, in justice and injustice." In the second Advent Christ will come in glory to fulfill the kingdom that began with the coming of Jesus. Through the Word we will see the mystery of God's plan for the world, "its freedom and liberation, its transformation, and its holiness, as it was meant to be in the beginning."

The book is organized into the four Sundays of Advent for Cycle A, B, and C; feast days from the Immaculate Conception through January 1; and Epiphany and the second Sunday after Christmas for all three cycles. Roughly 10 pages are devoted to each Sunday, with reflections that include stories, quotations from scholars and poets, and links to our current culture.

Now in an updated and expanded new edition, The American Book Of Days features 850 essays marking important anniversaries and the birthdays of history-making Americans throughout the 366 days of the year (including February 29th). All American holidays and pivotal moments are noted as readers can delve into fascinating and often overlooked accounts connected to otherwise familiar facts of American history from the discovery of American by Europeans down through to today. Cross-reference and an extensive index make information easy to find, while expanded appendices feature historical documents. A highly recommended, core title for school and community library American history and reference collections, The American Book Of Days is enhanced for students and researchers with approximately one hundred photographs and other illustrations.

This is the kind of book you would expect to see on the bookself in your rebbe's study. Yet, even for the lay person it provides an easy-to-read introduction to the evolution of the Jewish festivals and holidays.

This book is the most amazing prayer book I have ever used. It works really well for either a group or individual. Each day has a psalm, bible reading, short reflection from the author, petitions, reading specific prayer, and a prompt for the Our Father. As a group, we found that it always raised tons of questions for us so we had one person read each part and our group discussed the reading, reflection, and/or psalm after the reflection. The book is organized so that it builds on itself, for instance repeating the same psalm for many days in a row to build an understanding and familiarity with it, while incorporating in bible readings of a similar vein. The daily prayer is short enough to have finished in 15 minutes but some days we spent 2 hours reflecting, discussing, and pressing the related issues of our life. The book also works well on your own as I found when separate fromk the group. I highly recommend using it in the mornings before starting the day to keep God the focus. It is intended for Catholics but we had a non-Catholic Christian in our prayer group for whom it worked just as well. I am so grateful for this providential prayer book which provides an amazing path for living God's word.

Agnon begins with Chodesh Elul and goes through the Yamim Noraim, bringing to each time, a wealth of religious insights from a wide variety of sources. He in one sense is a scholar- anthologist simply presenting before the reader quotations from the works of others, but in another he is the master artist- arranger- interpreter creating new and deeper connections.
I have for many years accompanied my effort at living the Yamim Noraim truly by reading and studying this work.
It is by this time a Jewish religious classic, and cannot be recommended more highly.