I know many who struggle with a husband or wife who hasn’t converted to Catholicism or who may be Catholic but their heart hasn’t been converted. This is a difficult cross to bear and takes time, prayer and patience.

I am previewing a copy of Intimate Graces (Ave Maria Press, 2015) by Teresa Tomeo (Pastore) and her husband Deacon Dominick Pastore, which looks at marriage through the lens of the Works of Mercy. In it, the couple discusses a time when Dominick had returned to the faith but Teresa had not, and they offer some wise words that I thought would be helpful to many:

“If you find yourself right now on the faith fast track, don’t try to force your spouse to get behind the wheel. Pray. Invite her to attend Mass with you and once in a while to a church event, then let her be and pray some more. The more you pray, the more peaceful you will be. It was the peace that Dominick had that finally won Teresa over.”

How wonderful! Pray that you might be such an example of joy and God’s saving love and mercy, that your spouse will desire it for his or herself.

If you’d like to read Intimate Graces, you can preorder a copy. It is scheduled to be released Oct. 2, 2015.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As days pass and we become comfortable in our Catholicism and the sacraments begin to feel more like a routine and less like an encounter with the living God, it’s time to shake ourselves out of that lukewarm sleep and remember WHY we are Catholic.

As a convert myself, I find it often helps to view your faith anew through the eyes of a convert, someone who as an adult actively CHOSE Catholicism because they fell in love with it. Some who choose it despite knowing they were leaving a career, friends or family behind because they knew they had found the fullness of God’s truth in our faith.

Journeys Home and Journeys Home 2 edited by Marcus Grodi, founding president of Coming Home Network International, is a wake-up call to the joys of our faith. These books compile the conversion stories of men and women — priests, religious and lay people. They serve as a joyful wake-up call to the beauty of Catholicism and Jesus’ call to all of us to return home to Rome.

I love nothing better than a good conversion story! I love to dissect exactly what drew a person to the Church, where it happened and why. What was their thought process? These stories do a great job explaining all of this and give great logical understanding, paired with faith, of why Catholicism is the one true Church, calling people from all faiths back to the church Jesus founded 2000 years ago.

You’ll enter the mind of Southern Baptists, Anglicans, Evangelical Pentecostals and Muslims to explore what drew them to Catholicism. Some more recognizable converts who share their stories in the books include:

• Dan Burke, SpiritualDirection.com and National Catholic Register
• Steve Ray, aka Jerusalem Jones, author and pilgrimage leader
• Peter Kreeft, author and professor
• Allen Hunt, Dynamic Catholic
• Father Dwight Longenecker

Thanks to CatholicWord.com, I am able to gift two lucky winners each with volumes 1 and 2 of Journeys Home to inspire you on journey and re-awaken in you Catholicism’s call. Simply enter the contest by completing as many of the tasks below as you desire. The more you enter, the better your chance to win! I will announce the winner on Monday, July 20.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I have found some of the greatest joy in listening to Contemporary Christian music. It is so uplifting and such a dramatic contrast to flipping on any other mainstream station where it seems within just a few songs you (and your kids) must listen to songs about sex, using curse words and worse. See my tips on switching to Christian radio if you’re ready for a change!

But today, I wanted to focus on some of my favorite uplifting songs that not only are wonderful music, but whose lyrics will lift you right up out of a funk and help you praise God continuously (all while tapping your toes :)).

Here are my top 9:

1) Do Something by Matthew West

I love this song, but it’s a great motivation that if we want the world to change, it starts with us! We are God’s hands and feet in this world. Watch the video; it’s awesome, too!

2) Greater by MercyMe

“Greater is the one living inside of me than he who is living in the world.” “You are holy, righteous and redeemed.” Enough said!

3) Soul on Fire by Third Day

Let this song inspire you to light the spark of faith and set you on fire for Christ. As St. Catherine of Siena said, “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”

4) Fix my Eyes by For King & Country

Also a toe tapper, this one always reminds me that no matter WHAT is going on in my life to keep my eyes literally fixed on Christ.

5) Build Your Kingdom Here by Rend Collective

This is particularly impactful right now with all we face in our country, as they sing “Heal our streets and lands. Set your Church on fire. Win this nation back. Change the atmosphere. Build your kingdom here, we pray.”

6) Speak Life by TobyMac

A great reminder of how much of a difference speaking positively can make in the lives of others: speak hope, speak love, speak life.

7) Multiplied by NeedtoBreathe

This is just flat out a BEAUTIFUL song! “Your love is like radiant diamonds bursting inside us. We cannot contain…”

8) Good Fight by Unspoken

Don’t feel like you have anything left to give anymore? This song will inspire you to keep on! “Keep fighting the good fight, keep letting your light shine…”

9) You Are More by Tenth Avenue North

Made some terrible mistakes in your life? This song reminds you that you are MORE than your past. “You are more than the choices that you’ve made. You are more than the sum of your past mistakes. You are more than the problems you create. You’ve been remade! This is not about what you’ve done, but what’s been done for you.”

Which contemporary Christian songs are your favorites? Please share!

OK, Catholics (and ALL people for that matter), you already know this, but I’m here to remind you that you NEED to read Laudato Si, Pope Francis’ new encyclical letter On Care for Our Common Home. Why? Sure, you can read everyone else’s summaries, but you need to read Pope Francis’ words for yourself, rather than accept someone else’s interpretation.

You want to be especially careful you are not accepting the interpretations of secular media, who so frequently take Pope Francis’ comments out of context, turning them into something they are not. Teresa Tomeo posted a great list of reliable Catholic sources on her blog.

Format Options

How can you read Laudato Si? Here are some format choices:

1) Laudate App on your smartphone – Download the free app, then select Vatican Documents, scroll to Encyclical Letter and select the top one, Laudato si’. Easy as pie!

2) Vatican website – Read it directly online here.

3) Read as a book – You can buy Laudato Si in book format from Amazon.

4) Read it as an ebook – Download Laudato Si as an ebook to your Kindle or other e-reader.

Now you know HOW to read it, let’s put together a plan to actually read it. Because it’s divided into 246 parts and, as a book, is 176 pages, plus the fact that it’s written by a pope, can make it a bit intimidating to delve into. But I’m here to tell you, I’ve started reading it, and you don’t need a doctorate to get through it. Sure, you’ll need to concentrate, but you won’t need to whip out a dictionary to understand it.

My Reading Plan

My suggestion is to make it as easy as possible to read by having it on your phone, carrying your Kindle with you, packing the book in your bag, etc., so when you get a free moment, you can pop it out and read it. Having it in multiple formats can be helpful as well, so you can switch between ereading on your phone or Kindle to the physical book.

Tackle it in bits of 12-15 parts per day. At a rate of 15 parts, you’ll be done in 17 days, and at a rate of 12 parts, you’ll be done in 21 days — either way, you’ll have read it in less than a month in free bits of time here and there.

Great Quotes from Laudato Si Thus Far

I’m just at the beginning, but I’ve already found so many wonderful things in Laudto Si. Here are just a few samplings to inspire you to read (note: my favorite parts are in bold):

• Pope Benedict asked us to recognize that the natural environment has been gravely damaged by our irresponsible behaviour. The social environment has also suffered damage. Both are ultimately due to the same evil: the notion that there are no indisputable truths to guide our lives, and hence human freedom is limitless. (Part 6)
• [Patriarch Bartholomew] asks us to replace consumption with sacrifice, greed with generosity, wastefulness with a spirit of sharing, an asceticism which “entails learning to give, and not simply to give up. It is a way of loving, of moving gradually away from what I want to what God’s world needs. It is liberation from fear, greed and compulsion.” (Part 9)
• “It is our humble conviction that the divine and the human meet in the slightest detail in the seamless garment of God’s creation, in the last speck of dust of our planet” (Part 9, quoting Patriarch Bartholomew, I believe) — How amazingly well written is that sentence?!
• What is more, Saint Francis, faithful to Scripture, invites us to see nature as a magnificent book in which God speaks to us and grants us a glimpse of his infinite beauty and goodness. (Part 12)

Let us not waste the wise words of our wonderful Pope Francis by failing to read them! Now, let’s get started…