Before the dawn of man, God brought forth many beings into creation. His first creations, the Titans, in their thirst and lust to be considered equals, waged an unending war against Him for their selfish desires to hold dominion over the Heavens and the newly created Earth. The Titans brought destruction and strife to the Heavens, so much so that even their own children, the Olympians, could no longer support such a destructive plague against the beauty that the Father had created. With the Olympians swearing fealty to the Father, the Titans turned to new creations, beasts of hatred, and fire, with an unnatural lust for killing. To answer these Hordes advancements, the father introduces a new race, the Angels, and with them a hope and promise to extinguish the fires the Titans have brought to the Heavens. But the newborn angels must now make sense of this turmoil they are born into, a war they have no choice but to fight, while traveling through hostile territory to arrive before the Father’s throne. They must search for their purpose on this pilgrimage, while facing terrors of beasts and battle, and in doing so, find a way to bring an end to their Father’s war.

Compelling, powerful, magnificent' THE TIMES In revealing encounters with monks, nuns, bishops and archbishops, in monasteries ancient and modern Victoria Clark measures the depth and width of the gulf now separating Europe's Orthodox East from the Catholic and Protestant West. Many of the differences in outlook, priorities and even values can be traced back to the 1054 schism between the churches of Rome and Constantinople which created Europe's most durable fault-line. Travelling from Mount Athos to Istanbul and unravelling the tangled history, Victoria Clark demonstrates a rare sympathy with Eastern Orthodox Europe. 'I finished the book wanting to meet this intelligent, warm-hearted writer, and to follow her to some of the places she visited' LITERARY REVIEW 'A masterful synthesis of vivid and often humorous travel writing, a series of probing interviews and a pertinent historical context' THE TIMES 'Exhilarating . . . her book will be immensely helpful to anyone occasionally puzzled by events, especially politics, in Eastern Europe' FINANCIAL TIMES

It rises suddenly out of the Sonoran Desert landscape, towering over the tallest tree or cactus, a commanding building with a sensuous dome, elliptical vaults, and sturdy bell towers. There is nothing else like it around, nor does it seem there should be. This incongruity of setting is what strikes first-time visitors to Mission San Xavier del Bac. This great church is of another place and another time, while its beauty is universal and timeless. Mission San Xavier del Bac is a two-century-old Spanish church in southern Arizona located just a few miles from downtown Tucson, a metropolis of more than half a million people in the American Southwest. A National Historic Landmark since 1963, the mission’s graceful baroque art and architecture have drawn visitors from all over the world. Now Bernard Fontana—the leading expert on San Xavier—and award-winning photographer Edward McCain team up to bring us a comprehensive view of the mission as we’ve never seen it before. With 200 stunning full-color photographs and incisive text illuminating the religious, historical, and motivational context of these images, A Gift of Angels is a must-have for tourists, scholars, and other visitors to San Xavier. From its glorious architecture all the way down to the finest details of its art, Mission San Xavier del Bac is indeed a gift of angels.

Before the dawn of man, God's first creations, the Titans, waged an unending war against their creator and the heavens. With the birth of man fast approaching, God creates a new spiritual race to join the Olympians, in the defense of the heavenly realms. The newborn angels must now make sense of a heaven in turmoil, giving blind trust to the Olympians, traveling through hostile territory and facing the horrible servants and armies of the brutal Titans, in order to be reunited with their creator and discover their true purpose for existence.

A riveting memoir about one woman's journey into Syria under the Baathist regime and an unexpected love story between two strangers searching for meaning. When Stephanie Saldaña arrives in Damascus, she is running away from a broken heart and a haunted family history that she has crossed the world to escape. Yet as she moves into a tumbling Ottoman house in the heart of the Old City, she is unprepared for the complex world that awaits her: an ancient capital where Sunni and Shia Muslims, Christians, Alawites, Kurds, and Palestinian and Iraqi refugees share a fragile co-existence. Soon she is stumbling through the Arabic language, fielding interviews from the secret police, and struggling to make the city her own. But as the political climate darkens and the war in neighboring Iraq threatens to spill over, she flees to an ancient Christian monastery carved into the desert cliffs, where she is forced to confront the life she left behind. Soon she will meet a series of improbable teachers: an iconoclastic Italian priest, a famous female Muslim sheikh, a wounded Iraqi refugee, and Frédéric, a young French novice monk who becomes her best friend. What follows is a tender story of a woman falling in love: with God, with her own life, with a country on the brink of chaos, and with a man she knows she can never have. Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, The Bread of Angels celebrates the hope that appears even in war, the surprising places we can call home, and the possibility of true love.

The Lady of the Angels and Her City recounts Wendy Wright's visitations to her hometown's many Marian churches and shrines. But it is much more than a personal pilgrimage narrative. It offers important glimpses into the history of Los Angeles Catholicism, American Catholic culture, and Mary's place in Catholic theology and tradition. It peeks into the heroic labors of the religious orders that went on mission there and the waves of immigrants who have arrived on American shores. With Wright, readers will consider: Readers who know the geography of Los Angeles Catholicism will surely enjoy Wright's reflection on familiar places. But there is much here that will fascinate anyone interested in either the history of Christianity in America or devotion to Mary by those who love her today.