Preaching is a relational act. This book explores the relationship between the preacher and the assembly as a spousal relationship. Written by a parish pastor with a doctorate in preaching and rooted in the Roman Catholic notion of the priest as bridegroom of the church, this work examines characteristics of the spousal relationship between husband and wife and then provides an analysis of the ministerial priesthood through this nuptial lens. This nuptial reflection on the ministerial priesthood is then applied to preaching. This book presents a nuptial hermeneutic or vision for preaching and the implications of this vision for the assembly, the preacher, the homily, and the homiletical method. The appendices include a one-page strategy for preaching summarizing the homiletical method, a rubric for homily evaluation by members of the assembly, and two sample homilies.

Bishop David Ricken leads priests on a contemplative journey to the core of priesthood in his new book. Be Thou My Vision: Meditations on the Priesthood will deepen and renew a priest's love of his own vocation. In a series of short meditations, Bishop Ricken invites the reader not only into a clearer image of priesthood but into a deeper perception of how these images open the mind to healing and prayer. All priests will benefit from prayerfully spending time with Bishop Ricken's spiritual and practical insights on priestly commitment, prayer, and parish life. At a time when Pope Benedict XVI has called upon all priests to become "contemplative pastors," Be Thou My Vision shows how this call can be fulfilled.

Written in the 1950s, this book defines and anticipates, in a prophetic way, the role of the laity in the Church, and the intimate relationship between the Church and the world. These two themes were recognized by the Second Vatican Council especially in the two constitutions "On the Church" and "The Church in the Modern World." Von Balthasar's "bastions" are barriers erected over the centuries which separated the laity from the clergy and the Church from the world. He pleads for a Church that interprets "the signs of the age," grasps them and answers them, allowing herself to be awakened by the Holy Spirit and by the age "from the bed of historical sleep for the dead of today." The new function of the Church is to be the "yeast of the world"--she must understand herself as the "instrument of the mediation of salvation to the world." Stressing that the hour of the laity is sounding in the Church, von Balthasar makes it clear that the "true program of the Church for today is: the most powerful radiance into the world through the most immediate imitation of Christ."

The book WRAP Yourself in Scripture is designed to help you converse with your Heavenly Father by learning a Scripture study method called WRAP. WRAP is an acronym that stands for Write, Reflect, Apply, and Pray. The goal of WRAP is to foster a personal encounter and conversation with Jesus Christ through the Scriptures. The book contains instructions about how to use this Scripture study method, as well as a WRAP worksheet and suggested Scripture passages to use for reflection. WRAP is based on the principles of Lectio Divina (Latin for "divine reading" or "sacred reading"), an ancient, yet rediscovered, method of reading, reflecting on, and praying Scripture. This method has been practiced for centuries by the Desert Fathers, the Benedictines, the Carmelites, and various Doctors of the Church, including St. Gregory the Great, St. Jerome, St. John of the Cross, and St. Teresa of Avila, among others. You do not have to be a Church doctor or live in a monastery to practice Lectio Div

Before Father Patrick Bergquist moved to Alaska, he imagined himself spending his free evenings wrapped in a warm quilt, reading novel after novel during the long arctic winters. Those idealized expectations were met with the unavoidable reality of winter's harshness, a pervasive darkness that made it neither realistic nor helpful to merely wait out the winter and hope for spring." And yet, says Bergquist, this is what we as a Catholic Church are tempted to do in the enduring darkness of the sexual abuse crisis. We want to wrap ourselves in the secure blanket of tradition and memory, thinking that this crisis too will pass-or worse still, that it has already passed. Bergquist admits he is "but a simple parish priest, no saint and surely no scholar." But it is precisely his perspective as a parish priest that gives rise to his poetic and prophetic voice. He speaks from his heart, soul, and experience in a way few others have done. He names and validates the pain and fear, the hopes and dreams that so many of us share. The Long Dark Winter's Night is both realistic and helpful. Patrick Bergquist was ordained in 1990. He is a diocesan priest of the Missionary Diocese of Northern Alaska and has been pastor of St. Raphael Catholic parish in Fairbanks since 1998. "

This book is on the spirituality of life crisis and formation. When this spirituality is denied or neglected, life is in crisis. The Church with its priesthood is losing its face and meaning in todays world due to the evading crisis. How to define and contain this crisis in todays world and cultures is what this book is all about. Without a well-grounded spirituality of formation, life is a bundle of crisis with a limited vision, meaning and purpose. This book is a-must-read for everyone, especially school teachers, college professors, seminary formators, bishops, priests, religious men and women, students/seminarians, and aspirants to religious life.