“Honor thy father and thy mother.” This is the fourth commandment from the ten God gave us through Moses in the Bible. This fourth follows the initial three signifying our duties to the Supreme Being. After God, our next obligation is to our parents. This shows the importance of parents. Notice the word is “honor.” It does not say “obey”; but “honor” certainly includes “obedience.” Furthermore, this commandment does not end when we each reach maturity. The commandment of honor signifies we must respect our parents all their lives. Our mother was Norah Attracta Cusack. Our father was Joseph Charles Meissner. By the usual social standards, they were very ordinary people on this planet. However, they possessed their own wonderful beauty and intelligence. They were most extraordinary parents who welcomed us to life, took care of our needs, ensured we received great educations, and devoted their lives unselfishly to us for decades. But they gave us much more than our mere bodies. They gave us faith, hope, and love during their long lives. They showed us how to live as God urges us to live. They continuously nourished us spiritually from our mother’s nightly “demands” to kneel in the living room praying the rosary to our Blessed Virgin to our father who drove us even in the blinding snow, freezing cold, and storms to church every week, ensuring we arrived on time. Here are words from my brother Robert for our parents: “As for our son, Scott, [who suffering from severe PTSD, ended his life], I agree he is somewhere around and still present in the universe. So are our mom and dad. I think after we die, we will learn how all this is done—you know Mom and Dad are the greatest proof of God, religion, and an afterlife. They were so good and worked tirelessly for our family. If you asked them about religion, the church, and faith, they might say it really doesn’t matter, except you treat your fellow human beings with dignity and acknowledge God as Father. The rest of the argument really doesn’t mean that much.” So to Mom and Dad, we celebrate your lives and say an enormous thank-you.

Based on Kurt Bennett's popular-ish blog God Running, Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven-year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus' every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus' words than he was following Jesus' words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett's own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others. Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including: -Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God's love to others. -How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman's love languages (and how you can too). -The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ's extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions. -How to respond to critics the way Jesus did. -How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did. -How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat). -How Jesus didn't love everyone the same (and why you shouldn't either). -How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself--he even napped--and why you should do the same.-How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end. With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God's definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too. A life of loving like Jesus.

Who was your mother before she was a mother? Essays and photos from Brit Bennett, Jennifer Egan, Danzy Senna, Laura Lippman, Jia Tolentino, and many more. In this remarkable collection, New York Times–bestselling novelist Edan Lepucki gathers more than sixty original essays and favorite photographs to explore this question. The daughters in Mothers Before are writers and poets, artists and teachers, and the images and stories they share reveal the lives of women in ways that are vulnerable and true, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always moving. Contributors include: Brit Bennett * Jennine Capó Crucet * Jennifer Egan * Angela Garbes * Annabeth Gish * Alison Roman * Lisa See * Danzy Senna * Dana Spiotta * Lan Samantha Chang * Laura Lippman * Jia Tolentino * Tiffany Nguyen * Charmaine Craig * Maya Ramakrishnan * Eirene Donohue * and many others

It's Mother's Day! Celebrate moms everywhere with spa treatments, tasty treats, and more in this installment of Natasha Wing's best-selling series. It's the night before Mother's Day, and Dad and the kids are determined to show Mom just how much they love her. They whip up a cake from scratch, and offer a special coupon for a day at the spa, right in their own kitchen! Kids and moms will love reading this sweet story aloud together for a fun way to celebrate Mother's Day.

Come spend some time in the sanctuary of women, an often-ignored space in Jewish and Christian history. This devotional book for women highlights six women from around the world and across the centuries, inviting us to discover what their lives tell us about God. Jan Richardson, a gifted poet, artist, and author, believes it is essential for women to listen to one another's wisdom and bring the fullness of their lives, with all the wonders and messiness, into their prayer life. In the Sanctuary of Women gathers together these women from scripture and history: Eve Brigid of Kildare The desert mothers Hildegard of Bingen Harriet Powers The Woman of the Song of Songs Each chapter becomes its own sanctuary, with one of the women serving as a companion as you contemplate the theme that her life offers. Throughout the readings Richardson weaves her own stories, poetry, prayers, and blessings. Midway through each chapter, a section called "The Secret Room" gives you a chance to pause and reflect on unexpected insights. Reading the book daily will carry you through six months, or you can dip into the readings as you wish. An invitation into reflection and prayer alone or in the company of others, In the Sanctuary of Women is a book to treasure and to share with the women and the men in your life.

Timeless and contemplative sayings from the earliest Christian sages of desert spirituality can be a companion on your own spiritual journey. The desert fathers and mothers were ordinary Christians living in solitude in the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Arabia who chose to renounce the world in order to deliberately and individually follow God's call. They embraced lives of celibacy, labor, fasting, prayer and poverty, believing that denouncing material goods and practicing stoic self-discipline would lead to unity with the Divine. Their spiritual practice formed the basis of Western monasticism and greatly influenced both Western and Eastern Christianity. Their writings, first recorded in the fourth century, consist of spiritual advice, parables and anecdotes emphasizing the primacy of love and the purity of heart. Focusing on key themes of charity, fortitude, lust, patience, prayer and self-control, the Sayings influenced the rule of St. Benedict and have inspired centuries of opera, poetry and art. This probing and personal SkyLight Illuminations edition opens up their wisdom for readers with no previous knowledge of Western monasticism and early Christianity. It provides insightful yet unobtrusive commentary that describes historical background, explains the practice of asceticism and illustrates how you can use their wisdom to energize your spiritual quest.

A collection of feminist essays steeped in “Solnit’s unapologetically observant and truth-speaking voice on toxic, violent masculinity” (The Los Angeles Review). In a timely and incisive follow-up to her national bestseller Men Explain Things to Me, Rebecca Solnit offers sharp commentary on women who refuse to be silenced, misogynistic violence, the fragile masculinity of the literary canon, the gender binary, the recent history of rape jokes, and much more. In characteristic style, “Solnit draw[s] anecdotes of female indignity or male aggression from history, social media, literature, popular culture, and the news . . . The main essay in the book is about the various ways that women are silenced, and Solnit focuses upon the power of storytelling—the way that who gets to speak, and about what, shapes how a society understands itself and what it expects from its members. The Mother of All Questions poses the thesis that telling women’s stories to the world will change the way that the world treats women, and it sets out to tell as many of those stories as possible” (The New Yorker). “There’s a new feminist revolution—open to people of all genders—brewing right now and Rebecca Solnit is one of its most powerful, not to mention beguiling, voices.”—Barbara Ehrenreich, New York Times–bestselling author of Natural Causes “Short, incisive essays that pack a powerful punch.” —Publishers Weekly “A keen and timely commentary on gender and feminism. Solnit’s voice is calm, clear, and unapologetic; each essay balances a warm wit with confident, thoughtful analysis, resulting in a collection that is as enjoyable and accessible as it is incisive.” —Booklist