In his new book, Saints As They Really Are, priest and scholar Michael Plekon traces the spiritual journeys of several American Christians, using their memoirs and other writings. These "saints-in-the-making" show all their doubts and imperfections as they reflect on their search for God and their efforts to lead holy lives. They are gifted yet ordinary women and men trying to follow Christ within their flawed and broken humanity--"saints as they really are," as Dorothy Day put it. Saints As They Really Are is the third book in Plekon's critically acclaimed series on saints and holiness in our time. He draws on the autobiographical work of Dorothy Day, Peter Berger, Thomas Merton, Kathleen Norris, and Barbara Brown Taylor, among others, as well as from his own experiences as a Carmelite seminarian and brother. Plekon shares the power of these individuals' stories as they unfold. The book offers a strong argument that our failings and weaknesses are not disqualifications to holiness. Plekon further confronts the institutional church and its relationship to individuals seeking God, focusing on some of the challenges to this search--the destructive potential of religion and religious institutions, as well as our personal tendencies to extremism, overwork, pious obsessions, and legalism. But he also underscores the healing qualities of faith and the spiritual life. Plekon's insights will help readers better understand their own spiritual pilgrimages as they learn how others have dealt with the trials and joys of their path to everyday holiness. "This is the third in a progression of books by Michael Plekon that have served to expand our understanding of saints and holiness. In this new book, he has taken yet a further step in relating holiness to ordinary or everyday life by showing the contours of grace, or the harmonics of holiness, revealed in the Christian journey of a number of contemporary Christian memoirists. He shows how the gospel story of death-resurrection is written in the journey of ordinary Christians." --Robert Ellsberg, author of All Saints

In his new book, Saints As They Really Are, priest and scholar Michael Plekon traces the spiritual journeys of several American Christians, using their memoirs and other writings. These “saints-in-the-making” show all their doubts and imperfections as they reflect on their search for God and their efforts to lead holy lives. They are gifted yet ordinary women and men trying to follow Christ within their flawed and broken humanity—“saints as they really are,” as Dorothy Day put it. Saints As They Really Are is the third book in Plekon’s critically acclaimed series on saints and holiness in our time. He draws on the autobiographical work of Dorothy Day, Peter Berger, Thomas Merton, Kathleen Norris, and Barbara Brown Taylor, among others, as well as from his own experiences as a Carmelite seminarian and brother. Plekon shares the power of these individuals’ stories as they unfold. The book offers a strong argument that our failings and weaknesses are not disqualifications to holiness. Plekon further confronts the institutional church and its relationship to individuals seeking God, focusing on some of the challenges to this search—the destructive potential of religion and religious institutions, as well as our personal tendencies to extremism, overwork, pious obsessions, and legalism. But he also underscores the healing qualities of faith and the spiritual life. Plekon's insights will help readers better understand their own spiritual pilgrimages as they learn how others have dealt with the trials and joys of their path to everyday holiness.

"God helps those who help themselves." - The Bible? "Preach the gospel always; when necessary, use words." - St. Francis of Assisi? Sayings like these are such a part of modern pious tradition that we assume they come from the Bible, the mouths of saints, or the pens of famous Christian writers. In What the Saints Never Said, apologist Trent Horn takes over forty of these well-known but dubious sayings and attempts to track them to their true source. In so doing he finds some that are close to what was really said, many that were mis-attributed or twisted beyond their original meaning, and more than a few that were just plain made up! Trent Horn sets the record straight,

In 1820, a young farm boy in search of truth has a vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ. Three years later, an angel guides him to an ancient record buried in a hill near his home. With God’s help, he translates the record and organizes the Savior’s church in the latter days. Soon others join him, accepting the invitation to become Saints through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. But opposition and violence follow those who defy old traditions to embrace restored truths. The women and men who join the church must choose whether or not they will stay true to their covenants, establish Zion, and proclaim the gospel to a troubled world. The Standard of Truth is the first book in Saints, a new, four-volume narrative history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Fast-paced, meticulously researched, Saints recounts true stories of Latter-day Saints across the globe and answers the Lord’s call to write history “for the good of the church, and for the rising generations” (Doctrine and Covenants 69:8).

Book of SaintsWho are the saints, why are the lives of saints important for children, and what can children learn from lives and actions? In Loyola Kids Book of Saints, the first in the Loyola Kids series, best-selling author Amy Welborn answers these questions with exciting and inspiring stories, real-life applications, and important information about these heroes of the church. This inspiring collection of saints’ stories explains how saints become saints, why we honor them, and how they help us even today. Featuring more than sixty saints from throughout history and from all over the world, Loyola Kids Book of Saints introduces children to these wonderful role models and heroes of the church. Ages 8-12.

The lives of the Saints are one of the most powerful ways God draws people to himself, showing us the love and the joy we can find in him. But so often, these Saints seem distant—impossibly holy or dull or unlike us in race and age and state in life. In Saints Around the World, you’ll meet over one-hundred Saints from more than sixty countries, including Saints with different disabilities, strengths, and struggles. The beautiful illustrations and captivating storytelling will introduce you and your children to new heavenly friends while also helping you fall more in love with Jesus. Each story in this book is written not only to capture the imagination but also to speak about God’s tremendous love and our call to be saints. There are stories in Saints Around the World for when you feel like life isn’t fair, when people are being unkind to you, when you’ve made a terrible mistake, when you’re struggling at school, when prayer is hard. And there are stories of shouting down Nazis, of fleeing a murderous villain, of making scientific discoveries, of smoking a cigar while enemy soldiers amputate your leg. There are scared Saints, brilliant Saints, weak Saints, adventurous Saints, abused Saints, overjoyed Saints, disabled Saints—and the point of every one of them is the love of God. Whether you’re checking the map to find Saints who look like you or perusing the extensive indices to find Saints with your skills or struggles, you’ll find countless stories in this book that remind you how very possible holiness is.

By meditating on personal examples from the author's life, as well as reflecting on the inspirational life and writings of Thomas Merton, stories from the Gospels, as well as the lives of other holy men and women (among them, Henri Nouwen, Therese of Lisieux and Pope John XXIII) the reader will see how becoming who you are, and becoming the person that God created, is a simple path to happiness, peace of mind and even sanctity.