Mark G. Boyer

The Roman Catholic Church issued its first, modern, one-volume Lectionary–a book of biblical texts assigned for every day of the year–in 1970 in response to the Second Vatican Council's call for a greater fare of Scripture during Mass. By the time the Lectionary was revised and published between 1998 and 2002, it had grown to four volumes. Because of the revision, many weekday celebrations of saints were assigned texts that had not been so in the 1970 Lectionary. Because of the...

Almost every person has owned a pet at one time or another in life or known someone who has. In all world religions, animals serve as spirit guides; there is spirituality to animal and human dialogue. Animals have the ability to help us reach wholeness if we learn their wisdom and integrate it into our lives. This abecedarian–a book whose contents are in alphabetical order–explores the spiritual growth that is possible by reflecting on the wisdom of creatures, which serve as spirit guides in all...

Christ Our Passover Has Been Sacrificed examines the paschal mystery as it is presented throughout the liturgical year in The Roman Missal. After offering an in-depth definition of the paschal mystery the author guides the reader through Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost, and more, mining the riches of paschal mystery spirituality. Biblical accounts interpret the death and resurrection of Jesus; liturgical texts in The Roman Missal present a rich seam of spiritual truth for the reader to apply...

There are multiple names given to Jesus in the Bible. Fifty of them are presented in this book, Names for Jesus. In the ancient world, a name had a meaning; in this book's entries one can discover the meaning of a name for Jesus, which often indicates one of his functions as understood by a biblical author. Often, both religious and spiritual people look for some reading material that will guide them through the Advent and Christmas seasons. Here is an ecumenical approach; this book is...

The Lent-Easter seasons cover one-fourth of the year, or 25 percent of the liturgical year. One of the many things we do as Roman Catholics is sing Lenten and Easter hymns. During Lent, we express our sorrow for sin as we pray, fast, and give alms. During Easter, we shout Alleluias at the end of many hymns to express our praise of God for having raised Christ from the dead. Thus, those who observe Lent and Easter sing religious hymns written for each season. The sounds of Lenten hymns in minor...

Every person has seen a tree and maybe planted or climbed one! In all world religions, various trees are considered sacred. Trees have the ability to help us reach wholeness if we learn their wisdom and integrate it into our lives. This abecedarian–a book whose contents are in alphabetical order–explores the spiritual growth that is possible by reflecting on the wisdom of woody plants, which help humans experience the divine. In these pages you can explore trees from Acacia to Zaqqum. For each...

"The glory of the LORD," a phrase used over one hundred times in the Bible, describes God's greatness and transcendence. This complex theological concept exhibits several natural elements which describe a theophany, a personification of God in the forces of nature. Thus, a theophany–the appearance of God in a visible form–is the physical manifestation of the divine presence most frequently associated with a storm. Of all the biblical accounts that illustrate the glory of the LORD, the...

Contemplation is a spiritual process involving long, thoughtful, steady, serious, and attentive consideration or observation in order to achieve closer unity with God and to discover and understand God's will for the contemplative. Contemplation gives rise to activity, and activity, in turn, gives rise to more contemplation. The result of contemplation is often called discernment, seeing clearly what is at first not very clear or obvious, understanding what is not immediately obvious,...

This book, a primer, serves as an introduction to a devotional practice known as the Rosary: Rosary means garden of flowers or necklace of beads. The word bead comes from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning prayer. Thus, the rosary is a garden of prayer or a necklace of prayer. After explaining how one prays the Rosary, the author presents eighty reflections on what is known as the Mysteries of the Rosary: four sets of five mysteries, each with four options for each of the twenty mysteries. Each entry...

What is Born of the Spirit is Spirit provides reflections on Scripture texts associated with (Holy) Spirit and (human) spirit. Various aspects of Spirit and spirit are explored in one-hundred-five entries. The subtitle, A Biblical Spirituality of Spirit, indicates the ways biblical authors are inspired to present imaginatively what cannot be pictured: Spirit and spirit. This book attempts to recover the spirituality of biblical stories that narrate how the Spirit connects to spirit and the...

All Things Mary provides reflections on all Scripture texts associated with celebrations in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary during the liturgical year, in addition to biblical texts presented in the Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It honors the Mother of God as the exemplar of the Christian life by presenting an anthology of Marian reflections grounded in Scripture texts, litanies, and catechetical teaching about Mary. This book is designed to be used by individuals for private...

The presence of the Divine is everywhere. That is both a comfort and a challenge. We are consoled to know that God is with us, but being human we need a sign, something to touch, see, hear, taste, smell. We need something of the ordinary to name the non-touchable, invisible, unable-to-be-heard, tasteless, odorless God's presence with us. So, we employ metaphors, figures of speech which literally denote one kind of object in place of another, to suggest a likeness or analogy. In this book,...

Sometime around the age of fifty–or as early as forty and as late as sixty–most of us come to terms with our age. We recognize that we have lived out at least half of the time allotted to us, and that the second half may be shorter than the first! Coming to terms with our age is a process, one that usually involves denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. As we progresses through these stages, a spirituality of aging emerges. In this book, the reader is led on a quest to explore...

Prayer, the raising of the heart to God, is the heart of the Christian life. For the author of Luke's Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, prayer is the habit of being in the presence of God. One of the primary ways Jesus is characterized in Luke's Gospel is that of a pray-er. Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles, the apostles are portrayed being in God's presence. Prayer is the topic of this book; it highlights the passages where Jesus is found praying in the Gospel and where...

Mary, the mother of Jesus, is known in the Catholic Church as Our Lady of Grace, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Our Lady of Sorrows, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of the Rosary, Our Mother of Perpetual Help, and more. Her various titles describe her various functions within the Church. Many books on Mariology, the study or doctrine relating to the Virgin Mary, either treat the liturgical aspects or the devotional aspects of the topic. Here, they are...

Fruit of the Vine: A Biblical Spirituality of Wine is designed to help the reader grow in spirituality through reflecting on biblical vineyard stores, wine making, and wine as a metaphor for life. A spirituality of wine–categorized as a spirit–connects the spirit in wine to the universal spirit all share. Wine appeals to all five senses. Its bouquet can be smelled; its complexity, often compared to fruit, can be tasted; its shades of red, designating its body, can be seen as it clings to or...

We are pilgrims on a journey; that means we will leave our home and move to another one at least once during our lifetime. This book is a resource for taking leave of a home, focusing primarily on the psychological and spiritual tasks of moving. Chapter 1 offers suggestions on how to take leave of one's home slowly. Chapter 2 presents occasions when one must quickly take leave of a home because of poor health, a health emergency, age, the death of a spouse, finances, a job transfer, etc....