From the desk of the Tar Heel disciple:
December 23, 2025
A Great Gift for New (and Old?) Catholics
Saint Augustine teaches us that time is a creature. It is created by God. Like all creatures, it is meant to be used for the good. Christians should be especially conscious of this truth. Catholics have an ancient tradition of organizing time for the glory of God. This is seen in the creation and observance of liturgical seasons, feast days, fast days, holy hours, special commemorations, and the like. The Catholic liturgical calendar can (and should!) be subversive in a secular and anti-religious world. This is especially apparent in the context of a monastic community, where time is ordered entirely around the praise of God. But even the ordinary believer, living according to the times set by government and workplaces can order his/her days and hours significantly, in keeping with God's plan for his/her life.
A slender volume, entitled Essential Guide to Seasons and Saints, provides an excellent orientation to the structure and meaning of “Catholic time.” It is a concise orientation to the liturgical year and life of the Catholic community. It provides an introduction to the liturgical year, including the feast days of the saints, as observed by the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. Concise as it is, this little book is a thorough introduction, which includes splendid illustrations from the art of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, in Washington DC.
This would be a splendid gift for a catechumen or candidate for full communion with the Catholic Church. It might also serve as a gift for someone who is in the process of returning or who has recently returned to a practice of their Catholic Faith. It would also be suitable for middle school or high school students in a faith education program. In addition to a brief explanation of each saint whose feast day is observed in the US liturgical calendar (up until 2013), it also provides a brief explanation of special observances of popular piety related to the liturgical cycle, such as First Friday devotions and customs related to the liturgical calendar, including devotions to St. Joseph in March, the Rosary in October, the Sacred Heart in June, etc. Whether a new or old Catholic, or not yet a Catholic, the attentive reader might well be inspired to better use the gift of time for the purposes of God's glory and our salvation. This little book shows the way we might organize time in our daily lives for the good.
This book is available at In His Name:
