Sometimes I hop on Facebook and I see my book looking back at me from someone else’s page. My heart swells with gratitude. Here are two from just this week, one from a nearby parish and one from a local deacon.

We have a little more than two weeks left before we wrap up this journey. Thanks again to those who are reading and praying with me day by day. I am in the final stages of proofing the book of reflections for Lent 2021, so keep an eye out for Not By Bread Alone, which will be out in the late fall, although the pre-order link is already up on the Liturgical Press website.

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You can get the eBook version for only 99 cents on Amazon right now. Just click HERE and you can have this book in your hands in less than a minute. An offer you can’t refuse!

If you happen to live close enough to walk or drive past my actual house, I have free copies available on my front porch. Just stop by and take one. Not the best sales approach, but it’s more important to me that people read these reflections than worry about sales.

If you want the hard copy version of the book and can’t get to my house, you can order from Amazon or from Liturgical Press, although due to the COVID-19 work shut downs, I believe shipping has become slowed down or even unavailable. Which makes me really sad, but this is life in the age of a pandemic.

Of course, if you can’t get the book by Easter, these reflections are fairly evergreen, so feel free to order and then start using it day by day for 50 days once you have it in hand.

Thank you to all those who ordered their copies early, when I originally posted about this. I’m so grateful for your support. Let me know how you like the book.

Peace and blessings during this difficult time. Safe safe. Stay healthy. Stay home.

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I can tell you that from my perspective — as a writer and a pray-er — this particular book of reflections was a real gift. We tend to focus so intently on Lent each year and then, when Easter arrives, our spiritual focus dissipates. This book gives us a chance to center on the readings of the Easter season, mainly from the Acts of the Apostles, and to dwell on stories that may not be as familiar or are at the very least stories we have not spent a lot of time with in quiet prayer.

The great news is that this book is so reasonably priced they’re practically giving it away. It’s only $2 per copy for the pocket-size version. If you prefer or need large print, that’s only $5.95. It’s also available in Spanish and as an eBook. AND, if you order in bulk, the price is chopped in half. For orders of 50 copies or more, the books are only $1 each. This is perfect for parishes, retreat centers, or folks who want to donate a batch to a program or parish.

You can order directly from Liturgical Press by clicking HERE.

Amazon seems to be out of stock but I’m hoping that status will change soon, so you can check there as well. But Liturgical Press is your best bet at this point.

Here’s a “blurb” for my previous reflection books from Liturgical Press:

“Mary DeTurris Poust has a peculiar gift for finding the common experiences with which we can all identify and rendering them into profound meditations that are both consoling and instructive…” — Elizabeth Scalia, author of Strange Gods: Unmasking Idols in Everyday Life

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Now my original essay is part of this wonderful collection from Orbis Books. I am so honored to have my writing included alongside that of spiritual writers such as James Martin, Richard Rohr, Joyce Rupp, Brian Doyle, and so many others. A special word of thanks to Mike Leach, publisher emeritus of Orbis Books and creator of Soul Seeing, for asking me to write that first essay and for inviting me to be part of this book. It’s a lovely collection, something that would make the perfect Christmas gift for anyone who’s traveling the spiritual path and looking for a little nourishment along the way.

You can order Soul Seeing directly from Orbis Books or Amazon. You’ll find me on page 179 under the title “Brokenness Lets Us See Where True Beauty Lies.”

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Here’s the description from the back of the book:

Prepare spiritually for the coming of Christ with this popular, easy-to-use annual guide. During the especially busy Advent and Christmas seasons, this book offers brief, down-to-earth reflections that bring prayer and Scripture into everyday life in a thought-provoking and lasting way. Through Mary DeTurris Poust’s insightful reflections on Scripture readings from the daily Mass, readers will grow in their understanding of the word of God. This book will help busy people achieve their goal of enriching their personal prayer life during the seasons of Advent and Christmas.

Thank you to the folks at Liturgical Press for inviting me back for another round after writing the Lent 2016 booklet. For those who like to plan for liturgical seasons years in advance, I’m also on tap to write the Lenten book of reflections for 2019.

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Thank you to everyone — in the comment section on this blog, on my Facebook page, and in my email inbox — who have said YES! to the #CravingsTribe. We are on our way.

When I put this out there, I really wasn’t sure what to expect. I thought maybe one or two of you might decide to tag along for the ride, but what I’m hearing is that there are lot of you out there who feel as I do: We need a tribe, a community of people who want to journey together through Cravings and beyond. Now that I know you’re game, I’ll be putting together a plan. When in doubt, check this blog/website for information. (The Cravings tab at the top will always have the most recent information on this topic, if you don’t see it on the home page.) If I’m going to do anything on Facebook, I’ll try to post here as well for those who don’t do social media. And, if I decide to do a weekly or bi-weekly newsletter, I’ll check in with all of you to see if you want to share your email addres (in private) so I can send the newsletter directly to your inbox.

I talked about this new endeavor on the Morning Air Show on Relevant Radio earlier today. If you missed it, you can listen to that brief conversation at the link below. I’m first up after a short intro. Share your thoughts in the comment section, if you’d like. The goal is to eventually have a group that can share with each other, pray for and with each other, and accompany each other for months, maybe years, to come. I can’t wait to get started. Thank you for trusting me enough to join me on this journey. Peace and blessings.

Here’s the radio show link. Just hit the play button:

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There are times in life when the world presents so many hard headlines, and so many complex issues, that it feels good to ask an easy question, and get an easy answer. Sometimes, though, even the easy questions become a little knotty, because multi-faceted human beings like to play with simple things. We asked an age-old question of a number of Catholic writers (and one monastic “jack-of-all-trades” who sometimes writes): Read more here.

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For me, this was one of those moments:

“After all these years, I’ve come to realize that I really don’t enjoy reading the “Divine Comedy”; I just like the thought of being someone who enjoys reading the “Divine Comedy.” I like to pretend I’m special, but I’m really just like everyone else.”

Yup, except, unlike Bob, I’ve never even attempted The Divine Comedy, despite having a bachelor’s degree in English, despite owning that lovely set of books you see in the photo here, complete with side-by-side Italian and English translations. Those books have been on my bookshelf in various apartments and houses in various cities for more than 30 years. I guess I, too, like the idea of Dante more than I like the actual reading of this classic. (For the record, I also have not read the The Iliad or The Odyssey shelved right next to it. Same idea, different classics.)

Then again, there’s a lot I’ve got sitting on the shelf of my life, unopened, untouched, undiscovered for a host of reasons that run the gamut from laziness to fear to exhaustion by a life that at times overwhelms and confounds.

“Life is messy,” Bob writes. “It’s forever unfinished, often complicated and sometimes extraordinary, and it renews itself with or without you. Everything matters, because every moment is unique.” (Read the full post HERE.)

Amen. Why do I always seem to forget that?

So what would you tell your 22-year-old self as you look at your life with 20/20 hindsight thanks to your progressive lenses? I’m going to ponder that thought as I go about my day and come back with my own version of this post.

Right after I put my Dante books out on the curb.

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The pope’s message and related comments from Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, are spot on, and I’m not just saying that because they affirm what I wrote in my book Walking Together: Discovering the Catholic Tradition of Spiritual Friendship or in numerous columns and articles on parenting, marriage, and life in general.

Real communication, real relationships cannot remain in the virtual world — whether we’re talking about family members living in the same house or dear friends living across the country. That important truth was at the heart of Walking Together, and it’s something we have to take seriously as digital communication rapidly replaces any and almost all face-to-face or verbal communication in our day-to-day interactions.

I can tell you that on any given day at my home office, I may “talk” to dozens of people via Facebook, Twitter, texting, and email, but I don’t actually speak or visit with anyone outside of my immediate family. And, even then, all five of us are often glued to our various screens at home. Just this afternoon Olivia, my 14-year-old, was texting me from the dressing room at H&M. I was not at home; I was standing about 20 feet away in the store. She has also been known to text me from the chair two feet away on our backyard deck. Clearly we need an intervention, so I know of what I speak.

Although virtual communication allows us to stay connected to friends and relatives who might otherwise be lost to us, real communication has to be intentional these days or it threatens to disappear into the digital void.

“Today the modern media, which are an essential part of life for young people in particular, can be both a help and a hindrance to communication in and between families. The media can be a hindrance if they become a way to avoid listening to others, to evade physical contact, to fill up every moment of silence and rest, so that we forget that ‘silence is an integral element of communication; in its absence, words rich in content cannot exist'” Pope Francis writes in his message, “Communicating the Family: A Privileged Place of Encounter with the Gift of Love.”

Archbishop Celli, during a related presentation, added: “The risk is that I’m an expert in technology but I am not an expert in humanity. So it’s a capacity of listening, of being open, of sharing….Today fathers and mothers are involved in so many things, they are so busy, but who is teaching the kids? (Who is teaching them) to be present in a human way and to have a real dialogue, real human communication with others, if we are not teaching them?” he asked.

Back when I wrote Walking Together, I focused on the fact that our first friendships are those we share with our parents and siblings. In our childhood home we learn how to communicate — for better or for worse, and what we learn there serves as the foundation for future relationships and communication. Think of your family growing up, your family now. Is the communication method and style different? What about friendships? Do you still get together with friends in person or talk on the phone, or is it all done via email and texting and Facebook?

In the opening pages of Walking Together, I address the same problems and concerns Pope Francis raises in this year’s World Communications Day message. Here’s what I wrote back in 2010:

“The very technology that is supposed to make our lives so much easier and so much more integrated is, in actuality, cutting us off from face-to-face contact, leaving us with mostly virtual relationships that may supply superficial satisfaction but never feed our deeper need for something that touches the heart and soul.

“In some ways it would seem impossible to be isolated in this modern-day world. Even on vacation, we are usually plugged into a mind-numbing array of people, places, and social networking websites that allow us to occupy every free second of our harried lives. The problem is that despite all our ‘favorites” and ‘buddies’ out there in the land of plenty, we are hungry for real connection.”

What’s one thing you can do today to make your daily communication and connection with family and friends more meaningful, more real? I dare you to write a letter — a handwritten, on-stationery, take-it-to-the-post-office letter. Whoever is on the receiving end will be thrilled, trust me.

I’ll be talking about the importance of real and regular communication on the Morning Air Show on Relevant Radio Friday, Jan. 30, at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time. In the New York metropolitan area, tune in at 1460 AM, or listen live online by clicking HERE.

For more information on Walking Together, click HERE.

For the full text of the pope’s World Communications Day message, click HERE.

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St. Francis de Sales, the seventeenth-century bishop who wrote extensively about spiritual friendship, says that the kind of unconditional love we all crave has existed in the most perfect form since before time began in the relationship of the Holy Trinity. If there is one ultimate model of spiritual friendship, it is found in the relationship of the Father, Son, and Spirit. But what does that mean for those of us hoping to nurture a transcendent kind of love right here on earth? It means that even if we can never achieve a divine level of pure love, we still hold the Trinity up as the example of perfect friendship. The Trinity can teach us how to be more loving in our relationships, much the same way Christ teaches us how to live the gospel without reservation.

…We cannot achieve an exact replica because we are not divine. But St. Francis de Sales explains that we can, in fact, find something of ourselves mirrored in that “infinite friendship” because we are made in God’s image. (Walking Together, Chapter 2)

Trinity icon image above by Andrei Rublev.

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