We've Got the Man in Your Life Covered...for $2.99!

Some of our most popular books for the man in your life are now just $2.99 on Kindle!

For the young man (10-15), All Things Guy: A Guide to Becoming a Man that Matters, a non-fiction book that covers such topics as:

Dignity; Virtues; Media; Vocations; Family and Friends; Body; Know Your History; Boys in the Kitchen; Strong Catholic Men Today; Basic Combat Training (prayer).

For the same young man looking for great Catholic fiction for a Kindle reader at a great $2,99 price, you'll want to read Hiding the Stranger: The Trilogy. 

Then there's Jared Zimmerer's awesome book Ten Commandments for Lifting Weights that has a great appeal to all guys interested in any form of physical fitness. (Jared's other popular men's book is Man Up! Becoming the New Catholic Renaissance Man.) 

Other books guys love include:

Emperor of North America and Saints Alive! New Stories of Old Saints.

No matter what sort of book the man in your life enjoys, we've got it.

Happy reading!

Becoming a Saint One Day at a Time

God calls us each to holiness, to sainthood.

Every day, each experience we have helps us grow in our faith and in our purpose: To achieve holiness; to become saints; to fully become the person God intends us to be.

Each experience, then, has the potential to be “purgative.” Purgation is a process that gets us ready for God. Just as God’s grace was given to the martyrs, so it is given to us to grow in holiness and towards sainthood.

In this process, it is imperative to see God as the Potter and know that we are the clay. Each experience, then, is given over to God for His guidance and our growth. Sainthood means allowing God to mold us just as a Potter molds clay. (Isaiah 64:7)

Everything we experience is an opportunity to grow in our holiness. God can “make us worthy and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose” by giving us circumstances that cause us to depend on Him, to trust in Him, and to respond according to His will

In other words, through our circumstances we allow God to mold us into a loving, forgiving, humble person versus a bitter, frustrated, angry person. (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12)

During this process, our passions can take us places that we may not have ever dreamed of and thus do things that are completely unique to each of us. In these places we cannot be lukewarm Catholics—we are expected to be on fire for our faith so that God can use us to build up the kingdom! In this the Year of Faith, it is important to ask God to ignite our passions so that you can serve Him. It is time to pray that God saves us from a lukewarm existence where we neither serve Him nor grow in our holiness. (Revelation 3:15-16)

We each have received different blessings from God. Maybe we have good health or we have a rewarding career. Is intelligence or a great marriage our blessing? God’s blessings are another way that we can grow in holiness towards our sainthood. For God to mold us into sainthood with our blessings, we have to actively offer them back to God. We have to honor God with them. They aren’t meant to stockpile but to serve. (Proverbs 3:5-10)

For many of us, the most profound way that God is able to mold us is through our sufferings and our struggles. In our weakest, most vulnerable moments, when there seems to be no hope nor any other solution, we crawl to the foot of the cross and lay our cares upon Christ who died for us. Oftentimes, before we make that journey to the cross, we mistakenly think we are able to take care of ourselves and thus miss the opportunities to grow in holiness and towards sainthood. (2 Corinthians 12:10)

When we are pleading for God to reach down from heaven and touch us—and give us “signs”—it is probably time to take a step back and look at the people with whom our paths have crossed. God uses all the people—family and friends and critics and adversaries alike—to mold us. Each person has been placed in our life for a reason: to grow in holiness and become a saint. Whether the person has put a stone in our path making it more difficult, or has removed one, each person can help us each reach our goal of sainthood! (Mark 16:2-6)

In all things, through all circumstances, and throughout each day, God desires each of us to grow in holiness towards sainthood. This can only happen when we allow Him to be the Potter and recognize that we are the clay.

Cheryl Dickow

www.BezalelBooks.com

Catholic Baby Names

I was named after a tugboat.

Seriously.

I was born in the late 1950s and many girls I went to high school with shared that tugboat’s name: Cheryl Ann. Apparently in the mid 1950s there was a popular show called “Waterfront” which starred Preston Foster as the captain of the L.A. Harbor tugboat.

To this day, whenever I run across a woman who appears to be around my age and whose name is Cheryl, I can almost be certain that her middle name is Ann. In fact, I spoke at a recent conference and while signing books was asked by a woman if my own middle name was Ann. Her nametag identified her as a “Cheryl” and we immediately connected. A chuckle erupted between us and our heads nodded in agreement. Yep, we were each Cheryl Ann.

How we choose to name our children is important. In her new book “The Catholic Baby Name Book,” Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur takes that importance very seriously.

With more than 10,000 names, Fagnant-MacArthur covers a lot of ground. Flipping through the pages I found many of the boy’s names very interesting. (Since I am the mother of all boys I tend to hone in on boy stuff but do see that the girl’s names are also intriguing!) All named for saints, unique names such as Ennodius and Magenulf are included. The author also lists, in many instances, all the variations of a name. For instance, Makael, Makaio, Makal, Makel, Makis all direct the reader back to Michael which indentifies him as a saint from the New Testament and then gives additional variations of the name along with some more famously names St. Michael’s like St. Michael the Confessor. The entry concludes with a few sentences about St. Michael the Archangel.

Fagnant-MacArthur does have directions for how to use the book and since she used “Elizabeth” as an example—and Elizabeth is one of my favorite names and the name of my fiction book (Elizabeth: A Holy Land Pilgrimage), I forgive her for not having my own name within the pages!

The book itself is over 500 pages and really is a fun book to read through. I would definitely give this book at baby showers and in some ways am disappointed that it is called a “baby name” book because I think it would be a great book for kids preparing for their confirmation and needing to find “cool” saint names. Nonetheless, I applaud Fagnant-MacArthur for this massive undertaking and highly recommend this book to have and to give.

Letting God Find You....

Before my feet touched the floor on January 1^st, 2012, I offered a simple prayer: Please Lord, before the year is over, find me where you want me to be.

Up to that point, I had been suffering from a decades-long chronic condition and although imagined health in my future, that morning I offered every cell in my body to the Lord. I just wanted to serve Him and His kingdom. If He wanted me to be healthy, so be it. If He had other plans, so be it.

From that point on, all hell broke loose.

The first Friday in January, I was on-air when I had an “episode” and was forced to hang up quite abruptly and was immediately taken to the emergency room by my husband. I’ve got to admit, there is nothing quite as humbling as having to hang up during an interview on a national radio show because the room is spinning and the floor seems to be at a 45 degree angle and you are crawling for help.

I suffered more physical problems over the next few months than I had in the previous years; I was subjected to countless medical tests and procedures. It wasn’t exactly what I envisioned 2012 would bring when I offered myself completely to God; but a few close friends helped me survive the year. They were the ones God put in my life to lower me, on my mat, through the roof so that I could get to Christ (see Mark 2:4).

The year is now coming to a close and I remember well that simple prayer I spoke on January 1^st.

Am I where God wants to find me?

I believe I am.

I’ve learned a lot this past year and have tremendous gratitude (and maybe am a bit intimidated) that God would take my prayer so seriously—and allow me to be molded so intimately this year to His will so that He would find me exactly where He wanted me to be.

Last week I spoke to a group of Catechetical leaders and the topic was “Becoming a Saint One Day at a Time.” I was able to illustrate 7 different ways that God molds us in our everyday lives. Spending time with these leaders was very anointed and their gracious feedback gave me confirmation that I am, indeed, where God wants me to be.

Along the way this year, my company has published a number of books that I also recognize as gifts from God.

When I started Bezalel Books in 2007, I wanted to serve God through great Catholic fiction. I was a parochial middle school teacher (English and religion) and wanted to see a time where Catholic fiction books flooded the classrooms. It was dream to offer the sort of books that feed the soul while also entertaining and enlightening to kids and parents. I also wanted to give a platform to authors who may not have one otherwise and on January 1^st of 2012, it was my sole desire to make sure that the works of Bezalel Books would continue to exist only if it was God’s holy will and purpose for my life.

To that end, I’m so honored to serve God through our 2012 titles. Most recently, and just in time for Christmas, is one of the most blessed books I feel we’ve ever published: He Shall Be Peace. Written by Jennifer Franks, this fiction book is based upon the visions of the venerable Catherine Anne Emmerich and is the sort of book that lifts the spirit of the reader to new heights.

God certainly has been good in answering my prayer to put me where He wants to find me this year—even if the route He has taken wasn’t quite the one I would have mapped out.

2013?

I’m not sure what I’ll offer before my feet touch the floor; but I am sure that whatever it is, God will be listening.

May your Advent be a blessed and holy one!