The topic, you ask? The corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

My first thought, I’ll admit, was that it can all be summed up in a poster. Who needs a whole book?

But then I realized something: I don’t really know much about the works of mercy. Do I know the ways to apply them? Am I able to identify them in my life (not counting the ever-present “feeding the hungry” that goes on around here)? Can I share them with my children, my students, my friends, in a way that’s engaging and real-life?

The answer before I read this book was a firm No, in some shape or another. The answer after, I hope, is closer to a Yes. The book has given me an interest and curiosity and desire for the works of mercy and an appreciation for how very integrated they should be in the Christian life.

If you see this book and think “boring” in any way, shape, or form, let me just set things straight: you are WRONG. Shea does what he does so well: he engages the reader, makes the topic into something you never thought about, and gives you ways to apply it to your faith in tangible ways.

It’s not a long book, but it’s deep in content and you’ll find that it plants seeds of thought that you’ll find flowering later. As you read it, you’ll find it steeped in Church tradition and Scripture scholarship, in humorous anecdote and ongoing wisdom, in practical application and challenging calls to action.

Highly recommended and worth every minute you spend reading it.

Want to win a copy of The Work of Mercy?

Enter your name in the comments by Friday, May 25 at Midnight PST. One entry per person, please.

Thanks to Franciscan Media for generously donating three copies for this giveaway!

Copyright 2012 Sarah Reinhard

Novena to Mary

Free from iTunes

I love a good novena, and it’s made even better when it involves the Blessed Mother. This novena focuses on Mary as the Untier of Knots, which is a wonderful image of her. You’ll learn all about it in the About section of the app or you can check out the website.

There’s not a way to set up an automatic reminder on your device, but that’s the only beef I have with this beautifully designed app. It’s easy to use, straightforward, and it has lovely artwork, too.

Catholic Meditations on the Life of Mary

Free from iTunes

These meditations are based on The Devout Year (Maria Magnificata) by Rev. R.F. Clarke, S.J. and another book edited by Rev. Francis X. Lasance.

You can set up a reminder for every day at a certain time and the app remembers where you were when you close the app, so you pick up where you left off. If you’re not sure where to start, it assigns readings to each day, so you’ll eventually cycle through them all.

This app is a great way to dive deeper into a devotion and appreciation for the Blessed Mother. It makes use of Scripture, artwork, and prayer even as it harnesses technology to make it all more accessible for us.

Angelus for iPad

$1.99 from iTunes

This app is just plain pretty, though it’s strange that it didn’t know that, during the Easter season, the Angelus is replaced by the Regina Coeli. (I expect that to be updated in the future, though.)

You control the backgrounds, alarm settings, and both the size and style of the font.

I’ve enjoyed using this app to help me grow in my Angelus practice, and I highly recommend it.

What are your favorite apps for praying with Mama Mary?

Copyright 2012 Sarah Reinhard

And how could they NOT be interested in the beautiful books Pauline has sent to me for review? I’m still debating if I want to share them…

First up, The Saints Pray for Us.

It’s a prayer book, but it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. Each of the 30 saints has a full-color, full-page illustration that invites you just to look. They’re beautiful. Each saint includes stats: birth year and place, death year and place, feast day.

And then there’s the prayer. The pictures are the beauty to behold, and the prayers are the beauty to hear. They are written specifically for the age range (7-12), but wow, the one for Mary’s January 1 feast (“Mother of God”) seemed to speak right to me. Here’s an excerpt:

Watch over me, Mary, and pray for me, that I might be like Jesus. May I be filled with compassion and mercy for others and ready to help those in need around me, even when it’s difficult.

This would make a great stocking stuffer, sacramental gift, or it might even be perfect for Mom.

Next, Bible Adventures & Activities. With summer break coming, I may just be tucking this book (and the next one, too) into a bin for those days in August when it’s just too hot to leave the house and we’re all too sick and tired to do more than fight.

This book is 139 pages of full-color fun, including fill-in-the-blank, scrambled words, puzzles, and tons more. There are 34 different Bible stories, each with its own activity, encouraging kids to pay attention. Oh, and there are solutions in the back!

This reminds me of some of the books I remember from my own non-Catholic childhood. Did I learn Bible stories because we read them all the time? Probably not. I suspect it had as much to do with having fun stuff like this scattered throughout the house.

And last but not least, Fun with the Holy Family. Unlike Bible Adventures, this book is black-and-white, but it’s the nice white paper that’s ideal for a certain child’s favorite markers and crayons. I can already see her connecting the dots on page 23 to find out what it is and then coloring it in. In fact, I can almost hear her whistling “Silent Night” as she colors.

There are mazes and word searches, there are craft activities and matching up things, there are connect-the-dots and draw-your-owns. Of course you can color, and through it all, you are learning about the Holy Family.

Oh wait. I mean your child, of course.

I’m sure this book will be hours of fun the first time we go through it, and then hours MORE fun when another kid finds it and finishes it!

Without my iPad, my prayer life is vastly different. For one thing, I lose my prayer book.

I added the Rosary HD app from ESB Solutions to my essential apps folder just last week. At $2.99, it’s a bargain. Take it from someone who continues to search for the perfect rosary app.

(No such thing, sorry to say, but this one’s definitely a keeper!)

Let me walk you through Rosary HD and tell you what I love about it.

It is full of options.

(click to enlarge)

You can adjust the language you use, decide how the layout looks, choose what your rosary looks like (beads, crucifix, medal), and adjust the background. You can decide if you want background music or not and whether it’s helpful to have noise after each prayer, each decade, or not at all.

It integrates personalized prayer.

Let me show you what I mean.

When you click on Prayers, you see a screen like this:

(click to enlarge)

You’ll select a mystery (I used the Fourth Glorious Mystery).

If you turn the Text button to ON, like so:

(click to enlarge)

Then you will see a screen where you can type:

(click to enlarge)

You’ll see the personalized intentions, prayers, or notes you typed when you pray that mystery (and only on that mystery).

(click to enlarge)

This goes beyond anything I have seen in any other rosary app and really makes me reconsider my intentions while I’m praying my rosary. It also makes me think about whole new ways to pray the rosary, like dedicating certain mysteries to certain intentions in my life.

You pick how you pray.

Though I mentioned above that there are many options to this app, I want to spend a bit more time, beyond language.

I pray the rosary a lot. It’s easy to lose steam, to get distracted, to become bored.

It’s hard for an app to meet the need of someone who wants to pray without crossing a line. I think the makers of this app provided some great options so that, on the days when I really need the words to the prayers in front of me, I can have them:

(click to enlarge)

On other days, it’s helpful to have a large image to focus my meditations. That’s an option, too:

(click to enlarge)

Overall, a great rosary app. It’s well worth the $2.99, and I’m glad to have as part of my iPad prayer book!

Copyright 2012 Sarah Reinhard

When I heard about Regina Doman’s new novel, written with Rebecca Bratten Weiss, Catholic Philosopher Chick Makes Her Debut, I was ALL ABOUT reading it.

Here’s the gist of my review: I LOVED IT. (Yes, in all caps. No apologies.)

Here’s why:

1. It’s clever without being over-the-top. This book combines good writing with

2. Romance and brains and shoes, oh my! I don’t like confessing that I’m a sucker for chick lit, because I’m usually NOT. Chick lit in secular circles includes things I don’t really want to read. Chick lit in Christian circles usually involves a sermon. But this? It’s romance and shoes and, well, a plot that I enjoyed thoroughly.

3. I can share it with my nieces with no embarrassment. It’s not so goody-goody that they will stop believing me when I say it’s GOOD, but it’s not raunchy in a way that will make their mothers pelt me with blunt objects.

4. The characters are people I want to meet. In fact, I suspect I’ve met them in some form or another already. Cate is a recent convert who drops everything to go back to grad school. Her journey is one that, well, I relate with, though I’m much older than she is and though I have no clue about fashion (despite loving shoes).

5. It’s entertaining. Plain and simple. There is no preaching, though there is plenty of catechesis (I have to give the authors credit for making it relevant to the setting and characters). I found myself laughing out loud more than once and hurrying to write my review so I could share it with other women.

Are you interested in winning a copy?

Thanks to the generosity of Chesterton Press, we have one hard copy and one Kindle copy to give away!

Enter your name in the comments by Friday, May 11 at Midnight PST and we’ll randomly draw winners. One entry per person, please.

Copyright 2012 Sarah Reinhard

My new book, Catholic Family Fun: A Guide for the Adventurous, Overwhelmed, Creative, or Clueless, has been making the rounds on a Book Tour (see the schedule here). Today, it’s my honor and pleasure to offer some of my favorite readers the best part of the Book Tour: a giveaway that shares not only the fun within my book but also my new favorite way to read, the Kindle Touch.

What you can win:

• One person will win a Kindle Touch and an electronic copy of Catholic Family Fun
• Three people will win hard copies of Catholic Family Fun

To enter:

• Everyone can enter once, no strings attached
• You can enter a second time if you have already purchased the book
• You can enter yet another time if you hold a family fun activity during the contest time and share it in the comments

Want to learn more about the book?

• Read about the book and what others are saying about it at my website
• Visit the various stops on the Book Tour
• Like the Facebook page
• At the book’s website, explore more about the book, read my monthly activity updates and “Just for Moms” columns.

Anni Daulter and Heather Fontenot’s new book, Naturally Fun Parties for Kids, arrived in the mail and accompanied me in the car to my favorite crafty-friend’s house.

“Look,” I exclaimed, “A book you can use!”

“Sarah,” she said as she flipped through it, pausing to “ooo” and “ahh,” “This looks like a book YOU can use!”

Yes, that’s right, here is a book that the party-shy, glue-gun-hating, anti-entertaining Sarah Reinhard can not only use, but enjoy.

For one thing, there are the photos. Each of the twelve parties is accompanied by photos that are useful and beautiful.

For another thing, there is the way the parties aren’t intimidating.

Well, wait a minute, that’s not quite right. They would be intimidating, I suppose, if I intended to do them the way they are designed. I mean, the kids in the pictures are in what look like handmade clothing, eating what I assume are homemade, organic foods, recycling everything but the earth beneath them.

But I can’t help but go through this book and feel like I CAN do it, and that’s something! Though I have no intention of hosting a big party like this, why not use the craft ideas, and hey, maybe even the theme ideas, within my own family life? Why not make it something my seven-year-old, who loves a good tussle with the glue gun and a chance to paint and cut and fashion, can be in charge of?

Naturally Fun Parties for Kids is a resource I’ll be dog-earing and book-marking. It’s one I’ll be sharing (but keeping track of, too, because I want it back!).

Copyright 2012 Sarah Reinhard

Thanks to a tip from a reader, I recently downloaded–and fell in love with–the Mary app by the Marians of the Immaculate Conception. It’s free, though right now only available on iOS devices.

As we hover on the verge of Mary’s month of May, I wanted to be sure to share this app with you.

It’s a great way to foster your devotion to the Blessed Mother, whether it’s something you struggle with or something you embrace. You’ll find information, prayers, and much, much more.

The app’s easy-to-use and lovely, too. It’s not only a good representation of an app, but I think it stands as worthy to have Mary involved with it!

On the Doctrine screen, you can choose from Introduction, Timeline, Dogmas, FAQs, Titles of Mary, and Resources. Clicking on any of them gives you a handful of choices (not more than four) that you can select from and then read about. The writing is clear and thorough. This section represents whole areas of the internet and at a shelf of my bookcase.

The Doctrine screen lets you select from Rosary, Feasts, Consecration, Chaplets, Sacramentals, and Prayers. The Rosary and Chaplets are interactive, almost guaranteeing this app a place on my list of Essential Apps. The Feasts choice effectively covers everything I’ve been spending years assimilating into a spreadsheet–this Mary geek says THANK YOU loudly! The Prayers is a handy place to find the popular Marian prayers you may not have had a chance to memorize as a child.

Mary Plus takes you to these choices: Images of Mary, Marians, Apparitions, Marian Helpers, Pilgrimage Sites, and Catalog. These each have great information. I was especially interested in the number of shrines I found close to me!

This app is, in a word, GREAT. It is not only worth downloading, but worth spending some time with, whether it’s to pray or to learn.

YOUR TURN: Do you have a Mary app to recommend?

Copyright 2012 Sarah Reinhard

It probably reveals way too much about me that, a chapter or two into Marge Fenelon‘s new book, Strengthening Your Family: A Catholic Approach to Holiness at Home, I was struggling with feelings of inadequacy and wondering if I could hire Marge to come and mother my children.

It speaks highly of this book, then, that I was able to feel pretty hopeful about myself and my future after I finished reading it.

I can do this, I thought to myself.

I credit this book for my new mommy policy: I will make something homemade once a week for after-school snacks (or end up at my mother-in-law’s, where she will make something homemade). The reason has to do with that warm feeling I get when my kids delight in eating freshly baked cookies and with the light in my seven-year-old’s eyes when she walks in the door and sees the goodies.

Much of what I read in Strengthening Your Family was not news to me, but it was refreshing and well-ordered. Fenelon speaks from experience, but she also commiserates with those of us still very much in the trenches of young motherhood. She offers suggestions, but she also offers prayer. She provides many ideas, but she also provides many caveats. Her foundation is not “being an awesome family,” but rather “getting your family to heaven.”

There’s a big difference between being awesome and getting to heaven, and I don’t know that I spent any time considering that before I picked up this book. It’s designed for Catholic families with kids, though I wouldn’t restrict it to kids of any age. If you have teens, you’re sure to find help within its covers, and if, like me, you have grade school and younger, you will get bolstered and emboldened.

Strengthening Your Family is a wonderful resource and guidebook for Catholic families. I’m glad to have read it, and plan to reference it in the coming years!

Want to win a copy of Strengthening Your Family?

<Contest now closed. Thanks for your participation!>

Thanks to the generosity of Our Sunday Visitor for making this giveaway possible. That said, they did not in any way influence my review. I said what I said without them knowing what it was going to be!

Copyright 2012 Sarah Reinhard

I discovered my new favorite website quite by accident: I was procrastinating on something I should have been doing and lo and behold! The answer to my Catholic appaholic dreams!

A whole website devoted to nothing but Catholic apps!

Pardon me while I have a little swoon here.

You’ll find reviews and plenty of links to apps that are, oh joy, Catholic. To say that I could kill the rest of the day–forget that, the WEEK–over there is NOT an exaggeration.

Here are the site’s main features:

• a podcast, just started (and admittedly, I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet)
• reviews of the latest and greatest in Catholic apps.
• a database of apps, organized both by operating system and topics
• an area where developers can share their apps
• a forum where you can share your ideas for apps

Copyright 2012 Sarah Reinhard

How had I never heard of Emily Stimpson before?

Stimpson’s book, The Catholic Girl’s Survival Guide for the Single Years: The Nuts and Bolts of Staying Sane and Happy While Waiting for Mr. Right, is absolutely wonderful.

Before you discount this book as something that doesn’t apply to you, let me tell you something that still shocks me: I marked pages and highlighted passages from this book.

This book is full of wisdom and insight that applies to all of us, whether we’re married with three kids or single into our 50s.

It’s hard, in the midst of my busy life, full as it is of diapers and kids and dilemmas of the 5:00 witching hour variety, to see beyond the fence to those ladies who long for my chaos. It’s difficult, from my perch on the table, pulling a child off the chandelier, to relate to the quiet my life used to have in it.

In other words, it’s easy to just surround myself with like-minded people.

That doesn’t do any of us any good, not really.

I am still a bit amazed that I put down a novel I was reading so that I could continue and finish this book. It wasn’t a bad novel, mind you. I just enjoyed Stimpson’s writing and was so interested in what she had to say next.

Sometimes, she reminds us, being single isn’t a choice we’re happy with. Sometimes, she nudges, singles need friends, too, and an invitation to be part of the craziness that constitutes life in the throes of family life.

I’m grateful for the glimpse she so candidly shared, and I plan to share this book with many of my friends.

Want a copy of The Catholic Girl’s Survival Guide?

Leave a comment here by Friday, April 20 and you could be selected to win it!

**Contest now closed. Congratulations to the winner!**

Copyright 2012 Sarah Reinhard

A while back, when I was looking for Rosary app recommendations for Droid users, a friend of mine called Laudate (then Catholic One) her “one stop” app for all things Catholic.

I felt sort of sorry for her, truth be told. I’m an Apple user, and my iPad apps are just, well, prettier than what I saw then on Droids.

The folks at Catholic One changed their name to Laudate (which, near as I can tell, is Latin for “Praise”) and now they’re billing themselves as the #1 free Catholic app on iTunes, too.

I couldn’t resist the chance to check it out, especially with as many awesome Catholic apps as I’ve found in the last year or so of searching.

There’s an impressive list of features in Laudate:

• Daily Readings, complete with a search function so you can find a specific date
• Liturgy of the Hours
• Roman Missal Changes
• Rosary and Chaplet, with choices for an interactive rosary, the mysteries only, podcasts (audio), and the interactive Divine Mercy Chaplet
• Stations of the Cross, with a podcast (audio) option
• A variety of traditional prayers
• Prayers in Latin
• The ability to enter your own prayers
• Different Catholic media links and resources
• The complete New American Bible

There’s the ability, within the program, to bookmark different pages and areas so you can find them again quickly.

You can also share from any screen in the program to your email or social media services.

It’s easy to read and fairly easy to use. I liked the interactive features of the rosary and the ability to use an audio version too.

It’s straightforward, but it’s been spruced up a bit, I think, since I first caught a glimpse of it on my friend’s phone.

Bottom line: it’s now on my Essentials List.

Are you a Laudate user? What do you love (or hate) about it?

Copyright 2012 Sarah Reinhard

My interest in Hallie Lord‘s new book, Style, Sex, and Substance: 10 Catholic Women Consider the Things that Really Matter, was pretty high BEFORE the trailer was banned from YouTube.

For one thing, I’m a fan of each of the contributors.

For another, what’s not to love about a book that covers style, sex, and things of substance from a Catholic woman’s perspective?

I had heard that it was a quick read, and I did, in fact, zip through it like my eyes were on fire.

But here’s the thing: it was not just good enough to keep me reading quickly; it was good enough to make me want to reread it  and to make me write my name in the front.

Each of the contributors brings a unique voice to the table, but they’re all united in what’s important: their deep faith and their enthusiasm for putting said faith in practice.

Someone had mentioned to me that the book only got better as you read through, and much to my surprise (I love those early chapter contributors!), I found that to be true. I think the reason the book gets better is because, as you read through it, you go deeper and, while you’ll still find yourself laughing, you’ll also find yourself marking passages and dog-earring pages to reference later.

Highly recommended for everyone in your life.

Here’s the book trailer:

Click here to watch the embedded video.

Want to win a copy of Style, Sex, and Substance?

Leave a comment here by Friday, April 13 and you could be selected!

**Contest now closed. Congratulations to the winners!**

**This just in on April 10: we have FOUR TOTAL COPIES to give away! Thanks so much to the generosity of Our Sunday Visitor!

Copyright 2012 Sarah Reinhard

Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. – John 13:5

It’s been a pretty pathetic Lent, or so I thought until about 10 AM on Tuesday morning.

It was then that I got The Call.

As I write this, I don’t know what the outcome of The Call will be. What will that test we worried about show? Will there be a new health challenge with a family member who’s had a fair share of them lately?

I’ve been reflecting about how this one call has changed my entire Lent.

Those reflections have led me back to how Gethsemane probably changed a few people’s perceptions of the Passover, too.

From the time I received that call on Tuesday morning, Lent changed for me. Holy Week, which I hadn’t even fully considered yet, became, suddenly, a time that would draw me closer to Jesus in his suffering and Passion.

What was it like to know what was coming, to want it not to happen, but to accept it anyway?

Lent becomes personal for me, most years, around Holy Thursday, when I find myself humbled and looking Jesus in the face.

This year is different already, and I’m trying to hold on and keep Jesus’ face in sight. He’s bowing his head, praying.

Sounds like a good approach to the unknown ahead.

Lord, hold us close as we face the insurmountable hurdle of Calvary. Let us feel the joy of Easter morning even though we’re struggling with the grief of Good Friday. Lead us into your arms, Lord, and help us to do your will. Amen.

Image source: MorgueFile

Copyright 2012 Sarah Reinhard

A while ago, I asked what apps you considered essential. Thanks to one of your suggestions, I have a new addition to my list.

Angelus Pro

available from iTunes

Free

It has lovely background images and you can schedule up to three reminders, in keeping with the tradition of praying the Angelus three times a day.

The Angelus itself is not a hard prayer, and thanks to this app, I may just memorize it yet. It’s basically three Hail Marys, with a verse before each one and a closing prayer.

What I love about this app is how easy it is to use and how beautiful it makes my pauses for prayer throughout the day.

Copyright 2012 Sarah Reinhard

I Just Can’t Take It Anymore! Encouragement When Life Gets You Down, by Anthony DeStefano

This is one of those books that you’ll need to purchase in multiple quantities.

It’s cute, yes, but not so sickeningly sweet that you’ll roll your eyes as you toss it away from you. (Or am I the only cynical reader in the bunch?)

The photos for each page are all kids and the text speaks to everyone who’s ever had a bad day, week, or month. In fact, when I got my copy, I knew immediately who it was perfect for (and then I thought of two other people).

Highly recommended not only that you read and share, but that you internalize the almost prayer that it is.

The Princess Twins Play in the Garden and The Princess Twins and the Puppy, by Mona Hodgson

My seven-year-old is becoming quite the little reader, and it’s a joy for the bookworm in me to be able to curl up beside her as she reads aloud to me or as we both devour our own books. Seeing her read these books to my four-year-old, and hearing their commentary on them, was nothing short of delightful.

My mother-in-law got in on the action, too, and it amazes me that the covers aren’t yet bent and crumpled from the “love” they’ve received at my house.

Besides all that, there’s the fact that these stories have Christian values in them without being shoved down our little princess readers’ throats.

The illustrations are particularly good, too, and I’m looking forward to seeing what other “I Can Read!” books has available.

The Queen and the Cats: A Story of Saint Helena, by Calee M. Lee

I have had this lovely little book sitting on my review shelf for far too long, and, in all honesty, I forgot about it.

I have my seven-year-old to thank for my finding it: she has caught wind of the fact that sometimes there are things on that shelf that will interest her, so she was looking around.

We sat down together to read it and her first question, after we finished it, was, “Was that a real story?”

And you know, I think it was. I told her so, and she was impressed.

Here is a book that makes a pretty queen–who also happens to be a saint–into someone who’s not distant, but who’s interesting and approachable. (She had an affinity for cats and little girls. What’s NOT to love?) It’s told well and the illustrations are good.

There’s historical information in the back, which I read, though my kids weren’t so interested in it (they will be later, I’m sure).

Highly recommended for you to enjoy with the kids in your life.

Copyright 2012 Sarah Reinhard

Thanks to Our Sunday Visitor and Little i Apps, I now have a great new app to use to pray the rosary: The Rosary of the Hours.

It’s based on something I downloaded and printed a number of years ago (before any of us dreamed of apps) called “The Rosary of the Hours.”  (It’s still available for free download as a booklet, so check it out.)

The idea is one that works well for those of us in a very interruptible season of life: you pray one decade of the rosary an hour.

From the text of the introduction:

In his 2002 apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, Pope John Paul II gave the Church a precious gift: the Luminous Mysteries. These mysteries, which focus our attention on the Lord Jesus’ public ministry, have made this Rosary of the Hours possible, whereby a decade, with its own special theme, may be prayed for each of the twenty-four hours of the day. Each hour can “stand on its own,” or it can be prayed in union with any or all of the other hours, depending on the need or desire of the user. The Rosary of the Hours does not replace any Rosary traditions, but simply provides another method of praying this beautiful, versatile prayer.

At the beginning of the hour, you start with a brief Psalm Prayer. You pray the decade and there’s a meditation focusing on the theme of the hour. Then there’s a closing prayer and you’re done for that hour.

You can pray this anytime and anywhere. You can use it hourly, as suggested, to carry the rosary through your day with you, or you can pray them all at once for a different approach to the rosary.

The app gives you the ability to schedule reminders. It’s easy to navigate if you have a certain mystery or set of mysteries in mind, and

A good friend of mine admitted that she uses it more as a reminder than to actually pray the rosary, and you know what? I say GO FOR IT. If you’re being called to prayer and reminded to pray throughout your day–to turn to God in the craziness and mundane moments of real living, THAT is awesome!

It’s only available on iTunes right now, but all of you Android users should send your feedback and demands to OSV! This app is well worth the 99-cents (and then some).

Copyright 2012 Sarah Reinhard

I have nieces who read YA books and soon, I’ll have daughters reading this stuff. It behooves me to know what’s good.

Twilight, not. Regina Doman, yes.

And now, add to my list of fabulous books in YA fiction, The Dragon’s Tooth, the first in N.D. Wilson’s Ashtown Burials books.

Here’s why:

It’s fast-paced. You won’t want to put it down, because you’ll be guessing what comes next and waiting for the next surprise turn and twist.

It’s well-written. Don’t ask me why I wasn’t expecting this, but for some reason, I wasn’t. The plot holds, and I didn’t feel like I’d been “cheated” when things turned out a certain way.

There’s fun history. And that history, my friends, can be called Catholic, if you wanted. There’s a morality within this book of good being good and evil being evil. There’s also a bit of saint-lore and some other fun stuff included.

The characters are real people. I had the feeling that I could look over my shoulder and see Cyrus standing there, with Antigone shaking her finger at him. You get to see glimpses of the people in various situations and feel like you know them.

I’m really looking forward to the second book in the series. In the mean time, don’t waste any time getting a copy and reading this for yourself!

Copyright 2012 Sarah Reinhard

Though it feels like everyone has an iDevice or smartphone of some sort, the truth is that those of us who can finance a gadget addiction are probably in the minority.

But I’ll bet most of us have a phone of some sort, and I’m not talking about the land line that you may still have in your house.

I’ve had a mobile phone for many years (at least twelve–and no, I’m not in the ranks of smartphone users). It’s only been recently, though, that I’ve figured out the usefulness of the alarm feature.

Maybe it’s that my kids are just starting to have their own lives and schedules that I can’t forget about. Maybe it’s that I’m not in front of a screen all the time anymore. Maybe it’s just that I’m finally paying attention to what works for other people.

It’s only been in the last few months that I’ve really used that alarm feature for my prayer life, thanks to Randy Hain’s new book, The Catholic Briefcase. (I reviewed the book a few weeks ago.) He suggests stopping at set times throughout the day to go through a daily examen.

I modified his ideas to suit my needs. I stop three times a day, and I pray. I use my current prayer intentions, my needs of the day, and moment-by-moment inspiration to influence my prayer.

I stop mid-morning, early afternoon, and early evening when my phone sets off with my “prayer ring.” When the alarm goes off, I try to close my eyes and actually stop what I’m doing. I put myself, however briefly, in the presence of God. Sometimes there’s an intention that I’m holding particularly close to my heart, and I remember it then. Other times I just need a pause from the flurry of life.

It’s amazing how this small practice of stopping three times a day, at the sound of an alarm, has enriched my prayer life.

YOUR TURN: How do you integrate prayer into your daily life? I’m especially interested in how you use technology…

Copyright 2012 Sarah Reinhard

image via MorgueFile

“Would you review my new book, Getting #Married: Using Social Media to Celebrate the Sacred?”

I was too curious to say no when the request came into my inbox.

For one thing, I think very highly of Meredith Gould, who is an author, a blogger, and one of my favorite people to follow on Twitter.

For another, when you put both “social media” and “sacred” in the subtitle, it makes for irresistibility as far as I’m concerned.

Social media…that force which keeps me connected…and isolated, if I let it. Social media…that interruption that reminds me of the weather, my frustrations, and so many blessings. Social media…that mixed bag that enhances my life even as it threatens to take over.

I’ve come to realize, in the years since I’ve been embedded online, that I have an addictive personality. These new tools can integrate themselves into the core of every part of my life–and not in a good way–if I let them.

While the concept of this book did make me raise my eyebrows, t it also appealed to the deeply ingrained geek within me.

Gould shares her experience of using various social media outlets to celebrate her own wedding and gives us all a glimpse of yet another good way to use these tools. She doesn’t overstep and suggest tweeting every intimate detail; rather, she gives you clear-cut methods and ideas for keeping your friends and family members involved in a way that hasn’t ever been easily possible before.

Often, when we hear about New Evangelization, we think big, challenging, life-changing. Gould offers us a real-life way to share a sacrament with those who can’t be physically present.

Nowhere does she suggest that being physically present is less than–or trumped by–those who are only virtually present. Instead, she offers suggestions for making the community we’ve each experienced in our online world something real and tangible, something we can touch and remember later.

This, indeed, is the heart of the New Evangelization! Kudos to Gould for her courage in sharing this in such a thought-provoking and highly applicable way!