Off The Shelf

Kendra Tierney made a concerted effort to bring the feasts and events of the liturgical calendar into her family life and has reaped the benefits of doing so.Now she shares the many simple ways she has found to do so in her book  The Catholic All Year Compendium: Liturgical Living for Real Life.  On this episode, we focus on the season of Advent and how we can stop the hustle and bustle of the secular world and come to a true appreciation for the reason for the season. 

This week we celebrate the 100th episode of Off the Shelf. To do so we have guest Mike Aquilina who was my first written author interview in 2013. We chat about his most recent book Villains of the Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians. Sound ominous doesn't it? Trust me, its  a great read and we will cover some of these characters from Judas to the no-so-obvious Origen.

We haven't dived into our Thanksgiving feasts yet but this week we are going to talk about Advent. I wanted to give everyone the opportunity to get their hands on the excellent Advent journal from Fr Mark Toups  Rejoice: Advent Meditations with Mary . Fr Mark and I take a look at why it is important to include Mary in our Advent journey to Christmas, why Christmas day is an  event  rather than a single 24 hour  occurrence , and how we can effectively dive into scripture to build a lifelong rewarding habit of journaling. 

This week's guest requires no introduction. After four decades, fifty-plus albums, and thirty-plus books John Michael Talbot is one of the most beloved artists in Christian music today. Join as we discuss some of the life lessons he has learned along the way and that he shares in his latest book  Lessons from a Troubadour: A Lifetime of Parables, Prose, and Stories .