Why am I Here? by: Matther Kelly

Seven-year-old Max likes to fish with his Grandpa on the weekends. During one fishing trip Max gets serious and asks his Grandpa why he is here. His Grandpa responds with a series of questions and then tells Max he is here to be the best version of himself he can be. Grandpa also tells Max to pay attention to all the choices he makes during the week and he will notice himself becoming a better version of himself. Max goes home and then to school on Monday. When he teacher asks what everyone did over the weekend Max shares his Grandpa's wisdom. The entire class gets in on max's discovery.



Why am I Here? by Matthew Kelly (with illustrations by Hazel Mitchell) is one those sweet little children's books that even though you set out to share the wisdom with your children you find yourself getting the answer to your own questions. Like most parents my children have asked me a million times why they are here and my answers have ranged from "God has a plan for you" to "Because God knew I needed you." This little book answers that simple question in a way that a child can understand and you may find that it answers your question as well. The book is beautifully illustrated using vibrant colors.


Rating: A
Recommendation:  Children of all ages

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Why Am I Here?. They are also a great source for a Catechism of the Catholic Church or a Catholic Bible.

Weightless Making Peace with Your Body by: Kate Wicker

There's a wave of body dissatisfaction sweeping across society. While bookstore shelves are well-stocked with tomes on how to overcome body image problems, very few take a faith-based, much less Catholic, approach to self-healing. Weightless: Making Peace With Your Body speaks not only to those who may have faced an eating disorder, but also to anyone who wants to live an abundant life, unencumbered by our culture's obsession with thinness, physical beauty, youth, or food.

Weightless Making Peace with Your Body by: Kate Wicker is a book that I could relate to on just about every level. As an overweight woman I have spent years obsessed with my body image. As a mother I don't want my daughter to go through the things I have gone through. Kate Wicker takes you through her personal stories of struggling with weight issues. I love the story of her taking her daughters to have ice cream for lunch and then feeling guilty because she didn't want them to use food to deal with their feelings. Wicker also provides meditations that can help you reshape how you view yourself nit ti mention the spiritual tools needed to address common struggles.

I began this book at the same time I began to review a diet book. I will say that I have gotten more from Weightless than I have ever gotten from any other book. For once here is a book that doesn't make you feel bad about yourself because you are overweight, underweight, or any other issue you have. Kate Wicker simply provides you with the information and tools needed to not only make the changes necessary but a way to find the beauty in ourselves that God sees in us.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Weightless - Making peace with your body. They are also a great source for a Catechism of the Catholic Church or a Catholic Bible.

Catholic Update Guide to The Mass

If you are Catholic and have been feeling a little lost at Mass lately or even if you are not Catholic and just want to understand what Mass is exactly the Catholic Update Guide to The Mass is the book for you. This handy little book covers everything from "What is the Mass? to What do we do when get to Mass."

I go to Mass every Saturday or Sunday but more and more I feel like I am a robot on automatic, so understanding more about Mass today is a huge help. I wasn't up to speed on any of the changes in the Roman Missal nor did I truly understand the central mystery of my faith. This book has changed all of that. I now go to Mass and understand better than I have in years what is going on. In fact I don't fall asleep anymore (I know..I know... I have a lot of penance to do for that but it just sort of happened.)


Rita's Rating;

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Catholic Update Guide to the Mass. They are also a great source for a Catechism of the Catholic Church or a Catholic Bible.

Staying Faithful Today by: Alfred McBride

Staying Faithful Today: To God, Ourselves, One Another is one of those great "workbook" type books. The first couple of chapters is about being faithful to God then the book gets into being faithful to ourselves and others . At the end of each chapter is a great little "I will be faithful to God (myslef,etc) by.." then you fill out the spaces. I really liked that, it was a little way of remind you all the ways to be faithful.

For me the marriage chapter was a moot point as I am faithful there. McBride offers a few suggestions such as: keep your promises, remember that marriage matters, feed your love, work to make your marriage grow, and trust each other. All are good suggestions and some may need them. The chapters on being faithful to God and to myself were much more needed chapters.I still have a lot of work on these areas but I am getting there.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Staying Faithful Today - To God, Ourselves, One An. They are also a great source for a Catechism of the Catholic Church or a Catholic Bible.

Rita's Rating:

Meet The Saints by: Robert F. Morneau

As a Catholic I am familiar with saints. While I do not know all of them I have on occasion asked for the help of the ones I know. So when I started reading Meet the Saints I thought I would learn more about the most common saints. While I did learn more of the life of the popular, common saints such as Padre Pio, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Vincent de Paul, I also learned more about a few other saints as well.

I learned about the women who knew Jesus such as Salome, the mother of James and John, and Mary Magdalene.  I also learned that there is a couple who are saints. The book is filled with various saints, a little history about their lives and how they became saints. The last chapter of Meet the Saints is dedicated to answering some questions such as "How are patron saints assigned?" and "How many saints had the stigmata?"  The only thing I really wished the book had included for all of the saints and not just here and there was what they are the saints of. For example Saint Joseph the Worker is the patron saint of fathers and carpenters.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Meet the Saints. They are also a great source for a Catechism of the Catholic Church or a Catholic Bible.

Spirituality You Can Live With by: Chris Padget

"Our spiritual life has to be something we can actually live rather than just dream, discuss, or study in a book." Chris Padget wrote that in his introduction of Spirituality You Can Love with: Stronger Faith In Thirty Days. I love that line! It sets the whole tone for the book, at least it did for me. So many of us, me included, look for our spiritual answers in a book. We compare ourselves to saints and people whose lives were so great  that most of us will never live up to those standards.


 Mr. Padget challenges our perception of what a saint is and what a saintly life may be. Don't get me wrong we are of course all still expected to strive for sainthood. Mr. Padgett has simply taken and shown us in the most practical way how to live up to that goal. This wonderful little book shows us our to be extraordinary in our every day ordinary lives.

Readers are encouraged to read the book in 30 days, and each day has a three or four page chapter which each focused on a spiritual point. Topics include: brokenness, finding solitude in chaos, sin and spirituality, and saintly examples. Padgett emphasizes God's love and mercy, especially as applied to those who find themselves stuck in spiritual neutral. "Spirituality is not about constantly reaching and never attaining," he writes, "that isn't spirituality that's a path toward the eventual collapse of our will and our dreams."

Rita's Rating:

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Spirituality You Can Live With. They are also a great source for a Catechism of the Catholic Church or a Catholic Bible.