Your Vocation Of Love

Agnes M. Penny Your Vocation of Love is a book by the mother of four young children, who has written this little manual to encourage mothers of young children in their sublime vocation of motherhood and to assist them in this glorious role with scores of practical tips on what to do in the challenging situations that automatically arise in raising and educating a family. Here the author shares with her readers both the spiritual and the practical solutions she has found to the normal problems and struggles women typically experience with motherhood. And she covers these in 34 short but insightful chapters that make a quick read for mothers on the go-who often have only a few minutes reading time to gain some quick but much-needed inspiration. Agnes M. Penny, mother of five, was born the youngest of twelve children in Norwood, Massachusetts. In 1997 she graduated from Christendom College in Virginia, earning a degree in English literature. A year later she married Daniel, a teacher at Allentown Central Catholic High School. Agnes Penny is the author of two maternal-based books entitled Your Labor of Love and Your Vocation of Love. She and her family currently reside in Whitehall, Pennsylvania.

St. Therese of Lisieux attained the summit of love by plumbing the depths of her own powerlessness. Confronted by this powerlessness in the events of everyday life, she abandoned herself more and more to Jesus Christ, the incarnation of God's mercy. In so doing, she received the Savior's healing, and the awareness of being loved by an infinitely merciful Father. We can all recognize our face in that of Therese. Like her, we are poor, finite and often overcome by fear. She can teach us that by following her way of abandonment we also will experience Love. Then we will be able to cry out, with her, in an excess of joy: "My vocation is Love... In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love, and so I will be everything..."

Find your way to total trust in God with Saint Thérèse of Lisieux as your guide. In this spiritual biography blossoming with rich commentary on Thérèse’s reflections, and emerging from the Carmelite tradition, we are offered glimpses into her interior life.

Foreword Review's Annual INDIEFAB Book of the Year Finalist Outreach Resource of the Year Christianity Today Award of Merit Leadership Journal Best Books for Church Leaders Book of the Year from Byron Borger, Hearts and Minds Bookstore Is it possible to know the world and still love the world? Of all the questions we ask about our calling, this is the most difficult. From marriages to international relations, the more we know, the harder it is to love. We become cynics or stoics, protecting our hearts from the implications of what we know. But what if the vision of vocation can be recovered—allowing us to step into the wounds of the world and for love's sake take up our responsibility for the way the world turns out? For decades Steve Garber has come alongside a wide range of people as they seek to make sense of the world and their lives. With him we meet leaders from the Tiananmen Square protest who want a good reason to still care about China. We also meet with many ordinary people in ordinary places who long for their lives to matter: Jonathan who learned he would rather build houses than study history Todd and Maria who adopted creative schedules so they could parent better and practice medicine D.J. who helped Congress move into the Internet Age Robin who spends her life on behalf of urban justice Hans who makes hamburgers the way they are meant to be made Susan who built a home business of hand-printing stationary using a letterpress Santiago who works with majority-world nations in need of capital George who has given years to teaching students to learn things that matter most Claudius and Deirdre whose openhearted home has always been a place for people Dan who loves Wyoming, the place, its people and its cows Vocation is when we come to know the world in all its joy and pain and still love it. Vocation is following our calling to seek the welfare of the world we live in. And in helping the world to flourish, strangely, mysteriously, we find that we flourish too. Garber offers a book for everyone everywhere—for students, for parents, for those in the arts, in the academy, in public service, in the trades and in commerce—for all who want to discover the virtue of vocation.

Homeschooling your children can be a beautiful and fruitful experience for both you and your children…but it can also be overwhelming. Agnes Penny, the popular author of Your Labor of Love and Your Vocation of Love, is here to help you along the way. Your School of Love is not a homeschooling curriculum, or a how-to guide, but a spiritual companion that will help you and your children get the most out of homeschooling. Your School of Love is packed with short chapters, perfect for the always-busy homeschooling parent, offering tips and advice on a variety of topics, including: • Homeschooling girls, boys, large families, young children, and teenagers • How to keep up with Homeschooling during pregnancy or with a new baby in the house • How to avoid burnout • How to encourage and balance your children’s social lives • How to balance confidence and humility while teaching your children • Making homeschooling a prayerful endeavor • How to deal with the emotional struggles of homeschooling • And so much more (like how to include fathers, how to foster vocations, how to teach a child to read and write) Your School of Love is lovingly written by a homeschooling mother, and will be your constant companion throughout your homeschooling years, both as a guide, a spiritual reference, and a helpful friend who knows what it’s like to deal with the struggles of homeschooling, and also how to embrace the great joys.

In this book, the author shares the very Catholic spiritual solutions she found to the problems and struggles of pregnancy. In 36 short chapters, she covers many topics, including Love's Great Adventure, Tiredness, Mood Swings, Praying for Your Baby, Seeking Physical Comfort, Fearfulness, Bearing Saints, A Long Wait, Marital Difficulties, Post Partum, and many others. A great support for young mothers, it is perfect for women who want to accept the challenges and joys of motherhood according to God's will. Highly practical, truly Catholic and very uplifting.

"At last I have found my vocation. My vocation is love!" Love is the heart of every vocation. This book about vocation to marriage, priesthood, or religious life, has several unique features. First, while being addressed to all Catholics, not only to theologians, it does not oversimplify vocation, or give a mere compilation of advice, but aims to present the rich depth and wealth of the Christian understanding of vocation in a simple and accessible manner. Secondly, this book goes right to two great saints at the heart of quite different traditions on vocation, namely St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Ignatius Loyola, and the basic difference between them, a difference which is often unappreciated, or is passed over superficially. The goal is not to decide in favor of one over the other, nor to examine in detail their historical or theological connection; this book rather aims to use these different points of view to convey all that belongs to a full Christian and human approach to vocation.

We all want to make sense of life, of who we are and why we are, and to know that what we do—day in and day out—matters. But daily demands often lead to a life that feels void of meaning and disjointed from our deepest beliefs. Steven Garber challenges us to move beyond our fragmented sense of reality and begin to see all we are and all we do—our work, play, relationships, worship, and loves—as significant to God. Once we discover that there is no chasm between heaven and earth, we are able to understand the coherence of the work of God and of our lives in the world. This is the seamless life—to see the truest truths of the universe woven into the very meaning of life, labor, learning, and liturgy.