Thursday, January 07, 2016

Year of Mercy Holy Door - Hawaii

Bishop Larry Silva opened the Door of Mercy on December 13th, 2015.  He has designated the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace as a church with a door of mercy where the faithful can enter and gain plenary indulgence.  He also designated other churches in the neighboring islands with this honor.

The usual conditions for plenary indulgences apply.

One may enter these holy doors in order to gain plenary indulgence, once a day.








Monday, January 04, 2016

Book Review - Seven Saints for Seven Virtues


Seven Saints for Seven Virtues is well-known Catholic blogger Jean M. Heimann's new book.

Jean knows her saints. On her blog she writes about their lives, especially on their feast days.  She just doesn't share about well-known saints but she also writes about the lesser known ones.  It was inevitable that she would write a book about some of our heavenly friends.

With all the endless saints the Catholic church has canonized, it must have been a very difficult task to narrow the choices down to seven. It is clear the selection was inspired by the Holy Spirit because they were perfectly suited for their virtuous example.

Jean has a very comprehensive style of writing and she is quite a story teller.  The reader will find themselves engrossed from the very beginning with each chapter.  First we learn about the saint's life.  We then learn about the virtue attributed to that particular saint.  Jean makes each story interesting because she shares personal stories along with the lessons for the seven virtues.

I found myself taking notes as I read for future reference and to share excerpts with others.  I particularly liked the way she explains certain topics such as the deadly sin of sloth, with the definition given by holy people such as Archbishop Fulton Sheen or Father John Hardon.

I think that a reader will benefit greatly from reading this lovely little book.  In our journey to seek holiness we need more books like Seven Saints for Seven Virtues.

Mahalo nui loa, Jean!