Life & Books – Flawed and beautiful, broken and blessed

A little over a month ago, I wrote about the latest edition in the Homilists for the Homeless series, Naked and You Clothed Me; Homilies and Reflections for Cycle A. Since then we went to press, found a missing page, had to go to press again, and we are shipping. Upon shipping, we discovered the creative use of an out-of-cycle-gospel, from one of the authors… that one’s staying. Our book, life, the whole thing – flawed and beautiful, broken and blessed, right?!

Yes, indeed.

So now, broken and blessed, flawed and beautiful, I would like to tell you a little more about our book. Yes, I know – I’m in it, so I am biased. What can I tell you? I’m flawed, too. Beautiful? I’ll leave that one up to you.

If you are not already familiar with our series, our first book came out last year; Hungry and You Fed Me: Homilies and Reflections for Cycle C. When I was first contacted by Deacon Jim Knipper, our founder, editor, and publisher, in early 2012, he told me about his idea for a book of homilies and reflections based on the three year lectionary. What I heard was that a small book, maybe spiral bound (I have a vivid imagination, what can I tell you…) like a parish cookbook, that we could sell to raise money for charitable causes. Now Jim never said small, spiral bound, but that’s what I heard.  I went along on my merry way and began to work on my assigned Sundays, and then he mentioned something about James Martin, SJ. *gulp* Excuse me, who? And then Richard Rohr, OFM. *what the what?*

I gasped for breath thinking, “Wait? You mean THE Richard Rohr who I read when I returned to church in 1990, the one that encouraged me to stay in church? THAT Richard Rohr?” Yes, that Richard Rohr. That James Martin. And me – haha – in a book together!?! Good bye, spiral binding! I soon learned of the many well known contributors, and some less known, and then me. In a book. Together. Wheee! I was humbled, terrified, grateful, and excited.

In any case, our book exceeded all expectations, selling many copies, that benefited the selected charities, and winning awards. So now we are back for the second year in the three year cycle. We have added a lot of new authors, and retained all the existing authors. Check out the photo at the top of the post to see who is included.

Please visit our new website at Clear Faith Publishing, where you will also find Christmas cards, calendars and some books by Brother Mickey McGrath, OSFS.  Yes this is a shamless plug for our book (charity!), and for Br. Mickey’s work, but what can I tell you – as a human, I am flawed, possibly beautiful (that’s God’s work,not mine!), broken, and very definitely blessed.

Thanks for your consideration. And if you are inclined to share this via social media, please do! Thanks!

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