Welcome to the Church

This week has reminded me of how much I love our soon to be new Catholics coming into the store and sharing their excitement of the long awaited entry into Full Communion.  It's an amazing time to be sharing faith stories, and, for all of us, to be receiving the Body of Christ again at Mass inside our churches. It's as if we are all in a kind of celebration stage!
As you can imagine, people often ask us, "What is a good gift for someone coming into the Church?"
One wonderful book that we highly recommend is "Amazing Graces: The Blessings of Sacramentals". Not only does it give the history of our beautiful Sacramentals but it also gives testimony of how people have used Sacramentals to draw closer to Christ. Each chapter concludes with a prayer that ties the use of the Sacramentals to our faith journey.
Rosaries are always a great gift along with gift boxes or pouches to put them in. We have crosses with the RCIA symbols on them or Crucifixes that make wonderful gifts as well. If someone has taken a patron for Confirmation, we have many items specific to the Saints and if unsure, we have the ever popular Four-Way medal which includes a Scapular medal, a miraculous medal, St. Joseph and St. Christopher medals and some (Five Way) include the Holy Spirit on the center. These medals usually have inscribed on the back, "I am a Catholic". We have prayerbooks with nice covers that have simple short prayers for every day and we recommend to inscribe the books with a short note and the date. No matter the gift you choose, let us as always take time to pray for one another. Let us as always take time to listen to one another. Let us always take time to encourage one another in Faith. Everyone has a story and through the work of the Holy Spirit, they are all amazing!
We are open 9-3 Monday - Saturday (please wear a face mask) but you can always browse our website at www.stmarysbookstore.com and we are happy to curbside deliver.