HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 2018

We all know Jesus is the REAL reason for the season. So...while we are picking out toys for children or clothes for adults, why not give a religious gift that reminds us why we celebrate Christmas? Here are some of our gift and stocking stuffer suggestions for every age group!

Mom/Grandmother

Pearl Rosaries $25-50
Bible in a Year: Your Daily Encounter with God $29.95
Daily Companion for Women $8.95
SS Miraculous Medals $35-60

Dad/Grandfather

4-5 Way SS Medals $35-60
Daily Companion for Men $8.95
Bible in a Year: Your Daily Encounter with God $29.95
Wood Rosaries $12-40

Child/Godchild

Saint Bracelets $7-14
Tiny Saints $5.50
Fontanini - My First Nativity Set (6pc) $115


More gifts can be found on our website (www.stmarysbookstore.com) or in our store (1909 West End Ave, Nashville, TN)

Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

"Today's feast reminds us that holiness means depending on God. The Queenship of Mary invites us to exercise our obedience to God in a way that results in, not submission, but likeness. Saint Maximilian Kolbe wrote that Mary "has a right to be loved as Queen of all hearts so that through her, hearts would be cleansed and themselves become immaculate, similar and like unto her own heart, and so worthy of union with God." from the Magnificat

I found this meditation incredibly beautiful and had to share it with anyone who may have missed it.

St. Mary's has just received a large shipment of icons and this particular one made me think about the Queenship of Our Lady. May we entrust ourselves to her loving care.

Our Lady of Fatima

On Sunday, May, 13, 1917, Lucy dos Santos, and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto were pasturing their flocks as usual. It was noon of a clear, sunny day, when suddenly a flash of lightning cut the air -- then another. Fearing a storm, the children quickly gathered the sheep to get them home. Then their glances fell upon a small holm-oak tree directly in their path. A dazzling light hovered over the topmost branches, when -- wonder of wonders -- what should they behold but the form of a lovely lady standing atop the tree in the light, her feet hidden in a shimmering cloud. As Lucy later described her, "She was a lady more brilliant than the sun."

After telling the children not to be frightened, the vision said: "I come from Heaven, I want you to come here at this same hour on the 13th day of each month until October. Then I will tell you who I am and what I want." She also told them to say the Rosary every day, and to bear all the sufferings God would send them. 

In June the Lady appeared again. She told the youngsters that many souls go to Hell because they have no one to pray and make sacrifices for them. She said Francisco and Jacinta would soon leave the world for Heaven. Holding out her heart surrounded by thorns which pierced it from all sides, Our Lady told Lucy: "God wishes you to remain in the world for some time because He wants to use you to establish in the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart. I promise salvation to those who embrace it, and their souls will be loved by God as flowers placed by myself to adorn His throne."

Feast of St. Louis Grignion de Montfort

Today is the Feast Day of St. Louis de Montfort, founder of the missionary Company of Mary, who promoted Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. "In giving ourselves to Jesus through Mary's hands, we imitate God the Father, who gave us his Son only through Mary, and who imparts his graces to us only through Mary. Likewise we imitate God the Son, who by giving us his example for us to follow, inspires us to go to him using the same means he used in coming to us, that is, through Mary. Again, we imitate the Holy Spirit, who bestows his graces and gifts upon us only through Mary." from today's Magnificat, the words of St. Louis de Montfort