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.

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)

Do We Ask Her Enough?

On this Feast of Our Lady of Good Help, I am reminded to ask myself, "Do I ask Mary for help, for all I need, for all the needs of others, to intercede? Do I ask her enough? Almost 2,000 years ago her Son gave her to us through the offering to St. John at the base of the cross, "Behold your Mother."

And again, over 150 years ago, Our Lady appeared to Sr. Adele Brise in Wisconsin and told her, "I will help you." There is now a beautiful Marian Shrine built on the site of this approved apparition. (the only approved U.S. apparition, Visiting Mary: Her U.S. Shrines and their Graces)

And today, as we go about our day to day activities, as we worry about our jobs, our parents, our children and our nation, as we stress over how we can afford tuition and house payments and car payments, as we struggle with health issues, can we hear her voice? In the stillness? In the quiet? "I will help you." Do we visit her? Do we believe? Do we ask her enough? On this Feast of Our Lady of Good Help, we are reminded to accept the gift given at the base of the cross by Her Son. She is our help in this world. Pray for her intercession. Pray the rosary for peace. Allow her to help us.

Jujube Wood Rosary

What in the world is Jujube Wood? Several of our rosaries and rosary bracelets are made from a beautiful wood that comes from the Jujube tree. "In Christian tradition, the Jujube tree was identified as the thorn bush used to weave Christ's Crown of Thorns. Based on this tradition, Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land would take the branches of this tree home as souvenirs. The wood is heavy and durable and serves for artistic woodwork." How beautiful it is to contemplate the life of Christ and to pray to Jesus and Mary on these special beads!

From a Death Row Inmate

I never met Bill personally. We corresponded through letters and through Deacon Jim. Bill was much better about writing to me than I to him. For a year or so, Bill made rosaries and sent them to the bookstore for us to sell. We gave him all the proceeds from the sales, knowing that his rosary ministry gave him purpose and gave our customers a connection. At Christmas this past year, I received a letter that explained that he was able to buy himself and his co-worker a "Christmas basket". I had sent payments back to back because we had sold so many of the rosaries for Christmas gifts. I received another letter a week later from Bill that said, "We were trying to find a way to tithe and the second payment for the sale of the rosaries allowed us to buy a Christmas basket for an inmate who did not get anything. Thank you." Really? Worried about tithing? Tears rolled down my cheeks at the thought of it all. In my small mind filled with judgment, I could not understand why a man on death row was worried about tithing. The fact that he made rosaries to spread the message of Our Lady was difficult enough to fathom, wasn't it? Jim shared that Bill was "tremendously moved by our willingness to share the rosaries he made with the Catholic community of Nashville. He often told me how pleased he was that through your generosity there was now a prayer link between the prisoners and free-world Catholics."  Jim told me not too long ago that Bill was diagnosed with Cancer and this past weekend, Divine Mercy Sunday weekend, Bill died. We will miss not having that little bit of prison ministry on our counter. I will miss the letters and the boxes of new, brightly colored beads that arrived on occasion. I never knew him, nothing about his past, only about the rosaries, and yet...