Happy New Year

It's been quite a year and like every year before we have had our ups and downs, good times and bad times, joys and sorrows. But unlike years before, I have listened and I have learned and I have discovered something beautiful at St. Mary's Bookstore. Owning and running a small business, a small family business, a small Christian family business can be tough.  It can also be rewarding. No new news there. However, as Nashville has grown by leaps and bounds and we have slowly become one of the smallest buildings on West End (at 4 stories high), we have also become a place for out-of-towners to wander in and shop or simply visit.  I cannot tell you how many times a week we hear, "Wow! We've traveled all over the country and never seen a religious bookstore and gift shop this beautiful." or "Wow! I thought Nashville didn't have a large number of Catholics. What are you doing here?" In the past I'd think, "Well, you have no idea how hard we work to maintain this place" or "Well, we hope we're doing the work of Jesus Christ."  And we hope we are, but here's the kicker! I have come to realize under no uncertain terms how grateful I am to our regular customers. To those of you who come when your children are receiving the sacraments. To those who come to the store just during Easter and Christmas. To those of you who visit more frequently, who find unusual gifts for birthdays or who just want to shop the latest and greatest books. To all of you who support St. Mary's and our families, I want to thank you for maintaining this beautiful place so when out-of-towners visit and say, "Wow! You're diocese is lucky to have such a beautiful place," we can simply say, "thank you, we are blessed." Because it's not about how many churches we drag all our merchandise to or schools we visit with St. Nicholas shops or sacramental goods, or deliveries we make. It's not about long hours or monetary rewards.  It's about you supporting us for all these years and helping us to be a store for the diocese that we can all be proud of.  It's all about your goodness and your kindness and your stories and your suggestions.  This year I've realized that no matter how hard we work, nothing compares to the love and support of all of you.  You make us look good. You are the reason people from out of town say, "We love this place." Our family may be the head but you are the heart and soul of St. Mary's. You are the hands and the feet of Christ. Whether you visit once a year or once a month or once a week, the path you make helps to continue a path that hopefully leads us all a little closer to Jesus Christ. For all of this and so much more, our families thank you and we wish you all a blessed New Year!

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)

Pre-Christmas Sale

Most years we go to market with the expectation of finding exciting new products to offer our customers. This year was no different and we are thrilled for you to see our beautiful new lines. While separating products and preparing to display at Christmas Village, we have found some great gifts from last year that will not match our new themes. Consequently, we have a wonderful opportunity for you! 

Come shop our pre-Christmas sale! Items marked down drastically for you to get in front of your gift buying. Along with Christmas items, we have other sale merchandise displayed in St. Luke's Loft. The Loft will remain a space to share a taste of Mystic Monk coffee, enjoy a good visit, or look through old books, and now shop our closeouts. 

Please come visit and while enjoying your local Christian Bookstore and Gift Shop, maybe even get some good deals!

What's New?!

We are constantly trying to add "things" to do or see at St. Mary's so that our customers can visit and have maybe a little different experience than they've had on a previous visit or in another store or even online. This summer we have been full of new ideas that have been fun for us and that have truly been a hit with customers.

One such idea is a display in a small section of the store which includes book recommendations from the priests in our diocese as well as some of those who work in the Pastoral Center, Joan Watson from Adult Formation and Bill Staley from the Youth Office. I love to hear the comments from the "out of towners" who begin with, "Wow! Your priests give book recommendations?! That's awesome." And I agree. It is awesome. We are so fortunate to have such an amazing group of men who are willing and anxious to feed our spiritual lives. We have put the names of the priests inside the books along with a list of the books they recommend. Ideally, you love one recommendation and come back for another. Also, people like to see who recommends what. Of course, there are some duplicate recommendations, especially in the classics category but for the most part, it's a great mix. The titles will change about every three months. The guys need time to read!

So we invite all who have not been down lately or who are just curious for a little more, to come visit. Stay awhile. Drink a cup of Mystic Monks coffee. Sit in St. Luke's Loft and chill. We'd love to have you. Oh, and I'll have even more on the changes in the next few weeks so stay tuned.

Great Adventure

Couple of things. Many days I just walk around the store and snap pictures of the merchandise and the displays that my mom and sister and coworker Cathy so beautifully put together. Ya know. Just in case I ever need the info or the images. Last week on my mom's birthday, my daughter posted a beautiful tribute on our St. Mary's Bookstore facebook page and at dinner that night I read her all the wonderful, kind words from our friends and customers. That morning, she said, "I woke up and said, 'It's my birthday. What do I want to do?' and she thought, I want to go do displays at the Bookstore, I want to go to noon Mass and I want to paint." So, that's what she did as well as join a small bit of her family for dinner. As I was thinking about posting the new Great Adventure Bible and Walking with God books, I noticed my mother's cane in my picture which she parks when she's doing displays. I find it's not by chance that her cane sits beneath the title, "Walking with God."  (story of her life). And without being too corny, I'm sure she'd say it's been a Great Adventure! And, the adventure continues...

The Great Adventure Bible is an awesome new tool to learn Scripture. It is color coded to help with the timeline and event coded to pull out key milestones on the narrative. Other features include Christ's words in red, color maps and pull out charts that tell about the history of the people, rulers and geography. The links above will give you more descriptions and information about the Bible, the Children's Book and Walking with God. And to add to our amazing new Scripture study helps, our local author Sonja Corbitt has published Fulfilled: Uncovering the Biblical Foundations of Catholicism. Check them out. The pictures can't possibly tell the entire story. Come visit. It's always a great adventure.

PENNIES FROM HEAVEN

“Oh every time it rains

It rains pennies from heaven

Don’t you know each cloud contains

Pennies from heaven

You’ll find your fortune

Fallin’ all over town

Be sure that your umbrella is upside down

Traded them for a package of sunshine and flowers

If you want the things you love

You must have showers

So when you hear it thunder

Don’t run under a tree

There’ll be pennies from heaven

For you and me"

Whether you’ve heard this from Bing Crosby or Billie Holliday or St. Mary’s Bookstore, the outcome is always the same... to have "the things you love"!! And that's just what we want you to have; from sunshine and flowers after the rain, to books and sacramentals on sale from your favorite local bookstore.

When my mom moved the store from 6^th Avenue downtown to 1909 mid-town, she added a few members of her Cursillo group to help her. In the 1980s, when discussing a summer sale, Mimi Heer came up with the idea of “Pennies from Heaven,” and we’ve used it ever since. The idea is to have tables of overstock items or slightly defective items and other goodies starting at a penny and going up from there. The sale is truly heavenly and has been a popular tradition within the bookstore, and with our customers, for years.

Please join us as we continue this tradition. We know you will find some true treasures. 

I Get Asked A Lot ...

"What medal is that?" "Where did you get it?" "Why do you wear it?" Many people I know wear medals they have received as gifts, from aunts or grandparents who "knew they would actually wear it", from places they have traveled, for protection and for devotional purposes. I personally own more medals than I could ever wear all at once. Medals that have been blessed by popes or in holy places. Medals that have been handed down from loved ones. Medals that I have purchased while traveling. Each and every one has significance to me. I have worn a St. Gerard medal for 29 years when it was given to me by one of our vendors after the loss of our first child and upon the birth of our oldest on earth. The only time I have taken it off for any length of time was when I put it over the head of a friend on her way to the hospital to give birth (she was a bit worried but all went well, of course). I also continually wear my Miraculous Medal that I received after my consecration to Mary and my scapular medal, because with promises like that, how can I not?! Last but not least, I wear a medal of St. John of God, patron of booksellers. I also often wear a shorter chained medal, usually something from a Marian Apparition; Fatima, Lourdes, or Guadalupe just because they are beautiful and they fill me with memories of being at a certain Grotto or apparition site.

Now don't get me wrong, I know that it's not as simple as putting a medal around our necks and POOF, protected or holy or instant sales or whatever. I know that these medals are simply reminders for us to pray to Our Lady and Our Lord and the patron Saints. They are reminders of promises to cling to faith and hope and love. They are reminders to visit and to listen. They are reminders of those who have come before us, the community of believers who have paved our way, who have planted seeds and who have prayed for the future of the Church on earth.

I get asked a lot, and so we ask you...what medals do you wear? Why?