Forgive my tardiness.  I had originally planned to post this Giveaway on Friday, but Uncle Billy's funeral went longer than I had anticipated.

However, here it is!

I'm excited to announce that I'll be giving away four different crucifixes, each a beautiful bit or art.

First up is this amazing Stations of the Cross crucifix.  The little boxes each depict a different station.  It's small enough to really use as a prayer tool, but it's obviously great to hang on the wall, too.

I just found the size perfect to keep by my bedside for personal prayer.  It's like having the Stations of the Cross in my parish church right in the palm of my hand!

So for Lent, I thought this was a very fitting prize for those looking to deepen their understanding of (and appreciation for) Christ's Passion.

It's just magnificent.

Next in line is a dream for those devotees of Divine Mercy. St. Faustina joins Christ as Divine Mercy onto this wood cross.  The "shine" you see is the reflective gold paint the artist used to create a border and accents.  

Three doting cherubs look down in wonder at the gift of Divine Mercy while St. Faustina is consistently at prayer for all of her "poor souls."

This is the largest crucifix in the giveaway, standing at 12" high, this would be great as an entryway crucifix.  It is bold, different, and a great reminder that Christ's death, though terrible, was, in fact, a gift of Divine Mercy.  He died not to condemn, but to reconcile.  

Again, sorry for the glare.  I was taking these images with an iPhone, so not all of them came out as nicely as I'd hoped.  

Anyway, this is a truly beautiful crucifix.  It's called an "Archangels Crucifix" because of the presence of St. Gabriel (holding the lillies to signify purity and truth), St. Raphael (holding a staff to represent healing) and St. Michael at the foot of the cross defeating the serpent.  At the top, these three archangels lead the "host of angels" behind them in prayer and contemplation of the Triune Sacrifice a the center of the cross.  

This colorful cross is about 6" high and is STUNNING.

Finally, we have this little guy.

This is a small cross depicting the Trinity in all their infamous iconic appearances.  Each branch of the cross contains a different variation on well-known iconography of the Most Holy Trinity.

I love this because of the way it forces folks to remember that we didn't just sacrifice Christ on Calvary.  The sacrifice was a TRIUNE sacrifice.  God the Father and the Holy Spirit took just as much an active role in this mercy as Jesus.  This beautiful cross depicts their loving, united relationship so wonderfully.  

Even at only 3.5" it packs a powerful punch!

Okay, so now that you've seen these beauties, directions on how to enter are below!

Good luck and again... may your Lent continue to be blessed!

I had the pleasure of receiving a copy of Walking With Jesus to Calvary: Stations of the Cross for Children.  I got it in the mail early this year and have been waiting for Lent to roll around given the nature of the book.

Here we are!

The book is written by Angela M. Burrin and illustrated by Maria Cristina Lo Cascio.  Truthfully, the illustrations are what drew me in to the story.  Colorful, fluid and expressive, they told the story of the Stations in beautiful detail.

The writing ended up surprising me.  At first, I was very put off by the "lengthy" paragraphs. Truthfully, I think this is because my expectation was that I'd be able to read it to Vincent. This book is not meant for toddlers.  It's meant for older children - at least 1st grade and up. Once I made peace with that, I found the narrative grew on me.

I especially love how Burrin pays close attention to the Blessed Mother throughout the stations.  Never is she far from her Son.  She, too, is an active participant in His Passion, and Burrin does a wonderful job keeping this in focus for us.  There are some passages that solicited heart-wrenching sadness for her.  For this fact alone, this book has become my favorite Stations book for children.  

Now for the content:

There is a brief Forward that explains what the Stations of the Cross are and why we keep this form of prayer alive.  There is also a page explaining how to pray the stations, offering suggestions for first-timers (It's okay to choose one or two Stations at a time and really focus on them.  You don't have to pray them all at once!).

There is no Table of Contents (I assume with 14 stations, it's hard to get lost).  However, given the Stations are listed where the Table of Contents usually go, I'm not sure why they opted to leave out page numbers.  That could be helpful to veterans who are looking to focus on one or two for a specific prayer intention.

Just before the Stations begin, Burrin wisely decided to explain a little about Holy Thursday, and how Jesus came to be in Pilate's courtyard.  Thus, with the kiss of Judas Iscariot, we begin our journey with the Stations.

At each Station, Biblical quotes are interlaced with imagination as Burrin tells the story of Jesus' Passion in a child-friendly manner.  At the end of each Station, there is a small reflection / prayer kids can offer that brings that footstep of Christ in sync with their own. One, in particular, calls out to the Holy Spirit.  I loved that, because normally the reflection prayers tend to focus solely on Jesus.  

Of course, each Station is beautifully illustrated by Lo Casio.  Some of the images have left me staring at them for many minutes before I realize I've lost myself in their mysteries.  I mean, just look at these two examples.  I apologize, I snapped them with my phone, but even through the grainy iPhone shutter, the powerful emotions pours through:

Oh, that last one of Our Lady cradling Jesus - it is perfect.  The tree in the background is barren and lifeless (which is poignant given how lively the background trees were in previous Stations).  The atmosphere is grey, foggy and ominous.  Joseph of Arimethea is hunched over them like an old bough weighed down by weather, protective.  Mary's mantle is unfurled to encompass Jesus' Body... an exaggerated drawing, but similar to Michelangelo's Pieta.  The effect is a brutal, gut-wrenching beauty - a mother cradling Her Baby Boy one last time as the entire world mourns with her.

Can you guess where I keep catching myself getting lost?

Finally, the Stations end with the Resurrection (since not all books contain a 15th!).  Burrin includes Mary Magdalene's joyous meeting of her Resurrected Savior, which I always appreciate.  

This book then gifts you a few surprise pages that I think are incredible resources for school-aged children.

The first is a 2 page spread on Prayer Intentions.  After all, when you pray the Stations, you should have some intentions in mind, right?  This useful list suggests everything from family and friends to doctors, politicians and the souls in Purgatory.  I LOVED this, and I thought it was very wise to add this section.

Finally, there was a four-page spread of traditional prayers used while praying the Stations of the Cross.  These pages, just as the Stations, themselves, are beautiful illustrated. These latter pages reminded me of those gorgeous illuminated manuscripts monks would create as they copied the Bible over and over and over again.  

Verdict:  This hard-cover book is a winner, all 45 pages of it.  I am so glad The Word Among Us Press sent it my way for review.  

As a thanks, I'll be giving one away to one of you fine readers!  Enter via Rafflecopter below.

Good luck!

So there's a new game in the Facebook world for those interested in the Catholic Faith.  It's called Vatican Wars (click the link for details) and challenges gamers to tackle hot-button topics like abortion, the death penalty and homosexuality. 

What I find incredibly entertaining is the data compiled through the testing phase (when Vatican Wars was referred to as "Priestville").  Several respondants who played felt that the game had re-established their faith in some way - going to Mass more frequently, feeling the call to the priesthood, etc.  So they're pushing forward with the game as a tool for apologetics, I guess?  Interesting!

I dunno how I feel about it, though.  The point is to debate and better understand Church teaching, I guess, but leaving things open-ended without a proper moderation to the varying understandings of the faithful (who probably never picked up actual teachings of the Church) could lead to widespread confusion. 

I like the idea of a Catholic game, but I dunno if I like the idea of this particular format.  Plus, allowing the misspellings of words like "Bishop" or "Priest" to denote female players kind of bothers me.  I'm not implying, mind you, that women shouldn't play, I'm just again slightly concerned about the confusion that this sort of thing could lead to. 

Plus, I note that it's not actually created (or even approved) by anyone even remotely related to the Catholic Church, so methinks this isn't really an attempt to teach so much as make money.

I'm curious to hear from folks who have played this game.  Until I open it myself, I'm not going to have a well-informed opinion. 

UPDATE

I started playing the game to get a feel for what it's all about.  I honestly have no idea how this could help anyone with their faith or wanting to go to Mass.  Much like other game apps on Facebook, this is simply a means to an end, and that end is money.  Blah - that's a total bummer.

Anyway, the game presents itself much like any other RPG.  You choose a side (Templar for conservatives, Crusader for the liberals).  From there, you choose your belief system, focusing on five hot button issues - abortion, heterosexual marriage, birth control, women as priests and celibacy for priests. 

These issues don't really get "debated" in the debate section.  When you debate, much like most RPGs, your basically comparing you're "integrity" and "charisma" to another person's.  Whoever has higher numbers "wins" the debate.  That doesn't sound like a debate to me in the slightest.

Then we have those lovely "gold" coins with which you can buy your integrity / charisma points.  Not very Christian, if you ask me.  Ha ha!  Anyway, you can also earn these gold coins, but it takes forever and in the end, it's simply not worth it when you realize there are actually folks purchasing (with real money) hundreds of coins so they can continue "winning" debates to move ahead in the game.  So for those of us who want to play a game without buying our way to victory, we find ourselves using water guns against anti-aircraft missles.  It's just ridiculous.

So no - I don't see how this game could possibly lead to a better understanding of our faith at all.  I also don't see how it'd entice folks to attend Mass or do readings on their own.  The only plus I can see from this is the blurb section they have on the Saint of the Day.  The "readings" they give you don't actually have to be read, so you can play the game without ever asking one question about the faith.  That seems silly to me. 

Plus, now that it's been opened to the forum of Facebook, anti-Catholics abound with names like "Prince of Darkness" or "1st Gay Pope."  So while I'm sure it was a good idea in their minds to create something like this, it's garbage.  Don't waste your time.