MSI Press Blog

  Note: Today is the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Romand Catholic Church. Catholics and Orthodox venerate Mary with deep love; most Protestants respect her but avoid devotional practices. Catholics and Orthodox are surprisingly close to each other — the real divide is between both of them and Protestant traditions. 🕊️ Catholics: Mary as Immaculate, Assumed, and Intercessor Catholics hold four Marian dogmas: Mother of God (Theotokos) — defined at Ephesus in 431, shared with the Orthodox. Perpetual Virginity Immaculate Conception — Mary conceived without original sin. Assumption — Mary taken body and soul into heaven. Catholic devotion includes: Rosary Marian feasts Apparitions (Lourdes, Fatima) Titles like Ark of the Covenant , Seat of Wisdom , Queen of Heaven Catholics see Mary as the model disciple , the New Eve , and a powerful intercessor who prays for the Church. ✨ Orthodox: Mary as Panagia, the All‑Holy One Orthodox Christians share the ancient devotion to Ma...

  When everything feels absent, God is not gone — God is working underground. 🌘 1. God is teaching you to love without reward In the early stages of prayer, we often love because we feel loved. In this night, God withdraws the sweetness so that love can mature. It’s the difference between loving a friend for their gifts and loving them simply for who they are. 🌘 2. God is purifying the senses The senses are not bad — they’re just limited. They can only grasp what is tangible, emotional, or imagined. God is preparing the soul to perceive the divine in a deeper way — through faith, not feeling. 🌘 3. God is shifting your center of gravity Before the night, your spiritual life may have revolved around experience. After the night, it begins to revolve around presence. You move from “I feel God” to “I trust God.” That shift is the foundation of contemplative union. 🌘 4. God is cultivating interior stillness The silence that feels empty is actually fertile. It’s the soil where divine...

  Today's publisher's pride is Travels with Elly by Larry MacDonald, which reached #145 in travel with pets books. Book description: Discover Canada like never before -- from a personal perspective, similar to John Steinbeck's view of America in his 1960 book Travels with Charley . The author travels from coast to coast in a trailer with his wife and pets, including their Standard Poodle, Elly, in order to gain a better understanding of his adopted country. Interspersed between descriptions of history, cultures, places, and icons are the author's reflections on various things such as Elly's antics, signage, ferries, political injustice, environmental issues, and animal instincts. To provide a canine's perspective, Elly reflects on things of interest to her, including cats, cows, and other critters...but especially cats! Where was Canada's first settlement? What is its prettiest town? When and where was its most devastating shipwreck? And who was its greatest ...